And here is smoothed wireframe picture. On my time off I have been working mainly on his ears, and the folds of skin on the back of his head and also a little on his eyes and nostrils.

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Very good base for this head of hippo. The wireframe seems clean. Just a small zone on the lower lip. In any case, for someone who puts himself in the Noob category I find that amazing.
hurry to see the next step :attn:

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Thanks a lot Kiveun! I'll take a look at that lip. Were you referring to the bit in the middle?

Your Iguana looks great by the way.

Just a small update. Started work on his gums. I was wondering - Is it is better to build the teeth seperately? And if so, how do you attach them once you have all the pieces. Thanks.

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And while I'm at it... Should I model that central strip, running down the middle of his gums, or would I texture that area with a bump map...if that makes sense.

And here's the hippo with his mouth open. I think I fixed the problem with the lip.

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hmmm, difficult one. I'd say model the teeth separately and slot them in place.
Dont know about the bit down the middle of the mouth, you could maybe model the high areas and then bump around that.

Great progress

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Thanks for the helpful advice T1ck. I have spent the last couple of days working on the inside of the mouth. This is the first mouth area that I have built, so it took me a while to work out.

Here is my polygon mesh for the upper and lower gums and the teeth. There are a number of 5 sided polys that I still need to sort out. And triangles as well, though I get the impression that these are less of a problem. I have modelled the teeth seperately as suggested. I am assuming that this is because they will have their own material and texture.

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and here is the mesh duplicated with a simple tounge that I modelled last night.

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Here is the inside of the mouth after it has been smoothed. I still need to attach the tounge to the lower gums and then the gums to the main mesh of the head.

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and finally, here is a picture of the entire head. I have made a couple of minor adjustments to the eyes and the corner of the mouth. I am stuck at work for the next few days so maya is going to have to wait. At least it gives me a chance to check out everyone else's progress...

Any comments and criticisms are always welcome.

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yer model looks sweet, mouths o hippos are ugly things though, looks like they need braces

cheers jhubbard!

Yeah, they have crazy mouths. huge gums and teeth pointing out in every direction.

Nice progress you've flown through that area and it looks cool.
Is that going to be the pose for the mouth?

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Thanks a lot, t1ck! Much appreciated.

I am not sure about the final pose. I may open the mouth up a little wider, maybe lifting the upper part of the mouth. What do you think?

I have been working from a ton of hippo photos and, as I think you mentioned in another post, it can be difficult to define the animal when you realise just how different each animal looks.

I eventually plan (hope) to rig the head so that I can open and close it, but that is probably a long way off...

id either shut the mouth more or open it more, cos hes kinda not made his mind up atm, wide open , and when you render render from a bit above him, more verticle, that would look sweet + that way you can really show off detail and put a lot of effort into making that mouth look amazing cos theres not that much detail in the nose area in real life ayways.
Just a suggestion but either way im sure it would look cool.