LightWave 3D 8 Cartoon Character Creation: Volume 1 Modeling & Texturing

by Jonny Gorden

Overview

Companion CD included with all the featured third-party plug-ins and more!
Character design, modeling, and texturing are the fundamental building blocks of character animation. LightWave 3D [8] Cartoon Character Creation Volume 1: Modeling & Texturing includes both general theory and comprehensive tutorials for every aspect of modeling and texturing 3D characters. Learn how, why, and when to use the most efficient techniques so you can have fun creating your own fantastic 3D characters.
Find out how to configure LightWave 3D for character creation, and learn the necessary steps of the character concept, design, and planning stages; discover multiple methods for modeling characters and clothing using subdivision patches; understand the techniques for creating complex UV mapping; learn about surface attributes and surfacing characters; enhance the appearance of your characters through the use of gradients and procedural textures; explore a variety of techniques for creating image maps and applying them to your characters.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781556222535
Publisher:	Jones & Bartlett Learning
Publication date:	11/14/2004
Series:	Wordware Game and Graphics Library
Edition description:	1E
Pages:	471
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Zero Gravity Entertainment

Table of Contents

	Introduction	xiii
Chapter 1	Getting Started	1
1.1	Files and Folders	1
1.2	Modifying Shortcuts	3
1.3	Configuring Modeler	4
	Options	4
	Interface	6
1.4	Configuring Layout	9
	Options	9
	Interface	12
Part I	Preparation
Chapter 2	Concept Stage	18
2.1	Character Design	18
	What and Who	18
	Research	19
2.2	Analyzing the Concept	21
2.3	Preparation	23
	Read the Script	23
	Size Counts	25
	Background Images	26
Part II	Morfi
Chapter 3	Creating Morfi	32
3.1	Modeler Setup	32
3.2	Modeling the Body	34
	Torso	34
	Legs and Feet	39
	Arms	43
	Hands	46
3.3	Modeling the Head	56
	Mouth	59
	Teeth and Tongue	62
	Ears	64
	Eyes	69
3.4	Creating Surfaces	73
	Weights and Gradients	75
	Creating Weight Maps	76
	Creating Gradients	77
3.5	Creating Morphs	79
	Creating Mouth Expressions	80
	Opening the Jaw	82
	Creating Eyelid Morphs	83
Chapter 4	Rigging Morfi	85
4.1	Creating Skelegons	85
	Spine	85
	Leg	87
	Pelvis	89
	Arm	89
	Hand and Fingers	90
	Eye	92
	Ear and Antenna	94
4.2	Weight Mapping	96
	Arms	96
	Hands	97
	Head	98
	Legs and Feet	100
	Body	102
	Eyes	104
	Assigning Weights to Skelegons	106
	Preparing for Layout	107
4.3	Layout	108
	Object Properties	108
	Converting Skelegons	110
	Parenting the Bones	111
	Adjusting the Leg Bones	114
	Adjusting the Arm Bones	116
	Creating Animation Controls	118
	Creating Control Parents	121
	Configuring the Controls	122
	Bone Settings	124
	Bone Strength	129
	Mirroring the Rig	130
	Organizing the Rig	132
4.4	Advanced Rigging	134
	Eyes and Eyelids	134
	Eye Stretching	135
	Eyelid Automation	139
	Adding More Eyelid Controls	143
	Testing the Rig	144
Part III	Hamish
Chapter 5	Modeling	148
5.1	Subpatch Modeling 101	148
	Subpatch Limitations	149
	Subpatch Guidelines	150
	Subpatch Distortion	152
5.2	Modeler Setup	153
5.3	Modeling the Head	154
	Basic Shapes	154
	Eye Sockets	157
	Nose	159
	Mouth	166
	Ears	173
	Adjusting the Shapes	181
	Creating the Details	182
	Ears	183
	Nostrils	187
	Nose Wrinkles	190
	Eyes and Eyelids	194
	Eyebrows	197
	Adjusting the Proportions	201
	Inner Mouth	204
	Gums	206
	Tongue	209
	Teeth	211
	Closing the Mouth	216
	Final Details	218
	Hair	219
	Final Eyeballs	221
5.4	Modeling the Body	224
	Torso	225
	Arms	228
	Groin	230
	Legs	232
	Hands	236
	Fingers	241
	Feet	246
	Toes	250
	Detail	254
5.5	Modeling Clothes	256
	Shoes	256
	Pants	263
	Shirt	266
	Detailing the Shirt	271
	Socks	273
5.6	Creating Morphs	278
	Eye Blink	278
	Mouth Open	280
Chapter 6	Texturing	283
6.1	UV Mapping	283
	Planning	283
	UV Maps vs. Standard Projections	284
	Analyzing the Model	284
	Surfaces and UV Maps	286
	Multiple Surfaces per UV Map	286
	Multiple UV Maps per Surface	287
	UV Mapping Part of a Surface	288
	Textures and UV Maps	288
	Aspect Ratio	289
	Aligning Texture Size	290
	UV Texture Distortion	291
	Mapping Faces vs. Subpatches	291
	Subpatch Distortion	291
	UV Polygon Scale	292
	Discontinuous UVs	293
	Unwelding Points	295
	Cutting and Pasting	295
	UV Map Creation	296
	Basic Projections	296
	Automatic or Manual Settings	300
	Retaining Scale	300
	Internal Seams	301
	UV Morphs	302
	UV Map Editing	303
	Symmetrical Editing	303
	Transform UV	303
	Quantize UVs	304
	Checkerboard Test	304
6.2	Creating the UV Maps	305
	UV Mapping the Head	305
	Creating a UV Morph	306
	Creating the UV Map	306
	Initial Editing	310
	Checkerboard Test	313
	Editing the UV Map	316
	Adjusting Texture Scale	318
	UV Mapping the Nose	319
	Editing the UV Map	321
	Merging the Head	323
	UV Mapping the Ears	323
	Creating the UV Morph	323
	Creating the UV Map	325
	Adjusting the UV Map	327
	Editing the UV Map	330
	Creating the Body UVs	332
	UV Mapping the Torso	332
	UV Mapping the Arms	334
	UV Mapping the Legs	336
	Merging the Arms and Legs	339
	UV Mapping the Hands	340
	Merging Discontinuous UVs	342
	UV Mapping the Feet	342
	Merging the Hands and Feet	344
	Editing the Body UVs	344
	Creating Surfaces	344
	Applying Checkerboards	345
	Adjusting the Checkerboards	346
	Editing the Torso	348
	Editing the Arms and Legs	348
	Editing the Hands and Feet	349
	UV Mapping the Clothes	350
	Creating the Pants UVs	350
	Creating the Sock UVs	355
	Creating the Shoe UVs	357
	Applying Checkerboards	360
	Adjusting the Checkerboards	361
	Editing the Clothes UVs	362
	Preparing for Surfacing	363
	Saving the Object	364
6.3	Surfacing	365
	Surfaces and Light	365
	Shading Noise Reduction	365
	Surface Preview	366
	Basic Surface Attributes	366
	Color, Luminosity, and Diffuse	366
	Specularity, Glossiness, and Reflection	367
	Transparency, Refraction, and Translucency	367
	Preparing the Scene	367
	Default Lighting Rig	368
	Object Properties	368
	Adjusting the Surfaces	369
	Surfacing the Skin	370
	Surfacing the Mouth	371
	Surfacing the Teeth	371
	Surfacing the Eyes	371
	Surfacing the Hair	374
	Surfacing the Clothes	375
	Surfacing the Shoes	375
6.4	Gradients	376
	Weight Maps and Gradients	376
	0% or Nothing	376
	Negative Values	377
	Other Input Parameters	378
	Previous Layer	378
	Bump	378
	Incidence Angle	378
	Light Incidence	378
	Creating Gradient Weight Maps	379
	Dark Weight Map	379
	Mouth Weight Maps	381
	Hair Weight Map	382
	Creating the Gradients	382
	Dark Gradient	382
	Other Mouth Gradients	383
	Hair Gradient	384
6.5	Procedural Textures	385
	Viper Previews	385
	Applying Procedurals	385
	Skin Procedurals	385
	Mouth Procedurals	389
	Clothes Procedurals	392
	Shoe Procedurals	393
6.6	Image Maps	396
	Image Editing Software	396
	Planning	396
	Image Size	396
	Images vs. Other Textures	396
	Image Formats	397
	Color Resolution	397
	Previewing Image Maps	397
	Creating the Images	397
	Preparing the Images	400
	Final Resolution	400
	Preparing the Layers	401
	Painting Textures	401
	Layers	402
	Maintaining Consistency	402
	Dealing with Seams	403
	Creating the Head Textures	403
	Painting the Color Map	403
	Applying the Color Map	406
	Creating the Bump Map	407
	Creating the Diffuse Map	411
	Creating the Specular Map	413
	Creating the Nose Textures	415
	Painting the Alpha Map	415
	Painting the Color Map	416
	Applying the Color Map	417
	Creating the Bump Map	419
	Creating the Diffuse Map	420
	Creating the Specular Map	420
	Creating the Glossiness Map	421
	Creating the Ear Textures	423
	Creating the Color Map	423
	Creating the Other Maps	424
	Creating the Body Textures	425
	Creating the Arm and Leg Textures	426
	Creating the Color Map	426
	Creating the Bump Map	429
	Creating the Other Maps	430
	Creating Asymmetrical Maps	431
	Creating the Hand and Foot Textures	433
	Adjusting the Procedural Bump	434
	Clothes Textures	437
	Sock Textures	437
	Shoe Textures	439
	Pants Textures	440
	Eye Texture	441
	Projected Textures	442
	Creating the Images	443
	Shoe Textures	443
	Shirt Textures	444
6.7	Final Texturing	447
	Converting the Images	447
	Final Adjustments	448
	Lighting Tests	449
	Low Light Test	449
	Bright Light Test	450
6.8	Render Test	452
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