Maya Character Creation - Thehumanhead - Great PDF

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The Human Head site celebrated its first anniversary
(last month) languishing, unused and aging, on my
hard drive. My personal thanks to Wade Acuff and
Patrick Miller for making it possible to be bring it
back online after its five month hiatus.
Unfortunately, I haven't had time to update the site

beyond the mini-bio on the overview page and the
temporary alternate navigation at the bottom of this
page to support linux/mozilla users.
The Human Head is now hosted by the Department

of Art at Mississippi State University.
theory overview modeling theory approaches process setup NURBS polys/subds texturing animation
resources features close-up reference/links gallery pics and movies
copyright Andrew Camenisch | 2001
The Human Head site celebrated its first anniversary
(last month) languishing, unused and aging, on my
hard drive. My personal thanks to Wade Acuff and
Patrick Miller for making it possible to be bring it
back online after its five month hiatus.
Unfortunately, I haven't had time to update the site

beyond the mini-bio on the overview page and the
temporary alternate navigation at the bottom of this
page to support linux/mozilla users.
The Human Head is now hosted by the Department

of Art at Mississippi State University.
What and Who
The human head is unquestionably one of the most difficult objects to
model; both because of the complexity in the shape of its features and because
of its familiarity to the viewer and the resulting low tolerance for error. In addition,
the face has a range and subtlety of expression that to our human perception is
unmatched in the universe. Clearly, the status of the photoreal human head as
the "holy grail" for CG artists is deserved.
Though the majority of the most powerful and engaging characters in animation
history have been little more than circles and squares, all characters are simply
an abstraction of reality. Abstracting someone else's abstraction is the root of
cliche. An understanding of reality then is the foundation for new ideas and fresh
perspectives and creative character design. In short, study from life! That is the
approach this tutorial takes.
The "how" of modeling, however, is best shown with timelapse movies or picture
tutorials. I have neither the time nor the interest at this time to create a step-by-
step, "click here next" tutorial for modeling the head; neither would it contribute to
the scores already available on the web and in books. More valuable, I think, is a
discussion of theory and process with emphasis on the question "why."
Incidentally, a large portion of the information on this site is in text form with
illustrations to clarify when needed. As a constantly expanding resource, this site
would benefit greatly from user feedback since the meaning of words and
phrases are easily confused and, from the author's perspective, difficult to
control.
This site is not currently anywhere near what it should be to merit its
presumptuous / ambitious title; however, for now, I hope it serves well as a
starting point for some users and an opportunity for further exploration and
discovery for others.
A word about myself:
I built this site while pursuing a Master of Fine Arts at

Mississippi State University. The site represented a
culmination (of sorts) of my personal research in organic
modeling undertaken to support my thesis in portraiture
and characterization.
I graduated in December 2001 and currently live and

work in New Zealand under contract with Weta Digital.
000000000000000000000000000
theory overview modeling theory approaches

process setup NURBS polys/subds texturing animation
resources features close-up reference/links
gallery pics and movies
I invite all comments and criticism.
Please respect my ownership and do not copy text or illustrations from this site without written consent. Thanks.
Parameterizationthe Where and the How
"The most commonly overlooked aspect of a model is its topology."
1|2|3
There is more to modeling a head than capturing its exact

appearance. The perfect shape can be invalidated by an imperfect
structure. In my opinion the single most important, but most commonly
overlooked, aspect of modeling a 3D CG head (or any complex model
built for animation) is its topology. Both topology and geometry are
different aspects of a model's parameterization. Whereas geometry
designates the placement of vertices, topology refers to the structure of
a model; it is concerned less with where vertices are than how they are
connected together. Topology affects the economy and the capability of
the model. Economy consists of the efficiency and effectiveness of the
model. Are there more polygons than absolutely necessary? The
capability of the model involves the quality and range of movement it is
able to perform.
Ultimately, there are two factors that should determine the flow of a
model's parameterization:
1) the direction of the topographical (not to be confused with

topological) details, and
2) the direction of the surface's motion when animated.
Let's look at the mouth for example:

The characteristic shape of The parameterization Furthermore, from kissing to
this region of the face is therefore should follow the shouting to smiling, the
defined by the lips which meet direction of this topography direction of the motion of the
at the corners of the mouth to emanating from the center of mouth radiates from the center
form a complete circle. the mouth as concentric of the mouth, mandating a
circles. topology that flows out and
away from the center of the
mouth.
The resulting topology would look something like this:
Let's compare this to an improper topology that

ignores the direction of surface shapes and the
direction of motion.
Note that though this surface has a higher resolution
than the first surface it inadequately and awkwardly
represents the mouth shape primarily in its dealing
with the corners of the mouth.
Now take a look at the primary muscles of the human

face.
You'll notice that the flow of their fibers corresponds

roughly to the flow of the parameterization in the
mouth region. This is an important observation. As you
attempt to build more and more subtlety of expression
and shape into your character's model you will want to
conform your parameterization more and more to the
underlying muscles of the face.
1|2|3

Natural Lines
1|2|3
The previous section mentioned the correlation between underlying

muscles and the proper topology of a model. This section introduces two
anatomical "phenomena" of the human body that help visualize the
influence of the muscles on the skin: wrinkles and Langer's lines.
Wrinkles
Wrinkles on skin are essentially the same as wrinkles on cloth: a

bunching of fabric. The fabric draping the head, however, is typically firm
and elastic, conforming tightly to the underlying fat, muscle and bone.
Nevertheless, a large part of the expression and personality a particular
head communicates is dependent on a network of temporary and
permanent wrinkles.
Temporary wrinkles are those that that come and go with particular
facial movement. Some of these wrinkles are key to identifying facial
expressions. The parameterization of a head model should plan for
wrinkles that will be modeled into the blend (morph) shapes when setting
up the head for animation.
For Example
The most prominent of wrinkles, the smile/shout
wrinkle around the mouth, is commonly
overlooked in the modeling of youthful heads,
because the crease is typically not visible in the
expressionless base shape and the artist simply
overlooks the fact that it will be needed later in
modeling the target shapes (check out most head
modeling tutorials on the web). Thoughtlessly
extending the concentric circle parameterization
of the mouth region, also contributes to improper
structure for defining the mouth wrinkle. (I've been
there and done that...)
rollover
Permanent wrinkles represent the history of a head's facial action,

forming on the human face after a lifetime of facial movement (and time
in the sun). As age increases, the elasticity of skin decreases. The skin
becomes less and less able to spring back to its original position,
increasing the surface area of the skin and eventually sagging and
bunching on the face (more info). The lines formed by these wrinkles
illustrate a nearly ideal topology for a CG head model.
I'm not sure who owns the Self-Portrait with Grey Felt Hat
copyright on this picture.
If anyone happens to know,
please email me.
Van Gogh's intuitive understanding of the natural flow of lines on the

face, possibly developed from observing the face's wrinkles of
expression and age. The compatibility of Van Gogh's brushwork with
Langer's Lines also leads one to wonder if he had been influenced by
illustrations of these so-called lines of tension.
Langer's Lines
A stab wound inflicted with an ice pick or a similar weapon with a conical
blade will leave a slit in the skin, not a round puncture as might be
expected (a bit more info on stab wounds and Langer's Lines). The
direction of a slit varies between different areas of the body but remains
fairly consistent from person to person. Langer's lines map the direction
of slits across the body and are used in surgery to guide incisions: cuts
along Langer's Lines heal better leaving less scarring.
Named after Austrian anatomist, Carl Ritter von E. Langer (1819-1887),

Langer's Lines represent lines of tension within the skin. These lines
tend to be oriented parallel to the direction the skin is pulled and are
dependent on the direction of collagenous bundles (elastic connective
tissue) in the reticular layer of the skin.
Though certainly not the final word on topology, Langer's lines provide
several interesting ideas for the head and rest of the body, as well as
offer insights regarding the tension placed on skin in different regions.
Illustrations taken from

Henry Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body.
In public domain.
1|2|3

Identifying and resolving problem areas.
1|2|3
Since the factors (the shape and motion of the surface) that
influence topology are independent of each other, there are certain
regions on the human head where they demand conflicting structures.
One example region is the promontory of the cheekbone.
Bone primarily determines the surface

shape of this region. The cheekbone
creates a straight ridge that begins in the
base of the skull behind the ear and runs
seamlessly into the eye bone which
circumnavigates the eye. Presumably,
the parameterization to define this shape
should flow along the same line.
However, the motion of the skin in this

region, is manipulated directly and
indirectly by several different muscles
which push and pull the skin in a variety
of directions -- directions that don't
necessarily flow along the topographical
(again, don't confuse with topology)
lines. Smiling pushes the skin up and
back; kissing pulls it down toward the
mouth; while squinting pulls it up and in
toward the eye. In the illustration, you
can see that the movements just
described run along lines that are
diagonal to the cheekbone.
In summary, the surface's shape
requires a horizontal/vertical grid, while
the surface's motion demands a
diagonal configuration. When you place
a diagonal grid over a horizontal grid you
end up with something that is
incompatible with NURBS and
undesirable for Maya subd surfaces: 3
and 5 sided faces.
Resolving conflicting parameterization

usually entails beginning with the
structure demanded by the motion and
adjusting it as much as possible to
conform with topographical concerns.
Examine the solution for the

cheekbone topology in this
wireframe. Also notice the
solution for a similar problem
on the nose where the
direction of surface shapes
and the direction of the motion
conflict. (Sneering pushes the
skin above the wings of the
nose up and forward creating
very characteristic wrinkles on
the nose. This motion runs
diagonal to the direction of the
most prominent surface shape
in that region: the nose itself.)
click for larger version
Suggested workflow:
Make several copies of a drawing/photograph of your
character.
On one picture, draw lines indicating the direction of major

shapes of the surface.
On another picture, draw lines indicating the direction of the

movement of the surface using the facial muscles as
reference.
Copy the lines from both pictures onto a third picture and
begin connecting the lines that seem to flow into each other
to form what Bay Raitt refers to as Edge Loops.
All lines must end up roughly parallel or perpendicular to the

lines closest to it so that a grid of sorts can be constructed.
When surface lines and motion lines don't overlap, aren't
parallel and aren't perpendicular -- you've officially found
a problem spot.
Decide what is most important and resolve it the best you

can (remember, with Maya subds, avoid creating faces with
more or fewer sides than 4; but if necessary, almost always
give preference to a five-side over a three-side. Refer to the
Subdivision Modeling Resource Page maintained by Tamás
Varga, for dealing with odd numbered faces).
1|2|3

Modeling Paradigms Compared
Common approaches to modeling the head
1|2|3
There a several different common

approaches to modeling the human head.
Following is a list of these methods with a
short description:
NURBS single mesh: The head being

spherical in shape, the NURBS sphere is a popular
place to start. The sphere can be oriented along
any axis:
x) poles are located in the ears; I've only seen one
head built this way and I'm not sure where...
y) poles are placed on the top of the skull and
around the neck, see Jeremy Birn's tutorial for
example, or
z) poles are in the the mouth and on the back of the
skull or in the mouth and opening at neck. [see
example note that the eyes are separate geometry]
One big disadvantage to the single mesh NURBS is

that the entire head has to share the same
single NURBS mesh in x, y and z orientation
resolution; meaning the model might have a zillion
isoparms running around it just to be able to define
a decent nose or eye. It is a fast and easy way to
model a head, however, and works fairly well for
low detail, highly abstracted characters.
NURBS patch model: Modeling the head by

stitching together a number of NURBS patches
allows for both more complexity in the shape and
more regularity and efficiency in the
parameterization. This system is fairly complex
however and involves a lot of tedious tweaking at
the seams of each patch to ensure smooth
continuity with adjacent patches. The NURBS
patched head is discussed in more detail in the
process>NURBS chapter of this website.
multiple NURBS patches
Polygonal mesh: Polygonal head models are
usually single meshes and can be built from scratch
(beginning with a sphere or cube primitive) or
constructed by converting NURBS surfaces.
Polygons offer a much more left brain approach to
modeling than NURBS being much more flexible in
their parameterization. Polygonal head models are
discussed more fully in the process>polys/subds
chapter of this website.
single polygon mesh
Subdivision Surface: Subdivision surfaces

are generated by converting a polygon mesh,
offering the polygon head further refinement and
infinite smoothness.
single subdivision surface
1|2|3

The Pros and Cons
1|2|3
Each modeling paradigm has its pros

and cons, and the smart modeler will know when
to use each one. Following is a chart comparing
some of the pros and cons of each paradigm.
Though to my knowledge the chart is fairly
software independent, I did include factors
specific to Maya.
NURBS: Polygons: SubDivision

Surfaces:
pros: pros: pros:

automatic single mesh: most (being based on polys,
organization: all models can be all the pros of polys
vertices are kept in constructed as one except fur support
consistent, solid mesh apply to subds)
quadrilateral
relationships allowing local detail: resolution hierarchical modeling:
for built-in UVs which can be added locally offers several levels of
makes applying a control: coarse, for
texture faster. arbitrary topology: how general manipulation
the vertices are of surface and refined,
scalable resolution: connected can easily for specific
surface is defined by be rearranged and manipulation (Maya)
mathematical edited
equations and scalable resolution
therefore is infinitely import/export between
smooth, allowing for other packages: poly
infinite scaling file formats like .dxf
and .obj are supported
small file size by practically every
commercial 3D
curves on surface: software
allowing for Paint
Effects (Maya) texture control; power
to manipulate
fur support (Maya) placement of each
individual UV
fur support (Maya)
cons: cons: cons:
limited complexity in large file size no fur or PE support

the shape of the (Maya)
surface without fixed resolution
resorting to multiple no soft body dynamics
patches, in which case texture control: the (Maya)
the following point control polys offer in
applies... terms of setting up
UVs comes at the
can be complicated expense of ease;
and tedious applying a texture can
be a fairly involved
seams process
very little control over no curves on surface:

texture stretching and and hence no Paint
placement Effects support (Maya)
1|2|3

The Recommended Workflow: NURBS to poly to subd
1|2|3
This site recommends constructing the head with

NURBS patches, converting to polygons and then to
subdivision surfaces to create the final model.
Certainly, beginning and ending with polys/subds, however, is

the chosen route for many experienced modelers. To a large
degree, determining a work flow is based on personal
preference. I might caution however, that very often student
head models that are begun and completed in polygons end
"The convenience and global up a garbled mess since the actual constructing of a poly
power of NURBS modeling tools mesh demands relatively little discipline and forethought. The
head is such a complex shape that the structure must be
and the organization inherent to under control at all times. The organization built into NURBS
NURBS topology suggest that surfaces helps tremendously. Other disadvantages to this
proposed process include:
NURBS are the ideal modeling
paradigm for setting up the initial 1) extra time is spent on converting to polys and merging
separate patches, (time saved elsewhere, in my opinion).
structure of the head model."
2) NURBS control vertices do not lie on the surface,
sometimes resulting in a tangled web of hulls especially
around the lips and making vertex selection in that area
difficult.
However, there are several compelling reasons

for starting with NURBS:
1) NURBS automatically maintain a quadrilateral relationship
between surface points ensuring proper structure for later
conversion to subdivision surfaces (quad faces are preferred
by Maya's subds and are more easily organized);
2) NURBS allow for hull selection and pick walking (using the
arrow keys to move to adjacent CVs; very useful when the
serial relationship between two points is not clear);
3) NURBS can be quickly rebuilt in U and V directions

separately (offering versatility while allowing for a quick
roughing out of the shape and the progressive refinement of
that shape).
In summary, the convenience and global power of NURBS

modeling tools and the organization inherent to
NURBS topology suggest that NURBS are the ideal modeling
paradigm for setting up the initial structure of the head model.
1|2|3

Preparing to Model
Downloading reference material or creating your own
The only real purpose of importing reference photos or drawings

into the front and side orthographic views is to help the modeler maintain
proportions, allowing him to move at a quicker pace. However, if these
drawings and photos are poorly done, they can cause much frustration
for the modeler and sometimes produce a badly distorted model.
Some common sense about taking reference photos:
Stand as far away from the subject as your lens will allow. This will
flatten the head, eliminating much of the perspective in the photo,
preparing it for its destination: the orthographic view. A lot of distortion in
a model can result from using a perspective-filled photo as reference in
an orthographic view!
Use lighting that is clear but also accentuates the forms of the face.
Make sure your light setup works for both the front and profile view of
the head (see next point). Don't use a flash!
Don't rotate the subject in front of the camera, but instead orbit the
camera around the subject. The subject should remain stationary; this
will ensure that shadows on the face are consistent between the front
and profile views, which makes identifying and aligning features between
the two views much easier.
Be aware of the colors in your photo. Remember you will be modeling on

top of these photos in wireframe view. What color is the wireframe?
When selected? It may be helpful to process the color in Photoshop
(decrease saturation/value, colorize, etc.) if the modeling components
are getting lost in the photo.
Make sure you get a TRUE profile. A slight turn of the head can throw off
your proportions.
Make sure the up and down tilt of the head is consistent between front
and profile views. (The forward tilt of the head in the Natalie Portman
"front view" below required her profile to be rotated slightly.)
You may find it helpful to draw points or a grid on the subject's face to
streamline the surface construction process later on the computer.
This may be obvious, but I find it easier to align the two photos in
Photoshop and cropping them to identical sizes before importing them
into the 3d package, instead of aligning them in the 3d package.
For your convenience, here are photos to be used as on-
screen reference that I either took myself or found on the
web.
Notice in the front Notice the profile These images

view that half the view is NOT a are from the
face was true profile. The research being
mirrored in head is slightly done in face
Photoshop. One angled away. cloning at
reason for doing Students who MIRALab.
this is to make have used these Though I am not
sure the face is images yet permitted to
oriented at a 90 struggled display the hi-res
degree angle and against placing versions of the
not leaning over the eyes on their photos, they
slightly. The models too far remain an
lighting is forward. Also, example of good
identical in both since these reference. If you
shots so photos were look at the
shadows and taken under vegetation in the
highlights are different lighting background and
found at the conditions, the lighting on
exact same spots locating the the man's face,
on both faces. same point on you'll notice the
her face in both subject stood
photos can be still as the
difficult. camera moved
around him.
Images from
a Natalie
Portman fan
site.
Copyright
owner
unknown to
author --
will remove
images if
requested.
The Anatomy Resource References for 3D artists

has a few more profile/frontal photos
Patchwork Strategies
Comparing NURBS patch designs
1|2
For a brief history and slightly technical overview of NURBS surfaces

click here.
There are a number of different ways the NURBS patchwork can

be designed. Three guiding principles to keep in mind as we explore
these various schemes are:
1) the number of patches should be kept to the absolute minimum; this

not only minimizes the number of seams on the model (reducing
compute time and sustaining the modeler's emotional health) but will
also simplify texturing.
2) the arrangement of the patches should observe the proper flow of

topology as much as possible; frankly, it is impossible to build a topology
with NURBS that aligns perfectly to the underlying muscles, but some
patch schemes do a better job of approximating it than others.
3) seams and junctures should be placed in areas that are broad in

shape and motion. Seams on the forehead and cheeks for instance
receive less stress than one around the wing of the nose.
(For more information about these principles and for other things to
consider, read Tom Capizzi's page on network strategies found in his
Head Surfacing Tutorial.)
Comparing and evaluating various patch schemes that have been

developed will serve to illustrate the previous principles.
The Bingo Setup. Developed by AliasWavefront for the

short film Bingo and featured in AW's training videos, this
model uses 10 patches to define the face (9 depending on the
eye setup). The two most significant problems with this setup
in my opinion are:
1) The isoparms flowing from the top of the wing of the nose
flow back and around the cheek terminating in the jaw.
Consequently, the crease in the cheek that occurs when
sneering or smiling can only be faked. Instead, the isoparms
should flow along the surface detail whose shape actualy
flows from the top of the nose lobe, down around the corner of
the mouth and into the chin.
2) The juncture point just to the right of the eye is placed at a

point on the face that receives alot of deformation which can
cause some tangency problems.
<<<model available for free

download at AliasWavefront.
The Arnold Setup. This is the head of an entire NURBS
body built by Jeffrey Wilson early in his career and is an
amazing example of seamless stitching. The head, however,
has the same faults as the Bingo setup while also using more
patches to define the face region: a total of 11. The high
resolution of the model, in my opinion, is not justified except
for possibly in defining the shape of the nose. One advantage
of having a separate patch for the nose though, is the ability to
increase resolution locally without affecting surrounding
patches; this model does not take advantage of that. In my
opinion, the geometry of the nose on a NURBS model in most
cases is best suggested, receiving further refinement with
color and bump texture maps.
<<<model by Jeffrey Ian Wilson

available for free download at Zoorender.
My Setup. After experimenting with the Bingo setup and

applying what I'd learned about stitching and patchwork
strategies, I designed a setup that I believe to be the best for
a medium resolution human head. The face is composed of 6
patches whose topologies flow in the direction of the major
muscles of the face. The topology is far from perfect,
obviously, since NURBS technology is limited. However, the
model is built to naturally receive (without forcing and faking)
the major deformations of facial action.
Except for the juncture on the eyebrow, all seams and

junctures have been placed in areas that receive either very
little deformation or else very broad deformation.
Click here for another view of this model showing the strategy
for the entire head.
A Setup to Avoid.This final head is a design used by a

company to demonstrate software that creates NURBS
surfaces from polygonal meshes. I found it curious due to the
number of patches used to construct the face (around 30) and
think it's a good example of how patchwork design can get out
of hand if the three principles aforementioned are not kept in
mind. :)
Designing the patchwork for
a NURBS model is nothing
more than a fun puzzle. The
following section discusses
some of the rules of the game
as it explains the strategy for
modeling a realistic NURBS ear.
1|2

Patchwork Strategies
The NURBS ear and the rules of stitching
1|2
click for larger image
The ear is like a face within a face. The complexity, variation and
uniqueness of each ear is nothing short of amazing. Unfortunately many
CG heads fail at depicting a believable, realistic ear. I think the main
reason for this is simply a lack of good reference (it's very difficult to
examine one's own ears in a mirror) and lack of priority (rarely do we
notice ears; is it worth the time to do it right?). The ear modeled in
NURBS is further complicated by the limitation inherent to that paradigm
in depicting complex shapes. Stitching multiple patches, however, offers
a solid way of depicting human ears. Before discussing patchwork
strategies for the ear, we need to go over a few guidelines for stitching.
According to the recommended workflow of this site, there is no point in

creating a refined seamless NURBS head since all seams will be dealt
with after the patches are converted to polygons. However, stitching can
be helpful in general NURBS modeling and is still considered a
commercially valuable skill. Following is a list of rules governing master
and slave stitching.
Never use the 2nd to last or first CVs to define detail on a

patch as these CVs are used to achieve tangency between
patches
Place breaks betweeen patches at areas that recive the least
deformation. ie. DO NOT design patches to break at natural
creases in the face [placing seams at flat areas if possible]
Work out which edges will be masters or slaves before

beginning modeling. To determine which is the slave and
which the master use the following rules/guidelines:
1) any edge that is to be stitched to two

edges must be a master, or
2) if rule #1 doesn't apply, choose as master

the patch that represents the point(s) of
insertion of muscles whose effect is shared
by adjacent patches. In other words, enslave
the patches that move very little to the ones
that move a lot. The insertion of a muscle is
where the muscle connects to the skin. The
origin of a muscle is where the muscle is
grounded, usually connected to bone. When
the muscle contracts it pulls the insertion
toward the origin. For example, the muscle
that pulls the brow up in surprise is grounded
in the upper forehead but is inserted at the
brow. The brow consequently receives the
primary deformation in the contracting of that
muscle. Therefore the forehead should be
enslaved to the brow.
The order of stitching is very important and should be worked

out on paper before proceeding:
1) always stitch patches first which are masters at every edge
2) for all other patches, observe this principle: always stitch all
the enslaved edges of a patch before stitching the master
edge(s) of that patch. This will ensure that all corners meet at
the proper place without overlapping or dragging.
Align isoparms of patches to achieve a more predictable and

secure stitch and to aid congruency in texture maps.
When fixing problem areas (tangled CVs, etc.) adjust the

border and tangent CVs on the master surface first. The
tangent CVs kind of see-saw around the border CVs.
Now back to the ear:
Ear models have been attempted with

single meshes but necessarily fail due to
the interlocking flow of the prominent
topographical detail of the ear. Notice that
the green and red lines pivot around
different points of the ear as well as flow
into each other.
Whenever the topography of a surface

flows in multiple directions, multiple
patches are required to adequately define
the shape. Assigning one surface to each
line is the first step to designing a
patchwork for the ear.
Since there is no way to stitch the bottom

part of these two patches with the current
setup, the middle patch will be broken into
two.
Now each edge at the circled juncture has
a corresponding edge to which it can be
stitched. However, the resolution that the
inner hook of the outer surface requires
(both to define the shape of that area and
to stitch with the two inner patches) is too
high to be spread across the entire
surface. Therefore the outer surface will
also be split allowing for a concentration
of resolution where it is needed.
Finally a master/slave system is worked

out based on the above rules and
guidelines. Notice that one edge of the
inner patch is not stitched at all but
instead is hidden under the cleft of the
outer patch.
Once the design is completed, the ear

can be modeled.
click for larger image
Notice that this ear setup can be either

blended or stitched to a NURBS head.
Below are several MEL scripts passed along to

me by Jeffrey Wilson that are useful for
NURBS stitching in Maya.
tangentCVWin.mel by JS
hullTangencyWin.mel by Jeffrey Wilson
mAlignCvs.mel by Matthew Gidney
mMidPointCvs.mel by Matthew Gidney
mPlanar Cvs.mel by Matthew Gidney
pickVertexC.mel by Matthew Gidney
pickvertex.mel by Becky Chow
1|2

The Relationship
How Polgons and Subdivision Surfaces "Get Along"
Polygonal modeling is pretty straightforward though it

requires a lot of discipline to keep organized and efficient.
How polygons work in conjunction with subdivision surfaces,
however, is a bit more involved. Most significantly, there are
three things to be aware of in the way a subdivision surface
works with its polygonal control mesh--the poly proxy.
1.
The topology of a poly proxy influences the final shape of the

subdivision surface. Placing your mouse over the illustration
above will reveal that all three blobs have identical geometry
(same number of vertices with exactly the same placement)
but unique topologies (vertices are connected in different
ways). For the most part, predictable smoothing during
animation will require maintaining quad faces on the poly
proxy. This thread from the Digital Sculpting Forum ponders
the potential of five-sided faces.
2.
Subdivision surfaces expect regular spacing between edges.
For example, the shape of the two objects above appear
identical. However, placing your mouse over the image
reveals that the extra edge around the middle of the second
shape creates a bump on the subdivision surface. John
Feather explains why, as well as elaborating on problem #1,
in this thread from the Mirai Bulletin Board. The practical
implication of this problem is that fine wrinkles on the face that
appear and disappear cannot be built into the model unless
the surrounding resolution is equally high.
3.
This final point is specific to the hierarchical system of Maya's

subdivision surfaces. Maya allows for manipulation of
subdivision surfaces at various levels of detail enabling
general and local control over the geometry of the model. I
personally have not found a use for this technology in
modeling the human head. The main reason being that
modeling done at different levels of detail can react
unpredictably if the topology is later altered in poly proxy
mode. I prefer modeling detail directly into the polygon mesh
and then using clusters and other deformers when general
control is need.
Maya Tip:
Because subdivision surfaces can slow down interactivity
while modeling, I setup my workspace with two perspective
modeling views one showing only the poly proxy and the other
displaying only the subd surfaces (use the Show menu of
each view panel). To view the poly control mesh in shaded
view, apply a material to it, but be sure to turn off its "Primary
Visibility", etc. attributes in the Render Stats section of its
Attribute Editor so that it won't render. Most modeling is then
accomplished while the poly view is maximized; a quick tap of
the space bar allows me to check progress on the subd
surface.
Attacking Stretching part 1
Mapping UVs
1|2|3
Stretching is a common problem in texturing

complex 3D models and can be particularly
frustrating on the human head. There are
essentially two fronts where stretching can
be attacked: 1) setting up UVs and 2)
painting the texture. Part 1 of "Attacking
Stretching" looks at mapping UVs; Part 2 at
tweaking UVs; and Part 3 at painting
textures with corrective distortion.
Below is a close-up by Michael Koch

depicting very nice texture mapping around
a potentially tricky area of the face.
Michael Koch
A UV is a mapping coordinate that determines the relationship between the pixel of a texture and its relative
position on a surface. Unlike NURBS, which have "built-in", uneditable UVs, polygonal surfaces offer the modeler
control over the UV setup.
Problems and Solutions
Generating and setting up mapping coordinates for the polygonal head model can be very tedious, given the
caverns of the nostrils, mouth, and ears and the mountainous topography of the nose, brow, and ears.
Furthermore, the head must contend with the problem of mapping a 2D image to a 3D "spherical" object, which is
puzzle that has plagued cartographers ever since the debunking of the flat earth theory. The Great Globe Gallery
offers a look at various mapping solutions. The method most commonly applied to mapping the head is a
modified Mercator Projection. The Mercator map offers several advantages for the 3D artist:
1) It fits into the rectangular shape required by image file formats,
2) It is whole--no divisions in mapping coordinates, minimizing seams, (see Lundgren's multi-planar solution for
comparison) and
3) It is conformal.
Conformal mapping preserves the angles of the features. For example, if you paint an eyebrow, scar, wrinkle,
etc. at a certain angle on the texure, the feature will retain this angle once mapped onto the object (For
comparison, imagine the variation in the actual route delineated, if a straight line were drawn connecting L.A. and
Rio de Janeiro on the following maps: Gnomonic, Globe, and Mercator).
Methods
Spherical, cylindrical, cubic, and planar mapping are different approaches to the same goal: generating mapping
coordinates for a surface. Determining which to use in a given situation depends on which will generate a map
that is closest to the final goal, requiring the least amount of tweaking. Spherical mapping, in my opinion, doesn't
deal with the caverns and mountains of the head as predictably as cylindrical mapping does and therefore
requires more adjustment to approximate a modified Mercator projection. Cylindrical mapping, though, doesn't
generate proportional UVs in some areas; for instance, compressing the top of the skull.
spherical cylindrical
Simply mapping the model, however, generates a UV map with many overlapping UVs in the mouth, ears, and
nose regions. As a solution, the Maya Rendering Courseware suggests generating UVs for a human head model
using the following process:
1) duplicate the head

2) average vertices on duplicate model
3) spherical wrap
4) transfer UV set from duplicate to original
Averaging vertices is a way of "smoothing out" the model, flattening raised areas and raising sunken areas by
averaging the distance between vertices. This, of course, makes the head much more ball-like and reduces the
amount of overlapping in the critical regions.
There are a few problems, however, with this general "smoothing out." Averaging vertices modifies the relative
placement of vertices, distributing them more evenly across the model. It is important, as we'll see later, that the
relative size and shape of each face of the poly mesh remain consistent between the UV set and the actual
model--as much as possible. A solution, therefore, is to use averaging vertices selectively and locally on the ear,
nose, mouth, brow, and chin/neck regions.
Maya offers an iterative action called "relax UVs" that performs the same smoothing effect as "average vertices",
but on UVs. Mapping the original head model and then applying "relax UVs" on the mouth, nose, ears, etc. can
result in a UV map identical to one generated by the "duplicate/average/transfer" method. In conclusion, whether
you map the raw model and relax UVs, or you duplicate the model, average vertices, map it and then transfer the
UVs--it's completely up to you. : )
1|2|3

Tweaking UVs
1|2|3
The best UV projection shape would be one that

assumed the exact form of the model (for similar
ideas see YouMap and this mel script: sds ezUV
v1.1). But for a surface as subtlely complex as the
human head, there is simply no way of getting
around the sometimes tedious task of repositioning--
tweaking, if you will--the mapping coordinates of the
model to reduce stretching of the texture.
To visualize the stretching, apply either a checker

texture or a number pattern (Util-Mark 6) to the
surface. The regularity and uniformity of these
textures make any distortion readily noticeable. After
mapping one of these textures to the model, tweak
the UVs until:
1) all mapped checkers/squares are

approximately the same size on the
model, and
rollover
2) all mapped checkers/squares are,

for the most part, still squarish on
the model (no rectangles or
diamonds).
rollover
Achieving this uniformity and squarishness in the

texture will require the individual repositioning of
certain UVs. Set up the software's interface so that
the model and the UV map are side by side.
Referring to the wireframe of the model, adjust the
position of the UVs based on the following two
principles:
1) the relative size of each

polygonal face must be maintained
If the vertices on the model define a
face that is twice the size of another,
the UVs at those vertices should
demonstrate that same relative size.
Notice below how the texture on the
model straightens out when the UVs
adopt a placement that mimics the
relative distance between vertices
on the model.
rollover
2) the basic shape of each

polygonal face must be maintained.
If the vertices on the model define a
face that is square, the UVs at those
vertices should also define a
square. Notice below that the
texture straightens out when the
shapes the UVs define mimic those
defined by the model's vertices.
rollover
Though some stretching will remain, a lot of it can

be hidden by moving it to:
1) relatively insignificant areas. Obviously, the face

is the main concern. If the head has hair, stretching
beyond the hairline will work fine. Behind the ear,
inside the mouth, under the jaw, etc. are regions that
are typically in shadow or simply not in one's normal
line of sight.
2) relatively smooth areas. Any stretching in a solid

color texture is invisible. Similarly, stretching in
regions of the head with very little bump depth or
color variation is much less noticeable. To my
knowledge, the under part of the nose, the eyelid,
and possibly the under part of the brow are the
smoothest regions on the face, in terms of color and
bump textures.
Maya offers a fairly powerful toolset for editing

UVs. The following tutorials show these tools in
action: Baskin's Subd, Padron's Ugly,
UnderTow's Lowpoly, and Kapp's Chicken.
1|2|3

Painting textures with corrective distortion
1|2|3
Left head is textured procedurally.

Right head is textured with an image map
based on the procedural texture to the left.
Another way to deal with stretching textures on a

head model is to use procedural textures, converting
them to file textures and compositing them in an
image editor that supports layering and masking,
such as Photoshop. Converting to file analyzes the
model, its UV map, and the projection of the
procedural texture and generates a 2D image that
maintains the appearance of the texture on the
model. To maintain the appearance, the 2D image is
generated with corrective distortion.
Look at the following example: In Maya, the 3D

procedural texture, leather, was applied to a
polygonal sphere. Notice that the texture is uniform
and shows no pinching at the pole of the sphere.
Converting to file texture generated the following 2D

image. Notice the stretching of the texture near the
poles to accommodate the pinching of the UVs in
those areas. This is corrective distortion.
rollover to view UV map of sphere
Mapping this 2D texture back onto the sphere (and

turning off texture filtering) resulted in an image
identical to the one above featuring the procedural
granite texture.
The image at the top of the page, shows this

process transferred to skin texture. The head on the
left is textured procedurally, (layering granites and
leathers, etc as pimples, freckles, etc). The head on
the right is mapped with images based off of 2D
conversions of the procedural textures.
The Process
Set up 3D procedural textures that fairly convincingly
depict different aspects of the skin surface: pimples,
moles, glyphics, discolorations, stubble, freckles, dry
skin, etc. Convert each of these to an image file.
Notice the corrective distortion in the examples below
(based on this imperfect UV map).
freckles pimples
glyphics light stubble
Paste these images into a layered image in

Photoshop and proceed to mask out each layer
where needed (for instance, mask out most of the
"freckles" layer around the neck, forehead, and chin
regions, localizing freckles to the nose and cheeks).
After color correction and additional painting a decent
texture map with built-in corrective distortion is
created.
This process is a relatively easy way of creating good

skin textures that deal with stretching on the model.
However, for high-end close-up work there is no
avoiding significant hand painting and possibly the
limited use of photography. Nevertheless, 2D images
converted from 3D procedural textures can serve, if
nothing else, as reference by identifying stretching
and proposing corrective distortion.
Achieving the material qualities of skin is one

of the most difficult aspects of human head
texturing. The translucency , and subsurface
light scattering properties, and the softening
effect of the carpet of "peachfuzz" covering the
skin are difficult qualities to achieve using
conventional shaders. Tweaking the shader for
the unique lighting conditions of different shots
may be the most practical solution to achieving a
consistent fleshy look. One of the most useful
tools available for an artist to study the
properties of skin (by viewing it under various
lighting conditions) is the Facial Reflectance
Field Demo. Excellent reference for lighting
setup, too.
Be sure to read Steven Stahlberg's comments on

human skin and shaders in chapters 17 - 19 of
his head/face tutorial (info also found on his site).
Alias|Wavefront's skin shader plugin for Maya
offers further information. Peter Levius is doing
some promising work using this plugin. Seryong
Kim has done some interesting stuff with Mark
Davies' raydiffuse plugin for Maya.
1|2|3

Modeling Blendshapes
A few things to consider
1|2
Work illustrating the fleshiness

so often missing in facial morph targets.
Mark Piretti David Maas
The real test of a head Though comics artists are

masters of abstracting facial
modeler's skill, in my opinion, is in
poses to a few expressive lines,
the setting up of the blendshapes.
their drawings focus on the major
It reveals not only problems in the
shapes created in a pose while
structure of his model but also the
often consciously editing out what
level of his understanding of the
is going on around them. While a
structure of the head. The same
3D modeler must also prioritize
intuitive familiarity we all have
the depiction of the major shapes,
with the shape of the facial
he must convincingly deal with
features we also have with their
the stretching, creasing, bulging,
motion, qualifying each of us to
etc. that the rest of the face
utter the "something's-just-not-
undergoes to accommodate these
quite-right" critique when
shapes. That is where the
something is off. And yet our
average artist's knowledge breaks
visual understanding of what
down and is often found relying
really happens in facial action is
on cliche and imagination.
about as complex as the cartoons
that grace our Sunday
newspapers -- literally. The
exaggeration in comics and the (Read Scott McCloud's
depictions of the same head in Understanding Comics for
various poses from panel to panel a compelling argument
is probably the most influential for the power of
education the artist receives on "cartoony" characters;
the topic of facial expressions. ie. it's not just kid's
stuff.)
Two things commonly overlooked in modeling
blendshapes:
1) the effect of muscles on surrounding skin
2) the underlying bone; skin should glide over a solid substructure
Examples:
The eyebrows should glide over the eyebone
as muscles pull them up in surprise. Notice the
downward pull on the hairline and compare this
to Square's demonstration of the forehead
wrinkle setup in Final Fantasy (Production>CG
Animation>8).
click for QTVR
Sometimes, however, it's the other way around.

Notice in this QTVR how the skin does not
cling to the jaw as the mouth opens but instead
the jaw passes through the skin. A commonly
overlooked action. Also notice the reach of this
motion, affecting skin as high as the
cheekbones and as low as the Adam's apple.
click for QTVR
Guidelines for modeling blendshapes:
1)
Analyze facial expressions in motion; look for a general line in

motion--it is not sufficient to use static images for reference when
modeling blendshapes. Every point on the skin of a real head follows a
certain path and covers a definite distance between the neutral pose and
an expressive one. Each vertex of your head model should seek to
correlate as closely as possible to the movement of the point on the
head that it represents. You'll find, after staring at a point on your own
face as you make an expression over and over again, that the
movement of that point can be abstracted into a line. What is the angle
of the line? Does it curve in or out? how much? Also, be sure to watch
the movement of your face in the mirror from different angles to
determine the line of movement in each axis (this is why even video
reference is inadequate). I guarantee your face will get a work out if you
don't cut corners on analytical observation.
Tip: when looking in the mirror, make use of pimples, moles and
pockmarks to analyze motion of skin. The messier the face, the better. :)
Case study: Smiling, one of the broadest movements of the face, pulls
the muzzle out, up, and back, tucking it up under the cheeks which rise
slightly in the y axis but also push out in the z and x. Abstracted, the line
of motion is like a sweep that pivots around the middle of the nose
(notice how the movement of the skin fades out as it approaches the
nose).
sorry for the text, illustration coming soon...
2)
Observe the physical properties of skin as a flexible, elastic matrix that

is sculpted with fingers of muscle. If a bulge grows somewhere, there
must be a depression somewhere else -- pulling tightens the skin. The
stretch of facial skin does not need to follow the laws of squash and
stretch for animation; that is, the volume needn't remain constant. (Fill
your cheeks with air: you've just increased the volume of your oral
cavity.) Obviously skin is elastic. However, note that:
1) common expressions actually put very little stress on the skin's

elasticity, and
2) absolutely no facial action takes skin to the limits of its elasticity.

(Open your mouth as far as possible. You will feel stress at the corners
of your mouth, but use your finger to lightly poke them. You'll notice
there is elasticity to spare.)
These two observations have the following practical implications:
1) Try to maintain the relative distance between

vertices as much as possible as you form the
expressive pose. It may help to think of facial
expressions (and blendshapes) as simply
repositioning the skin surface rather than
stretching it (for instance, when you fold your
lips into your mouth, the bottom of the nose is
click for QTVR pulled down quite a bit. However, very little
stretching is taking place; the nose
accomodates for this simple repositioning of
the skin by sinking in the tip of the nose while
pushing out the septum.
2) Regardless of the facial pose, the skin

should always appear flexible. Conveying the
elasticity and suppleness of skin is possibly the
greatest challenge to modeling good
blendshapes. For example, some head models
click for QTVR
mysteriously grow extra skin around the mouth
when the jaw is opened instead of recognizing
the "unfolding" of skin at the corner of the
mouth that is bunched up when the mouth is
closed..
3)
Create blendshapes of facial poses at their most extreme (don't just

open the mouth . . . OPEN THE MOUTH!). In some cases, this doesn't
work well, and an inbetween blendshape is needed.
The opening mouth, for instance, goes through

various shapes before reaching its extreme
pose. Notice in this QTVR that the corner of the
mouth doesn't move linearly from its base
position to its final position. Both its speed and
position should be represented as curves over
time: the corner starts slowly and gradually
accelerates, and it is first dragged in-and-down
click for QTVR and then just down.
4)
Test blendshapes by:
1) typing in a value over "1", exaggerating the deformation to analyze

the relative movement of the vertices
2) moving the blendshape slider up and down to see whether the skin
glides over underlying bone, or if the bone appears to collapse
underneath (you can only really detect this when viewing the blend in
motion)
By the way, you should definitely make your blendshape a target of the
base mesh early in the modeling stage, so that this kind of testing can
be done at each stage of its modeling.
5)
Be careful to isolate muscles correctly. A large smile, for instance,

should be the result of a combination of blendshapes: one pulling the
corners of the mouth up and one pulling the lower eyelid up. Don't model
expressions (smile, frown, etc.); model the effect of specific muscles.
6)
Be aware of points on the face where the skin appears anchored or

resists movement. Expressive wrinkles form when moving skin meets
skin that doesn't want to move. (corner of the eyes, upper nose).
7)
Model and place the teeth in the skull before attempting to model
blendshapes for mouth movement (obviously, the same thing goes for
the eyes). The teeth, as part of the skull, serve to push the mouth out.
Smiling pulls the lips back around the teeth tightening the skin in that
region. A toothless smile is still obviously toothless even if the mouth is
kept closed because of the missing support of the substructure!
Practical Tips (primarily for Maya users):

when modeling expressions that are mirrored for each side of the face
be careful with the center row of vertices as this receives double
deformation when both blends are activated
when trying to select vertices around the mouth in wireframe view, look
at the mouth from inside out so vertices don't get lost in rest of the head;
or turn on backface culling, or turn off "double sided" in the model's
attribute editor, or select faces of the mouth region and Show>Isolate
Select>View Selected.
use the "f" key to focus on selected components -- makes it much easier
to determine placement of adjacent vertices
when translating vertices, use the yellow box of translation gizmo

(instead of the individual arrows) and constantly tumble around model,
switching between wireframe and shaded views; keep tweaking until it
looks right from every angle (good advice from Bay Raitt at spiraloid.
com).
1|2

Blendshapes and Misc.
Considerations in setting up a model for facial action
1|2
Paul Ekman has developed a system of codifying facial

expressions based on the muscles used in their execution.
FACS (Facial Action Coding System) assigns numbers to
the muscles relevant to facial action creating an objective
way of recording and analyzing facial expressions
independent of individual subjective perception. The artist,
actually, is more interested in the subjective perception of
facial information but still has much to gain from the work of
Ekman and others who are building on research by
Duchene and Darwin in the 19th century.
FACS identifies 46 Action Units, sometimes combining

more than one muscle per unit. In deciding which
blendshapes and controls to set up, I narrowed down the
action of facial muscles to the following list:
Major Blendshapes [total: 29]
feature muscle description left right top bottom
eyebrow frontalis surprise x x
eyebrow frontalis worry x x
eyebrow corrugator anger x x
levator close/
eye x x
palpebrae open
side
orbicularis
eye squeeze x x
oculi
and squint
elevator
nose/
labii sneer x x
mouth
superioris
zygomatic
mouth smile x x
major
mouth triangularis frown x x

risorius/
mouth crying x x
platysma
orbicularis
mouth pucker x x
oris
orbicularis
mouth mmm... x x
oris
orbicularis
mouth protrude x x
oris
depressor
bottom lip
mouth labii x
down
inferioris
mouth open
jaw open
Major Wrinkles [total: 12]
feature description left right
forehead surprise x x
eyebrow furrowed x x
eye crow's feet x x
eye smile under eye x x
nose sneer x x
chin cry/frown
mouth pucker
Misc [total: 5]
feature description setup
cluster with membership on

jaw, chin and bottom lip (top lip
receives some deformation at
jaw slide corners of mouth and from
friction with bottom lip);
remember to parent bottom
teeth to cluster
jaw tense cluster
nose flare cluster
cluster with membership that

fades out at corners of eye
and with pivot point located in
eyelids sheath for eyeball
center of eyeball; rotation of
eyeball drives rotation of
cluster
throat swallowing sculpt deformers
cheek puffing/sucking clusters

Much more can be said about setting up the human head
for animation; the eye for instance should be a chapter in
itself. I do plan on adding to this website as time permits.
There is, however, a limit to what can be done with off
the shelf software that hasn't been customized for subtle
aspects of character animation. Animation Artist has an
article mentioning some of the software that has been
written to handle the subtleties of facial action in recent
CG films.
1|2

Just Pictures
A small image and QTVR library of the facial features.
Sorry for bad lighting and blur on some of these; I hope to redo them
when I have more time.
If anyone has quality photos and QTVR/movies they would like to

share, please post them somewhere and I will link to them.
The Head
The Eye
The Mouth/Nose
The Ear
Peter Levius has compiled further anatomical reference resources at http://www.fineart.sk.

Media & Websites
An unexhaustive list of useful media and links to character
artists, character modeling tutorials and other relevant
information in no particular order and with no particular
endorsement. If you would like me to add your link or
someone else's to this list, email me and I'll consider your
site.
books
Gray's The Expression

The Artist's Anatomy: The of the Emotions
Complete Classic in Man and
o o
Guide to Facial Collector's Animals
Expression Edition by Charles
by Gary Faigin by Henry Gray Darwin
o
The Making of
Final Fantasy:
The Spirits 1000 on 42nd
Within Street
by Steven Kent by Neil Selkirk
dvds
Final Fantasy -
The Spirits
o
The Human Face Within
BBC Square Pictures o Foooooo
downloads
3Q scanned head -- .dxf 3 Maya NURBS bodies -- Maya NURBS patched

of myself [294 KB] early models by Jeffrey head -- by Petre
Ian Wilson Gheorghian
Maya single-mesh Lightwave body parts -- Poly body -- by Richard

NURBS head -- by Frank by Pierre-Marie Albert Suchy
Belardo
> Crossroads 3D -- file conversion program <
visual reference
The AR Face Database Hair Boutique -- with HiRes pictures of public

gallery officials -- great skin ref.
Facial Reflectance Field Wig Styles The Figure on CD -- very

Demo few heads; Jeremy Birn's
review of the CD
Teeth Anatomy Resource Facial Expressions --

References scroll down for pictures
Eyes -- more than you head and skull -- the

want to see... Visible Woman Project
people
Andrew Camenisch Amaan Akram Steven Stahlberg
Alceu Baptistão Stuart Aitken Visen Brnicevic
John Feather Tibor Madjar Robert Kuczera
Seryong Kim Frank Silas Richard Suchy
Dylan Gottlieb Ulf Lungdren Ryan Duncan
Michel Roger Jean Marc ARIU Virtual Celebrity

(commercial)
Pierre-Marie Albert Andrey Purtov
Albert Susantio
Miles Estes
Dana H. Dorian
Michael Sormann
Hikaru
Hou Soon Ming
Matthew Clark
K. Hyung jun
Jeremy A. Engleman
Pascal Blanche
Julien Leveugle
Francois Rimasson
David Lightbown
Olli Sorjonen
Daniele Duri
Sam Gebhardt
Ken Brilliant
Taron
Bill Fleming
Malcolm Thain
Bay Raitt
Arild Wiro Anfinnsen
Igor Posavec
Tom Capizzi
Nicolas DuThatCo
Nakajima
René Morel
Mauro Baldissera
Michael Koch
Caleb "Cro" Owens
e-frontier
Marco Patrito
Jeremy Birn (commercial)
Eric Sanford Chappy Giovanni Nakpil
Peter Levius
tutorials
highend3d's maya tuts Jeremy Birns' NURBS tut Nakajima's MetaNURBS

tut for body
AW's tut on blendshapes Steven Stahlberg's
NURBS tut (free Carsten Lind's NURBS tut
Susantio's subd tut download)
Eric Sanford's
pandora Ron Lemen's Frankenstein
Constructing the Head on
Hannon's ÜberNURBS tut Paper Richard Natzke's ear
virtual mime Minako's paintfx hair
David K.'s poly tut
information
Digital Sculpting Forum Gamasutra article on The Art of Poly

facial animation
Lavater's Essays on Panther Calzone's
Physiognomy BBC's The Human Face resource
Understanding Facial Facial Animation / CRL Digital Sculpture

Expressions research Techniques
Subdivision Modeling Facial Action Coding Surface Anatomy of

Resource System Head and Neck
Gray's Anatomy Online
broken links
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//
// Alias|Wavefront Script File
// MODIFY THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK
//
// Creation Date: Jan 9, 1998
// Author: js
//
// Description:
// Type: tangentCVWin <-- creates a window to use this script
// interactively. Basically it's a way of moving surface cv's
// to help create tangency.
//
// Notes: it's really helpful for corners where 3 or more surfaces come
// together and you need to keep tangency between those surfaces.
//
// Example:
// For a corner where 4 surfaces come together: while in CV component
// selection mode select the 4 cv's which are on the corners of each
// surface and press the "cv's that move" button (you should have done
// the "tangentCVWin" command before this). Then select the surrounding
// cvs and press the "cv's that don't" button. Then press the "Make cv's
// tangent" button at the bottom of the window - this will move those
// first cv's so their xyz position is an average of all the other cv's
// you select.
//
// Input Arguments:
// None.
//
// Return Value:
// None.
//
global proc string[] cvSel ()

{
// This procedure reads in a selection of cv's & outputs their
// names
string $objs[1];
$objs = `ls -sl`;
string $result[1];
int $counter = 0;
for ($z = 0; $z < size($objs); $z++)

{
string $tmp = $objs[$z];

string $tmp2[1];
string $object;
// replace ".cv" with "." for ease of tokenizing
string $tmp3 = `substitute ".cv" $tmp "."`;

tokenize($tmp3, ".", $tmp2);
$object = $tmp2[0];
string $sets[1];
tokenize ($tmp2[1], "][", $sets);
// separate them into min & max
string $u[1];
string $v[1];
tokenize ($sets[0], ":", $u);
tokenize ($sets[1], ":", $v);
clear ($tmp2);
clear ($sets);
int $umin;
int $umax;
int $vmin;
int $vmax;
$umin = $u[0];
if (size($u[1]) != 0 )
{
$umax = $u[1];
}
else
{
$umax = $umin;
}
int $vmin = $v[0];
if (size($v[1]) != 0)
{
$vmax = $v[1];
}
else
{
$vmax = $vmin;
}
for ($x = $umin; $x <= $umax; $x++)

{
for ($y = $vmin; $y <= $vmax; $y++)
{
$result[$counter] = ($object + ".cv["+$x +"]["+$y+"]");
$counter = $counter+1;
}
}
}
clear ($objs);
return ($result);
}
global proc makeTangent (string $moveCvs[], string $tangentCvs[])

{
float $xAverage=0.0;
float $yAverage=0.0;
float $zAverage=0.0;
for ($cv in $tangentCvs)

{
$currentPos = `xform -q -ws -t $cv`;
$xAverage = $xAverage + $currentPos[0];
$yAverage = $yAverage + $currentPos[1];
$zAverage = $zAverage + $currentPos[2];
}
$xAverage = $xAverage/size ($tangentCvs);

$yAverage = $yAverage/size ($tangentCvs);
$zAverage = $zAverage/size ($tangentCvs);
for ($cv in $moveCvs)

{
move $xAverage $yAverage $zAverage $cv;
}
}
global proc makeCVsTangent ()

{
$moveCvs = `textScrollList -q -ai cvMoveCVTextScrollList`;
$tangentCvs = `textScrollList -q -ai cvTangentCVTextScrollList`;
makeTangent $moveCvs $tangentCvs;
}
global proc buildTangentCVWindow ( string $win )

{
window
-title "Make cv's tangent"
$win;
columnLayout topCVWindowLayout;
rowColumnLayout
-nc 2
-cw 1 200
-cw 2 200
cvRowColumnLayout;
button -w 200 -l "cv's that move" cvReloadLeftButton;

button -w 200 -l "cv's that don't" cvReloadRightButton;
textScrollList
-w 200
-h 300
-nr 12
cvMoveCVTextScrollList;
textScrollList
-w 200
-h 300
-nr 12
cvTangentCVTextScrollList;
setParent topCVWindowLayout;
button -w 400 -l "Make cv's tangent!!" makeTangentButton;
}
global proc loadCVs ( string $scrollList)

{
$selectedCvs = `cvSel`;
textScrollList -e -ra $scrollList;
for ($item in $selectedCvs)
{
textScrollList -e -a $item -w 200 -h 300 $scrollList;
}
textScrollList -e -w 200 -h 300 $scrollList;
}
global proc createCallBacksCVWindow ()

{
button -e -c "loadCVs \"cvMoveCVTextScrollList\"" cvReloadLeftButton;
button -e -c "loadCVs \"cvTangentCVTextScrollList\"" cvReloadRightButton;
button -e -c makeCVsTangent makeTangentButton;
}
global proc tangentCVWin ()

{
$win = "tangentCVWin";
if (!`window -exists $win`) {
buildTangentCVWindow $win;
createCallBacksCVWindow;
}
showWindow $win;
}
//hullTangencyWin.mel: created by Jeffrey Wilson, 09.26.00
//This script is based off of tangentCVWin script created
//by js @ A|W 01.09.98
//
//edited by Jeffrey Wilson 09.26.00
// fix conflicts with tangencyCvWin.mel
//
//
//This script will allow you generate tangency at a surface
//seam or multiknot through the selection of the seam hulls
//and the hulls adjacent to the seam.
//
//usage: hullTangency
// (This will bring up the Surface Seam Continuity
// window)
// Load the cv hulls into the window:
// select a single hull at the seam
// press Seam Hull 1 Button
// select the corresponding seam
// (if multiknot, no need to select another hull)
// press Seam Hull 2 Button
// select adjacent hull to Seam Hull 1
// press Tangency Hull 1
// select adjacent hull to Seam Hull 2
// press Tangency Hull 2
// Execute "Create Tangency Along Seam"
// (If the seam twists, execute the Untwist Seam button)
//
global proc string[] hullSel (){

// This procedure reads in a selection of cv's & outputs their
// names
string $objs[1];
$objs = `ls -sl`;
string $result[1];
int $counter = 0;
for ($z = 0; $z < size($objs); $z++){

string $tmp = $objs[$z];
string $tmp2[1];
string $object;
// replace ".cv" with "." for ease of tokenizing
string $tmp3 = `substitute ".cv" $tmp "."`;

tokenize($tmp3, ".", $tmp2);
$object = $tmp2[0];
string $sets[1];
tokenize ($tmp2[1], "][", $sets);
// separate them into min & max
string $u[1];
string $v[1];
tokenize ($sets[0], ":", $u);
tokenize ($sets[1], ":", $v);
clear ($tmp2);
clear ($sets);
int $umin;
int $umax;
int $vmin;
int $vmax;
$umin = $u[0];
if (size($u[1]) != 0 ){
$umax = $u[1];
}
else{
$umax = $umin;
}
int $vmin = $v[0];
if (size($v[1]) != 0){
$vmax = $v[1];
}
else{
$vmax = $vmin;
}
for ($x = $umin; $x <= $umax; $x++){

for ($y = $vmin; $y <= $vmax; $y++){
$result[$counter] = ($object + ".cv["+$x+"]["+$y+"]");
$counter = $counter+1;
}
}
}
clear ($objs);
return ($result);
}
global proc makeHullTangents (){

$tangentCVs1 = `textScrollList -q -ai cvTangentCVTextScrollList1`;
$seamCVs1 = `textScrollList -q -ai cvSeamCVTextScrollList1`;
for ($i = 0; $i < size($tangentCVs1); $i++){

$cvPos1 = `xform -q -ws -t $tangentCVs1[$i]`;
$avgX = ($cvPos1[0] + $cvPos2[0])/2;
$avgY = ($cvPos1[1] + $cvPos2[1])/2;
$avgZ = ($cvPos1[2] + $cvPos2[2])/2;
//print ("position of tangency1 " + $cvPos1[0] + " " + $cvPos1[1] + " " + $cvPos1[2] + "\n");
//print ("avg position of seams " + $avgX + " " + $avgY + " " + $avgZ + "\n");
//print ("diff between points " + ($cvPos1[0] - $cvPos2[0]) + " " + ($cvPos1[1] + $cvPos2
[1]) + " " + ($cvPos1[2] + $cvPos2[2]) + "\n");
if (size($seamCVs1) > 0){
move $avgX $avgY $avgZ $seamCVs1[$i];
}
}
}
}
global proc unTwistHulls (){

undo makeHullTangents;
$in = size($tangentCVs1);
for ($i = 0; $i < size($tangentCVs1); $i++){
$in--;
$cvPos2 = `xform -q -ws -t $tangentCVs2[$in]`;
$avgX = ($cvPos1[0] + $cvPos2[0])/2;
$avgY = ($cvPos1[1] + $cvPos2[1])/2;
$avgZ = ($cvPos1[2] + $cvPos2[2])/2;
//print ("avg position of seams " + $avgX + " " + $avgY + " " + $avgZ + "\n");
//print ("diff between points " + ($cvPos1[0] - $cvPos2[0]) + " " + ($cvPos1[1] + $cvPos2
[1]) + " " + ($cvPos1[2] + $cvPos2[2]) + "\n");
}
move $avgX $avgY $avgZ $seamCVs2[$in];
}
}
}
global proc buildHullTangencyWindow (string $win){

window -title "Surface Seam Continuity" $win;
columnLayout topHULLWindowLayout;
rowColumnLayout
-nc 4
-cw 1 200
-cw 2 200
-cw 3 200
-cw 4 200
cvRowColumnLayout;
button -w 200 -l "Seam Hull 1" hullReloadButton1;
button -w 200 -l "Seam Hull 2" hullReloadButton2;
button -w 200 -l "Tangency Hull 1" hullReloadButton3;
button -w 200 -l "Tangency Hull 2" hullReloadButton4;
textScrollList
-w 200
-h 150
-nr 12
cvSeamCVTextScrollList1;
textScrollList
-w 200
-h 150
-nr 12
cvSeamCVTextScrollList2;
textScrollList
-w 200
-h 150
-nr 12
cvTangentCVTextScrollList1;
textScrollList
-w 200
-h 150
-nr 12
cvTangentCVTextScrollList2;
setParent topHULLWindowLayout;
button -w 800 -l "Create Tangency Along Seam" makeHullTangentButton;
button -w 800 -l "Untwist Seam" unTwistHullsButton;
}
global proc loadHulls (string $scrollList){

$selectedCvs = `hullSel`;
textScrollList -e -ra $scrollList;
for ($item in $selectedCvs){
textScrollList -e -a $item -w 200 -h 150 $scrollList;
}
textScrollList -e -w 200 -h 150 $scrollList;
}
global proc createCallBacksHullWindow (){

button -e -c "loadHulls \"cvSeamCVTextScrollList1\"" hullReloadButton1;
button -e -c "loadHulls \"cvTangentCVTextScrollList1\"" hullReloadButton3;
button -e -c "loadHulls \"cvSeamCVTextScrollList2\"" hullReloadButton2;
button -e -c "loadHulls \"cvTangentCVTextScrollList2\"" hullReloadButton4;
button -e -c makeHullTangents makeHullTangentButton;
button -e -c unTwistHulls unTwistHullsButton;
}
global proc hullTangencyWin (){

$win = "hullTangencyWin";
if (!`window -exists $win`) {
buildHullTangencyWindow $win;
createCallBacksHullWindow;
}
showWindow $win;
}
// Select two CVs first as pins
// any other cvs selected after the first two will be moved
// onto the vector defined by the pins
// useful for stitching surfaces together
// the selection order is maintained so that the pick walker can be used after joining
// by Matthew Gidney 1999 ( second real mel script!)
//
global proc mAlignCvs() {
string $parents[] = `filterExpand -ex true -sm 28 `;
int $numberOfCvs = `size $parents`;
if ( $numberOfCvs < 3) {
print("mAlign(): You must pick at least 3 Cv's to align \n");
return;
}
float $CVPin1[3] = `xform -q -worldSpace -t $parents[0]`;
vector $origin = <<($CVPin1[0]),($CVPin1[1]),($CVPin1[2])>>;

vector $rawVector = <<($CVPin2[0]-$CVPin1[0]),($CVPin2[1]-$CVPin1[1]),($CVPin2[2]-
$CVPin1[2])>>;
vector $unitRawVector = unit ($rawVector);
float $magRawVector = mag ($rawVector);
for ($cnt = 2; $cnt < ($numberOfCvs); $cnt++) {

float $CVPin3[3] = `xform -q -worldSpace -t $parents[$cnt]`;
vector $testVector = <<($CVPin3[0]-$CVPin1[0]),($CVPin3[1]-$CVPin1[1]),($CVPin3[2]-
$CVPin1[2])>>;
float $dotProduct = dot ( $rawVector, $testVector );
vector $moveVectorRel = $unitRawVector * ($dotProduct / $magRawVector);
vector $moveVector = $moveVectorRel + $origin;
xform -worldSpace -t ($moveVector.x) ($moveVector.y) ($moveVector.z) $parents[$cnt];

}
}
// Select two CVs first as pins
// any other cvs selected after the first two will be moved to the vector
// defined by the first 2 pins
// useful for stitching surfaces together
// the selection order is maintained so that the pick walker can be used after joining
// by Matthew Gidney 1999 ( first real mel script!)
//
global proc mMidPointCvs() {
print("mMidPointCvs(): You must pick at least 3 Cv's to align \n");
return;
}
float $midPoint[3] = {(($CVPin1[0]+$CVPin2[0])/2),(($CVPin1[1]+$CVPin2[1])/2),(($CVPin1[2]+
$CVPin2[2])/2)};
xform -worldSpace -t $midPoint[0] $midPoint[1] $midPoint[2] $parents[$cnt];
}
}
// Select three CVs first as pins
// any other cvs selected after the first two will be moved
// onto the plane defined by the pins
// useful for smoothing corners where patches meet
// by Matthew Gidney 2000
//
global proc mPlanarCvs() {
print("mPlanarCvs(): You must pick at least 4 Cv's to align \n");
return;
}
// first define the plane by its normal
vector $pin1To2 = <<($CVPin1[0]-$CVPin2[0]),($CVPin1[1]-$CVPin2[1]),($CVPin1[2]-$CVPin2

[2])>>;
vector $pin1To3 = <<($CVPin1[0]-$CVPin3[0]),($CVPin1[1]-$CVPin3[1]),($CVPin1[2]-$CVPin3
[2])>>;
vector $normal = cross ($pin1To2,$pin1To3);
float $magNormal = mag ($normal);
vector $unitNormal = unit ($normal);
// next resolve the points onto the plane via the normal

float $point[3] = `xform -q -worldSpace -t $parents[$cnt]`;
vector $pointToPin1 = <<($point[0]-$CVPin1[0]),($point[1]-$CVPin1[1]),($point[2]-$CVPin1
[2])>>;
float $magPointToPin1 = mag ($pointToPin1);
float $dotProduct = dot ( $normal,$pointToPin1);
vector $moveVectorRel = -1.0 * $unitNormal * ($dotProduct / $magNormal);
xform -worldSpace -r -t ($moveVectorRel.x) ($moveVectorRel.y) ($moveVectorRel.z)

$parents[$cnt];
}
}
// written by Becky Chow
// work phone 650 628 7755
// home phone 650 743 6066
// robybeck@geeksville.com
// becky.chow@ea.com
// this script allows users to pick out all the vertex based
// on vertex color range, from a complex polyset.
// for instance, to pick out all the dark colored vertex,
// just put dark gray in color box, and give it a 10% percentage range.
// the script will automatically pick the darkest shaded vertex.
//to install:
//Copy "pickVertexC.mel" into your /maya/x.x/scripts folder.
//Copy "pickVertexCIcon.bmp" to your /maya/x.x/prefs/icons folder.
//open the "pickVertexC.mel" in script editor,

//and execute it. then type "pickVertexCSetup";
global proc pc( )

{
float $rgbup[2]; // upper end value of rgb

float $rgbdn[2]; // lower end value of rgb
float $rgb[2];
string $vtc[]; // temp list of vertex color within boundry
int $polyn[]; // number of vertex in polyset
int $i; // counter
int $jv = 0; //counter for vertex number
float $rgb[] ; //rgb value of vertex being evaluated
float $tmpf;
float $pcnt = `floatSliderGrp -q -value slider2`;
$poly = `textFieldGrp -q - text textMeshName`;

$polyn = `polyEvaluate -v $poly` ;
$rgb0 = `colorSliderGrp -q -rgb slider1`; // seed color
$pcnt = $pcnt / 100;
$rgbup[0] = (($rgb0[0]+$pcnt) >= 1) ? 1: ($rgb0[0]+$pcnt); //red

$rgbdn[0] = (($rgb0[0]-$pcnt) <= 0) ? 0: ($rgb0[0]-$pcnt);
$rgbup[1] = (($rgb0[1]+$pcnt) >= 1) ? 1: ($rgb0[1]+$pcnt); //green

$rgbup[2] = (($rgb0[2]+$pcnt) >= 1) ? 1: ($rgb0[2]+$pcnt); //blue

for ($i = 0; $i < $polyn[0] ; $i++ )

{
select -r ($poly + ".vtx[" + $i + "]");
$rgb = `polyColorPerVertex -q -rgb`;
if (($rgb[0]>=$rgbdn[0]) && ($rgb[0]<=$rgbup[0]) && ($rgb[1]>=$rgbdn[1]) && ($rgb[1]<=

$rgbup[1]) && ($rgb[2]>=$rgbdn[2]) && ($rgb[2]<=$rgbup[2]))
{
$vtc[$jv] = ($poly + ".vtx[" + $i + "]"); //making list
$jv++ ;
}
}
select -cl;
for ($i = 0; $i < $jv; $i++ )
{
select -add ($vtc[$i]);
}
print ("vertex selected: \n" );

print ($vtc );
}
global proc mkwin ()

{
window -widthHeight 800 300 -sizeable true -title "pickcolr" pickcolr;

columnLayout;
separator -w 210 -height 5 -style "none";
textFieldGrp -label "name of the Poly mesh :" - text "polyName"
-columnWidth 1 125 -columnWidth 2 110
textMeshName;
text -label " double click on color box to change seed color. ";
text -label " it will pick all the vertex within the seed color range. ";
text -label " 100% will let you select all the vertex with every color.";
rowColumnLayout -numberOfColumns 2
-columnWidth 1 10 -columnWidth 2 240;
text - label " ";
colorSliderGrp -enable 1
-cw 1 80 -cw 2 30 -cw 3 100
-label "starting color"
-rgb 0.5 0.5 0.5
slider1;
setParent ..;
-columnWidth 1 400;
floatSliderGrp -enable 1
-field 1
-value 0
-cw 1 180 -cw 2 40 -cw 3 100
-label "% range from the seed vertex color "
-min 0
-max 100
-precision 1
slider2;
setParent ..;
-cw 1 120 -cw 2 60;
text -label "press here to select ";
button -label "select"
-height 30
-command "pc"
button1;
setParent ..;
-cw 1 120 -cw 2 120;
text -label " ";
button -label "close window"
-height 30
-align "center"
-command ("deleteUI pickcolr ");
showWindow;
}
global proc pickVertexC () //main

{
global string $poly;

global float $rgb0[];
if (`window -exists pickcolr`)

deleteUI pickcolr;
mkwin;
}
global proc pickVertexCSetup()

{
global string $gShelfTopLevel;
if (`tabLayout -exists $gShelfTopLevel`)
shelfButton
-parent ($gShelfTopLevel + "|" + `tabLayout -q -st $gShelfTopLevel`)
-command "source pickVertexC.mel; pickVertexC"
-image1 "pickVertexCIcon.bmp"
-annotation "pick Vertex by vertex color Tool";
else
error "You need a shelf for this Tool to work!";
}
/* This file downloaded from Highend3d.com
''
'' Highend3d.com File Information:
''
'' Script Name: PickVertex v0.0
'' Author: becky chow
'' Last Updated: February 12, 2001
'' Update/Change this file at:
'' http://www.highend3d.com/maya/mel/?section=polygon#831
''
'' Please do not alter any information above this line
'' it is generated dynamically by Highend3d.com and will
'' be changed automatically on any updates.
*/
// written by Becky Chow

// work phone 650 628 7755
// home phone 650 743 6066
// robybeck@geeksville.com
// becky.chow@ea.com
// to use it, load the program into Mel script editor.

// type "pickvertex" at the command prompt at the lower left
// hand of the Maya screen.
// this script allows users to pick out all the vertex based
// on vertex color range, from a complex polyset.
// for instance, to pick out all the dark colored vertex,
// just put dark gray in color box, and give it a 10% percentage range.
// the script will automatically pick the darkest shaded vertex.
proc pc( )
{
float $rgbup[2]; // upper end value of rgb

float $rgbdn[2]; // lower end value of rgb
float $rgb[2];
string $vtc[]; // temp list of vertex color within boundry
int $polyn[]; // number of vertex in polyset
int $i; // counter
int $jv = 0; //counter for vertex number
float $rgb[] ; //rgb value of vertex being evaluated
float $tmpf;
float $pcnt = `floatSliderGrp -q -value slider2`;
$poly = `textFieldGrp -q - text textMeshName`;

$polyn = `polyEvaluate -v $poly` ;
$rgb0 = `colorSliderGrp -q -rgb slider1`; // seed color
$pcnt = $pcnt / 100;
$rgbup[0] = (($rgb0[0]+$pcnt) >= 1) ? 1: ($rgb0[0]+$pcnt); //red
$rgbup[1] = (($rgb0[1]+$pcnt) >= 1) ? 1: ($rgb0[1]+$pcnt); //green

$rgbup[2] = (($rgb0[2]+$pcnt) >= 1) ? 1: ($rgb0[2]+$pcnt); //blue

for ($i = 0; $i < $polyn[0] ; $i++ )

{
select -r ($poly + ".vtx[" + $i + "]");
$rgb = `polyColorPerVertex -q -rgb`;
if (($rgb[0]>=$rgbdn[0]) && ($rgb[0]<=$rgbup[0]) && ($rgb[1]>=$rgbdn[1]) && ($rgb[1]<=

$rgbup[1]) && ($rgb[2]>=$rgbdn[2]) && ($rgb[2]<=$rgbup[2]))
{
$vtc[$jv] = ($poly + ".vtx[" + $i + "]"); //making list
$jv++ ;
}
}
select -cl;
for ($i = 0; $i < $jv; $i++ )
{
select -add ($vtc[$i]);
}
print ("vertex selected: \n" );

print ($vtc );
}
proc mkwin ()
{
window -widthHeight 800 300 -sizeable true -title "pickcolr" pickcolr;

columnLayout;
separator -w 210 -height 5 -style "none";
textFieldGrp -label "name of the Poly mesh :" - text "polyName"
-columnWidth 1 125 -columnWidth 2 110
textMeshName;
text -label " double click on color box to change seed color. ";
text -label " it will pick all the vertex within the seed color range. ";
text -label " 100% will let you select all the vertex with every color.";
-columnWidth 1 10 -columnWidth 2 240;
text - label " ";
colorSliderGrp -enable 1
-cw 1 80 -cw 2 30 -cw 3 100
-label "starting color"
-rgb 0.5 0.5 0.5
slider1;
setParent ..;
-columnWidth 1 400;
floatSliderGrp -enable 1
-field 1
-value 0
-cw 1 180 -cw 2 40 -cw 3 100
-label "% range from the seed vertex color "
-min 0
-max 100
-precision 1
slider2;
setParent ..;
-cw 1 120 -cw 2 60;
text -label "press here to select ";
button -label "select"
-height 30
-command "pc"
button1;
setParent ..;
-cw 1 120 -cw 2 120;
text -label " ";
button -label "close window"
-height 30
-align "center"
-command ("deleteUI pickcolr ");
showWindow;
}
global proc pickvertex ()

{
global string $poly;

global float $rgb0[];
if (`window -exists pickcolr`)

deleteUI pickcolr;
mkwin;
}

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Maya Character Creation - Thehumanhead - Great PDF

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Unfortunately, I haven't had time to update the site

The Human Head is now hosted by the Department

Unfortunately, I haven't had time to update the site

The Human Head is now hosted by the Department

A word about myself:

I built this site while pursuing a Master of Fine Arts at

I graduated in December 2001 and currently live and

theory overview modeling theory approaches

I invite all comments and criticism.

copyright Andrew Camenisch | 2001

There is more to modeling a head than capturing its exact

1) the direction of the topographical (not to be confused with

2) the direction of the surface's motion when animated.

Let's look at the mouth for example:

The resulting topology would look something like this:

Let's compare this to an improper topology that

Now take a look at the primary muscles of the human

You'll notice that the flow of their fibers corresponds

theory overview modeling theory approaches

I invite all comments and criticism.

copyright Andrew Camenisch | 2001

The previous section mentioned the correlation between underlying

Wrinkles on skin are essentially the same as wrinkles on cloth: a

Permanent wrinkles represent the history of a head's facial action,

Van Gogh's intuitive understanding of the natural flow of lines on the

Named after Austrian anatomist, Carl Ritter von E. Langer (1819-1887),

Illustrations taken from

theory overview modeling theory approaches

I invite all comments and criticism.

copyright Andrew Camenisch | 2001

Bone primarily determines the surface

However, the motion of the skin in this

Resolving conflicting parameterization

Examine the solution for the

click for larger version

On one picture, draw lines indicating the direction of major

On another picture, draw lines indicating the direction of the

All lines must end up roughly parallel or perpendicular to the

Decide what is most important and resolve it the best you

theory overview modeling theory approaches

I invite all comments and criticism.

copyright Andrew Camenisch | 2001

There a several different common

NURBS single mesh: The head being

One big disadvantage to the single mesh NURBS is

NURBS patch model: Modeling the head by

single polygon mesh

Subdivision Surface: Subdivision surfaces

single subdivision surface

theory overview modeling theory approaches

I invite all comments and criticism.

copyright Andrew Camenisch | 2001

Each modeling paradigm has its pros

NURBS: Polygons: SubDivision

pros: pros: pros:

cons: cons: cons:

limited complexity in large file size no fur or PE support

very little control over no curves on surface:

theory overview modeling theory approaches