SwordMaster Maya PDF

Complete Character Ceation By
Bogdan Suman from an original

character by Seong-wha Jeong
The Swordmaster
Is our new precise, step-by-step tutorial for

highly polished, low polygon game character
with detailed texturing for real-time rendering.
We have had the tutorial created for the 5 major
3D applications, but even if you are not a user
of one of them, the principles should be easily
followed in nearly all other 3D applications. Over
the next 8 Chapters we will outline, in detail, the
process for creating the Swordmaster you see
on the left.
Chapter 01
Modeling the head
Chapter 02
Modeling the Torso
Chapter 03
Modeling the Arms & Legs
Chapter 04
Modeling the Clothing & Hair
Chapter 05
Modeling the Armour
Chapter 06
Mapping & Unwrapping
Chapter 07
Texturing the Skin & Body
Chapter 08
Texturing the Armour &
Clothing
Enjoy ...
SwordMaster
Part 1
Modeling the Head
1. The first step we create a basic cube for us

to start modeling from. Create a polygon cube
(Create < Polygon Primitives < Cube). Scale
your cube up slightly (R being the scale tool
hotkey). On the right side of the screen in the
channel box, under the INPUTS tab, click on
the name polyCube1, and it will open up a
few addition attributes we need to adjust. Set
width/height/depth subdivisions all to 4. (Fig
01)
2. Now we need to enter component mode to

manipulate the verts. With the cube selected,
right mouse button click and hold on top of the
cube and youll notice a marquee menu pops
up. From the menu select Vertex, and youll
notice that all the individual verts on your cube
are now move able. Start to move and arrange
them into the basic head shape. Its best to
work from the side viewport on this, since
were just looking to create a very basic profile.
Dont worry about individual features like nose
or mouth, just get a nice head shape going.
(Fig 02)
www.3dcreativemag.com page chapter 01

SwordMaster
3. Now that we have a nice head shape, we
can begin to refine it. Lets start by cutting in
another row of edge to work with. Using the
split polygon tool (Edit Polygon < Split Polygon
Tool), simply click along the edges you want to
split, and it will draw a new edge along each
point you click on. So, split the highlighted
edge in the image into your model. When
youre doing splitting in the edge, hit Enter
to actually completely the tool and create
the edge. Once the new edge is made, start
shaping it into your model. (Fig 03)
4. Nose time. Select the front four faces and

extrude them (Edit Polygon < Extrude Face)
outwards slightly. These new faces youve
extruded out, start to shape them into the nose
area. Keep shaping the head with each step as
you go. (Fig 04)

SwordMaster
5. The eyes sockets. The same way we did the
nose, select the two faces on the mesh where
your eyes are going to go and extrude them in
(Edit Polygon < Extrude Face). Shape these
new interior faces into the eyes. Be sure to
sink them slightly into the head, the eyes dont
sit flat on the face. (Fig 05)
6. Lets get a basic mouth shape going here.

Cut in the highlighted edges below the nose
with the split polygon tool (Edit Polygon < Split
Polygon Tool) the same way you did before.
With these edges cut in start to shape them
into the lips. Remember, the bottom lip is more
defined, while the top lip flows right back into
the mesh fairly easily. (Fig 06)

SwordMaster
7. Cut another series of edges around the
circumference on the entire mesh with the
Split Poly Tool. Shape it into the mesh once its
been created. Now that weve got a start on all
the basic features, really pay attention to the
form and shape of the head. This is a low poly
character, so you want every polygon pulling
its weight. Try to get a good solid dynamic
shape to the head. Its also never a bad idea
to check out references of how the skull and
muscles of the head form either. (Fig 07)
8. Probably tired of modeling symmetrical

features on both side arent you? Lets fix that.
Change component mode to Face (RMB click
on the model to bring up the marquee menu
and select face), and select all the faces on
one half of the face and delete them. You only
should have half of the head remaining. (Fig
08)

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9. Select your halved head and duplicate
it (Edit < Duplicate < Options Box). In the
duplicate options box set the X Scale to -1.
This will mirror the geometry. Also, change
geometry type to instance. This will make
your duplicate follow along with your original
model as its updated. Hit duplicate when
youre done and you should have a mirrored
version of your head. If its not in the right
place, move it so its aligned properly with the
original head. (Fig 09)
10. Always a good idea to just test it out and

make sure the instance is working. Select one
of the halfs (doesnt matter which one), go
into vertex component mode and try moving
around a vertex. The corresponding vertex on
the mirrored mesh should be mirroring your
movements exactly. (Fig 10)

SwordMaster
11. Now we only have to work on one side of
the head only and the other side will update
with us. Using the Split polygon tool cut in a
couple extra edges at the corners of the eye
socket and shape them. This will create a
slightly more convincing eye socket. (Fig 11)
12. Lets work on the forehead some. Select

the highlighted edge and pull it up slightly.
(Fig 12, 13)

SwordMaster
14. With the extra room now on the forehead

split in a new edge around the whole head.
Start shaping your forehead into a move
convincing shape. Again, a good reference
image of a skull is going to be an asset here.
(Fig 14)

SwordMaster
15. Since this is a low poly character model,
we should be looking to where we can
optimize the mesh as we go along. Right now,
there are more edges at the top of the head
than needed, so well merge them together.
Select the highlighted vertices and of the
edges we want to merge and use the Merge
Vertex Tool (Edit Polygon < Merge Vertice <
Option box). In the option box keep raising
the distance level until your verts finally merge
together to form one single mesh. If you have
to set the distance too high, and they all merge
to one point, repeat this step, only merging two
verts of the edges at a time. Once youve only
got the 1 edge up there, continue to shape the
head. (Fig 15)
16. Extrude out the face at the bottom of the

nose to add a bit more dimension to the nose.
(Fig 16)
www.3dcreativemag.com page 10 chapter 01

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17. With the face extrude out, merge together
the vets at the very base of the nose. Thats
extra definition we dont need for this model.
(Fig 17)
18. Split in another edge running around the

entire head. As always, keep shaping the
entire head as you go along. Youve got a
whole month till the next section of the tutorial,
so dont rush anything. Take your time, and get
the most out of those polys! (Fig 18)

SwordMaster
19. Split in another couple of edge, this time to
give the chin some more definition. Try to get a
nice shape on the jaw and chin. (Fig 19)
20. Lets get rid of that very flat underside of

the chin. Slice in a new edge running under the
chin. Adjust the verts to give the bottom side of
the chin some more roundness. (Fig 20)

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21. Merge together the highlighted vertices to
reduce your poly count. (Fig 21)
22. Ears are a rather luxurious commodity on

low poly models, so for this guy were going to
keep things real simple. Start by setting up the
highlighted edges into a fairly basic ear shape.
(Fig 22)

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23. Select the 3 faces of the ear and duplicate
the faces (Edit Polygon < Duplicate Face <
Option Box). In the duplicate face options box
make sure Separate Duplicated Faces is
turned OFF (otherwise the duplicated faces
will be a brand new object). Once duplicated,
move the faces off to the side of the head
slightly. (Fig 23)
24. Select the faces of the ear and extrude

them (Edit Polygon < Extrude Face) to give a
bit of depth to the ear itself. (Fig 24)

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25. Weve got an ear shape with some depth
now, but its got a big hole on one side. To fill
the whole select one of the open edges and
Fill Hole (Edit Polygon < Fill Hole), and it will
create a new polygon to fill in the open side of
the ear. This will only be 1 single multi-sided
polygon though, so we need to connect the
edges on either side of this polygon, so we can
keep everything in quads. (Fig 25)
26. Now we can just attach the ear back to

head. Move the ear back into roughly the
correct position and then vertex snap the verts
of the ear back to the head (hold down the V
key, and middle mouse button click and move
the vertex. The vert will snap to the nearest
vert where your mouse cursor is). Once the
verts are snapped to the same position, select
all the snapped verts and hit the merge vertice
tool (Edit Polygon < Merge Vertice), to merge
them all back together on the same edge. Re-
position and shape the ear once its all back
together with the head. (Fig 26)
Wooh, we have a fairly solid head going here

now. You may want to adjust your normals to
loose that flat faceted (either using the Edit
Polygon < Normals < Average Normals or
Smooth/Harden Normals) look to your faces
Again, keep working on adjusting the shape
and form of the head. Modelling is a very
organic processes, and though this tutorial
breaks everything down to a step by step
process, its best that you try to develop as
much as you can at the same time. Thats why
its important to keep working on the whole
mesh as each subsequent definition is added.
You should have a pretty good knowledge
of the basic modeling tools, and really these
are the only tools you need to know to create
pretty much anything.

SwordMaster
Next month well start work on building a

low poly torso for our character. Good luck
modelling until then!

SwordMaster
Part Two
Modelling the
Torso
1. First step is to open the older file containing
the head made in the first part of this tutorial.
Its better to use a copy of the older file or use
Save as command for this one that is already
open. Select the lower row of edges from the
neck as in Fig 01. Using Edit Polygons >
Extrude Edge tool were extending down the
bottom of the neck. Remember that while were
working with instance option we save plenty
of time working only on a half of the model.
The other half is changing automatically.
2. I want to build the upper side of the

shoulder. Start moving the vertices outwards
until you get the same result as in Fig 02. On
the lower left image from the Fig 02 you can
see how are the vertices disposed in space
using another point of view.

SwordMaster
3. With Edit Polygons > Split Polygon Tool

were splitting 3 faces from the bottom of the
neck Fig 03. This will help later form the
clavicle.
4. Select again the lower edges and create

a new set of faces using the same tool Edit
Polygons > Extrude Edge. Rearrange the
vertices to get a better shape. Its better to
spend some time arranging the vertices well
into position, as better as you can, before
making the extrude. This will save your time
later and its much more easier to follow the
main line of the model (Fig04).

SwordMaster
5. Weve done most of our shoulder by

extruding edges and moving the vertices. Now
were going to create the connection area
between the arm and the shoulder.
NOTE: I have to take a special attention to

this step because in this region will be set the
articulation that will allow the arm to have a
proper movement. If I am not giving enough
tessellation the surface it will have strange
behaviour during animation.
Were making 2 more edges - Fig 05 - by

using Edit Polygons > Split Polygon Tool.
NOTE: By splitting the faces in two parts Ill

have two triangles taking care by the front or
the back part of the shoulder and two triangles
for the upper part of the arm. This way the
surface will move smooth during animation.
6. It is now time to create the chest. This

should be a very easy part especially if you
payed attention while arranging the vertices.
You just have to select the lower edges and
extrude them down twice. Now rearrange the
verts until you get something like in Fig 06.

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7. Were using the same method for the

backside Fig07.
8. Getting back on the chest, select the lower

edges again and extrude them once. Push
them inside a little bit in order to form the lower
part of the chest. Note that weve added one
more edge on the corner in order to connect
the arm later Fig08.

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9. In Fig 09 notice that the upper part of the

arm starts to take shape. Before closing the
torso, we are selecting the lower edges one
more time and extrude them down.
10. Using Extrude Edge again extrude one

edge from back to front. Use Merge vertices
or Merge Edge Tool to close the surface. Im
going to add one more edge - Fig 10- for the
same reasons as Ive previously splitted the
polygons on the upper side shoulder.

SwordMaster
11. Now weve created the upper side of the

body and the connection to the arm that will be
create later. All we have to now is to finish the
lower part of the body. Select the edges as in
Fig 11 and extrude them down once.
12. In order to give a proper form to the backs

muscles were going to merge the vertex to
the one to its left (see Fig 12). Doing this
well have a triangle following the shape of the
muscles running downwards from the shoulder
blades.

SwordMaster
13. Extrude the lower edges one more time but

this time a bit more. Fig 13
14. Use Edit Polygons > Cut Face Tools to

add 3 more edges - Fig 14. We need it for
sculpting a nice shape.

SwordMaster
15. Next thing we have to do is to reshape the

lower part of the torso by moving the verts until
the result is like in Fig 15.
16. One more thing and weve done with the

torso. Using Split Polygon Tool add few
more edges as in image Fig 16. As for arms
articulation, were going to need also more
edges to describe legs articulation.
See you next time.

SwordMaster

SwordMaster
Part three
Modeling
the arms & legs
1. Open the old scene containing the
Swordmasters body. Select the edge from the
front and the edge from the back, as in Fig01,
and extrude them downward a little bit. While
the extrude cursor is still active, scale them
inside in order to bring them closer. We intend
to unify the back and the front with a surface
crossing between the legs.
Fig01
2. Now well stitch them by grabbing one edge

(front or back, it doesnt really matter) and by
extruding it towards the other one. Arrange the
verts to be in the same position and use the
Merge Vertices tool to collapse them. Then
move the vertices to get a narrow surface
between the legs, as in Fig02. We have now two
holes from where we can start building the legs.
Fig02

SwordMaster
3. Extrude the edge downward using Extrude

edge tool and rearrange the vertices to have a
nice shape for the legs (Fig03).
Fig03
4. Now extrude two more times the edge

downward and reposition the vertices for a
better definition of the legs (Fig04).
Fig04

SwordMaster
5. Using the same technique extrude the edge

downward in order to define the knees, calves
and the ankles. Weve added 6 more edges.
Every one of them was shaped in accordance
to the form we wanted to define (i.e. knee, calve
and ankle Fig05).
Fig05
6. Now, once weve finished building the leg,

well go further to start creating the foot. First we
have to close the hole. You may choose different
ways. I choose a simple one: Edit Polygons>Fill
Hole. Then I add two more edges, as shown in
Fig06.
Fig06

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7. Were going to align all the vertices

horizontally. Double click on Move Tool from
the Tool Box and make sure you un-check
Retain Component Spacing shown in Fig07.
Then select all the verts from the foot, except
the lower one, and move them downward by
keeping the v key pushed down while you
drag, in order to snap the verts to the point.
They all should be aligned now.
Fig07
8. Select the two front faces and extrude a them

few times to form the foot. (Fig08).
Fig08

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9. Before moving on to the arms, we have

to add few more details to the knee. Thats
because the surface, as it is right know, is
not properly set for deformations during the
animation. Were going to add two more edges,
as shown in Fig09. Also now delete the red
edge.
Fig09
10. We can start the arms now. Select the top

seven edges and extrude them, as in image
Fig10. Then delete the yellow vertices by
selecting them and pressing the Delete key
Fig10

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11. Select again the seven edges and extrude

them once again. (Fig11)
Fig11
12. Select the vertex from the back and Delete

it, then move the one from the front over the red
one, and weld them together by using Merge
Vertices (Fig12)
Fig12

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13. Now select only 6 edges (the red edges

shown in Fig13). Extrude them and delete the
yellow vert from the front and merge the one
from the back.
Fig13
14. After the previous step, you should now

have a body as it is shown in Fig14. Now add
a new edge using, the Edit Polygons > Split
Polygons Tool, the same as the one in green
and Delete the edge in red. We are remaking
the pparameterization of the object, in order to
start building the arm. Also, now add another
edge onto the back side of the arm (see Fig14).
Fig14

SwordMaster
15. Now select the whole ring of edges and

extrude it downward. Fig15
Fig15
16. Extrude the whole ring of edges a few times

and reshape the arm until you get something
that looks close to Fig16. One thing is for sure:
always rearrange the verts in order to have a
nice shape!
Fig16

SwordMaster
17. As we did for the foot were going to fill the

hole using the Fill hole tool (Fig17). Also, dont
forget to add 4 more edges using the Split
Polygon Toll for next step - building the palm.
Fig17
18. In order to define the thumb we have to

make some new splits. Were going to add 3
more edges (Fig18).
Fig18

SwordMaster
Rearrange the verts to get a proper form

for the palm, fingers and the thumb (Fig19),
then extrude all of the faces from the palm
downwards, once.
Fig19
19. Now we can start extruding the fingers.

Before doing this, be sure that youve
unchecked Polygons>Tool options>Keep Faces
Together. This way you are going to split into,
two every common polygon from between the
fingers. (Fig20).
Fig20

SwordMaster
Rearrange the verts to get a nice shape for the Fig21

fingers and extrude them downwards twice, and
you should have done the fingers well, as shown
in Fig21 and Fig22
Fig22

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20. Let us go to the thumb now. First were

going to get rid of the red edge and well extrude
the remaining face downwards once (Fig23).
Fig23
21. Now Im going to add one edge, as shown in

Fig24, in order to have a hexagon for the thumb
and I am going to arrange the vertices to have a
nice shape for my thumb (Fig24).
Fig24

SwordMaster
22. Select the face surounded by the green

edges as in Fig25, and extrude it down, as
in the image. Rearrange the verts to get a
nicely defined shape for the thumb. Also, after
extruding and reshaping, I have added two
more edges, marked in red in Fig25, for a good
surface deformation for when it will be animated.
Fig25
23. Now we just have one more step to do and

were done. Take the lowest faces from the
fingers and extrude them downwards once,
scale them a little bit insides and now we can
say that weve finished, for now! (Fig26).
Fig26

SwordMaster
This concludes the tutorial on creating the arms

and legs and next month we shall go on and
add clothing and hair.

SwordMaster
Part Four
Modeling the
Clothing & Hair
Introduction
Hello again and welcome to the fourth part of
modelling the swordmaster character based
upon a model by Seong-Wha Jeong. In this
part were going to add hair and clothing to our
model. From this part forward were going to
use multiple techniques and tools and I strongly
recommend you to save as the file in different
stages of modelling. This way you may return to
a previous state of the model and reshape the
body from where you left at that stage.
1. Open the last scene and select the 8 red

faces shown in Fig01. Were going to use
now Edit Polygons > Duplicate Face. This
tool creates new disconnected faces from the
Fig01
selected faces. Ive merged together both parts
of the body for this operation to be sure that no
that funny things are going to happen. Rotate
the surface a little bit and snap the yellow verts
from the bottom row of the new created object
to those find on the face and delete history
from both objects. We are trying to get some
nice surfaces on which well apply later the hair
texture.
2. Duplicate the red surface and arrange it

as in Fig02. Snap the bottom rows of each
duplicated surface to the head and rearrange
the verts a little bit. We must take care to have a
good distribution of the faces since were going
to apply hair texture later over those pieces
of geometry and we must have an uniform
distribution of the texture over the faces.
Fig02

SwordMaster
3. Now, were done with the right front side of

the head. Since we didnt worked with instances,
on the left side of the head we dont have hair
geometry. I will duplicate both pieces of hair
geometry from the right. Ive made a group
(ctrl+g) with both of them and after that I have
moved the pivot point of the group in the centre
of the body. Remember you can move the pivot
point by pushing the Insert key. Now duplicate
the group and scale it by -1 on X direction.
Thats a simple way of duplicating geometry on
the other side (Fig03).
Fig03
4. With the front row of the hair finally done,

create a group out of all 5 pieces of geometry
and rename it as you like. I used hairRow_01
in order to know on which part Ill bee working
later. Ive duplicated it and I snapped bottom
row of each piece of geometry to the same front
line, as I did for the previous set of hair. Delete 2
rows of faces from each surface and rearrange
the verts. I have deleted all the transform
nodes and all the empty geometry sets from
the outline (Fig04). Some transform node will
create problems if you delete them while theyre
still connected to the geometry. If a transform
note is connected to the geometry when node
is selected the wire colour of the connected
geometry will turn to pink. You can get rid of
them by selecting that piece of geometry and
use Edit > Delete All By Type > History or
using Hypergraph.
Fig04

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5. Create the third set of polys by duplicating

last group. Move it behind but this time its not
need to snap it to the scalp. Add 4 more pieces
of geometry and rearrange the verts (Fig05).
Fig05
6. Once weve finished making first rows of hair

from the front part were going to build the back
section. Ive made it by duplicating polygons
from the head. Snap the upper row of verts to
the scalp as in Fig06 and rearrange the verts. To
complete the whole part Ive made a duplicate of
the half mesh and I scaled it by -1 to complete
the back part of the hair. To save some texture
space I can paint only half of geometry and
apply it to the other half by transferring both
UVs and texture. Were going to discuss this
later on texturing parts.
Fig06

SwordMaster
7. For central part of the scalp I have duplicated

3 rows with 4 polys each from the central part
of the head. I wasnt concerned about snapping
instead I took care to respect the shape of the
head. The central part of the hair is made by 5
pieces of geometry as shown in Fig07.
Fig07
8. With the front, back and central parts of the

hair complete Ive added few more groups of
planes to fill the scalp. If were going to need
more pieces well added them later. Now just
take care to fill the whole scalp with enough
pieces of geometry (Fig08).
Fig08

SwordMaster
9. When half of the scalp is done duplicate it to

the other side of the head and thats all with the
scalp (Fig09).
Fig09
10. Now we can pass to clothing. First trousers.

Check if you have active Keep Faces
Together option then select the faces inside
the red border and extrude them out a little bit.
(Fig10).
Fig10

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11.Tweak the pants moving verts until you get

the desired shape. (Fig11).
Fig11
12. I have deleted one ring of edges and Ive

made two new rings of edges as shown in
Fig12.
Fig12

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13. Add one more cut from the front to the back
as shown in Fig13.
Fig13
14. Now Im going to rearrange some edges to

get the details I want. I have added few edges
- the red ones - and I have deleted few of them
- in yellow (Fig14).
Fig14

SwordMaster
15. Next step is to create the shin guards. Select

the faces as shown in Fig15 and extrude them
out a little bit, keeping by the normal option on.
Thats it.
Fig15
16. Next step: the footwear. As we did for the

trousers select the faces and extrude them out
a little bit then tweak the verts to get a nice
shape for the footwear. To make the heel and
sole select the two faces - shown in red in Fig16
- for the heel and extrude them downward.
For the sole extrude the remaining three faces
downward (yellow faces in Fig16). Now you
should have a flat sole. To get rid of the flatness
of the sole delete the last edge in front of the
heel and delete the verts to. Rearrange the
verts until you have a nice clean shape for the
footwear (Fig16) Its normal to spend some time
adjusting and re-adjusting verts all the time
during the modelling process. I do this often to
improve the model until Im completely pleased
with what I have.
Fig16

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17. Once were done with the footwear lets

make another step forward to the kneepads.
Select the two rows of faces show in red in
Fig17. Im extracting them because I need
to model them separately. You can choose
whichever method youd like. For example I
have made a duplicate of the right half of the
body and I have deleted all the faces except
those two.
Fig17
18. Extrude all the faces inside a little bit (step

2, Fig18). After this pick two faces from the front
and extrude them upward (step 3, Fig18).
Fig18

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19. Now we have one more thing to do in this

tutorial: the belt. Create a box an place it in
front of the trousers as in Fig19. Were going to
extrude it along a curve. Next step is to create
a curve.
Fig19
20. Create a curve from Create > NURBS

Primitives > Circle and put in position in the
way that it wrap around the body. Snap the box
to the curve by keeping c key pressed while
youre moving the box. Also make sure that
youre fixing the box at the start of the curve
otherwise youll have problems with extrude
along the curve. The start of the curve is in the
place you see u. (Fig20)
Fig20

SwordMaster
21. Select one side face of the box and the

curve and extrude it along the curve. Verify to
have this option checked in the Extrude Face
Option box (Fig21) and give 10 divisions to
the extrude operator. You may also adjust the
belt after extruding operation by modifying the
original circle. This is very helpful especially
because you cant see the belt until you make
the extrusion. Now weld the beginning and the
end of the belt because they are not connected,
so youll have to do it. After finishing the tweak
select the belt and delete history, otherwise you
will not be able to delete the circle. You have
to disconnect the belt from the circle. While the
belts wires turns to pink when you select the
circle, it means that the circle is still connected
to the belt.
Fig21
22. Now transform the verts to fit the belt

properly around the body (Fig22).
Fig22

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23. Now in order to finish everything extrude

the four faces from the down left side of the belt
downward and create the cloth that will hang on
swordmasters side (Fig23). Thats it for now.
See you next month.
Fig23

SwordMaster

SwordMaster
Part 5
Modeling the
Armour
Welcome to the fifth instalment in the series
which will provide a step by step guide to
building a low poly character based upon a
model by Seong-Wha Jeong. Last month saw
us adding clothing and hair and now we reach
the last phase in the modelling section which will
cover giving our warrior some armour to wear.
1. Open the last scene from the previous part.

First were going to rearrange some verts from
the left hand. In Fig01 youll see few red verts
that were moved in different position. Also the
green lines are the 4 new edges that were
added on the front and on the back side of our
model. This will help us to get a good definition
of the armour.
Fig01
2. Now select all the faces marked red in Fig02

and extrude them outward a little bit. After
extrusion youll have to move some edges
back in order to obtain a well defined border
for the armour (green edges should be almost
in the same plane). Also under the arm, at the
intersection between the arm and the body
is possible to have some superposed faces.
Arrange those verts too. Check if the hand is
natural going down from the arm. If not move it
in to the right position.
Fig02

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3. Lets make the forearm part of the armour.

Delete the highlighted red polys but from the
other arm where we are building the armour.
Then create a cylinder with 11 X 5 faces and
delete the top and bottom faces (Fig03). Now
step 1 scale inward the upper row of verts. Step
2 extrude the red faces outward. Now place the
cylinder into position between the elbow and the
wrist, and snap the upper and bottom verts to
the elbow and to the wrist. Rearrange the verts
to get a nice shape which is fitting well to your
arm.
Fig03
4. The elbow guard. Were going to make it in

seven steps as in Fig04. Step 1: create half of
a cylinder. Step 2: Pick the 4 yellow verts and
scale them downward. Pick the 8 red verts and
scale them upward to get that shape as in Fig04
- step 2. Step 3: extrude all the faces forward in
the normals directions. Step 4: select the four
faces highlighted in red. Step 5: extrude them
downward and scale them a little bit. Step 6:
Pick the 4 blue verts and move them outward.
And in the end, step 7, add 8 new edges as
shown in Fig04 - step 7.
Fig04

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5. After youve finished modelling the guard,

move it right behind the elbow and arrange it to
fit well into position and rearrange the verts to
obtain a nice wrapping around the elbow.
Fig05
6. Now were going to make a strap around the

chest. For this select the swordmasters body
an make it Live by selecting the magnet shown
by the arrow in the Fig06. The Live option
allows you to draw curves right onto the body
and it is following the exact shape of the body.
Once youve made the body live, start drawing
the curve from the back to the front. Pick the
EP Curve Tool and start adding points around
the chest. Place the first point of the curve onto
the middle of the face highlighted in red which
give us the thickness of the armour. Notice that I
didnt draw the curve right to the front part of the
armour because there Im going to split the strap
in two parts.
Fig06

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7. Select the face from the back and the curve

and extrude the face along the curve. Verify if
in the Extrude Face Options window you have
active Use Selected Curve for Extrusion. After
extrusion rearrange the verts to have them
wrapped nice around the chest.
Fig07
8. Then add two more straps Snap their verts

to the armour and to the end of the bigger
strap (Fig08). I have made the straps by 2
basic cubes without doing anything fancy, just
snapping and rearranging the verts.
Fig08

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9. Last piece is the shoulder armour. First create

a surface like the one Ive done in Fig09. Then
extrude it a little bit for a bit of depth.
Fig09
10. Now duplicate the surface and merge those

two pieces together. Then select the faces as in
Fig10 and extrude them but without moving, just
scale the extruded faces inward as shown in the
picture (Fig10).
Fig10

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11. Now extrude the selected faces once again

but this time outward as in Fig 11.
Fig11
12. Were going to add some details to the

armour as in Fig12. Step 1: add a new edge as
the one highlighted in green. Step 2: now select
the faces highlighted in red and extrude them
outward. Then delete the yellow edges and dont
forget to delete the verts after youve finished
with the edges. On step 3 add four more edges
as the green lines in the Fig12 - step 3.
Fig12

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13. Make two new splits as highlighted in red in

Fig13 then select the yellow verts and extrude
them. Check the polyExtrudeVertex option
from the Channel box for tuning extrusions
dimensions.
Fig13
14. Now all we have to do is to bend the armour

to fit on the shoulder using Bend deformer and
to add some more details. In Fig14 you can see
that I added few polys to the strap (1), few studs
around the wrist area (2) and I have added a
cylinder to the shoulder area.
Fig14

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SwordMaster
Part 6
Mapping &
Unwrapping
Introduction
Hello everybody. UV mapping and unwrapping
is the bridge between modelling and texturing.
I hope you had a good time modelling and your
character is now in a perfect shape ready for
this part of our tutorial. This part is bit longer
than other parts but your effort will be finally
rewarded when youll learn how to use lots of
new tools such as: UV Texture Editor, planar,
cylindrical and spherical projections, sew and
cut UVs, how to move UVs, how to transfer
UVs from one object to another similar one,
how to relax UVs and many more. Because Ive
wanted to stop this tutorial from being to long I
will present only the most important aspects of
UV mapping without paying to much attention or
even jumping on small details that are easy to Fig01
be use. Nevertheless at least I will mention the
tool I have used for a particular operation.
1. Getting back to work I would like to present

first the main tools which are going to be used
in this part of our tutorial: UV Texture Editor
and Multilister. During the entire texturing
process these two are our most important tools.
(Fig01). In the Multilister Window, which is,
at this primary level, very much similar with the
Hypershade Window (for those of you guys
that are already using Hypershade instead of
Multilister), we are going to create Shading
Groups or short name SG, which are also
known as materials. SGs are containing all
information about the way a render engine
like Maya Software, Mental Ray, etc, must
calculate whats happened when rays of light or
photons, etc, coming out from a source of light,
are intersecting pieces of geometry. In SG is
stored all informations which will lead us to the
transformation of a geometry in Glass, Steel,
Fig02

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Chrome, Wood, Mirror and so on. But as

long as we are focusing on creating UVs and
textures for games this aspects is not important
for us. We are going to use SG just to assign a
texture and this part will be fully described in our
present and next tutorial. In UV Texture Editor
we are arranging the UVs using cut, sew, relax,
move and sew, tools and many more. In the
UV Texture Editor window a 3D dimensional
XYZ piece of geometry is unwrapped in a 2D
UV flat map. So this operation is very important
for us in order to obtain a nice wrapping of a
2D painted texture on a 3D object. Everything
must be proportional scaled for example: the
most important parts of the geometry like face,
torso, armour, etc we are going to reserve more
space in our texture because it is very ease
to see. But for hidden places which cant be
seen to often we are going to leave less space.
Above all these, in the end, everything must fit
in the upper right part of the UV Texture Editor
Fig03 window and thats going to be a nice puzzle!
2. Now we are going to create a new SG, assign

a checker file as texture and assign the new
formed SG the our warrior. In Fig02 you can
see four steps to create a SG with a checker.
Step 1 - create render node option. Step 2
- choosing material, Lambert in our case.
Step 3 - assigning a texture file as colour. Step
4 - pick the Checker file from the list. The idea
of choosing checker is that the squares will
show us any stretched parts of the geometry.
On the other hand we can arrange the UVs to
be somehow close to a proportional stretching
so the texture should not be very much
accumulated in one part and too stretched on
another part.
3. Assign the texture to the geometry. Select the

new created SG in Multilister and assign this
to the entire geometry. Now you can see very
easy how stretched or dense is the texture in
different parts of the body. So, this is pretty bad
Fig04
and we are going fix this. You may encounter

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funny things like some portions of your geometry

are not showing any texture on it. Just perform
an Automatic mapping over it and assign the
material one more time. (Fig03)
4. I am going to start making the UVs from top

to bottom maintaining as much as I can the
symmetry around the Y axis of the swordmaster.
This way I am going to map only half of the
body and later I am going to transfer my UVs
from one half to another. I can do this because
during the entire modelling process I kept the Y
symmetry. In fig Fig04 the head: select the half
of the head and apply a Cylindrical Mapping
projection as shown in the image. As you can
see we are having manipulators that are very
useful for moving, scaling and rotating the entire
projection. Also there is a red T on the lower
left corner of the projection. By clicking on it will
transform the cursor in a very similar one to the
cursor from extrude tool. I strongly encourage
you to move the cursors and to watch the Fig05
transformation of the UVs in UV Texture
Editor. To delete the current UV set, go in UV
Texture Editor window and Polygons > Delete
UVs. This way you can start all over again if you
until you are completely pleased with the result
of your actions. Ive made a small move of my
UVs along the X axis and I got a much better
arrangement of my UVs.
5. As you can see the Cylindrical Projection we

chose is almost perfect for wrapping the texture
around the head. Though on the top of the head
we are having some stretch that we must fix
Fig05. Also you have may try later to use also
Planar Projection or Spherical Projection for
the head. But I have chosen this one because it
is very simple for me right now. As you can see
I have to make some small adjustments onto
the top of the head because I have a little bit of
stretching there. And thats what Im going to do
next step.
Fig06
6. Selected the stretched 10 polygons from

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the top of the head and apply a Spherical

Projection as in Fig06.
7. Now in the perspective window click on T

manipulator as shown in Fig07 (Step 1) then
move along X direction (Step 2) until it seems to
fits with the rest of the head. Now were going
to fit perfectly by sewing those two parts in UV
Texture Editor window.
Fig07
8. Push the right click button in UV Texture

Editor window an choose UV option. Now
select one UV from the spherical projected
faces. Next the menu Select > Select Shell.
This will select the whole shell containing the
spherical projected UVs. (Fig08)
Fig08

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9. In UV Texture Editor window move the

whole shell on top of the rest of the head and
rearrange the UVs one by one as in Fig09.
Fig09
10. Right click in UV Texture Editor window

choose Edge option then select the bottom
row of edges from the spherical projected faces.
You will notice that the other row of edges
from the head will autoselect. This option is
very useful especially when you have many
small part of UVs and you dont know where
it belongs. So once you will select one edge
the one connected to it will be also selected
automatically. Now sew selected edges by
pushing the sew icon or from the menu as
shown in Fig10.
Fig10

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11. Now we must arrange the UVs from the ear.

First we have to detach the ears UVs from the
rest of the heads shell. In Fig11 (Step 1) select
the edges you want to detach. Step two in UV
Texture Editor window Cut the selected UVs.
Now select the whole shell of UVs from the ear
and move it in a different position.
Fig11
12. In Fig12 we have to select now the entire

row of edges which is separating the back from
the front of the ear (Step 1). Cut the UVs (Step
2). Select one shell of UVs and use Flip UVs
tool to mirror the shell onto the other side (Step
3).
Fig12

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13. Even if weve been detached the UVs

from the heads shell we cannot sew those two
shells because they are still connected to the
head. Notice that if you will select the edges
from the ear there will be also auto selected the
edges from the place where was the ear initially
connected. So, I am going to detach the ear
from the head, making it an independent piece
of geometry, then apply a Cylindrical Projection
over the ear. Now I can sew the shells from the
back and from the front of the ear following the
same steps as I did before.
Fig13
14. Now weve finished the head. Duplicate the

geometry for both head and ear. To transfer the
UVs from a piece of geometry to another select
the half of the head with the UVs then select
the other half of the head. Now choose from
the menu: Polygons > Transfer. And you should
have now same identical UVs for both parts.
merge those two halves in one single head and
then sew the UVs as in Fig14 highlighted in
yellow. The same technique must be using for
the ears without connecting them.
Fig14

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15. Now it is time to move onto the torso. Select

the body as highlighted in red in Fig15 and apply
a planar projection. Notice that I have separated
the torso from the rest of the body. We cannot
work on the half of the body because it is not
symmetric along the Y axis.
Fig15
16. Following exactly the same procedure as I

did for the ear split the torsos UV shell in two
front part and back part using Cut UVs tool.
Then flip one shell of UVs as in Fig16. And next
step is to weld those two parts.
Fig16

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17. Select the edges as we did for the head

and sew the UVs as highlighted in yellow in
Fig17. Also take care about stretching areas
and rearrange the UVs until you have a smooth
texture wrapped around the torso. Also if you
want or if you fell like it would be much easier
for you, you may use another planar projection
for the shoulders.
Fig17
18. Now we can move on to the leg. Using

Cylindrical Projection I have projected the
UVs. Then in the same way as I did for the
torso I using Cut UVs tool Ive split the shell in
two parts front and back ash highlighted in the
image. Then I sew them together. In order to
maintain the regularity of the texture I had to
align the UVs using the tools available in UV
Texture Editor window as show in Fig18.
Fig18

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19. Regarding the foot use Automatic

Mapping. This is very often a very time
expensive method but for our foot this is much
simpler because we dont have so many parts to
sew. (Fig19).
Fig19
20. Using move and sew tool weld together the

UVs as in Fig20.
Fig20

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21. We can go to the arms using the same

procedure Cylindrical Mapping The only
difference is now that we should rotate the
manipulator in order to maintain the same angle
as the arm. Using exactly the same techniques
as we did for the legs split the one shell of the
arm in two shells front and back and weld them
back together as we did for the leg. Try to hide
the welding line in the most less visible place
like between the legs, under the arm. This way
the stretched areas will not be visible.
Fig21
22. In Fig22 is highlighted in yellow seam lines.

They are made mostly in the less visible area
so if may appear problems with the edges that
are not matching perfectly on the final texture it
will be in the places where cant be seen. Some
yellow highlights will probably disappear when
well combine back the whole body.
Fig22

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23. Ill duplicate the leg and I will transfer also

the UVs from one leg to another. In legs case
I can do this because both of them are similar.
On the other hand I cannot do the same for the
arms because they are different so I will unwrap
the other arm using the same techniques.
(Fig23).
Fig23
24. Once we have finished with the legs we can

move to the armour. In armours case we can
work only on to the half of the armour since it
is symmetrical (Fig24). Cut a half of the armour
taking care to be very precise when you are
making this.
Fig24

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25. Now apply a Planar Projection and rotate

the projection to maintain the squares as
accurate as possible Fig25.
Fig25
26. Then duplicate the half part of the armour

and move it onto the other side in order to form
back the original armour as shown in Fig26.
You can use exactly the same methods to
map all the armour pieces. In the case of the
accessories you can planar map all of these and
will not need to do anything different to what we
have done already.
Fig26

SwordMaster
27. It is time to move onto the hair once we

have finished with the armour. Due to the large
number of pieces that are forming the hair if
we will map each element this will take us far
too much texture space. We will map only nine
pieces. These groups can be seen in Fig27
organized by the colours. On top of the head
are three blue pieces of geometry so you could
only map one and then copy this twice. When
you have finished this completed the rest of the
hair pieces.
Fig27
28. After the hair finished attach the front three

pieces of geometry to the head as highlighted in
red in Fig 28. The rest of the hair must remain
independent.
Fig28

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29. Now move those three front pieces of the

hair in line with the top of the head. To save
more space in texture area select the row of
verts highlighted in red in Fig 29 and Cut them.
move the right part of UV shell over the left
side overlapping both of them as highlighted in
yellow. This way we are saving a lot of texture
space.
Fig29
30. This is the end of UV mapping. Now were

going to assign materials for each part for
which we have created UV maps. Open the
Multilister window. And start creating new
Shading Groups. It is very important to rename
each SG and material. Fig30.
Fig30

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31. It is very important to name materials in

a correct way because this way each person
who will ever look over the scene will easy
understand whats happened, and also it is clear
to which part of the object will assign a particular
texture. In Fig 31 is shown 3 steps to rename
the Shading Groups, by using name_SG step
1 In our case is Hair_SG. Name the material
name without using any suffix in our case just
simple Hair, step 2. And choosing colour by
clicking directly on the colour. Thats it.
Fig31
32. Now assign each SG to each part of your

model accordingly to the names MainBody,
Armour and Hair as shown in Fig32.
Fig32

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33. Now because we have unwrapped

everything separately we are going to arrange
all these UVs pieces into a template and export
it as a final texture layout. In order to see all the
unwrapped geometry together we will have to
attach all the pieces of geometry into a single
one temporarily. In Fig33 you can see that the
model on the right is a single piece of geometry
while the left one is not including the armour. We
can see now all the UVs in UV Texture Editor.
Fig33
34. Here comes the puzzle part when we must

fit every piece of UV in one single square. There
are limitless way of arranging UVs in layout.
You must consider here the importance of the
UV shell, how much is seen, and so on. For
example youll assign enough space for the
chest because it is almost always seen, but
for the foot, or hand, or knee is no need for
having to much space. So, taking care of all
these aspects you should get more or less an
UV layout like the one in Fig34. Remember you
may assign as much space as you consider for
each part so, making an UV layout is really like
puzzle, always moving UVs positions, rotation,
Flip UVs, etc.
Fig34

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35. We have one more thing to do before

starting texturing: exporting UV layout. This
is very important because the artist will paint
respecting this layout. If there is no UVs so in
one place of you layout, there will be no colour.
So in Fig35 you have UV snapshot option
which allows you to export an UV layout. You
may export in different sizes, colours, formats,
and so on. Choose you texture file size and
export it and thats all for now
This concludes this tutorial! It was a long one

and I know I could not explain everything but I
am hoping that youve made it to the end. See
you next time with the texturing tutorial.
Fig35

SwordMaster
Part 7
Texturing Skin &
Hair
Introduction
Well, we have at last reached the final stages
of our tutorial: Texturing. This is perhaps the
only part of the exercise where you will not be
held by the hand throughout the process. I can
only really point you in the right direction but
the final texture must be created by you as the
steps involved are far too numerous to detail
here. I will break the texture down into the
key components and talk a little about how to
structure your PSD file and organise the various
levels so that changes can be made quickly and
easily.
1. The first thing to establish are the colour

blocks which will show the key areas of our
template in this case the skin tone which will Fig01
be done using an RGB value of 198, 152, 98.
This is placed over the body, arm and head, as
seen in Fig.1. Create these on a separate layer
and name it so that it is easily recognisable.
You will also notice that I have blocked in the
hair colour (R179, G173, B157). The remaining
areas comprise of the armoured arm and boots,
which we shall ignore for now.
2. Now, create another new layer which we will

use as our shadow layer and contain all the
shading for the skin. This is perhaps the most
important layer of all in that it defines the muscle
groups more clearly than any other. This layer
is set to Multiply as a blending mode and uses
various shades of a single colour (R47, G29,
B5), as seen by the small square inset in the top
left in Fig.2.
Fig02

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3. First of all concentrate on only one half of

the face as we can copy this over when it is
finished. Choose a standard soft round airbrush
with a pixel width of around 30 and carefully
paint in the general areas of shadow without
worrying too much about detail (Fig.3).
4. You can alter the opacity and flow values of

the brush along the toolbar to help control the
strokes and, when you are happy, then select a
hard-edged airbrush (Fig.4a) to refine the detail,
so that it looks similar to Fig. 2. Remember to
Fig03 use only one colour for all of the shading and
keep it on a single layer. Now that the face has
a shadow layer intact, it is time to add another
layer, this time dedicated to highlights. I chose
an initial pale yellow, as shown by the square
inset in the top left of Fig.4, and set the layer
blending mode to Soft Light. I also used a near
white colour in a few areas to add the brightest
highlights. On the right of the face is the final
version and on the left is the layer set to Normal
blending mode and without any shadows so
you can see more clearly where it is placed.
When painting textures for low poly characters
try and imagine that there is a soft ambient light
above the character, as if they are outside. This
helps the
eye read the
forms better
and generally
creates a
more realistic
lighting
solution.
Fig04

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5. With the head area well underway, it is a

good time to start on the body section. The
same principles apply for all the skin sections.
Start with the shadows and then move onto
the highlights layer. I also find that, to help
get details in the correct areas, it is useful to
create a new layer which I call Guidelines.
On this layer I draw line configurations and
then save out the image and load it onto the
model. This enables me to see where to paint
in certain parts of the texture, as seen in Fig.5.
I have used a white line to depict the area
covered by the armour strap and also drawn in
the abdominal muscles before starting on any
shading.
Fig05
6. To help get the armour strap in the right place,

simply look at a front view of the character in
your 3d program and use the wireframe as a
guide (Fig.06)
Fig06

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7. When you have finished the shading on the

torso, use the guideline to paint in a shaded
area, that follows the strap, on a separate layer
which will help bind it to the body (Fig.07). You
will also need to repeat this for the back section
of the character too. Use the same colour as
the shadow layer and set the blending mode to
Multiply to keep things consistent.
Fig07
8. We have covered the crucial stages of

painting the skin but we are yet to add in the
details which we shall yet again do on a new
layer. In this part of the tutorial we will deal only
with the eyes, eyebrows and nipples. There are
no special techniques here, just careful painting
using a small standard airbrush. In Fig.08, you
can see a close-up of the eyes and eyebrows. I
have chosen blue as a colour but the important
thing to remember is that they do not appear too
bright and feel very much as though they are
sunk in the head and in shadow. I also added
a small highlight on the tip of the nose to help
distinguish it.
Fig08

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9. Now add a further layer and set it to Soft

Light (I named mine colour tints), and using a
purple colour, similar to the small inset in Fig.09,
begin adding some colour variation across some
of the body and face. Be sure to keep away
from the seams and do not overdo it you will
notice I have concentrated around the eyes
and nose on the face with small patches on the
chin and cheeks too. This will help break up the
monochromatic quality and create some interest
across the areas of skin.
10. With regards to the arm and back section

of the model, I suggest you always start on the
guidelines layer and draw in the shapes of the
muscle groups and then save out an image to
test the accuracy on your actual mesh before
embarking an any significant detail and shading.
This is essentially trial and error and will mean
many changes and test renders before you are
confident in painting in the main shadows and
highlights that will define the form (Fig.10).
Fig10
11. With the face and body sections well

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underway, it is a good time to make a start on

the hair. This will utilise an alpha channel which
shall be used to control the opacity within Maya,
in order that we can identify hair strands. What
I do here is create a new layer which I call Hair
alpha and I use a pure white colour and paint
in the hair strands, as seen in Fig.11. We shall
then copy this entire layer and paste it into a
new Channels layer.
12. Select the Channels tab and click on the

small icon ringed in red in Fig.12a. This will
create a new channel that is called Alpha 1 by
default. Now, before we paste our hair outline
into this new channel, zoom in on two opposite
corners and paint in a 1x1 pixel square, as
seen in Fig.12. This will not effect the texture,
as the two squares are outside the mapping co-
ordinates, but will ensure that the hair shapes
remain in exactly the same positions when they
are pasted.
Fig12 13. Copy hair alpha into the Alpha 1 and then

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save out the image as a 32 bit tga, which will

retain the alpha channel. In Maya, load the
tga into the Colour slot in the Shading Group
from the Multilister Window ,as shown in the
upper part of Fig.13. Then assign a texture with
the alpha channel - Texture.tga in this case.
The alpha channel is automatically placed in
the Transparency slot. When you look at your
character in Maya, the white areas should
remain visible and the surrounding black areas
should become invisible.
14. In Fig.14, the white areas will be the hair

which we will see but the grey boundaries of the Fig13
polys will disappear in the final render.
Fig14
15. Now that we have the outline of the hair, we

SwordMaster
can begin painting within the alpha areas on a

Fig16
new layer. Use a mid to light grey, similar to the
colours seen in Fig.15, making sure to keep the
roots slightly darker. To help these blend in with
the scalp I have used a grey colour across the
top of the head also. Do not forget to also blend
the hairline in along the top of the face.
16. When all is done and applied to our model

it should look something like Fig.16. There are
a few areas that could be refined somewhat but
you get the general idea hopefully.
17. When we apply our texture so far to the

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model you may notice that there are a few areas

along the seam lines that do not match up very
successfully. It is a good idea to create a new
guideline layer to establish which edges are
adjacent on the model. Try painting different
coloured lines and matching them up along
certain edges as seen in Fig.17. You can see
that the black and orange lines on the body
are joined with the top seam of the arm in the
upper right and so on. What you need to do
now is make sure that the RGB values along
the corresponding edges are similar and have a
relative variation on each poly.
Fig17
18. In Fig.18, you can see the seam problems

around the top of the arm on the left side of the
image where the edges do not match. On the
right side is the revised version, which shows
an improvement. This just about concludes the
most crucial stages of texturing the skin areas
and hopefully gives you a good picture of how
to go about structuring your PSD file into key
components. All that is left are the ear and hand,
which are predominantly done using methods
already outlined. The hair could be tweaked to
a degree to improve the look but you should be
armed with enough knowledge to try your hand
at painting a texture from scratch. Next month
will see the conclusion of this Swordmaster
tutorial, when we tackle the armour and clothing.
Fig18

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SwordMaster
Part 8
Texturing Armour
and Clothing.
Introduction
We have finally arrived at the end of this series
of tutorials. Last month we covered the initial
stages of texturing the character by painting in
the skin and hair. This month concludes with
us adding the clothing and armour. As with the
mapping section this is a very detailed and
lengthy process and there is simply not time
to cover every aspect. Instead, I shall detail
some of the key stages which can be applied to
numerous areas of the template and hopefully
provide a practical overview.
1. The clothing itself is by far the simplest to

achieve as this will comprise of only two key
layers of detail in the form of shadows and
highlights, much like the skin previously. As Fig01
such, we will start with the armour as this is
a little more involved. We will begin with the
elbow pad as this is a relatively small part of
the armour but one that utilises most of the
techniques we shall use on the more dominant
pieces. First of all, select a neutral grey and
block in the area on the template and then,
using the elliptical marquee tool, select a small
area within the curved section. Now, on the main
menu bar, click on Layer Layer Style Bevel
and Emboss. Alternatively, you can click on the
small f icon at the base of the Layers palette.
This will bring up a dialogue box, similar to
Fig.01. Here you can alter various settings that
will determine the direction of light along with
the type and depth of bevel. You will notice that
I have chosen an Emboss and the angle of light
is directly above in this case. This is because
the orientation of the detail on the texture
map is such that the top of the ellipse will be
facing upwards on the character and hence the
shadow will be underneath. Experiment with the
slider bars and styles and observe the effects. Fig02

SwordMaster
2. One more thing which will help is to add a

subtle Drop Shadow, which you can find at the
top of the list. Check the tick box and then slide
the Distance arrow down to zero and increase
the Size and Spread until there is a soft shadow
around the ellipse. Now, on a new layer, create
a smaller ellipse inside this one and fill it with
the same grey colour. Right-click on the ellipse
1 layer and select Copy Layer Style and then
paste this into the new layer, as shown in
Fig.02. You will now have two ellipses that both
incorporate an emboss and drop shadow.
3. On another new layer, add in some rivet

heads using the same technique but perhaps
leaving out the drop shadow (Fig.03).
Fig03
4. Now add one more layer and start to draw in

some outlines that will trace the shape of the
elbow pad and create some extra detail, as seen
in Fig.04.
Fig04

SwordMaster
5. Now, believe it or not, that is essentially

the structure of our elbow pad. It doesnt look
finished yet but with a few minor tweaks it
will be. As this is a relatively small area on
the template we are going to apply our final
adjustments on the main colour block layer, as
opposed to adding any further layers. You can
either use the Colour Dodge / Burn tools or
choose lighter and darker shades of grey to do
this - both methods will require some painting
by hand. We are aiming for something similar to
Fig.05, in which you can see some modulation
to help emphasize the grooves and curvature of
the metal. Already we can see an improvement,
but one final layer will create the finishing touch.
Fig05
6. This will be a metal overlay which shall

eventually be used on all of the armour and so
must be near the top of our layer stack. Choose
any photo of metal that demonstrates the right
kind of scale and then set it to multiply and
lay it over the top, making any colour / tonal
adjustments as required (Fig.06). This then
describes the general process we will apply
to all of the armour sections, no matter how
complex. Use the marquee / selection tools to
add shapes followed by Layer Effects to add in
detail and lighting. Then, either on a new layer
or on the base colour, paint in the refinements,
such as shading and highlighted edges etc. You
can then clone parts of the metal overlay onto
the designated area to complete the armour.
Remember to use a guidelines layer initially,
as we did with the skin section, to check the
integrity of your mapping - no point in spending
half an hour painting an area of detail only to
find it is not correct on the model!
Fig06

SwordMaster
7. Now on to the hand - a quite small but highly

detailed area. The first step is to find a suitable
image of chainmail which can then be copied
into our template and scaled to a sufficient size,
as seen in Fig.07, to form the palm.
Fig07
8. Now add a series of straps across the fingers

with a slight shadow at the edges and a small
highlight in the centre, as seen on the left in
Fig.08. Next step is to add two layer effects,
seen on the right in the layers palette, which will
help define them further.
Fig08

SwordMaster
9. The top of the hand, which shall be armour-

plated, will be a little more intricate. First of all,
use the guidelines layer as a gauge by drawing
in the outlines of the metal plates, as seen in
Fig.09.
Fig09
10. Now make separate selection groups around

the guidelines so you end up with a series of
shapes, as seen in Fig.10. Afterwards, you can
fill in with a flat grey colour, consistent with the
rest of the texture, and when you apply the layer
effects they will occur on each piece.
Fig10

SwordMaster
11. In Fig.11, you can see the effects of the two

layer styles that have been applied; the inner
shadow which provides a dark outline and the
drop shadow which is below each piece.
Fig11
12. Now when we overlay some more of our

metal texture and some finishing touches we
end up with something like Fig.12. You can see
here that I have added some shadows between
each finger together with some highlights across
the tops. I have also created some rivets, as
before, and painted in some lines to further
embellish the hand. When tackling the rest of
the armour, follow these procedures and be
mindful of the fact that you want there to be an
ambient light source above the character.
Fig12

SwordMaster
13. Now for something that features quite

heavily on our template the belts. There are
three altogether and all are made in a similar
fashion. Block in the base colour and then find a
suitable photograph of some leather and paste
it over the top in a new layer. Set the blending
mode to multiply and alter the hue, brightness
and saturation accordingly. This will give you a
good starting point, similar to Fig.13.
14. We can now position the rivets, which we do

on a new layer, by using the circular marquee
tool set to a fixed aspect ratio, as seen along the
menu bar in Fig.14. The way to paint these is
to first fill in a circle with a grey colour. Then go
to Select - Modify Contract and choose about
3 pixels, dependant on the size of the circle of
course. Then delete the inner portion until you
are left with a simple ring. All you need to do
now is apply a Bevel and Emboss effect and
voila! Now simply Ctrl + Alt drag two more to
finish.
Fig14

SwordMaster
15. Next we will add two indentations where the

belt forms two straps. You can do this on the
main colour layer as it is relatively simple. Make
a rectangular selection and paint in a dark band
under the top edge (a), as shown in Fig.15. Now
invert the selection (shift + Ctrl + I) and lighten
the lower edge to form a highlight (b). Now do
the same on the upper strap to finish off.
Fig15
16. The two other details that are still missing

are the buckles. Again, these will be done
on separate layers in order that changes can
be made quickly. In Fig.16, you can see two
buckles that have been painted in. To create the
left one make a circular selection and fill in with
a grey colour. Now contract this selection group
and hit delete, leaving a ring, as we did with the
rivets. Now delete half of the remaining shape
and use the circular selection once again, to add
the small semi-circles around the inner-edge.
Now just use a brush to add in the highlights
and shadows manually. These elements are
best done by hand in the end and so there are
no clever tricks to speak of, just an awareness
of where you want the light source.
Fig16

SwordMaster
17. The next stage involves adding in rivets and a few vertical straps, as 18. To complete the belt we now need to add in the shadows and
shown in Fig.17. You can see that I have also painted in highlights across highlights, which can be done using two new layers, as with the skin in
the middle of the straps. last months instalment. In Fig.18, you can see that I have placed some
general shading around the centre of the belt, as this area falls under
the arm and also made sure there is a shadow around the buckles which
helps fix them to the leather and avoid the appearance that they may be
floating, as it were. Again, I have added some thin stitched lines along
the length which can be traced by a highlight.

SwordMaster
19. In Fig.19, you can see the final version

with the highlights concentrated at either end,
particularly on the right where the belt is folded.
The three edges surrounding the triangular hole
would catch the light and so show the brightest
highlights. You can follow the same procedure
for the remaining two belts, not forgetting to
overlay the leather reference for each.
20. So far we have dealt with techniques used

to paint the metal armour and leather belts,
but one area yet to be covered is that of cloth.
This will feature on the trousers, as well as the
banner hanging from his waist. The first step is
- yes, you guessed it - block in the base colour,
as seen in Fig.20, along with two seam lines.
Fig20

SwordMaster
21. Now using a shadows layer set to Multiply,

start painting in the direction of some of the
folds, using the same colour as the trousers.
Using a standard soft round airbrush they will
naturally come out darker, due to the layer
blending mode. Use a larger brush to begin with
to get a soft edge and then reduce the size of
the brush to sharpen crease lines. In Fig.21, you
can see the arrows which dictate the direction of
the creasing. Try and vary it slightly as there is
always variety where folds are concerned.
Fig21
22. Now on the highlights layer (Set to Soft

Light), simply trace around the shadows to
emphasize them as well as placing a few
strokes in between, as shown by the arrows in
Fig.22. Bear in mind which areas will receive
more direct light (in this case the outside of the
leg) and focus the stronger highlights in this
area. Use a colour that is almost white, but with
a shade of the green, in the trousers, which will
help. Use a small, soft brush to add crisp edges
to some of the more extreme creasing down the
outside of the leg. Generally, creases appear
more around areas of tension such as joints
- hence the detail around the groin, so keep this
in mind.
Fig22

SwordMaster
23. One final layer to help provide some subtle Conclusion

shading can be added on top of the previous Once you are satisfied that you have completed
three. This will incorporate a Gradient which each of the components on the texture you can
can be found on the toolbar (seen ringed in red add a couple of finishing touches if you wish.
in Fig.23). First of all, create a selection area These incorporate painting in some shadows
around the wireframe containing the trousers around the clothing and armour, particularly
and then click on the gradient tool. This will under the shoulder piece and elbow guard.
open up a dialogue box, similar to that on the This will just emphasize the geometry and add
left. Now select the preset in red along the top a richer and deeper contrast to the shadows
of the editor and proceed to click on the three when the character is placed in a scene. You
tabs under the gradient bar ringed in green. will notice that the trousers have not been
Change the colours to black, white and black, unwrapped in their entirety and so it will not be
as shown, and then drag a line from the left of possible to place a shadow under the waist belt
the trousers to the right, making sure that the and banner, as it would be mirrored on both
layer mode is set to Multiply. You should now sides. Ideally, you should unwrap both legs in
see a consistent shadow down the edges of the order to solve this problem but, for the sake of
trousers fading away in the middle, as seen on saving time, I have neglected to do this. One
the right. A similar approach can be used on remaining aspect you can add is some wear
the waist banner, except that is for the gradient. and tear to the clothing and armour through dirt
Begin with some broadly painted shadows maps. Finding a suitable image of rusted metal
using a Soft Round airbrush and then tighten will provide a good base from which to extract
the creases with a smaller Hard Round brush, some detail which can be colour adjusted and
before emphasizing them with a highlights layer. then overlayed.

You could use a Multiply mode to add dirt / rust
or perhaps Soft Light / Screen to add scratches.
Have a go and see what you can come up with.
You could also try using Layer Effects Bevel
/ Emboss to add dents and create a battle
SwordMaster
hardened look. This I hope covers most of the
crucial aspects of the texturing phase of the
tutorial. You may find that some of the texture
is stretched slightly when applied to the model,
as is often the case. An alternative to changing
the texture itself is to tweak the mapping within
Maya to solve the issues, which is usually far
quicker. Simply apply an Unwrap UVW and
transform the verts as outlined in the mapping
tutorial. When the texture is applied to the mesh
and rendered in a simple scene we end up with
something similar to this image.
Texture painted By
Richard Tilbury
rich@3dtotal.com
Bogdan Suman
suiobo@yahoo.com
The Swordmaster
character was originally created by
Seong-wha Jeong
www.xcloud.net
www.3dcreativemag.com page 101 chaptersephiloss@naver.com
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Complete Character Ceation By

Bogdan Suman from an original

Is our new precise, step-by-step tutorial for

1. The first step we create a basic cube for us

2. Now we need to enter component mode to

www.3dcreativemag.com page  chapter 01

4. Nose time. Select the front four faces and

www.3dcreativemag.com page  chapter 01

6. Lets get a basic mouth shape going here.

www.3dcreativemag.com page  chapter 01

8. Probably tired of modeling symmetrical

www.3dcreativemag.com page  chapter 01

10. Always a good idea to just test it out and

www.3dcreativemag.com page  chapter 01

12. Lets work on the forehead some. Select

www.3dcreativemag.com page  chapter 01

14. With the extra room now on the forehead

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16. Extrude out the face at the bottom of the

www.3dcreativemag.com page 10 chapter 01

18. Split in another edge running around the

www.3dcreativemag.com page 11 chapter 01

20. Lets get rid of that very flat underside of

www.3dcreativemag.com page 12 chapter 01

22. Ears are a rather luxurious commodity on

www.3dcreativemag.com page 13 chapter 01

24. Select the faces of the ear and extrude

www.3dcreativemag.com page 14 chapter 01

26. Now we can just attach the ear back to

Wooh, we have a fairly solid head going here

www.3dcreativemag.com page 15 chapter 01

Next month well start work on building a

www.3dcreativemag.com page 16 chapter 01

2. I want to build the upper side of the

www.3dcreativemag.com page 17 chapter 02

3. With Edit Polygons > Split Polygon Tool

4. Select again the lower edges and create

www.3dcreativemag.com page 18 chapter 02

5. Weve done most of our shoulder by

NOTE: I have to take a special attention to

Were making 2 more edges - Fig 05 - by

NOTE: By splitting the faces in two parts Ill

6. It is now time to create the chest. This

www.3dcreativemag.com page 19 chapter 02

7. Were using the same method for the

8. Getting back on the chest, select the lower

www.3dcreativemag.com page 20 chapter 02

9. In Fig 09 notice that the upper part of the

10. Using Extrude Edge again extrude one

www.3dcreativemag.com page 21 chapter 02

11. Now weve created the upper side of the

12. In order to give a proper form to the backs

www.3dcreativemag.com page 22 chapter 02

13. Extrude the lower edges one more time but

14. Use Edit Polygons > Cut Face Tools to

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15. Next thing we have to do is to reshape the

16. One more thing and weve done with the

See you next time.

www.3dcreativemag.com page 24 chapter 02

www.3dcreativemag.com page 25 chapter 02

2. Now well stitch them by grabbing one edge

www.3dcreativemag.com page chapter 01

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www.3dcreativemag.com page chapter 01