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First 3D Studio Max Model

Submitted by codyalday on

I have recently brouhgt, well my used my brothers credit card to buy Paul Steed's book, which is called " Modeling a Character in 3D Studio Max ". I have started last Friday, and things seem to be going well. I am using 3D Studio Max 2.5 but the book says for 3 and 4, but the a practicly the same, hopefully.

I will be posting my work as i go, try to ignore the poor software redering, and modeling skills thankaz.

So here is the head and hair, only have done.

[img]http://img6.photobucket.com/albums/v19/codyalday/character_hair.jpg[/img]

Submitted by bullet21 on Wed, 03/03/04 - 5:39 AM Permalink

Looking good, especially for a first model, keep at it

Submitted by Kalescent on Wed, 03/03/04 - 12:02 PM Permalink

hey cody, not bad for a first starter man - do you plan on building the whole Calisto from that book ? or perhaps modding her a bit to your own design ?

I think maybe the head is a tad too long at the mo - ie distance from top of head, to chin.
either that or the mouth and nose are a wee bit too small and close together :)

have a bit of a play around with those.

Great start tho man, keep it up :)

Submitted by codyalday on Wed, 03/03/04 - 9:13 PM Permalink

Yes, i do plan to model the whole character from the book. but i may change things around to make the polys less so i can get it into Quake 2 hopefully.

Yeah, it is a bit long, but it think it has to many polys around the chin area, so i have to weld some together,also, i need to give the nose more definition, so it will look like a nose. So i will keep you notified on my progress guys and gals. Thankaz.

Submitted by Fluffy CatFood on Wed, 03/03/04 - 11:48 PM Permalink

Thats pretty decent for a first model, I remember mine, it was terrible, the skin was even worse :)

Submitted by bullet21 on Thu, 04/03/04 - 6:39 PM Permalink

Don't worry to much about the little details yet. first use the book to get hang of the tools and then go back later and refine it.

Submitted by codyalday on Tue, 09/03/04 - 11:47 AM Permalink

I have a problem with modeling the torso, chest area. It says to create a circle which I have, and to move and rotate to match up with the reference pictures. Than it says to clone another 4 circles to make 5, which I did. Than it says to make the circles one object, I done that alright. Than you have to make a cross section by hitting the more button, then the cross section button. Now tihs is where I am stuck, it doesn't have the cross section button. Is this because of my version of max, or did I do something wrong. Anything would be appriciated. Thankaz in advanced.

Submitted by J I Styles on Tue, 09/03/04 - 11:23 PM Permalink

ok, first of all is your object a spline object still? if so, then cross section will be hidden away under the modifier list.

Submitted by codyalday on Sun, 14/03/04 - 3:57 AM Permalink

I have done more to my model. Instead of doing the cross section thing for the body, I just done a cylinder, move verts around to match up with the reference pictures, the same with the leg thing. Anything comments or critisism.

[img]http://img6.photobucket.com/albums/v19/codyalday/character4.jpg[/img]

PS: Could someone that has the book C.D send me the arm and boot model in 3DS form, as I need it in the tutorial. I wouldn't ask, but my brother snapped the C.D which had all the models, pics, etc. Thankaz in advanced.

Submitted by bullet21 on Sun, 14/03/04 - 7:41 PM Permalink

nice to see the big breasts are comin along are you nearly up to the big boots :P

Submitted by J I Styles on Sun, 14/03/04 - 8:45 PM Permalink

ok, although it's great you're learning to model, I would really like to just give the advice of getting an anatomy book. Honestly, just got out there, and grab a $25 anatomy for the artist book and look at it [:)]

"Paul Steed Antatomy" at its best is ridiculous looking cartoony proportions of women with balloons taped to their chest and spines broken in 3 places. Think of the poor women and their suffering to look like this! Yes, it's 13 year old wet dream material, but it's also fictional and next to useless knowledge. Here's the real life equivelant of 13 year old wet dream material:

[img]http://www.fineart.sk/photos/anything_3d/006.JPG[/img]

so the biggest bit of advice I can give is please try not to be "poisoned" by this stuff - the amount of people I've known which have gone this route and still to this day can't break away from it even when they try is sad. They're some of the first portfolios to be binned when we get them. Anyways, enough ranting. It's great to see you improving your modelling knowledge, but I do stress please keep the above in mind later.

Submitted by MoonUnit on Tue, 16/03/04 - 7:49 AM Permalink

lol poor girls spine, thats gotta weigh you down.

Submitted by codyalday on Wed, 17/03/04 - 2:49 AM Permalink

Yeah, I think the reference pictures went a bit over board with the breats, so I may scale them down a little.

Submitted by inglis on Wed, 17/03/04 - 2:51 AM Permalink

cant wait to see the boots...

Submitted by bullet21 on Wed, 17/03/04 - 4:01 AM Permalink

Those things are weapons of mass destruction.

Look out or Bush will invade

Submitted by Aven on Wed, 17/03/04 - 8:15 AM Permalink

Good to see that she came standard with driver and passenger side airbags :D

With all the breast comments aside, she is starting to take a fairly decent shape (shut up). Would you be able to post some pics with your smoothing groups disabled at all? I prefer to look at models that are more faceted :)

Submitted by MoonUnit on Wed, 17/03/04 - 9:28 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Aven
she is starting to take a fairly decent shape (shut up).

lol!!!
but seriously though its a fair effort for a first model :)

Submitted by codyalday on Thu, 18/03/04 - 2:59 AM Permalink

Yeah, thankaz moonunit, though it is my first model in Max, not my first model as such, well only one person model I have done, a zombie, very dogy. Aven, what you said about disabling smoothing groups, could you tell me how to do that please, as I do not know.

Submitted by Aven on Thu, 18/03/04 - 3:46 AM Permalink

Ooo. you may want to check your help file or get a Max user to help you out with that one. Last I used Max was good ol' version 3.1 :) Telling you how to do it with Maya would probably be a little pointless :p

Submitted by J I Styles on Thu, 18/03/04 - 4:05 AM Permalink

edit mesh/poly > face/poly/object selection > surface properties > smoothing Groups

Clear all will kill all the smoothing groups.

Submitted by MoonUnit on Thu, 18/03/04 - 7:40 AM Permalink

nice to see it coming together, disproportionate as it is your atleast getting somewhere :D

Submitted by bullet21 on Thu, 18/03/04 - 6:46 PM Permalink

ummmm, it appears this female has a groin bulge. maybe she's hiding something.

Submitted by MoonUnit on Thu, 18/03/04 - 11:56 PM Permalink

what i ment was that allthough there is a certain problem with oversized portions of the characters body (being lovely and politically correct here :P) your still managing to build a character.

Submitted by Aven on Fri, 19/03/04 - 4:40 AM Permalink

That's easier to see now :)

There are a few edges that need to be flipped on her. One under her left breast. Some on her knees, and so forth.

As bullet said, her groin is little bulgy. Although her groin should have a bit of a bulge, it shouldn't be quite that intense :)

She needs an arse crack :) And her calves should be thickened up a little so it looks like she could support all that weight :)

You're doing well so far.

Submitted by MoonUnit on Fri, 19/03/04 - 5:25 AM Permalink

actually come to think of it, she needs an arse period :P, theres no... cheeks (sound really weird now) infact the bulge is in the centre :|

Posted by codyalday on

I have recently brouhgt, well my used my brothers credit card to buy Paul Steed's book, which is called " Modeling a Character in 3D Studio Max ". I have started last Friday, and things seem to be going well. I am using 3D Studio Max 2.5 but the book says for 3 and 4, but the a practicly the same, hopefully.

I will be posting my work as i go, try to ignore the poor software redering, and modeling skills thankaz.

So here is the head and hair, only have done.

[img]http://img6.photobucket.com/albums/v19/codyalday/character_hair.jpg[/img]


Submitted by bullet21 on Wed, 03/03/04 - 5:39 AM Permalink

Looking good, especially for a first model, keep at it

Submitted by Kalescent on Wed, 03/03/04 - 12:02 PM Permalink

hey cody, not bad for a first starter man - do you plan on building the whole Calisto from that book ? or perhaps modding her a bit to your own design ?

I think maybe the head is a tad too long at the mo - ie distance from top of head, to chin.
either that or the mouth and nose are a wee bit too small and close together :)

have a bit of a play around with those.

Great start tho man, keep it up :)

Submitted by codyalday on Wed, 03/03/04 - 9:13 PM Permalink

Yes, i do plan to model the whole character from the book. but i may change things around to make the polys less so i can get it into Quake 2 hopefully.

Yeah, it is a bit long, but it think it has to many polys around the chin area, so i have to weld some together,also, i need to give the nose more definition, so it will look like a nose. So i will keep you notified on my progress guys and gals. Thankaz.

Submitted by Fluffy CatFood on Wed, 03/03/04 - 11:48 PM Permalink

Thats pretty decent for a first model, I remember mine, it was terrible, the skin was even worse :)

Submitted by bullet21 on Thu, 04/03/04 - 6:39 PM Permalink

Don't worry to much about the little details yet. first use the book to get hang of the tools and then go back later and refine it.

Submitted by codyalday on Tue, 09/03/04 - 11:47 AM Permalink

I have a problem with modeling the torso, chest area. It says to create a circle which I have, and to move and rotate to match up with the reference pictures. Than it says to clone another 4 circles to make 5, which I did. Than it says to make the circles one object, I done that alright. Than you have to make a cross section by hitting the more button, then the cross section button. Now tihs is where I am stuck, it doesn't have the cross section button. Is this because of my version of max, or did I do something wrong. Anything would be appriciated. Thankaz in advanced.

Submitted by J I Styles on Tue, 09/03/04 - 11:23 PM Permalink

ok, first of all is your object a spline object still? if so, then cross section will be hidden away under the modifier list.

Submitted by codyalday on Sun, 14/03/04 - 3:57 AM Permalink

I have done more to my model. Instead of doing the cross section thing for the body, I just done a cylinder, move verts around to match up with the reference pictures, the same with the leg thing. Anything comments or critisism.

[img]http://img6.photobucket.com/albums/v19/codyalday/character4.jpg[/img]

PS: Could someone that has the book C.D send me the arm and boot model in 3DS form, as I need it in the tutorial. I wouldn't ask, but my brother snapped the C.D which had all the models, pics, etc. Thankaz in advanced.

Submitted by bullet21 on Sun, 14/03/04 - 7:41 PM Permalink

nice to see the big breasts are comin along are you nearly up to the big boots :P

Submitted by J I Styles on Sun, 14/03/04 - 8:45 PM Permalink

ok, although it's great you're learning to model, I would really like to just give the advice of getting an anatomy book. Honestly, just got out there, and grab a $25 anatomy for the artist book and look at it [:)]

"Paul Steed Antatomy" at its best is ridiculous looking cartoony proportions of women with balloons taped to their chest and spines broken in 3 places. Think of the poor women and their suffering to look like this! Yes, it's 13 year old wet dream material, but it's also fictional and next to useless knowledge. Here's the real life equivelant of 13 year old wet dream material:

[img]http://www.fineart.sk/photos/anything_3d/006.JPG[/img]

so the biggest bit of advice I can give is please try not to be "poisoned" by this stuff - the amount of people I've known which have gone this route and still to this day can't break away from it even when they try is sad. They're some of the first portfolios to be binned when we get them. Anyways, enough ranting. It's great to see you improving your modelling knowledge, but I do stress please keep the above in mind later.

Submitted by MoonUnit on Tue, 16/03/04 - 7:49 AM Permalink

lol poor girls spine, thats gotta weigh you down.

Submitted by codyalday on Wed, 17/03/04 - 2:49 AM Permalink

Yeah, I think the reference pictures went a bit over board with the breats, so I may scale them down a little.

Submitted by inglis on Wed, 17/03/04 - 2:51 AM Permalink

cant wait to see the boots...

Submitted by bullet21 on Wed, 17/03/04 - 4:01 AM Permalink

Those things are weapons of mass destruction.

Look out or Bush will invade

Submitted by Aven on Wed, 17/03/04 - 8:15 AM Permalink

Good to see that she came standard with driver and passenger side airbags :D

With all the breast comments aside, she is starting to take a fairly decent shape (shut up). Would you be able to post some pics with your smoothing groups disabled at all? I prefer to look at models that are more faceted :)

Submitted by MoonUnit on Wed, 17/03/04 - 9:28 AM Permalink

quote:Originally posted by Aven
she is starting to take a fairly decent shape (shut up).

lol!!!
but seriously though its a fair effort for a first model :)

Submitted by codyalday on Thu, 18/03/04 - 2:59 AM Permalink

Yeah, thankaz moonunit, though it is my first model in Max, not my first model as such, well only one person model I have done, a zombie, very dogy. Aven, what you said about disabling smoothing groups, could you tell me how to do that please, as I do not know.

Submitted by Aven on Thu, 18/03/04 - 3:46 AM Permalink

Ooo. you may want to check your help file or get a Max user to help you out with that one. Last I used Max was good ol' version 3.1 :) Telling you how to do it with Maya would probably be a little pointless :p

Submitted by J I Styles on Thu, 18/03/04 - 4:05 AM Permalink

edit mesh/poly > face/poly/object selection > surface properties > smoothing Groups

Clear all will kill all the smoothing groups.

Submitted by MoonUnit on Thu, 18/03/04 - 7:40 AM Permalink

nice to see it coming together, disproportionate as it is your atleast getting somewhere :D

Submitted by bullet21 on Thu, 18/03/04 - 6:46 PM Permalink

ummmm, it appears this female has a groin bulge. maybe she's hiding something.

Submitted by MoonUnit on Thu, 18/03/04 - 11:56 PM Permalink

what i ment was that allthough there is a certain problem with oversized portions of the characters body (being lovely and politically correct here :P) your still managing to build a character.

Submitted by Aven on Fri, 19/03/04 - 4:40 AM Permalink

That's easier to see now :)

There are a few edges that need to be flipped on her. One under her left breast. Some on her knees, and so forth.

As bullet said, her groin is little bulgy. Although her groin should have a bit of a bulge, it shouldn't be quite that intense :)

She needs an arse crack :) And her calves should be thickened up a little so it looks like she could support all that weight :)

You're doing well so far.

Submitted by MoonUnit on Fri, 19/03/04 - 5:25 AM Permalink

actually come to think of it, she needs an arse period :P, theres no... cheeks (sound really weird now) infact the bulge is in the centre :|