First Head attempt

conman44

Ok guys I would really like to get some crits on this model *it is my first head model* for later heads I plan to model(they are fun).

I know its bad and would love some crits be as noobbashing as you want. (thats will help me) but i do ask that they be real crits nit just stuff like "that sucks bad!". I hope this is a step in the right direction i want to be great one day like some of the guys here.

verybad

The first thing I notice is the poly flow. Look at some of the other heads on this forum that have a smoother polygon layout. It's hard to criticize deeply because it doesn't look like there's much time involved in making it. Even for a noob. Look at pictures of better heads, and listen/read how they did it. There's hundreds of examples even on this forum, and nobody's going to give you a personal lesson for your own head because it's hugely searchable and easy to find lessons online. As is, your model would animate poorly. The edges should follow natural edges in the human face. EG the cheeks are separated from the mouth area on a human face by a wrinkle that extends from the top of the nostril to just outside of the mouth.

For an example of good facial topology, look here.
http://boards.polycount.net/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=195420&an=0&page=0#Post195420
Notice how it follows the natural lines of the face?

Psyk0

Gather as much reference as possible, skull, muscles, ears, eyes, drawn references such as loomis and especially wireframes.

Setup references in the viewports, very helpful for proportions, but dont get stuck modeling in front and side, tweak in 3/4 view.

conman44

thanks guys and to verybad yeah I didnt take much time on it but it also wasent for animation maybe like a rts head but i will check out more refs and look at more tuts thanks agian for the crits guys.

verybad

The thing is even if a head isn't going to be animated, the same polylines are the best to use as they result in the bestlook. Plus you can use a head designed for animation in a nonanimated scene, but not vice versa.

fritz

yeah. just to back up what verybad says....it's just a good habit to get into.

conman44

yeah I was got what he was saying ad wasent tring to knock it down because he knows more then me lol.I might try another head with proper loops ummm how low can I go and still keep the edge loops for animation?(if anyone knows)

Xaltar

Search for head tutorials and you might want to check out some of the guys websites. Loads of tutos and usefull stuff around.

conman44

Ok after checking out some wireframes,I added a loop around the eyes and another one for the brow one around the lips and added a new one which i shaped out the cheeks with so please. I hope I worked the stuff you guys crited on. so here it is as 195 polys

ghost-d

maybe you should check this site:
http://www.3dtutorials.sk/index.php?tutorials=4&software=1&id=9&page=1

you can find there one method of modeling a nose. I´m using this one for my models. Of course, this one is not for RTS models, but it can help you later.

Btw. Ben Mathis has very good training materials and some downloadable low-poly models on his website (www.poopinmymouth.com). Very useful for you could be studying wireframe screenshots of his models.

conman44

yeah ive checked out a lot of sites including Ben Mathis' site but I just wanted to try to do something by myself lol (also thatks for that site )
I restarted it and I like this one more
its 428polys i think i did better with edge loops I just need to get better at smooth groups lol.(also if picture is to big i will resize)

thinsoldier

yea, picture is too big. Like 79% of it is just empty space you could have at least cropped it.

I'd say you're still missing a good loop from the sides of the nose down around the mouth...and the back side of the nostrils.

I think maybe the eyebrows need to be pulled out over the outer corners of the eyes some more.

Throw some spheres in the eye cavities, it'll help you visualize what else you could do to make the eyes.

ghost-d

Maybe you could try using more smoothing groups. That should help the model to look better. Especially the nose needs some differentiation of the smoothing groups. If you applied other SG on the bottom of the nose (nostrils), you should get much better result.
I´d try doing the same with the mouth. Try to diversify the upper and lower lip.

Then you could check your triangulation. I can see some polygons that would look better with other triangulation.

Psyk0

Your poly distribution is not exactly efficient, the forehead and chin have too many segments compared to areas that will do the actual deformation.

Dont collapse the corners of the mouth, it's a common mistake, instead build the mouth like this:
http://www.3dtotal.com/ffa/tutorials/max/mouth_tutorial/mouth.asp

Represent the planes of the head first using minimum geometry and then refine areas that need to be smoother.

conman44

I changed size of picture. and I hope the 2nd head I made was a step in the right direction an psyk0 thanks for that site.

Xaltar

http://www.arildwiro.com/

http://www.3dtotal.com/ffa/tutorials/max/joanofarc/joanmenu.asp

Some great tutos that helped me out a lot getting started.

Make sure you use a reff and its often a good idea to print out your reff and draw a wireframe on it that follows contours and muscles etc. It sounds hard but its actually easy once you get into it.