Tutorials

Subdvision Head Model page 1 / page2 / page3 / page4 / page5 / page6 / page7 / page8
Boxmodelling of a female head

This tutorial will show you how I prefer to boxmodel and subdivide a stylized female
head. This technique is best suited for those that prefer to see a rough
representation of their models from the start or if they aren't neccesarily following a
sketch, i.e. "freestyling".

If you rather like the model poly-by-poly method I find the tutorial by Michel Roger
invaluable. In fact it is one of the best tutorials I have seen on this subject (an
English translation can be found at 3D total)

The idea of this tutorial is to create a head where all edges flow in the direction of
muscles so expressions can be formed fairly simply for later animation. Basically
this means having edges flow around the mouth and eyes.

This tutorial was done in 3ds max 4 but the technique itself is usable across any
3D software that supports subdivisions / meshsmoothing. It assumes that your
software also supports the selection and splitting of edgeloops and edgerings
although traditional cutting will work too. It's just so damn much slower...

Knowledge about the following is expected:

- Subdivision surfaces
- Edgeloop and Edgerings
- Quad polygons

You can learn more about this from here:

Subdivision techniques by Bay Raitt and Greg Minter

Tamas Vagra's subdivision pages
Spiraloid forums

The steps are color coded:

red means something has been added
green means something has been moved or extruded
blue means something has been deleted

Now that that's out of the way, lets start!

1)

The first step is a cube divided in 2x2x4

2)

The cube is then spherified, either by hand or in this case with a modifier in
3ds max.
It makes more sense to start from a spherified cube than from a sphere
primitive because you don't get any poles and all faces are kept as quads.

Alternatively you can also start with a 1x1x2 cube and subdivide once.

3)

I now delete the one half of the sphere and instance-mirror the other side so
whatever I model on the left is automatically updated on the right.
The basic shape of the head is pulled out of the sphere.

4)

An edgeloop splits the polygons where the eyes go.

Next

Copyright 1999 A.Wiro

Tutorials

Subdvision Head Model page 1 / page2 / page3 / page4 / page5 / page6 / page7 / page8
Boxmodelling of a female head

5)

Next a loop is drawn to outline the eyesocket.

6)

The last step resulted in 3 and 5 sided faces. This is taken care of by dividing
the edges and connecting them. This way of inserting loops comes in handy in
plenty of areas, like creating the mouth later on or making holes in meshes,
etc.

7)

The vertices are moved around to form a "goggle" form around the eyesockets.

8)

A loop is inserted where the mouth goes

9)

We want to change the direction of the loops to better suit the jaw so let's
insert some edges and then...

10)

...we delete the excess edge. Now the edges flow in a better way for when we
start working on the mouth and jaw.

Last / Next

Copyright 1999 A.Wiro

Tutorials

Subdvision Head Model page 1 / page2 / page3 / page4 / page5 / page6 / page7 / page8
Boxmodelling of a female head

11)

Here we alter the flow of the edges for the back of the jaw by inserting a
vertical loop and then turning one horizontal edge. The vertice at the cheek will
pinch when smoothed but we will fix that at a later stage.

12)

Now we extrude the neck. The faces in the neck are then no longer needed so
I deleted them.

13)

A row of edges and some vertice pushing forms the base of the neck and the
back of the jaw.

14)

Next we start on blocking out the nose. The first step is by inserting some
edges the same way the eye sockets were created; 3 sided and 5 sided faces
combined to form quads.

note:

The idea here is to let the edges flow from above the tip of the nose to below
the lower lip. This is to enable the fold that runs from the side of your nose to
your mouth.

15)

A bit of moving about gives form to the cheeks.

note:

I often view my model from a 3/4 view (above and to one side) and look at the
silhouette of the head. The eyebrow, the dimple where the eyesockets are
and the cheeks should already be nicely formed and recognizable even if they'll
be altered in later stages.

16)

Next a whole bunch of edges are cut in to help form the nose later, create the
creases along the top of your nose when you frown and also separate the
eyesockets. I also added a diagonal row at the eye to alter the direction of
edges there.

Last / Next

Copyright 1999 A.Wiro

Tutorials

Subdvision Head Model page 1 / page2 / page3 / page4 / page5 / page6 / page7 / page8
Boxmodelling of a female head

17)

...which will be completed when the offending edge is removed

18)

Next a loop is created to form the eyesocket.

19)

Then the polygons are extruded inwards twice to form a slight edge around the
eyelid.

20)

Now is the best time to create your eyeballs or at least some standins to
model around. We also add some edges to form the tearduct which will also
double for the creases formed when the nose is drawn up in disgust.

notes:

I find it extremly helpsome to give the iris some color because it makes it
easier to place the eyelids. People often judge eyes bigger than they are so
when the iris is finally textured you might end up with a perpetually surprised
stare. Having an eyeball to model around also helps getting the shape of the
eyelids right from the start rather than eyeballing it (pardon...) and then having
to fit them later on when you have much more vertices to move about.

The size and placement of the eyeballs is crucial to how the face turns out
later on. A wrong placement can create too pronounced cheeks if set too far
apart or out, too heavy brows if too far in, a cross-eyed look if too far to the
sides, etc

The anatomy books will tell you that:

- everyone's eyes have approximatly the same size of 25mm in diameter.

Women's and children's eyes look bigger because their faces are smaller
-a head is 5 eyes wide; the space between the eyes equals one eye.
-the eyes's vertical positions are set exactly in the middle of the head

Since this is more of a stylized head I've taken some liberties and exaggerated
the size of the eyes. Hey, it's my tutorial!

21)

Now we'll add several loops around the eyes that will help form the eyelids and
the creases above and below them.

note:

I can already hear the experienced subD modelers cry in agony: there is an
offending tri-face close to the tearducts!...but no worries, it's good to get rid of
as many tris as possible but later on in the modelling stage when more edges
are around there will be enough opportunities to get rid of them. Also in some
cases tris can be hidden or are even welcome. Alternatively you could also just
show me the finger and continue reading...

22)

A close row of edges help sharpen the edge around the eye when subdivided.

note: the narrower two edges are the sharper a crease you will get when
smoothed. This is very helpful to create bevels or corners and get away from
that typical subdivision "molten wax look"

Last / Next

Copyright 1999 A.Wiro

Tutorials

Subdvision Head Model page 1 / page2 / page3 / page4 / page5 / page6 / page7 / page8
Boxmodelling of a female head

23)

The eyes are roughed out so we can continue with the nose. A couple of edges
more will aid us with that.

24)

We want to add another loop to form the base of the nose but don't neccesarily
want to add more detail than is neccesary to the top of the head. So what we
can do is alter the direction of an existing loop by adding some edges and
removing some others.

25)

Let's push those verts out and give her a nose.

26)

Two rows of edges and some fiddling with their ends give us the top of the nose
and also help form the sides of the nostrils.

27)

Another row cut across beneath the nose gives it some more form and will
enable us to extrude the nostril inwards

28)

But before we do that we'll add a narrow row of edges to give the nose some
sharpness when smoothed. A 5 sided poly will result on the nose but will be
taken care of in a moment

Last / Next

Copyright 1999 A.Wiro

Tutorials

Subdvision Head Model page 1 / page2 / page3 / page4 / page5 / page6 / page7 / page8
Boxmodelling of a female head

29)

Some more adding and removing of edges completes the form of the nostril.

30)

...at which point we can extrude it inwards

31)

You can add some detail inside of the nose as well. A loop of edges will do for
me here to sharpen the look.

32)

Some more edges help form the nostrils and also take care of that 5 sided
poly from before.

33)

Let's give her some mouth, shall we? A couple of edgeloops and an inwards
extrusion, created the same way the eyes were gives us a start.

34)

The outer edgeloop forms the lips.

note:

I prefer to model the lips slightly parted but with teeth shut (jaws in neutral
state) because it makes it easier to select the vertices of the upper and lower
lips when weighting or creating morphtargets. Others prefer to model them
shut because it looks more natural...that is entirely up to you.

Last / Next

Copyright 1999 A.Wiro

Tutorials

Subdvision Head Model page 1 / page2 / page3 / page4 / page5 / page6 / page7 / page8
Boxmodelling of a female head

35)

Before we continue on the lips, lets take care of that offending pinch on the
cheek. We remove two rows of edges and redirect the row coming from the
eye down to the neck by inserting an edge

36)

With some more edgeloops added we have some more vertices to form the
sides of the mouth as well as rounding off the top of the head.

37)

We move some vertices to smooth everything, et voila! On to the mouth again

38)

We add more loops to form the lips

note:

The upper lip slightly overlaps the lower lip on the sides and creates a small
fold there. Not doing so often results in a "sausage mouth"...or something that
looks stuck on, like a Mr. Potatohead toy...
No offence if you have such a mouth.

Creating that little fold helps when forming a smile too.

39)

Again a narrow edgeloop is added to sharpen the edges.

40)

Now we will start on the crease that goes from the sides of the nose down to
the edge of the lips. We add a row of edges that conveniently also help us
smooth the chin.

Another row is inserted from the offending tri-face at the eye down to the chin
which will help round off that fold, get rid of the tri and smooth the chin. Some
excess edges are then removed.

Last / Next

Copyright 1999 A.Wiro

Tutorials

Subdvision Head Model page 1 / page2 / page3 / page4 / page5 / page6 / page7 / page8
Boxmodelling of a female head

41)

Here is a closeup of the edges as they flow around the nose. The absence of
tris prevents any odd pinches in an area that will recieve alot of abuse when
animated.

42)

We are getting close to the end. All that's left is to model an ear and attach it.
For this we will delete some faces.

43)

...and there we go. The tri-faces aren't that beatiful to look at but with some
careful placement they won't cause any trouble since this area is hardly
animated anyway. You could of course also add more loops to get rid of those
but I'd rather keep my mesh as light as possible.

44)

And now starts the fun part: detailing!

I added some more rows for the folds on the forehead and between the eyes for
frowns, sharpened the detail around the eyes and generally messed around
with the mesh until I was happy. I also added eyelashes made out of single
planes that can later on be opacity mapped. I modelled the inside of the mouth
as well...maybe something to add to a future tutorial.

The resulting 5+ sided faces seemed to work fine here so I let them be.

39)

For texturing purposes I like to close the eyes since it prevents stretching.

And so we are done!

If she's lucky she might even get a matching body!

Any additions, questions or corrections are much appreciated

so if you feel like, please email me at
wiro@secondreality.ch

Last

Copyright 1999 A.Wiro