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Need Advice

Hi, I'm currently studying game design and need to improve my modelling skills.
I would love any tips or helpful tutorials relevant to making humanoid models in Maya. Here is the current level of my work, so you can gauge where I am at.
Botomon Picture.jpg


koromon picture.jpg


Tokomon Pic 2.jpg


Tokomon Pic.jpg


The reason I am seeking advice is because every time I start making something humanoid it looks like I'm doing it wrong and I get very frustrated.

I can make objects just fine but I want to expand my skills.

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  • PyrZern
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    PyrZern polycounter lvl 12
    Just gotta go up the ladder, one step at a time.

    Can you make humanoid shape like this ?
    JeongSeongHwa_swordmaster_joints.gif




    Also, this is a GREAT TUTORIAL. FROM STARTING TO FINISH.
    Joan of Arc modeling tutorial. Go over this.
    http://www.3dtotal.com/ffa/tutorials/max/joanofarc/joanmenu.asp
    joan_800_i2.jpeg
  • Doublehelix35
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    No, unfortunately I haven't made anything like that :(

    I can work fine with objects, I think that humans just overwhelm me because I don't know where to begin.

    I've had a little flick through the tutorial and it looks pretty good!

    Thanks :)
  • Steve Schulze
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    Steve Schulze polycounter lvl 18
    Wow, that's a blast from the past. That Joan of Arc tutorial must be at least 10 years old at this point.
  • drysider
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    drysider polycounter lvl 9
    Do you have any skills in 2d art and figure drawing?

    Unfortunately, and it might not be the best critique to hear, but it seems like the best way for you to understand how to model organic shapes is to take a step back and practice some 2d drawing. I feel that for people trying to get into 3d character modeling, having a solid background in 2d art REALLY helps.

    Character modeling is harder than prop modeling.... you not only need to have good basic modeling skills but more importantly you need to be able to model something that looks GOOD. Something as simple as a circle or an eyeball needs to be modeled in a skillful way that is aesthetically pleasing.

    For example, your tokomon model: he is not very aesthetically pleasing to look at. He isn't matching the original creature design much, and it's easy to see where you've cut corners. His legs are simple rounded cylinders, and his muzzle is more or less just a square protruding from his mouth. The shapes are blocky and inorganic looking.

    I think your shapes would look a lot nicer if you did a bit of figure drawing practice to help improve your knowledge of how organic elements fit together!

    Besides getting drawing practice in, try to create depth and detail in your characters and creatures with the geometry itself. Texturing eyes and mouths on etc is good practice to reduce polys in low poly objects but its not really challenging you much and the resulting digimon have very little detail in them.

    Try challenging yourself by modeling a very simple low poly cartoon character. Start from a box to model the torso and hips, extruding out the limbs, and create a head to wield to the body. This is a pretty good reference to follow for box modeling heads, and you can stop at any level you feel comfortable with as well.

    tldr; I think at this point the best practice you can do is just to challenge yourself with more complex organic sculpts why practicing some 2d drawing so you can understand how to create nice shapes!
  • Brian "Panda" Choi
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    Brian "Panda" Choi high dynamic range
    I'm confused. Is this modeling something you HAVE to learn, or is it just supplementary to your design efforts?

    I'm confused about how game design is being defined here.
  • 3dshay
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    It would be really good if you attach the images here or host it somewhere and insert them here, pm me if you needed help regarding those options ;)
  • Doublehelix35
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    *Do you have any skills in 2d art and figure drawing?*

    I'm pretty good but nothing professional.

    *the best way for you to understand how to model organic shapes is to take a step back and practice some 2d drawing. *

    Yeah I do need to do some in depth study of anatomy. My main problem I was having was that I was trying to teach myself but I didn't know where to start.

    *He isn't matching the original creature design much, and it's easy to see where you've cut corners.*

    I personally think he is fairly close but what I think the problem is that he is too simple. This means that without modifying the original design its hard to add extra detail.

    *Besides getting drawing practice in, try to create depth and detail in your characters and creatures with the geometry itself. Texturing eyes and mouths on etc is good practice to reduce polys in low poly objects but its not really challenging you much and the resulting Digimon have very little detail in them.*

    Yeah I have a weird obsession with making low-poly models which is good and bad.

    *I think at this point the best practice you can do is just to challenge yourself with more complex organic sculpts why practicing some 2D drawing so you can understand how to create nice shapes!*

    Yeah that's why I picked Digimon because they gradually get more difficult and I can push myself.
  • DavidCruz
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    DavidCruz interpolator
    I'm confused. Is this modeling something you HAVE to learn, or is it just supplementary to your design efforts?

    I'm confused about how game design is being defined here.

    This he's learning the general study of game design as in everything but not to a higher level than say a specific topic of interest. So it's not like only characters i think it is also environments, coding, ect, because he said I can make objects fine so it lead me to my assumption, also thinking crash course.

    Like Dsider said, 2D helps a ton, you'll notice all your lacking areas, mine are joints/hands. =/ When you find out those weaknesses you build that up more than others and then you don't have to worry about it anymore, it might become stronger than your favorite area.
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