The Past two Process and Production sessions I have attended with Jay have been an introduction to basic Character Modelling using Cinema 4D.
Here are a list of instructions that we were given to follow to help guide us through the process of building our characters:
Preparing a scan:
1. Photoshop/ open scan.jpg
2. Image/ adjustments/levels - adjust scan to suite
3. Crop tool/ trim around scan to get rid of waste
4. Drag around front of character/ save for web/ save as "front.jpg"
5. Cmd+Z to undo crop/ Crop again on side view of character
6. Save for web/ save as "side.jpg"
7. Close photoshop
Preparing C4d for Modelling:
1. Open C4d/ Create a plane/ Create a material
2. Material/ Colour/ add an image - "front.jpg"/ add material to plane
3. Change plane size to match image size
4. Change plane axis to -Z/ change segments to 2x2
5. Duplicate plane - Cmd+drag in object list
6. Duplicate material - Cmd+drag in material editor
7. Change image in second material to "side.jpg"
8. Replace material on second plane with new material/ change plane size to fit image
9. Rotate second plane -90 deg
10. Switch views to 4 view
11. Front & side views/ Display/ turn on Gouraud shading with lines
12. Also under display/ turn on wireframe
13. Move both planes so feet touch the ground
14. Arrange planes so they are separated and behind the centre of the grid
15. Name planes front&side/ name materials also
16. Select both planes in object list/ right click/ add to new layer
17. Go to the layer panel (bottom right panel tab)
18. Lock layers so they don't get moved
19. Save file as "start.C4d"
Start Modelling:
1. Create a Sphere/ reduce to fit belly of character
2. Change Display to Gouraud with lines so you can see polygons
3. Front & Side views/ wireframe
4. Select sphere/ Basic/ X-Ray
5. Sphere/ object/ segments = 16
6. Sphere/ Rt Click/ Make editable
7. Polygons edit mode (left hand toolbar)
8. Click & hold on live selection button (top toolbar)/ Rectangle selection tool
9. Attributes window/ Options/ Untick "only select visible elements"
10. Drag around half of sphere/ delete
11. Go to points edit mode/ Rt Click/ Optimize (gets rid of errant points)
12. Delete top, crotch & leg opening polygons/ Optimize again
13. In points mode/ select points & move to shape of scan front & side
14. Create a flow with polygons
15. Go to edges edit mode/ select crotch edges
16. Rt click// Bridge tool/ join crotch/ Rt Click/ Knife tool
17. Click& drag to divide crotch bridge three times
18. Points mode/ side view/ shape crotch
19. Top view/ shape leg hole to make it round-ish
20. Edges mode/ Shift+select leg hole edges
21. Cmd+drag edge to extrude (copy) polygons in any direction
22. Use scale tool to fit leg shape/ use points mode to adjust poly flow
23. Repeat this process to build character shape
24. save regularly
This is where I started with my character before i built her up limb by limb:
These are the two final screenshots of my rendered Character:
I really enjoyed using Cinema 4d to create my character, I found it quite difficult at first to get the hang of. However, as the process was quite repetitive, I found that around half way to three quarters of my way through modelling, I was understanding it quite well. For my first attempt, I think it's safe to say it worked out okay.
