working out the body parts

This final concept I sketched simply to work out how the body parts will look when it came to modelling and how some of them will be posed.

The concepts Ive done, however few there is, are not too far from my finished model but it gives an idea of where my character came from and how i got there.

body concept

I had it in my mind from the outset that i wanted a muscular look to my character. To figure this out i sketched a few body poses to work out a shape. Even though the sketches at the bottom are quite naff, its two quite common stances for a gorilla. The sketch at the top is the look i went for, having quite a top heavy feel to the character. To balance this out I've given my character larger hands and feet (as you can see from the posts of my model) to give a sense of stability whereas in reality a top heavy clay model will just topple over.

bit of concept

It wasnt really a goal of mine to concentrate on the concept as I just wanted to model texture and rigg. But a little concept needed to be done as i needed some idea for how i wanted my character to look. Its a key stepping stone which had to be done. I actually did these ages ago back at the start of term but have only just uploaded them.

completed model.....yay!!

finally after blood, sweat and tears I have a completed and textured model. Taken a bit longer than I had wanted but I didnt want to rush it and still 2 weeks left to rigg which should work out ok. Aim for this week is to complete a skeleton for the model and then paint the weights next week and put it through a walk cycle to demonstrate my awesome rigging skills......jokes haha.

But im happy with progress so far on the model i think its turned out good and my modelling has certainly improved more since last term. only dissappointment is the head. Im happy with the face but the head looks like a giant blob. But hey its meant to be a clay model and I suppose its an excuse to have a blob for a head.....ho hum........lets rigg! :/

Cool eh?....

found a useful link to creating an eyeball texture. Looks hard and complicated but its really really simple. I think it looks very effective and wicked. Left a link in my maya tutorials links list if anyone fancies giving it a try or using it themself

glass texture

As i created a glass texture for my glasses i thought it would be helpful to post the link to the tutorial on my blog

glass texture

As i created a glass texture for my glasses i thought it would be helpful to post the link to the tutorial on my blog

gorilla first mirror

as a test preview i decided to mirror my model to get an idea and see how the whole model looks. I am very happy with what I have done which was to create a gorilla model. It looks like a gorilla and able to support itself as it is supposed to be made of clay. Its taken a great deal of pressure off me and relief more than anything to finally finish the body model. I didnt want to rush my model and i feel confident that i made the right choice. My confidence in modelling has increased after this. Just the head left to do now then the rigging can begin :S

attaching the hand

i then imported the hand into my body model and attached it. I needed to add more verts to the forearm to allow a good connection of the hand. I also had to tweak the verts on the forearm to fit the shape and size of the hand but i got there eventually and this is my result.

as a quick adjustment i slightly enlarged the forearm which i think now looks spot on. All thats left to do now is the head.

final tweaks to the body

after attaching the foot to the leg i tweaked the verts on the calf to be more built up to accomodate for the big feet.

the leg

spent an hour this afternoon modelling a leg. It was a quick model just tweaking some verts and adding edge loops and this is my result. still need to connect the leg with the torso then add the hands and feet. So far so good XD

banana glasses

spent this morning and part of the afternoon modelling some glasses for my character. Instead of usual specsaver glasses i thought i'd go for something to do with a gorilla. I decided to model a banana and make some glasses out of it. It was purely off the top of my head and this is my result. Im happy with them and i will use them. Only troubles with it was creating the glass texture but it was ok in the end

making the foot

the above image is the early stage of my modelling of the foot. I took the same construction method that i used for my hand but instead of extruding the thumb out at an angle, i did it to the side. I think this is more realistic for a gorilla's foot and the below image is the model near completion.