When making my head I satrt at the nose then work up. the vertices are very close in that area and makes for a messy mesh as you go up toward the top of the head. I know how to delete the edge loops but it makes more of a mess. For example if you start at the top of the head deleting edgeloops you have to delete all the way to the nose which
messes up my geometry. Is there a way to clean up my mesh without hurting
the look of my model.
digiman:confused:
Post some wires so we can see what youâre talking about.
My best guess would be not to start at the nose. One popular approach, if youâre not in to box modelling, is to start around an eye loop, then a mouth loop and to connect these then work into the more complex nose area.
Otherwise, youâll just have to simplify your complex geometry as you move from nose to face - before you get too far away from the nose. In theory this is no more difficult than the reverse process - but in practiceâŚ?
Torqâs âbetter face tutorialâ approach is perhaps the simplest method of building facial geometry using edge loops.
And here is TorQâs tutorial.
Iâve used this tuto and it helped me a lot modeling my first ever look-like-something-else-than-crap face.
That is the top of the head. I donât care where i start but eventually there will be a cluster of edgeloops. it does not hurt the overall model but looks messy. I want to make the top look like the area outside the red circle
if possible. Also I add sevearl edgeloops as i go along because I need to make lots of detail and when you add an edgeloop it is not confined to one area but it goes to the whole model
digiman
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/6350/edgeloopsvg4.jpg
Why not fan them out over the top of the head - so that when the edgeloops are defining a larger area they are evenly spaced, and only run so close when you need more detail, for a wrinkle or something.
Just a thoughtâŚ
First: do a low poly sketch before you get involved in a lot of messy detail. Then add additional vertices for needed detail. You might find you need a lot less than you think, especially if you use subsurf modifier on your mesh. If the loop cut tool adds too many new edges, use the knife cut tool for more control over which edges get divided.
For the railroad tracks across the skull problem, check out
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=76258&page=2
and http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=77654
Ah yes! Adding edge loops for local detail. Been there, done that. Itâs just not the way to do it. You have to add detail only where you need detail. You can use the knife, as Orinoco suggests, or there are other ways which achieve the same result.
You could wrestle this model back by choosing good places to merge those loops. Generally when you merge two loops into one you end up with triangles, which you donât want. But, if you merge three loops (edges) into one, you end up with quads (that look like triangles, but arenât). To work out where to merge loops, take a good look at other peopleâs head model wireframes.
You may get some ideas from this thread. Itâs a pity Kitsu deleted his/her original pics as they would have helped make things a little clearer. My image should give you some idea though. Note that the site Kitsu links to in that thread is an in-depth discussion of loops, edges, faces, poles, tris, quads and N-Gons. Itâs quite scary.
Thanks to everyone that replied. I will try Nharromâs idea first, seems to be the easiest way to go. My edgeloop flow really sucks but I am starting to feel very comfortable with blender now thanks to this forum.
digiman
Taking the easy way is what gets you into trouble 
If you plan to add a body then these dozens of edges will want to flow all the way throuigh that too. They will drive you mad.
Of course, if this is just an exercise with no real future plans, then you do whatever it takes to get it done.
The trick with this sort of model is to ignore detail until youâve got everything blocked out. Start BIG, finish small. If you start with detail, without adequate experience, youâll always find yourself getting into difficulty.
Youâre right about that! I have developed some very bad habits This will
hopefully be a detailed head, that will be it and if good enough I will post it But understand I wonât let this happen on my next model I will practice like a dog.
digiman