Creating an Editable Poly

Once I had all the lines drawn out in front of the template I had to convert them into a shape that I could manipulate to make into a 3D shape. I did this very easily by converting one of the closed set of lines into an editable poly. This was fairly easy to do but at this point I was wondering if I had done it correctly because I did not think all the lines would attach to each other correctly. I found out that this could simply be done by using the attack tool to make sure all the lines I drew were connected.

I then noticed that there were several holes in the flat 'mask' where edges hadnt joint properly. This was easily fixed by selecting all the edges and using the weld tool.














I did not think this part of the project would be this easy as I thought I would have to go through each square individually and make sure each separate square was converted into an editable poly and joint to the rest fo the squares. I enjoyed drawing them but I was certain I would not enjoy a tedious job like that so I was very glad this was not the case. I was very impressed with how it looked so far. Seeing how easy it was to get the 3D model this far made me more motivated to carry on with the rest of the task. The image below shows how a rendered version looked at this point.

Building a 3D Reference Plate

Once I had the planes in place to as a template, I could start making the actual squares on the mask. I did this by using the line tool to create squares. I also used the snap tool to make sure that the squares appeared as accurate as possible. I found this part very simple and enjoyable. It was quite relaxing because it was very easy. A few times I forgot where I was up to and thought I might have missed out a few squares but it looked alright in the end. The picture below shows how it looked in 3Ds Max after I created all the squares.














I wondered what it would look like to render at this point to see if the lines would appear in the render. They did not come out, instead this is what it looked like after rendering.

Placing the new Templates onto Planes

Putting the new images onto planes was very easy to do as I already had the materials ready from the old pictures. I simply changed the file location of the original materials to make the planes view the new pictures. I clicked on the material that needed changing and I clicked on the file location. This allowed me to change the file that is linked to the material. How I did this is shown below.
















This is how my view looked after I changed the materials. When I changed the file location, I simply clicked on 'Reload' and the new image automatically appeared on the plane.

Starting Again - Topology Template

The lines were very easy to draw the second time because I knew how they needed to look at the end. I followed many tutorials and made sure that the lines were prefect yet minimal. I started by drawing the blue lines but this time i zoomed into the picture really far in Photoshop to make sure that the lines were straight. I also found out that you can easily get a straight line in Photoshop by simply holding the ctrl button down. This came in very useful for making the lines look neater and easier to see.














After drawing all the lines, my simpler template looked like the picture below. Drawing the lines for the second time was a lot easier to do because I knew how the end result should look and where the lines should be.














The picture below shows the finished template.
















The two pictures below show the different between my first set of lines and the second lines after I started again. There is a significant different between the two pictures. The first picture has way too many lines and looks very complecated. The first picture also has many mistakes and looks confusing because the lines arnt very straight. This could have caused problems wen making the editable poly because each square has to made individually and now using the second picture I can easily see where the squares can go and it wont take me long to draw each one individually. The first picture also looks very distorted and looks like I've used the lens correction tool too much because my cheeks look very big and distorted. Whereas the second picture looks more like my face.




















........................BEFORE ................................................... AFTER..........................

Noticing Mistakes!

Unfortunately after spending weeks on perfecting the template lines and being very impressed with the end result, I noticed that there were a few mistakes. I was just about to start drawing the lines and making the editable poly in 3Ds Max when I realised that the template I drew was very confusing the had many mistakes throughout.

The main mistake I noticed was around the nose. I noticed that I had put a triangle into the lines and didn't notice that one of the shape had 3 sides. This was a problem because I knew that it would create a pinch in the face and make it look misshapen. I also noticed that just next to the triangle there was a line which lead into an edge instead of a vertex. This would be a problem because it would create a 5 sided shape in the section next to it.























After noticing some of the small mistake I realised that the whole of my template was very confusing. It would have been better to make a simple template and then late added more lines during the shaping process. With the template being this confusing I would not be able to easily make the editable poly and instead of carrying on at this point, I realised it would be best to start again.























I am very disappointed at this point because I had spent several weeks making sure the template was perfect so that the rest of the project ran smoothly. I know it would be better to start again because it would make the rest of the stages easier if the topology was easier and better designed.

Putting the template into 3Ds Max

It was very easy to put the pictures onto a plane because I've done this many times before with other projects. I think that this is a very easy process. I simply used materials to bring the pictures into 3Ds Max by using the diffuse tool and selected bitmap and selected the picture.





I also had to make sure that the plane had a modifier applied to it. To do this I selected the plane and clicked on the modifier list. This created a drop down list and i chose UVW Mapping. This made sure that I could put a material onto the plane and it would show on the screen.











The picture below shows the materials editor with the two materials that I applied to two different planes. I applied the materials by dragging them onto the appropriate plane. I then had to click on 'Show standard map in viewpoint' which displayed the right material on the plane.





















After rearranging the planes to make them in line so that the front view was facing the front and the side view was arranged appropriately at the side of the front view, my planes looked like the picture below.

Finished Topology Template

This is my finished topology template. It took me several weeks to make sure there was no triangles and all the squares were well laid out. The picture below shows the jpeg of the final template which I will use to add to a plane as a material and use as a template in 3Ds Max.














This is the individual front and side view of the finished layouts. I drew a few blue lines on the picture showing the side of my face because I knew this would come in useful when making the shape of my face.