What is the process to model a dog mouth?

Hayny

Hello everyone!
I wanted to make a game character who is a dog, so I was looking for references in how the topology is structured, and I used a sims 4 dog model to analyse.
During my analysis, I stumbled across these images (sorry for the messy second screenshot).

I was wondering, how do you go about making a clean topology with a closed mouth and an open mouth? The only way I could think of was to make the modeling and skinning at the same time, so that I can play with the jaw bone to reveal the sides of the mouth that I want to model, but that seems really messy; or maybe it’s just a regular mouth with really good skinning?
I just can’t seem to figure out how to do it in the cleanest way possible, so I would gladly take any advice on this.
I hope I’m using this forum correctly.
Thank you very much for your attention.

pior

"The only way I could think of was to make the modeling and skinning at the same time, so that I can play with the jaw bone to reveal the sides of the mouth that I want to model, but that seems really messy"

There's nothing messy about that - as a matter of fact, 100% of character modelers would greatly benefit from being familiar with that kind of non-linear workflow as it applies to a ton of things. Mouth, eyes, armpits, and so on.

But besides that : just built it open (just not as wide as in the captured screenshot), you'll close it later for nice portfolio shots. Which goes back to the same topic as above : as soon as one stops thinking of character/creature modeling as a linear process everything becomes much easier.

(Unfortunately ... sculpting programs are probably partly to blame here since they tend to get artists stuck into the earlier stages of a project for too long).

Good luck !

(Also ... "Dog mouth modeling process ?" is not a question. I know this kind of thread title is popular these days, but imho it is somwhat annoying. Formulating things clearly is really not that much of an extra effort )

Hayny

Hmm, I never thought about it that way, thanks for opening my mind about non-linear workflows.
I’m also very curious now as to how one could effectively use sculpting programs without getting stuck.

Also, thank you very much for the valuable advice, it seems much easier to do it that way!

(You’re right about the name, I tried to fix it)

Noren

I'd start out with the jaw in closed position in order to get the teeth to line up and open the mouth then to a halfway open position to do the final modeling and UVs. Make sure to mark the pivot of the jaw for later use if you have to pass on the file.