Any idea?
 

I’m trying to make a character that resembles the one attached in this image (in particular, the mouthshape).

But how? Using Nurbs? If so, do you pull CVs inwards? Using polys?

Any suggestions? Or has anyone made something similar? Is there any chance I can get a look to see how to do this myself?

Thanks again.

James.

I would use poly's for the model and then blendshapes for the facial expressions.

There's info in the help menu on how to use blendshapes, it's not rocket science but it can be a bit confusing if you're just starting out.

Take it easy,

Mat.

I was pretty sure I'd need to use polys.

But how do I achieve the mouth shape? This is where I'm getting really stuck. Actually modelling the thing

I know about using blendshapes to make the different expressions (as shown in the DT Facial rigging), but i'm unsure how to make the step before hand, actually making the mouth - in terms of modelling.

Am I deleting parts of the geometry, am I moving it in? I'm real stuck.

Any ideas?

When You make blend shapes you mustn't change the geometry in any way other than moving what is there (verts, edges, faces) so you need to make sure that the model that you will be rendering has the necesarry points to make any facial expression that you need.

Blend shapes in 6 easy steps...

1: Make your model

2: Duplicate it

3: Select the duplicate then shift select the original

4: Create blendshape node (Deform > Create Blend Shape) under the animation menu set.

5: Alter the shape of the duplicate by moving the verts etc.

6: Operate the blendshape with the slider under Window > Animation Editors > Blend Shape.

Hope that helps,

Mat.

HappyMat27,

Thanks for your input, but like I said, I know how to make the blendshapes for the character

My problem is making the actual model in the first place, esp. the mouth.

I really don't know how to do it. I know from the other posts to use polys/sub-ds.

But do I detele parts of the faces to make the hole for the mouth or do I actually pull/push things about???

You'll probably need to do all of the above and some more to model the character, the best thing to do would be to practice, play with the tools and see how they work then you will be best able to assertain which ones to use.

Here's a list of some poly tools that I use frequently...

Split Polygon
Split Edge Loop
Extrude Face
Extrude Edge
Merge Vertices
Extract
Combine
Append Poly
Booleans

I would suggest looking at some modelling tutorials too, Mike McKinley's done a Cartoon Dog tutorial that you can download for free from this site, it covers a bunch of those tools and will probably help you out quite a bit.

Thanks again for your help,

I'll look up those tutorials.

No worries,

HERE'S a link to the Cartoon Dog Tutorial, my mistake, it's by Kurt not Mike.

Later,

Mat.