So, I’m almost done with my basic human model; I just need to add a face, ears and hair. As I was about to start making the ear, I realized I have no idea where to start or how to make it. Like, I know what an ear looks like, I just can’t get it from my mind onto the model!
This is how far I got before giving up temporarily:
i’m not sure why your subsurf modifier is not displaying, but it seems to look ok when subsurfaced, however, if you want to add complex features, you will have to add a lot more faces.
Thank you very much! I will definitely give that a look
I’m trying to keep it looking good while still relatively low-poly, so it can be used in a game. I keep the subsurf modifier on hand just to give me more perspective when I need it. Thanks for the feedback
Edit: Oh yeah, I totally forgot; I figured I will have to add a lot more faces to it, but I don’t know what the best approach would be to that. I thought I might have to many loopcuts on the head already, but maybe adding a few more wouldn’t hurt?
Well perhaps the videos linked above will help me out there. Thanks again.
I’ve never worked in games before, but that is the direction I want to head towards. Pretty much the only purpose for this model is personal practice, but I want to create a good balance of detail while still keeping it as lowpoly as I can. It’s probably still a good idea to have an educated guesstimate, but I’m clueless in that regard.
Could you tell I started from a cube, or are you referencing the link you posted? I actually assumed box modelling was easier, but that just goes to show how little I know. I will definitely try out different methods and see what works best for me.
I’ve never sculpted before and don’t know how. It looks complicated but I was planning on looking up some tutorials for that later on. Is it worth learning now rather than later?
Anyway, thanks a ton for such a long and detailed answer This is all invaluable information so thank you!
Take an image from the internet, greyscale it, trace it a few times, study it for a minute or two then visualize it in 3D space, draw where you think the polygons would go, and then try it. Also, find a low poly 3D model of an ear someone else did and use it for reference. Watch any tutorials out there out there you can find too. I bet you could learn how to do and then do it within about an hour if you apply yourself.
The reason I mentioned that was because without knowing a limit or a target you’ll be guessing if you should add more or remove geometry. Could maybe search for polycounts in different games (taking the year into account) and choose a range you want to target. Polygons in gaming context usually means triangles.
Could also check the Kila tutorial and work from high poly to low poly until you’re satisfied with the amount of detail and geometry on the low poly version. The high poly version can be used to bake geometry details on normal maps, and bake other texture maps to help with texturing.
Trying different things is a good idea. Another good idea might be to not trust a tutorial from a random source but use several sources to eliminate the effects of bad information. The worst that can happen is that you waste time but it’s more likely you gain more information.
The points I was trying to make were:
box modeling effectively requires knowledge about what is being modeled (seeing/understanding forms), topology and its requirements from the pipeline, available tools, and all those aspects are handled simultaneously as the model takes shape. I am guessing it can feel difficult unless one has modeling exprerience and if you get that, don’t be discouraged. Box modeling is fast and fine for building simple models, characters
but with complex models (in terms of forms and resulting topology) it can be too much to handle even when you have modeling experience, slowing the modeling process to a halt
The trick is to know the options instead of sticking to one modeling style. Style is not important. You can combine modeling styles, break the process to several steps, use simulations for modeling, addons, buy/download models, call a friend, and every other legal means you can think of to make the model.
If you create things that don’t exist, I would say sooner is better, especially if you feel you can’t draw/paint. Sculpting is a good tool to experiment, design, make a concept before you commit to technical modeling, at which point you can use the 3D forms you already have to continue.
It’s not just a tool for creating things you can’t find a reference for or otherwise visualize a thing out of your head. A sculpted model contains a lot of information, such as design, proportions, volume, forms, look/style/likeness, which the finished model should have. That’s why it’s also a good tool to figure out unknowns as a separate step, instead of jumping to technical modeling and failing because of missing information.
Lack of references, reference might have missing portions (only one front or 3/4 view), it might have missing forms (flat 2d, lineart), you need to figure out how the different forms/pieces relate to each other, or just want the convenience of having the 3D forms before working on the actual structure.
