MAKING OF:
Arkor
Introduction In this tutorial I'm going to explain the general work-flow that I used to create my real-time character Arkor.
19 Modeling the high poly Here you need to model each piece that makes your model and decide how you are gonna model it.
Concept Cricket and Friends See a Comet!
By Paulo Silva
A good concept is really important, and you should Making Of Arkor spend some time here, because no mater how good a modeler you are, you can't do much if your initial concept is poor.
www.blenderart.org
When working on the concept, I find it useful to explore the silhouette with a simple black and white drawing. Its easy and fast to draw and easy to discard, and when you find something you like you can go on and refine it. Since I wanted to see how the concept worked in 3d, I did a simple base mesh and concept sculpt to test the shapes, and ended up changing quite a few things in the sculpt.
Hard surfaces work better with poly modeling and nice beveled edges. When making organic surfaces, you'd be better off making a base mesh and then sculpting the detail with sculpt tools.
Modeling the low poly When modeling the low poly mesh, silhouette is the key! You need to use your polygons wisely and try to keep the silhouette of the high poly as much as the poly-budget allows. If a surface is mainly planar, then there is no need for many polys, since the details will come from the normal map. If your model is going to deform, then you also need to pay attention to the deformation areas (knees, elbows..) and add loops to support that deformation. Here your best friend is the blender retopology tool. :)
Issue 22 | Jun 2009 - "Things that go bump in the Night"