Best way of modeling an animal for animation?

# 1 22-01-2008 , 12:47 AM

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Best way of modeling an animal for animation?

what is the best way of modeling for an animation?

* best way of modeling an animal (specifically a monkey) before animation?
* should it be modeled in separate parts or what?
* nurbs or polygon?

i'm preparing for my thesis and i want to know it from you guys who are experts. user added image

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# 2 22-01-2008 , 12:59 AM

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There is no best surface to model in, any or all 3 are capable for use of modeling a monkey.
For a beginner though Polygons is the easiest to grasp and learn.

What sort of animation are you making ie. cartoon or photoreal or something in between?
Do you have any experience with Maya at all ?
The answer to these questions would help us point you in the right direction.

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# 3 22-01-2008 , 03:53 AM

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I usually start with nurbs
its just so easy to add isoparms, i love it
i then add more deatil in polygons and subdivs

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# 4 22-01-2008 , 04:16 PM

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i usually begin with poly modeling and go with edge loops in mind. usually i model it in onepiece.

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# 5 22-01-2008 , 08:40 PM

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Originally posted by jsprogg
There is no best surface to model in, any or all 3 are capable for use of modeling a monkey.
For a beginner though Polygons is the easiest to grasp and learn.

What sort of animation are you making ie. cartoon or photoreal or something in between?
Do you have any experience with Maya at all ?
The answer to these questions would help us point you in the right direction.

Originally Posted by

thanks for the reply!

i want to model a Tarsier, it's a small monkey. i want it to look like a simple cartoon with no hair involved yet. by the way, im doing this for my thesis project. i've just watched a tutorial on how to model a dog here in Simply Maya and i think it helped me, though it has a long process. yes, i do know something about polygons, surfaces, nurbs in maya.. 3d is a part of my multimedia arts course but the profs only teaches us the basic stuffs. the thing i just want to ask now is that, was the process of modeling from nurbs to polygon then back to surfaces is a good way of modeling for animation? any tips and advise? user added image

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# 6 22-01-2008 , 08:45 PM

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and another question. hehe..

in animation, when placing joints, where do you usually place the joints for smooth animation? like for the smooth motion of the body movement and facial expression?

my basis for my project is just a simple 3d animation like this: https://www.pocoyo.com

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# 7 22-01-2008 , 09:33 PM

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You ussualy place the joints in a position that would mimic the joints in the animal.

Use whatever workflow you feel happy with, I like to poly box model heads and arms, torso as sepperate objects, keeping into consideration how to connect them, then combine them and tweek. Although I will sometimes extrude edges if I feel like it, thats just my workflow and what works for me.

"No pressure, no diamonds" Thomas Carlyle

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Best way of modeling an animal for animation?

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