I wonder if you're jumping into the topology too quickly. Those are a lot of loops that you're going to have to push around if you later decide to adjust the proportions or something.
I suggest moving the model up so that the feet will stand on the grid. Just having the whole body blocked out before anything else will can probably save you a lot of potential headaches.
I don't even think you understand how cutting and extruding works to create edges, you have edges that look like they're manually cut and that is rarely needed.
looks like you're still fighting with the wireframe. check out the "Average Vertices" tool, it's a good way to quickly clean up areas with distorted polygons without having to push vertices around as much.
please post the pics with the other side as well... with only 1 half of the model its hard to give crits. you should
use mirror cut or duplicate special and use the settings 'instance' and '-1'
(not a maya user myself, so i hope this right)
.. dunno if that bit is mentioned in the tutorial so sorry if i'm repeating stuff you already know.
from what i can see there the only thing i can tell is that the foot needs to be wider, especially in the area thats going to form the toes.
it seems that you have gotten the overall proportions right. the head is still way too blocky, it needs some additional horizontal edgeloops. not much 2-3 should suffice. this is just so you can smooth it out to get a rounder shape for the head.
from here you could try to subdivide the mesh and start blocking out muscle groups.
get some reference pics and try to focus on adding the basic shapes of the muscles... don't try to add in any detail, but try to get an idea of where the mass is. always make sure to go for the proportions first.. if the proportions are off and you start working on detail, it's going to look odd later on and it will be hard for you to figure out why. then slowly add more features, start with the biggest, slowly work your way down to smaller elements.
i can't stress this enough...
don't subdivide too much until you have made good use of what you've got.
you will be repeating this many times... what you've got now is alot better to what you had before. save under a new filename, subdivide the mesh once, and try to add a little more shape to it. then compare it to other peoples works... but don't just strictly stick to that.. you can learn quite a bit from that, but you might also repeat a mistake someone else made.
so don't forget to look at real people, or at least photos if noone is around.
always observe your model from all angles.. if you use background images in front and side view and stick to these only, then your model will only look good from these angles.
post some pics once you're stuck or don't understand why something won't look right.
don't expect to recieve alot of praise for quite some time. once your stuff is posted, it will be taken apart, and thats whats going to help you the most.
it's gonna be tough and frustrating at times, but it's also going to be worth it if you stick with it .
you should also practice on paper... draw stick figures... improve them by using spheres to identify where the most important mass is... this makes drawing in perspective much easier.
don't worry about the hundreds of muscles there are ...
look at this progression:
then this
once you're familiar with these shapes you can progress to the next level.
also try real life sculpting if you get the chance...
i might sound preachey.. and what i propose might sound tedious, but you're actually gonna get better results much faster this way.
i promise
try to use an inflate brush/tool before you star using a crease tool to define shapes.
that way you get a better sense for mass. also when going higher in subdivisions everything is getting slimmer so you have to make up for it.
right now the pelvis looks really weird and the arms appear to be way too flat from the back.
you should smooth out some of those details and try think in even bigger shapes.
(i know i know you've probably heard that alot by now)
and please post some orthographic views from the front back and side, that way its easier for us to pinpoint exactly what needs to change the most... or make a quick paintover.
ah yes, much easier to see whats going on there now...
well the references don't have much detail, but the overall proportions are spot on, which is what you need... looking at the side view you can probably tell pretty easily that you need to work on that view the most... its almost right in the front view, but quite off in side...
just try to sculpt only in that view, use grab to make it follow the reference as close as you can... then pan around the model and make sure it works from all views, make some adjustments, inflate a little here, smooth a little there and then go back to the orthographic sideview and check if everything still lines up with your reference... you might have to redo these steps a couple of times to get it right.
the neck and the butt need the most work.... focus on these first, then try to improve the shoulders and arms, then the legs.
once you get these things sorted out you can start worrying about getting some more detailed reference pics and start blocking out the bigger muscles.
can i give you one good tip? it worked for me, i reached this conclusion based only on experience. its the story of my modelling life hahaha
so... i started as a char artist. my first char was this one:
(yes, i still keep my oldest work. it might be like 4 or 5 years old by now xD). at the time i had no idea of what topology was. i just added and extruded boxes and subd'd it all.
then i started using references. at this point, things started getting a bit more serious... and here comes the advice: find a reference picture, and model it a dozen, 20, 30 times. always trying to improve your skills. i think i modelled the same woman 10 times or more, pieces of it, a bust, an arm, modified it, etc:
after some time, when i had my modelling skills better, i discovered plane modelling: you take the reference, add a plane on it, and extrude vertices to get the model. when i used this, after some time i reached this:
(for this last one i used a low poly pic of a wretch from gears 1)
so... dont be afraid of doing it wrong at first. follow the advices of people here, use refs, and practice, practice and practice. in no time (depends on how hard you try, obviously), youll get the best results.
edit: sorry for posting so many unrelated pics in your thread, if you want i can delete them after you read
Don't sculpt muscles in Maya, it will be such a big headache. Just work on getting the correct proportions and shapes first. The sculpt tool is mostly just for pulling/pushing a lot of verts. I've never actually seen someone sculpt with it.
You were going good right here, but I see a technique you're using that is a big no no. It might be a good idea for you to use 10 sided cylinders for the legs and torso and the arm.
Replies
I suggest moving the model up so that the feet will stand on the grid. Just having the whole body blocked out before anything else will can probably save you a lot of potential headaches.
I don't even think you understand how cutting and extruding works to create edges, you have edges that look like they're manually cut and that is rarely needed.
This was the tutorial to anyone wondering: http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/blender/character-modeling-in-blender-basix/
Use this as the front/side image panes to model against. The actual model is from selwy but I used it to create clean orthos to model from:
If you have trouble setting up image planes (i think theyre called in maya), im sure someone here can help you.
looks like you're still fighting with the wireframe. check out the "Average Vertices" tool, it's a good way to quickly clean up areas with distorted polygons without having to push vertices around as much.
use mirror cut or duplicate special and use the settings 'instance' and '-1'
(not a maya user myself, so i hope this right)
.. dunno if that bit is mentioned in the tutorial so sorry if i'm repeating stuff you already know.
from what i can see there the only thing i can tell is that the foot needs to be wider, especially in the area thats going to form the toes.
and the weener of course
from here you could try to subdivide the mesh and start blocking out muscle groups.
get some reference pics and try to focus on adding the basic shapes of the muscles... don't try to add in any detail, but try to get an idea of where the mass is. always make sure to go for the proportions first.. if the proportions are off and you start working on detail, it's going to look odd later on and it will be hard for you to figure out why. then slowly add more features, start with the biggest, slowly work your way down to smaller elements.
i can't stress this enough...
don't subdivide too much until you have made good use of what you've got.
you will be repeating this many times... what you've got now is alot better to what you had before. save under a new filename, subdivide the mesh once, and try to add a little more shape to it. then compare it to other peoples works... but don't just strictly stick to that.. you can learn quite a bit from that, but you might also repeat a mistake someone else made.
so don't forget to look at real people, or at least photos if noone is around.
always observe your model from all angles.. if you use background images in front and side view and stick to these only, then your model will only look good from these angles.
post some pics once you're stuck or don't understand why something won't look right.
don't expect to recieve alot of praise for quite some time. once your stuff is posted, it will be taken apart, and thats whats going to help you the most.
it's gonna be tough and frustrating at times, but it's also going to be worth it if you stick with it .
you should also practice on paper... draw stick figures... improve them by using spheres to identify where the most important mass is... this makes drawing in perspective much easier.
don't worry about the hundreds of muscles there are ...
look at this progression:
then this
once you're familiar with these shapes you can progress to the next level.
also try real life sculpting if you get the chance...
i might sound preachey.. and what i propose might sound tedious, but you're actually gonna get better results much faster this way.
i promise
http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread.php?p=720836#post720836
i think you are flowing that tutorial ?
good luck
that way you get a better sense for mass. also when going higher in subdivisions everything is getting slimmer so you have to make up for it.
right now the pelvis looks really weird and the arms appear to be way too flat from the back.
you should smooth out some of those details and try think in even bigger shapes.
(i know i know you've probably heard that alot by now)
and please post some orthographic views from the front back and side, that way its easier for us to pinpoint exactly what needs to change the most... or make a quick paintover.
well the references don't have much detail, but the overall proportions are spot on, which is what you need... looking at the side view you can probably tell pretty easily that you need to work on that view the most... its almost right in the front view, but quite off in side...
just try to sculpt only in that view, use grab to make it follow the reference as close as you can... then pan around the model and make sure it works from all views, make some adjustments, inflate a little here, smooth a little there and then go back to the orthographic sideview and check if everything still lines up with your reference... you might have to redo these steps a couple of times to get it right.
the neck and the butt need the most work.... focus on these first, then try to improve the shoulders and arms, then the legs.
once you get these things sorted out you can start worrying about getting some more detailed reference pics and start blocking out the bigger muscles.
lookin forward to seeing your next update!
so... i started as a char artist. my first char was this one:
(yes, i still keep my oldest work. it might be like 4 or 5 years old by now xD). at the time i had no idea of what topology was. i just added and extruded boxes and subd'd it all.
then i started using references. at this point, things started getting a bit more serious... and here comes the advice: find a reference picture, and model it a dozen, 20, 30 times. always trying to improve your skills. i think i modelled the same woman 10 times or more, pieces of it, a bust, an arm, modified it, etc:
after some time, when i had my modelling skills better, i discovered plane modelling: you take the reference, add a plane on it, and extrude vertices to get the model. when i used this, after some time i reached this:
(for this last one i used a low poly pic of a wretch from gears 1)
so... dont be afraid of doing it wrong at first. follow the advices of people here, use refs, and practice, practice and practice. in no time (depends on how hard you try, obviously), youll get the best results.
edit: sorry for posting so many unrelated pics in your thread, if you want i can delete them after you read
You were going good right here, but I see a technique you're using that is a big no no. It might be a good idea for you to use 10 sided cylinders for the legs and torso and the arm.