Modeling Athena
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| This was my early stages of modeling a female figure without the use of a drawing/sketch, to see just how accurate I could picture it. The model is definitely not 100% but I didnt do so bad. Perfectly shaped boobs, if you ask me. I was going to model her as an alien with another set of arms, pretty much like Four-Arms from Ben 10. But then I spent like a whole day on just her boobs, then I figured she had to be human. I don't really enjoy modeling, much less drawing, humans. I prefer cars, tables, chairs, buildings, etc. Inanimate objects, so to say. Although, I happen to know some inanimate human beings, but let's not dwell off topic :) |
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| Now once the model is complete, on comes a job that can get quite annoying. It's called weight-painting, and as you can see, something is wrong with Athena over here. Unless she is handicapped in some way, her hips are not supposed to move out of proportion like that. So weight-painting fixes this problem. You use the circle to paint over the problem area. Everytime you move the model, a different problem pops up and you 'paint' it correctly again :) |
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| Over here, I am fixing her shoulders, which is always a problem in weight-painting. No matter what the model looks like, joints/hinges will always be a problem to fix. And from experience, I've always had trouble with shoulders, they always seem to dislocate. Oh well. |
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| This job is actually done before weight-painting. It's called rigging. You really gotta know your Biology when rigging, because it's basically adding bones and joints to the body(model). Unless you're like me, and appreciate the awesome people all over the world who provide us with cool videos and tutorials to learn from; because then knowing which bone is which, is not really as important. It takes a bit of getting use to, but once you complete it, you'll be really proud of yourself. I know I was. I know I am :) |
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| As a beginner, I wasn't really good at texturing, I mean she looks like a carrot, but I'm getting better :) |
My Chevy
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| Now onto something I thoroughly enjoyed modeling, my Chevrolet Camaro. When my teacher stepped in and said, "Okay guys, this week we're modeling any mode of transport", I was instantly excited by the idea. Yeah yeah, I know what you're thinking, why didn't I model a plane, jet or some sort of spacecraft..believe me, I was considering it. But I thought, how much cooler would it be if I modeled my favourite car. Taking in the fact that everything that is modelled is started with a cube. I was really proud of myself when I completed this. It looks awesome! |
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The 'image' on the left is the process of UV Unwrapping. Although the name is quite self-explanatory, I'll explain what it is anyway. You start off by inspecting your model for any errors, or parts you don't like and want to alter. Because once you begin this process, there is no turning back. So this UV  unwrapping process is basically slicing your model into different pieces in order to texture it. It was a bit hard for me to understand at first, but I found it easier to draw it on a piece of paper first and see how to cut from there. If you look at the unwrap, you can easily see the different parts of the car and how it is textured/coloured and how it comes together. The image is then exported as a JPEG and you use Photoshop to paint. |
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| If you want your model to move, you have to give it some bones. So of course I wanted my Chevy to move around a bit and be animated to reverse and do some donuts. Rigging it was pretty easy. The only hard part is remembering the link between the bones and which one would be the 'parent' and which one would be the 'child' to that 'parent'. |
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And this is the end product. The final rendered image. Not bad. I'd drive that :).jpg)
So I know the quality of the picture is not so great. But I ended up modding the car with my favourite colour and energy drink labeling :)
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