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Preface I have wondered from time to time whether it would be worth it for me to create a tutorial for modelers. Software tools evolve and applications come and go. Every year or so new tools hit the market, taking the world of 3d modeling in new directions. I am also fully aware that these practices may be more useful to me than they are to others, since they represent what I have come to know for myself over the years. So, in light of all this there is the risk that writing a tutorial is only useful for awhile, if useful at all. I learned much of what I know from some very good mentors, and have wanted to share my take on this information with others in some useful way. In doing so I wish to point out that I still feel I have a lot to learn about sculpting the figure and other natural forms in virtual space. I certainly am still learning, and recognize there are better modelers than I out there. I do however feel strongly that the axioms I’m sharing are tried and true. Hopefully you’ll find them helpful for looking at 3d modeling in some new ways.
The Modeling Ethic As a CG artist, and especially as a Game Artist, one of the biggest challenges I have is to keep my toolset from influencing the art. By that I mean the subject matter is the most important priority in my work. I want to be able to look at the result of my effort and see character, form, emotion, rhythm, tension, tone, value, and not Zbrush, Photoshop brushes, filters, sub surface scattering, global illumination etc. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate my tools. I do. But the best tools allow me to make whatever art I wish without leaving a signature that reveals a particular technology used in its execution. For the first few years of my 3d modeling career I was self taught. I thought I had learned a great deal, and that I understood what polygon modeling was about. Thankfully, I met an expert character modeler who taught me things that revolutionized my way of thinking about sculpting and modeling characters. From that point on I have worked from a very basic core set of principles or rules that over the years has evolved and grown to become my modeling ethic. The rules are application agnostic, and fundamental. They are also technical in nature. This isn’t a tutorial about aesthetic development. As fun as it would be to create a tutorial like that, for now you’ll have to get that elsewhere. This document is all about revisiting the base elements used to build 3d geometry and how to use that information to produce technically superior models. Once these skills are mastered, the mind is free to concentrate on producing art. |
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