The life of a cowboy - Part 2
I began the modeling process from the drawings I made in the post below, lining out the face topology and extrusions. Using 3D Studio Max as my primary modeling software, I polygon modeled the face in quads, and built the rest from the neck down.
I tried not to make the cowboy too high poly so as not to create slowdown on our school computers. Of course though to get good bends along the joints of the anatomy (such as the elbows, knees) more edge loops and polygons are required.
The clothing was also very fun and simple to do. I felt the character already coming to life.
I tried not to make the cowboy too high poly so as not to create slowdown on our school computers. Of course though to get good bends along the joints of the anatomy (such as the elbows, knees) more edge loops and polygons are required.
The clothing was also very fun and simple to do. I felt the character already coming to life.
I did the texture phase just afterwards, right now you see the base mesh colors from the software, but the model is complete (and with his awesome beard!)
After the texture phase, I brought the file into another 3D software called Maya. Because I was more comfortable at the time with animating and rigging in Maya I opted to finish my film using that software. I went on to create the Blendshapes for the face.
I created just enough facial expressions to emote what the cowboy would be feeling in a short amount of screen time. It didn't take too long, and I had fun with it still.
Ahh, rigging. It's a love/hate relationship I have. Do I enjoy it? The base of it, very much so. But with skinning and ensuring proper joint orientations, it was probably the most time consuming portion of my cowboy's creation. I built the rig from scratch though, so atleast if anyone asks I can say I did indeed do it. Moving the controllers and seeing nothing explode brought me so much relief! I was definitely a happy man when it was done
Now... on to animation!
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