Attached Link: http://www.mzzkiti.com

Reading the overwhelmingly positive responses to Little Dragon's proposed "Furrette" multi-genus character has got me thinking. Should I play the role of a digital Dr. Moreau as well? Would anyone be interested in a third person's interpretation of an anthropomorphic model? I hinted at this within L D's thread and at least one person, NiteRaven, has urged me to do so.With that note of encouragement, I think I'd like to pursue this project. Okay, so what do I specifically have in mind? Well, if I've used the submission tools properly, you should be seeing an anatomical model sheet of my proposed character, Ms. Phytt (pronounced "misfit"). For the people who've visited my online comic, yes, her physique is based upon my lead character, Lt. Mzzkiti. She's a "toon" inspired by a character (Ehm'ayla) I visualized for a dear, departed friend, Paul Scott Gibbs (1962-2002). Here's the irony. I've never done anything like this. Oh, I've modeled technological contrivances since, oh, I think, late '96 when I received a copy of TrueSpace 2. But I've nevered practiced any serious organic modeling. I presently have version 6, so I have the tools to do something less mechanical. Since its previous version, 5, TrueSpace has supplied modelers with NURBS, splines and sub division mesh smoothing. Here's the potentially contriversial question; which are the best tools for constructing the basic figure? I've tinkered with the sub-D functions to create things like Vorlon inspired encounter helmets and bio-mechnical spacecraft suggestive of Moya and the "Alien" derelict, but that is about the extent of my experiments. I don't remember ever activating the NURBS or spline functions. If anyone is willing, let me know what are the various advantages and the respective downsides of the various tools TrueSpace has to offer. And please, let's do without the snide remarks like, "Buy yourself a 'real' 3D package!" I have great admiration for programs like 3D Studio, LightWave and Maya. They are excellent and very powerful programs. But that power comes at a price, literally. I can't afford those at this time. Plus, at least I'm accustomed to TS' "unique" interface. Your feedback will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

You won't hear any snide remarks concerning trueSpace from me ... it was one of my first 3D applications, and I still use it occasionally. Unfortunately, I haven't kept up with the upgrades (despite Caligari's best and frequent efforts to sell them to me), so I can't give an honest appraisal of the more recent feature sets.

I built Sabrina (who evolved into Furrette) entirely with MilkShape, a polygon modeler. Although I used various techniques to create the entire figure (extrusion, box modeling, mirroring, etc.), I laboriously assembled her face polygon-by-polygon in order to match the cartoon character's facial features as closely as possible.

That's an excellent model sheet, by the way, although I can't quite distinguish the number of fingers. Four digits per hand (toon-style) or five?

Attached Link: http://www.mzzkiti.com

Ah, I intend her fingers to be quasi-toon style, three paw-like fingers and a thumb per hand. Logically, each foot-paw has four toes. Base 16, hexadecimal, would come naturally to her. ;-) The supplied image is not meant to be the final model sheet. It is actually a fusion of two drawings I made for Paul Gibbs' narrative site. I'd like Ms. Phytt to have larger, arch shaped, toon eyes similar to those of Mzzkiti. I'm debating whether to give her a button-type nose or go with the more anatomically correct inverted triangle. You can see the difference between the front and profile. I see her balanced somewhere between Lemurtek's "realistic" physiques and your Eric Schwartz inspired designs. BTW, I appreciate the compliments about my model sheet. But I see myself as a "fair to middlin'" illustrator. There exist people who draw with less skill, but there are as many, if not more artists whose talents far exceed mine. Hmm, so far, I've read three responses suggesting I try box modeling combined with smooth sub-division. Dodger gave a fairly detailed recommendation for patch modeling (based upon tools found within 3D Studio Max), but I'm afraid he lost me within the first paragraph. Please, Dodger, my comment was not meant to disparage you. If anything, my comment merely illustrates my own ignorance of those tools. Plus, I don't have the tools to feed coordinate data from the surface of a physical sculpture. I guess the next question is, where can I find some good box modeling tutorials? Actually, I've stumbled across some, but any suggestions would be appreciated. I found one that is incredibly detailed, and though it's demonstrated with 3D Studio, many of the techniques can be applied to TS. Its only drawback? It's in French! Here's the sick irony. I studied French in high school for two years, but now I can't remember a lick of it! Of course, that was some 22 years ago. Well, I guess I'd better study the "do's and don'ts" of box modeling and smooth Sub-D. Yes, I already know that quads are preferred and any differently numbered polygons can cause problems. Oy, a geometric nightmare!

Attached Link: http://www.secondreality.ch/tutorials/modelling/head.html

This is one of the best subdivision tutorials I've seen, it's for 3dsMax but the techniques are applicable to most sub-d apllications.

Baz

BazC: That's a great tut. Thanks for the link.