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Author Topic: Box mod wip - Hand  (Read 10105 times)

Francesco

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Box mod wip - Hand
« on: November 25, 2008, 10:14:16 am »

Hi again Anim8ors,
this is another thing I worked on lately, after having a read to the tutorial pointed out by headwax.

The subject is pretty self explanatory just like the attached image.

I'm not really happy with the palm and back of the hand, while the fingers look nice. Other things I really have to dig further are the rigging and the skinning. I used bone influences but I fear I mistaken quite some things, because when the hand closes to a fist all the joints and moreover the thumb part of the palm get messed up like an empty plastic glove, instead of keeping the volume like a real hand.

Once again, looking forward for C&C, have fun people and thanks for reading.
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headwax

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Re: Box mod wip - Hand
« Reply #1 on: November 25, 2008, 10:29:19 pm »

great job. C and c is the body of the hand needs to be bigger I think,

For the knuckles and other joints like knees etc try this

idea via mp3d!

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Inxth

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Re: Box mod wip - Hand
« Reply #2 on: November 26, 2008, 02:04:42 am »

Why don't you just show it in render?

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hihosilver

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Re: Box mod wip - Hand
« Reply #3 on: November 26, 2008, 02:51:17 am »

Inxth:  He's showing the wireframe so that we can see the topology of the mesh, as it's very important when creating models to be used for animation or rigging, as well as creating smooth meshes for normal rendered images.

Francesco:  You have a good start there.  The topology looks mainly solid, though there are some unneeded n-gons created because you cut those extra squares in for the knuckles.  I do agree that the palm could have a bit more definition though.  Perhaps try to get the edges to flow as the curves of a person's palm to.  That would help define it nicely and give a more realistic representation.
Good start though!  It's nice to see some modeling from you :)
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Francesco

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Re: Box mod wip - Hand
« Reply #4 on: November 26, 2008, 06:01:40 am »

Thanks people for dropping in! Yes these are my first attempts at serious modelling, and I think I didn't stick enough to the tutorial, I modelled some parts "as they came out", taking some initiative. Better to follow the guidelines for starters ;)
I'll try to apply the mods you suggested and I'll drop some other render.
By the way, is it acceptable to add unnatural bones, such as one right below the first thumb bone, in order to better control the palm's volume where the thumb bends?
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hihosilver

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Re: Box mod wip - Hand
« Reply #5 on: November 26, 2008, 02:19:51 pm »

Francesco, that's great you're taking initiative!  That will definitely pay off.  You shouldn't necessarily follow all tutorials step by step, that doesn't help you at all.  The tutorials are there to teach you the concepts and methodology not how to follow something step  by step!
So I think that's a good thing :)
As for the bones, whatever you find is best for animating, though there are certain ways to create the mesh and rig the figure that will allow for less deformation.
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headwax

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Re: Box mod wip - Hand
« Reply #6 on: November 26, 2008, 07:04:57 pm »

Yep hiho is right as always ;)

The first thing I made with the Joan d'arc tutorial was a surfboard and  fins.
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Francesco

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Re: Box mod wip - Hand
« Reply #7 on: November 26, 2008, 09:29:37 pm »

Yes, that tutorial is great, and that website has a lot of other interesting tutorials.

Between a read and a snapshot render, here is where I am about now. I modified the topology and actually narrowing the palm-side creases of the fingers helped a lot, just like suggested by headwax. The change suggested by hihosilver helped to fix the thumb part of the palm, along with two additional bones. I've also fixed the upper part of the palm, more or less I followed the line where the base of the fingers bend.

I attach some images and a video.

The video is inside of the zip file, it's a 320x240, 6 secs video at 8fps. The name is self-explanatory: it shows the point of view of a fly while flying around a closing fist. You might safely assume that the weird coloring is a shift-effect due to the high speed of the flight (it had to be a superfly).

Enjoy!

BTW: I think I know what I have to fix further, but this involves rigging from scratch because it needs more bones and a different skinning. I didn't show any detail about rigging and skinning, but you will notice where and why the hand fails in its realism.
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hihosilver

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Re: Box mod wip - Hand
« Reply #8 on: November 27, 2008, 05:31:43 am »

That's a great model!  Especially for someone new to the 3d world.
Can you post an image of your rig?  You make it sound complicated to me ;)
Good job so far though, I like what you have.
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Francesco

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Re: Box mod wip - Hand
« Reply #9 on: November 27, 2008, 11:25:03 am »

Thank you hihosilver, you're too kind, really. Maybe I look like the smart guy who plays dumb, but I can assure you that this is just the good luck of a starter - and by the way, I used a reference image, of course, along from stealing ideas here and there from the tutorials and from all of your works people.

Here are the rigging and the skinning problems, my internet connection comes and goes, I'm attaching the pictures and editing this post to make the short story long...

...so here is the edit:

Skinning image:

Left image, the oval on the first joint of the thumb shows where it still bends wrong, and the other highlight shows where the skin makes a weird line when the thumb closes in.

Right image: the top side of the fingers curves while there should be a straight line following the bones.

Also in the upper palm, there should be a bend where marked by the red circle. This is where I'm planning to add bones to keep the volume.

Rigging image:
So far the two bones added to give volume to the thumb's base are working fine.

The other two bones highlighted in the rigging image show how I rotated them to help the hand to close better, moreover to avoid the back from staying all on a plane, when the fist is completely closed.

Looking forward for your advice, thank you very much for your help people.
« Last Edit: November 27, 2008, 11:37:18 am by Francesco »
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