NURBS circles, lofts, and the Human Body

# 1 06-01-2003 , 02:22 AM

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I'm making my first attempt at modelling a complete human figure using NURBS. The method I've been playing around with is creating several NURBS circles, scaling them to define to general shapes, lofting, then adjusting the CVs and adding isoparms where it needs them. No problem there....parametrization is clean and looks great. Before I get too deep into the project I need some advice, though:

1. My lofted surfaces are hollow inside....is this going to be a problem when animating later (with cracks showing and whatnot?) Is it better to build the figure's parts as solid pieces, like with modified cylinders.

2. Is there anything I need to be aware of when creating pieces to fit to the torso (when it comes time to stitch the arms, hands, legs, feet, and head?) I'm basically using the same circle settings for everything except for the direction I'm lofting in - i.e., I loft several scaled circles in the y for the torso. Then I do the same thing in the x for an arm. Does each isoparm number need to align exactly when stitching for it to animate properly?

Hope this makes sense. Any tips y'all can throw my way would be appreciated.

--Pete

"Terminat Bora Diem, Terminal Auctor opus."

Last edited by NitroLiq; 06-01-2003 at 02:30 AM.

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# 2 06-01-2003 , 03:38 AM

The Maya Mountain
Join Date: Aug 2002

Location: Seattle, WA

Posts: 8,245

pretty much every model you make (at least, as has been the case with me so far) will be hollow. Cracks can be an annoying problem... just gotta spend some time setting them weights! :p

Take a look at the Arm Stitching tutorial we've got in the VIP section. It might point you in the right direction.

As for me personally, I created the models used in the above tutorial from a nurbs sphere for the torso and a nurbs cylinder for the arm.

Good luck!

-Mike
The Maya Toolbelt

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# 3 06-01-2003 , 01:37 PM

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Cool. Thanks, Mike. I'll take a look at it.

--Pete

"Terminat Bora Diem, Terminal Auctor opus."

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# 4 13-01-2003 , 07:19 PM

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Mike, Any chance you can post a tutorial about how you created the torso from a sphere? How many spans did you start out with? Did you have to add a lot of isoparms? I just played around with setting sections and spans to 16 but it creates so many CV's...not sure where I should be pulling to create the general shape. Any tips you might share would be great.

"Terminat Bora Diem, Terminal Auctor opus."

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# 5 13-01-2003 , 08:15 PM

The Maya Mountain
Join Date: Aug 2002

Location: Seattle, WA

Posts: 8,245

Man, that's been quite a long time ago... over 2 years, I think. If I remember correctly, I had created a torso without reference from a sphere, and then later on, I used that same torso to refine it into a more realistic looking one using reference material.

actually...

*digs through archives...*

Yeah, I still got all those guys. Here's one of the benefits of saving in stages. user added image

You can do a semi-step-by-step. It doesn't really show how I got to the first torso from a sphere, but it's mostly just a matter of shaping the hulls and tweaking CVs.

Hope it helps!

-Mike
The Maya Toolbelt

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# 6 13-01-2003 , 08:20 PM

Kevin

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nitro... it really is just very time consuming, but keep plugin away moving cvs and lots of editing... it can be done, mikes model looks great when you think that that was actually once a sphere!!

if you need another example on this technique check out craigs monster head part 1 - all made with a cylinder

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# 7 14-01-2003 , 12:45 AM

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Thanks guys. I'll have to check out the dragonhead tutorial (and a book on anatomy). Those initial 14 pts are burning a hole in my pocket...hahaha...truth is I've been going through Maya Fundamentals to get my skills upand running so I want to finish that before opening up another can of worms. Plus, I wanted to go through a variety of the video tuts rather than spending almost all my points on the dragonhead alone.

Excellent detail on that torso, Mike.

"Terminat Bora Diem, Terminal Auctor opus."

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NURBS circles, lofts, and the Human Body

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