HOWTO: Make A New Nexuiz Playermodel.

Post anything to do with editing Nexuiz here. Whether its problems you've had, questions, or if you just want to show off your work.

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Sat Jan 05, 2008 10:49 pm

  • How-To: make a new playermodel
    Hello. If you're reading this you'd probably like to make a nexuiz model(s).

    Before you start you need to have a few things.
    Before You Start:

    - Blender / Milkshape / 3D Studio Max - Any 3D modeling program.
      - Please note the program you're using needs to be able to export as smd.

    - You may also need a image editor, here are a few suggestions as programs
      - Photoshop (almost any kind)
      - Photofilter (Very simple, but it does most things)
      - Paintshop pro - I've never used it so I don't have any comments about it.
      - GIMP

    - You'll also need the nexuiz player models (if you're going to make a zym. You don't need them if you're going to make a md3.
    - From:
    Code: Select all
    http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=81584&package_id=192474
    -- Download the .rar


    First Few Steps:
    1. Create your model
    - This may be using any 3d modeling program.

    2. Create the animations / Assign the skeleton to your model
    - For hair color, skin color etc.
    - These need to be .tga’s


    3. Export your model as a .smd
    - Animations is where you make the model move I.E Run.

    4. Then export your textures as .tga
    - You need to export as .smd because the .smd gets converted into a .zym.


    Converting to .zym:
    1. Now open where you have downloaded the playermodels.
    - In there you will find multiple .smd files.
    - Not Clear? See Bottom (Making The .zym)


    2. Then edit config-zym.txt
    - This is what controls the batch file.
    - Need More Info? See Bottom (config-zym.txt)


    The main thing that you need to edit is the very first line.
    Code: Select all
    output "YOUR MODEL NAME"




    Time To Compile:
    This is rather simple...
    Once you have all the animations + model ready you're able to compile

    1. Click on:
    Code: Select all
    compile-zym

    Image
    - This will run a bat file, which reads config-zym.txt to make a .zym.


    Then your model is ready to be tested!

    1. If it isn't there already make a models folder in data
    2. Then make a player folder
    It should look something like this
    Code: Select all
    ~/data/models/player

    3. Then move your model files over there.

    Test Server
    You'll now need to create a test server.

    Once you've created your test server enter this code to get your playermodel
    Code: Select all
    playermodel models/player/MODEL NAME.zym

    This changes your playermodel


    After that if you want to see your player model use
    Code: Select all
    chase_active 1

    - This allows you to have a 3rd person view of yourself.


    Then you have you new model!


    =========================================

    Extra Info
    Making The zym:

    Making the .zym:

    To make the .zym it’s rather simple. By default all you need are these .smd’s.

    · Die1.smd
    · Die2.smd
    · Draw.smd
    · Duck.smd
    · Duckwalk.smd
    · Duckjump.smd
    · Duckidle.smd
    · Jump.smd
    · Pain1.smd
    · Pain2.smd
    · Shoot.smd
    · Taunt.smd
    · Run.smd
    · Runbackwards.smd
    · Strafeleft.smd
    · Straferight.smddead1.smd
    · Dead2.smd
    · Forwardright.smd
    · Forwardlef.smd
    · Backright.smd
    · Backleft.smd

    From there all you need to do is to click on the batch file, “compile-zym”. Then it does the rest.

    =========================================


    Compile-zym:

    Code: Select all
    Config-zym.txt

    What it is:
    Config-zym is a text file, it tell the windows batch file what to export, and how to export it.


    What is in config-zym.txt?

    output "YOUR .ZYM NAME"

    > You need to enter what you want the .zym to be exported as. This will be what you type to get the playermodel.



    scale 0.95

    > The scale is the height of the model, 0.95 is the default.


    origin 0 0 25

    rotate 90

    mesh mesh.smd

    > This part tells it the the model is found in mesh.smd.




    scene die1.smd fps 10 noloop

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene die2.smd fps 10 noloop

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene draw.smd fps 10

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene duck.smd fps 10

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene duckwalk.smd fps 10

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene duckjump.smd fps 10

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene duckidle.smd fps 10

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene idle.smd fps 10

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene jump.smd fps 10 noloop

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene pain1.smd fps 20

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene pain2.smd fps 20

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene shoot.smd fps 10

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene taunt.smd fps 10

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene run.smd fps 22

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene runbackwards.smd fps 22

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene strafeleft.smd fps 13

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene straferight.smd fps 13

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene dead1.smd fps 10 noloop

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene dead2.smd fps 10 noloop

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene forwardright.smd fps 11

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene forwardleft.smd fps 11

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene backright.smd fps 11

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    scene backleft.smd fps 11

    > This renders the animation with the zym. The multiple animations you've exported are applied onto the .zym.



    Need more info?
    scene:
    This is just the animation.

    <something>.smd:
    This is just the name of the smd plus animation.

    fps <number>:
    This is just how many fps it takes when the animation is used.

    noloop:
    This is so that it only plays it once.


    That should be all you need to make your zym.



    =========================================


    Want Some Tutorials?
    From the listed 3D modeling programs I've suggested I've gotten some tutorials for them.

    Blender:
      http://www.blender.org/education-help/tutorials/tutorial-folder/blender-user-interface-tutorial/
      - This explains the user interface.


    Milkshape:

    3D Studio Max

    Maya
    Last edited by shaggy on Sat Jun 13, 2009 2:11 am, edited 5 times in total.
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  • shaggy wrote:- You'll also need the nexuiz player models[/list]

    not if you are doing it in md3 which the current svn supports.
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    leileilol
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Sun Jan 06, 2008 12:41 pm

  • :/ do you know of a good smd exporter for blender?
    n0rqu3
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Sun Jan 06, 2008 5:14 pm

  • The only good smd exporter I've ever seen thas been just for HL2 smds, which I don't think are compatible with .zym.
    Shoe
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Sun Jan 06, 2008 9:34 pm

  • Thanks for pointing that out leileilol, problem is now fixed.
    Last edited by shaggy on Mon Jan 07, 2008 6:52 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Mon Jan 07, 2008 5:29 am

  • Shoe wrote:The only good smd exporter I've ever seen thas been just for HL2 smds, which I don't think are compatible with .zym.


    zym compiler use SAME smds as HL2

    compiling model for nexuiz is very similar to making HL2 model, you just use different compiler
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Mon Jan 07, 2008 8:21 am

  • Really? Well that simplifies things, afaik there's been a significant amount of work put into the HL2 smd exporter (including animation). Some guy on the moddb boards has been working on it for a while.

    I was just under the impression that zym required the HL1 smd format.
    Shoe
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Tue Jan 08, 2008 2:38 pm

  • Here is a Template to get you all started. This template contains everything you need to build a model based on pyria's animations (included) using blender 3d. You need windows though :(

    Get the template: http://xoopstuner.com/nex/pyria%20template.zip

    Unzip everything to some folder.

    First install the nexuiz-compatible SMD export script into blender. Just copy nex_smd_mesh_export.py and import_static_smd.py into your blender/scripts directory.

    In blender switch a frame to "scripts Window" view and click scripts->update menus. Now under scripts -> export there should be "Nexuiz (smd)" and under scripts -> import there should be "Half-Life 2 (smd)".

    Open the pyria2.blend file in the "new animations" folder and select the MESH in a 3D view. Click export -> Nexuiz (SMD). Export a static mesh. OVERWRITE the pyria.smd file in the "new animations" folder.

    Execute the compile-zym.bat file in the "new animations" folder and pyria.zym should appear. Copy pyria.zym to your Nexuiz\data\models\player\ folder. Create it if it doesn't exist. Optiomally, you can copy the new textures from the "textures" folder to the Nexuiz\data\textures folder. Run nexuiz. Pyria is (slightly) different.

    Image

    Morphed wrote:
    Shoe wrote:The only good smd exporter I've ever seen thas been just for HL2 smds, which I don't think are compatible with .zym.


    zym compiler use SAME smds as HL2

    compiling model for nexuiz is very similar to making HL2 model, you just use different compiler


    The nexuiz SMD's use only 100% weights which is a special case in the SMD format. Most SMD importers/exporters are confused by this (they instead "share" weight among only 1 bone). For this reason I had to "patch" both the import and export scripts included in the template posted above. The exporter breaks compatibility with HL2 so i renamed it.
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Tue Jan 08, 2008 3:27 pm

Tue Jan 08, 2008 11:16 pm

  • KadaverJack wrote:
    ihsan wrote:You need windows though :(

    You don't, unless one of the blender scripts does something that'll work only on windows...
    zmodel is open source and should work on pretty much any os that has a c compiler:
    http://svn.icculus.org/twilight/trunk/zmodel/

    Well, you only need windows to run zmodel. I guess between dosbox and wine you could get it done in linux. Besides, when f0rqu3 is finished with his zym export script zmodel will not be needed at all. :D
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Tue Jan 08, 2008 11:25 pm

  • Your a god, ishan. I'm going to get to work on some nice models for us. I finally figured out how to use Melody correctly, so they should have some nice object-space as well.
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    torus
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Wed Jan 09, 2008 6:58 am

  • First of you've got a spelling error I think unless it's some new fancy word the youth has come up with (it's at the Blender tutorials section):
    shaggy wrote: - This enplanes the user interface.

    Secondly, add in Maya and one or two tutorial links. Cause I gotta tell you, having included Milkshape as a modeling program but not Maya, that's an insult right there. :) Milkshape is by far the worst modeling program in my experience, it's only good as a file converter.
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Wed Jan 09, 2008 7:05 am

  • ai wrote:First of you've got a spelling error I think unless it's some new fancy word the youth has come up with (it's at the Blender tutorials section):
    shaggy wrote: - This enplanes the user interface.

    Secondly, add in Maya and one or two tutorial links. Cause I gotta tell you, having included Milkshape as a modeling program but not Maya, that's an insult right there. :) Milkshape is by far the worst modeling program in my experience, it's only good as a file converter.


    I have to agree with that. Milkshape is abysmal.
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    torus
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Wed Jan 09, 2008 7:14 am

  • Ok, I'll add that and I'll leave my "hip" new word for a different place ;) I though I'd get it to catch on. :P

    Nah, it was one of my many spelling errors :)
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Wed Jan 09, 2008 8:19 pm

  • Morphed wrote:zym compiler use SAME smds as HL2


    ZYM compiler can't handle weights, so no
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    leileilol
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Wed Feb 06, 2008 9:10 am

  • leileilol wrote:ZYM compiler can't handle weights, so no


    ok, it dont support it

    of course if you give hl2 smds to zmodel it will work, but who cares ??


    ihsan wrote:The nexuiz SMD's use only 100% weights which is a special case in the SMD format. Most SMD importers/exporters are confused by this (they instead "share" weight among only 1 bone).


    I use weighted smds and it work, maybe it round weight and everything above 50% is 100% and below is 0%

    another good point of using hl2 smds is that you can create *.DPM model from same sources, and *.SKM (used in warsow iirc) and hl2 model too of course :)

    I know it works, I already done it, monk model and spy model are both compiled from HL2 smds
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Wed Feb 06, 2008 9:32 pm

  • Morphed wrote:I know it works, I already done it, monk model and spy model are both compiled from HL2 smds

    They are so cool!

    Sorry for OT
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Sat Feb 09, 2008 9:01 pm

  • i have to check somewhere before i get started making my own model.
    is it possible to have the walking/running animation correspond to the actual speed of the player? I’m building a VR system and I’m relying on joystick input to control the walking/running speed. I’ve noticed that the character is always in a running motion no matter how fast I’m actually going, it looks really dumb, is it darkplaces engine thing?

    My goal is to be able to look down and see the player-model’s legs, it seems to do that, I’ll need to create a model that is legs only, as the polygons in the top half of the model interfere with the view (when chase distance is set to 0)
    erroneus
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Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:14 pm

  • Like many others I'd also like to create my own playermodel. I've done a few 3D jobs so far so my knowledge about using 3D programs is rather up to date. I imported one of the smd's but I'm curios to know why there the default armature posing is actual NOT like the usual T-Poses as in most games. The bones intended for animating facial expressions seem to be ignored 'cause they don't do anything for me. The other thing is, that I don't know the upper polycount limit for a player model (the current ones are very low). The polyocunt limit for the current dominancewar challenge (which is about creating nex gen characters) suggests 9000 tris and a texture resolution of 2048px. Does the same rule apply for Nexuiz?
    silentcry
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Thu Mar 20, 2008 10:20 pm

  • Aim for a polycount ~ 3000, and a 512x512 UVmap. Nexuiz is not a next gen game, but quite a lot can be done with 3000 polies if you know what you are doing. I would say the upper, upper limit is 3500-4000 tris.

    Also you may want to model high poly, then reduce it algorithmically, and code the difference into an tangent-space normal map (using nVidia's normal mapper "melody")
    Last edited by torus on Fri Mar 21, 2008 3:27 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Fri Mar 21, 2008 1:02 pm

  • aim for 1000 polys 1500 should be maximum

    try mulder skeleton i find it best for rigging own model

    nexuiz is using tangent space normal maps with y-axis up (other apps call it inverted or have special mode for openGL normal maps ) better to check it on some simple model
    you dont need to export it with all animations to see how it looks in game, simple cube with one bone or even unanimated md3 model will be fine :) just change it using "playermodel" command in console and then "chase_active 1" to go into third person mode

    textures should be 512x512 max. if you have detailed normal map you can make it 1024x1024 just not all maps, it not only will hog memory but download will take too long :)

    <sarcasm> can't wait when everybody will make own models using different style and different theme and we will be able to see all this colorfull bits all over the place</sarcasm>
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Fri Mar 21, 2008 2:53 pm

  • Morphed wrote:Thanks for expressing interest in designing new models, Nexuiz needs them but only a few people know how to make them.

    fixed
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Fri Mar 21, 2008 3:27 pm

  • Morphed wrote:aim for 1000 polys 1500 should be maximum


    I think that's a bit too much to ask. 1500 is REALLY low.
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Fri Mar 21, 2008 6:52 pm

  • Just checked, the mulder mesh has ~3500 tris, seems like this is the current limit. Thanks for the replies so far. Lots of useful infos in this thread. Perhaps we should add them to the wiki?

    Morphed wrote:
    Thanks for expressing interest in designing new models, Nexuiz needs them but only a few people know how to make them.

    fixed


    I could write an article about edge-loops and general modelling knowledge needed for game character creation if anyone's interested.
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Fri Mar 21, 2008 7:20 pm

  • silentcry wrote:I could write an article about edge-loops and general modelling knowledge needed for game character creation if anyone's interested.

    We are interested in any related tutorials!
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Fri Mar 21, 2008 9:32 pm

  • ok, I'll write something during the next weeks. Currently have 2 pages with plain notes for the article :)

    I have a question about nexuiz' handling of normals. Does the darkplaces engine support smoothing groupes?

    And: How does nexuiz handle LOD meshes?
    Last edited by silentcry on Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:41 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:30 pm

  • Ok so here is the first part so far:

    Stage 1: Concepting your Idea

    Everything in art always starts with an idea, the same applies for creating game characters. There may be times when you have know idea how your character should look like. If that's the case I would recommend searching in the internet for inspiration or taking a sheet of paper to write a profile of your character (I do this with every model). Think if your going for a sporty or a heavy armoured character or whatever. While filling out this sheet the images will usually come up in your mind. If you have one in your head take another paper and directly sketch your idea, because you'll easily forget the idea within minutes.

    The first sketch may not be optimal but is always a good start. Do more sketches with different variations of proportions, cloths and that kind of stuff. Do not forget to look into anatomy books or books about human proportions. Keep in mind that even the anatomy of a creature is based on human or animal muscles. It is always good to have references by your side to help you with your drawings. If your unsure with some details sketch them separately.

    To make your character unique it is always a good idea to brake the symmetry. Symmetrical characters often tend to look boring. Experiment with different silhouettes, and try to make it strong so that your character can be easily recognized by just seeing the silhouette. This is especially important a player sees your character from the distance. Your character will only fill a small area on his screen and he will surely won't see all the details of your texture but the silhouettes ones.

    When you have done a few sketches lay them down on a table and compare them. Think about which head looks the best, which areas need improvements and if you are still unsatisfied with what you have done: Repeat these steps. Do not limit yourself to only one sketch. It is always important that you actually have an amount of images to choose from, because the first idea is rarely the best or most likely needs refinement.

    After a few revisions of your concept and you have come up with a final version, take out your scanner and load the scan into your painting application of choice. Instead of the previous grey pencil drawings you should now explore the full colour range. Try different colour schemes and revisit them until you think you have found the right one.

    When you finished your concept and know all the detail parts of your character you can move on to creating image planes which you will load into your modelling program later. Keep in mind that these images have to be orthographic which means that your character should not be perspectively distorted in these drawings. You will need a frontal view, a side view and the back of your character.

    Now you will most likely have to correct the sizes manually in your 2D-application so that the height of the eyes, the knee and all other parts in the image are on the same height. This step is necessary before you can use them in your 3D-program because otherwise the drawings will not match up in the viewport. It is essential that you have a finished good concept in which you planned out 'every' detail. Remember: A good game character is always based on a good concept!

    Edit: Forgot to divide the text in paragraphs, sorry about that.
    Last edited by silentcry on Sat Mar 22, 2008 12:18 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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Sat Mar 22, 2008 12:47 am

Sat Mar 22, 2008 12:11 pm

  • Stage 2: Translating your concept into a 3D model

    Advise for starters

    There are two ways how you can model characters. You can either use the Box modelling or the Poly modelling method.

    Box modelling means that you start with a simple cube, add a few cuts to block out the rough form of your character and have the proportions correct from the beginning on. Only after the form looks right you will go into the process of detailing the mesh.
    Poly modelling is a different method where you extrude poly by poly or edge by edge to get the desired result. Most artists mix these two methods while modelling anyway, so do not limit yourself to just one method. Nevertheless most game character artist prefer Box modelling because you do not have to concentrate on proportions and details at the same time as you would have to with poly modelling. Others begin to block out the body parts with simple primitives, like a cylinder for the arm, and join them afterwards to one single mesh.


    The Pose

    Surely you have seen a few wireframes of game character artists in the internet and you surely have noticed that they all are modelled in a similar pose. That pose is called the T-Pose, because if you see someone standing in the distance in that pose you will see the 'T'. His arms resemble the horizontal line and his body represents the vertical line of the 'T'. This pose will make the rigging process easier because it is symmetrical.

    Your character does not have to exactly stand straight with the arms in 90°. The important thing about that pose is that your character appears to be relaxed, which makes him or her look more naturally. Personally I prefer to slightly spread the legs and rotate the feet accordingly as well as lowering the arms a bit and moving the forearms slightly forward. I think this pose looks more humane because no body would pose like a T in real life without being seized with cramp.


    The Form

    Getting the basic shape right is the most important thing and I think the hardest part in the modelling process. Try to express your form with only a few vertices without any details, like for example the nose. You sort of try to draw the profile of your character and to build the silhouette. Remember that you should not just add new loops without tweaking the vertices. Beginners often tend to add new loops even if they could have gotten the same shape just by moving the already existing vertices to the right place, which would have saved many senseless polies.

    Image
    The basic form of a head.

    For practising, it is always a good idea to repeat this step a few times to get a feeling for the form. This step is also essential for creating your base mesh you can later use for sculpting in Zbrush, Mudbox, etc., but more about that later. You can find more information and nice images here: http://subdivisionmodeling.com/forums/showthread.php?t=482


    Poles

    Some readers might ask at this point why we have to bother about the right topology and poles if we are passing our model into Zbrush nonetheless. I added this topic here because not everyone has a computer that is good enough to display millions of polies. Personally, I have not been able to surpass the 700,000 polycount on my machine. Although knowledge about poles is especially needed for subdivision modelling you can gain valuable information which can help you with your low poly work.

    If you look closely at wireframe shots of various characters of professional artists you will notice two types of poles: Those with 5 edges connected to one vertex and those with only 3 edges. SomeArtist, a member of the subdivisionmodeling board who created the best threads about modelling theory I have read so far, called the vertex with 5 edges an E-Pole because whenever you extrude a quad you will end up with four E-Poles and four N-Poles. That is why the E stands for Extrude-Pole. The N is the short form for Nose-Pole, because this type of pole can be found nearly on every nose models. The N-Pole gives you greater control than the E-Pole simply because fewer edges end in one vertex. When box-modelling a head you basically hide one N-Pole inside the eye and another inside the ear.


    Image
    The E-Pole and the N-Pole.

    Image
    The 'Nose-Pole'.

    Meshes without poles have to contain n-gons or are completely flat like a plane. The Doo-Sabin algorithm subdivides meshes so that an E-Pole is converted to an n-gon and an N-Pole becomes a triangle. This subdivision algorithm is quite uncommon because it destroys your uv layout. Poleless models have no real advantage over model with poles, so do not be afraid to use poles.

    The wrong placement of poles can make it difficult to tweak a mesh and can lead to undesired bumpiness by applying the Catmull-Clark algorithm, which is essential for sculpting.

    Image
    Undesired bumpiness.

    Keep in mind that bumpiness is not always a bad thing, because we humans do not have a perfectly smooth skin. If you feel that a pole should be there, than do that. Poles on flat surfaces are fine anyway, so you do not have to bother about them in some areas. If you have stumbled upon a pole which is in the wrong place you can easily shift it around by creating or deleting edges, etc. There are endless possibilities for moving poles around. Just experiment a bit. Good examples about shifting poles can be found here: http://subdivisionmodeling.com/forums/showthread.php?t=907


    Flow

    Flow is very important for meshes that deform which very likely your game character should do. The direction in which your edges seem to run to decides if your model is going to deform properly or not. Bad deforming models usually have a bad flow. Be especially careful when you are modelling a head and extrude some faces. Extrusion will always lead to a circular flow, which is in the case of the human head very bad. Circular loops are formed by two E-Poles on the same lane.

    In general you can make a distinction between key loops and fill loops. Key loops are defined by poles whereas fill loops lie in between key loops. Fill loops are necessary for increasing the resolution of your model. That is why it is a good idea to go into detailing your mesh only when you have proper (key) loops.

    The eye region is a special case because the eye is the most important feature of every character which determines if your character is going to sell or not. That is the region of the face which should get the most of your attention. Newbies simply extrude the eye area, which requires no knowledge of poles but will not lead to optimal results. Instead of an extrude loop most professionals go for a spiral loop because it looks more organic.

    Image
    The baisc flow of a head.

    The lower your poly count is, the more you will likely go with a cylindrical approach for the shoulders. If your engine allows you more polygons you choose the route to model out the muscles. Try to always think about how your mesh is going to be when modelling.


    Sculpting

    Now comes the fun part: Sculpting. Your base mesh should consist only of quads because most programs have problems initializing the symmetry when you have triangles or n-gons in your mesh. Split your models up so that you can use the full polycount limit of your hardware for every body part which will be far more in the end as if you would have imported one single mesh. As a positive side effect this keeps you more focused on every single area of your mesh. Import your parts into your sculpting application of choice and go insane with details. At this part anatomy knowledge is of course crucial.


    Re-topologising

    Re-topologising is the step where you create a new low poly model and by 'tracing' your high polygon mesh.Try to match the surface of the high poly mesh as closely as possible. The goal of this process is to capture the silhouette of your high poly mesh and express it with fewer polies. The low poly mesh you are going to create is the final mesh which will be visible in your game. Make sure that the poles are placed in the correct place and that your model bends properly. During this process it is very important that you also respect the polycount of your game engine. Nexuiz character models have approximately 3,500 polygons. For a list of polycounts of various games look here: http://www.rsart.co.uk/2007/08/27/yes-but-how-many-polygons/

    Image
    Re-topologising a mesh in Blender.

    Here are a few tips for re-topologising meshes:

    1) Odd sided cylinders work better for tubes and any other round object that you won't see the ends of.
    2) Three sides for very small things, 5 for medium, 7 for large and 9-15 for cylinders that show the end caps.
    3) Odd sided objects don't get that squash stretch effect when they rotate like even sided do. They will however wobble but this is something to only worry about when doing tires or other such things.


    Where to go from here

    If you still have problems modelling characters you can always ask in forums and teach yourself with books or DVDs. You will surely learn a lot even by watching other artists modelling characters, especially the time lapses of Bay Raitt, who did the blendshapes for Gollum and Martin Krol who is a very talented artist and the alike. Most videos can be found on youtube or simply by searching via google.

    Edit1: Added a few images.
    silentcry
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Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:27 pm

  • Guess I drop in a tad late but I couldn't resist saying something... ( Yeah I'm rarely on this forum )

    think that's a bit too much to ask. 1500 is REALLY low.


    I think it's not too low, quality of meshes depends moreover on how you spend the poly's, but that's prolly known very well already :wink:
    Just dropping a few images of models that suffice that low budget:

    Image
    Vertices: 1229
    Faces: 1049

    Image
    Vertices: 869
    Faces: 1072

    Image
    Vertices: 903
    Faces: 978

    Now they look as cheap as possible as they have no textures at all (and yes the mesh is set on solid instead of smooth, looked better for the poly's to me) and I just did a 3 minute job on making a short render of them. I believe Morphed still has some textured versions of those floating around on his HDD, which certainly did look awesome... Plus, they actually have about 500 polys to spend left, nice for adding those details you want. Anyways, the details were intended to be made on the textures, not on the model itself.

    These models were for a q3 mod/game which got discontinued, and the poly counts had to fit the engine at that time.
    And well, though 1000-1500 poly's may be a tad low, I understand Morpheds reason... or did you upgrade your computer in the meanwhile mate? :P
    Can't touch this...
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    Baal Garnaal
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