Meet Andy. A Character Study

[Ron Pfister]

Meet Andy.

Andy has been a clown for nearly 50 years...since the day he ran away with the circus, at age thirteen. Andy drinks too much and doesn't sleep enough. He's seen far too much of the world to see the humor in it anymore, yet he still puts on his make-up, shoes that are 46 sizes bigger than anyone elses, and squeezes his 5'4'' 240lb frame into the worlds "smallest car". Sometimes for 2 shows in the same day. Andy has never been married, but doesn't see any harm in that.

So, what's my point.

When building a model, or a full scene, it can be of benefit to take some time and to give your character a life. Make a short list of the whos and the whats and the wheres before starting. Obviously Andy is a character in the classic sense, but the same idea can apply to simple objects. The history of a lamp or a chair can help to give you a clearer idea of how that item will look when it's finished. The extra effort may help you to add detail that you might not have thought to apply had you gone into your project cold.

Unless you're on a schedule take the time to experiment. Sometimes good enough, isn't. The extra fuss might not yield a master piece, but you will benefit from becoming better aquainted with your digital tools and the extra thought given to your models will show in your finished images.

Happy Rendering.

Ronf

Ron Pfister
http://www.imaginationmagic.com

[Ron Pfister]

Meet Andy.

Andy has been a clown for nearly 50 years...since the day he ran away with the circus, at age thirteen. Andy drinks too much and doesn't sleep enough. He's seen far too much of the world to see the humor in it anymore, yet he still puts on his make-up, shoes that are 46 sizes bigger than anyone elses, and squeezes his 5'4'' 240lb frame into the worlds "smallest car". Sometimes for 2 shows in the same day. Andy has never been married, but doesn't see any harm in that.

So, what's my point.

When building a model, or a full scene, it can be of benefit to take some time and to give your character a life. Make a short list of the whos and the whats and the wheres before starting. Obviously Andy is a character in the classic sense, but the same idea can apply to simple objects. The history of a lamp or a chair can help to give you a clearer idea of how that item will look when it's finished. The extra effort may help you to add detail that you might not have thought to apply had you gone into your project cold.

Unless you're on a schedule take the time to experiment. Sometimes good enough, isn't. The extra fuss might not yield a master piece, but you will benefit from becoming better aquainted with your digital tools and the extra thought given to your models will show in your finished images.

Happy Rendering.

Ronf

Ron Pfister
http://www.imaginationmagic.com

[Mark (theKeeper)]

... and nicely said.

[randyrives]

Great model and character. This advice is good, and something I have been trying to do.

Did you do this in C4D also. I love the hair and am sitting here trying to figure out how you did it. So, how did you do it?


--Randy

[Ron Pfister]

Randy,

The image was done in C4D.
As for his hair...Andy's head is a complete mesh including ears, throat, tongue, gums, front teeth and even molars. To do his hair I had two choices. First was to exturde or skin a section of polygons to form the hair around the sides of Andy's head. This would be textured later using a color map, and an Alpha map, to give the impression of individual hairs. The second option (the one that was eventually used) was to select the polygons in front of, and behind Andy's ears, then around to the back of his skull. These polygons were Split from the original mesh so that they became a separate object but remained in their original position. Because each polygon was relatively large I Subdivided them. The polygons in front of the ears were subdivided a second time. The aim was to give the look of greater hair mass towards the front of Andy without taxing the renderer. To form the actual hair the Matrix Extrude was used. Depending on the parameters (scale, distance, rotate and a choice of variances for each) that you've chosen this tool extrudes the individual polygons in a random manner. After some experimentation I found a look that suited Andy, then added a texture.

A less exaggerated example of what the Matrix tool does can be found in this forum under Boredom and Wallpaper.

The above method may not be suitable for everyone. I use a Dual Mac G4 500mhz w/1024MB Ram which chewed through the render with little trouble or waiting around. Had I used my G3 I would have opted to create Andy's hair using the Loft and texture map method.

I hope this was helpful Randy.

Ron

Ron Pfister
http://www.imaginationmagic.com

[randyrives]

Ron,
Thanks for the detailed reply. I am going to have to play with that matrix extrude. I am very new to C4D. Right now I am learning and doing most my modeling in Rhino, using C4D for rendering.


--Randy

[Mark (theKeeper)]

That was a great idea for the hair Ron. Good thinkin'.

I'll have to play more with that myself. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

[Ron Pfister]

If you're going to try the Matrix Extrude, start small. Create a simple object, select a few polygon then experiment with the tool. With only a few selected you should get a better idea of how the tool reacts.

Ron Pfister
http://www.imaginationmagic.com

[Mark (theKeeper)]

Thanks for that advice Ron, will do! [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]