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Creator Tutorials TN-Level 1 Head Tutorial
Creator Tutorials TN-Level 1 Head Tutorial
Before you start, I assume you have 3DsMax 7, very good skills with meshes, the Cal3D exporter, and Previewer installed.
Let's begin by downloading the example head files: Female Male
After downloaded, create a dedicated folder for each of the zip file, and extract them. This is important as the zip file comes with the Max file for the head, the material, and the Skeleton you will need when export. If you extract these files in the same folder, one of the files will turn your mesh in white as the materials will be over-ridden.
Open your Max7, and open the example head file. I choose to go with the female one for this tutorial (I don't like making male heads
)
You will see this on your screen.
Remember to always save the file as something else because you will return to this example head file if you crash your newly created file (believe me you will
)
Name it something you will recognize later, and put it somewhere you'll remember.
Now comes the un-translated instruction as shown on the tutorial by IM. With the example head file, you can choose to work only on the Face.Average and touch nothing else and you can have your own, very different looking head. Now, select it ~ it's the one next to the head that attaches to the body ~ the one in white as shown above.
Right click, and select 'Hide Unselected' and everything else will be hidden except the 'Face.Average'
Now press 'z' and this will zoom your head to full viewport. Click on the Modifier Tab as indicated by the arrow.
Now press F4 to show both the mesh and wire-frame.
Click the '+' sign in front of the Editable Mesh, and select Vertex. You will see the blue dots on the head. Now, you can move around those blue dots until you're satisfied ~ your new head. (have fun, and this is where you'll most likely go back to the example head file to start all over again
)
When you're done, select the top of the modifier stack, and press F4 again to look at your Mesh.
Right-click and select 'Unhide All', everything else in this file will show up again.
From above you can see that your new head, and the Original one is now different.
Press F3 to go to wire-frame mode as this will help you to select better, and select the Original01 (the one that attaches to the body ~ shown in white above)
Click File/Export
and in the 'Save as Type' box scroll it down to Cal3D Mesh File (*.CMF, *.XMF)
Give a name to your new Head, make sure you manually put in the extension ~ YourNewHead.xmf and press save.
The Cal3D box will appear, and in the blue-highlighted box, it shows the skeleton you will need to use ==> now, when you download the example file, and unzip it in a dedicated folder, this will point to the correct skeleton automatically. Click next and yes to everything.
Voila! Now you have your new head mesh and are ready to creat your own head.
I recommend you to derive from Female Head1 (and Male Head1) because the eyebrows can be changed on your head as an automatic feature (I hope to come back with another tutorial - Level 2 - for more advance techniques). Go to the page and click 'derive from product', or simply open the Previewer and create a derived product from 61995.
Once fully loaded you will see something like this, now click the 'Geometry Tab' as indicated by the arrow.
Click 'browse' as indicated.
go ahead and select your newly created xmf file. (WOW, we're almost there!)
After you put in your file, go to the Mesh Scale box, make sure you tick both 'Mesh Scale On', and 'Apply to all attachments' ~ this will automatically adjust the hair, earrings, and whatever other things you and your customers put on this head later on in the chat window. and on the right, where there are 3 boxes: X, Y, and Z. This is where you will specified the shape of your head. The Value 1 is the exact same size and proportions as the head you made in Max file. To make smaller heads, put in number less than 1, to make bigger heads, put in number bigger than one (most of the time in decimal).
I'll touch a bit on the scaling:
X = the width of the face
Y = the depth of the head (that's how wide when you look at the head from the sides
Z = the height of the face
You can play with these and have several derivations of one single head. .
Click the black box (apply changes) and... wow, your new head is in !
Go ahead and save, and click the red box to submit your new head..
I made that head in the tutorial in about ten minutes. The finished product is here
Happy Developing
Let's begin by downloading the example head files: Female Male
After downloaded, create a dedicated folder for each of the zip file, and extract them. This is important as the zip file comes with the Max file for the head, the material, and the Skeleton you will need when export. If you extract these files in the same folder, one of the files will turn your mesh in white as the materials will be over-ridden.
Open your Max7, and open the example head file. I choose to go with the female one for this tutorial (I don't like making male heads
)
You will see this on your screen.
Remember to always save the file as something else because you will return to this example head file if you crash your newly created file (believe me you will
)
Name it something you will recognize later, and put it somewhere you'll remember.
Now comes the un-translated instruction as shown on the tutorial by IM. With the example head file, you can choose to work only on the Face.Average and touch nothing else and you can have your own, very different looking head. Now, select it ~ it's the one next to the head that attaches to the body ~ the one in white as shown above.
Right click, and select 'Hide Unselected' and everything else will be hidden except the 'Face.Average'
Now press 'z' and this will zoom your head to full viewport. Click on the Modifier Tab as indicated by the arrow.
Now press F4 to show both the mesh and wire-frame.
Click the '+' sign in front of the Editable Mesh, and select Vertex. You will see the blue dots on the head. Now, you can move around those blue dots until you're satisfied ~ your new head. (have fun, and this is where you'll most likely go back to the example head file to start all over again
)
When you're done, select the top of the modifier stack, and press F4 again to look at your Mesh.
Right-click and select 'Unhide All', everything else in this file will show up again.
From above you can see that your new head, and the Original one is now different.
Press F3 to go to wire-frame mode as this will help you to select better, and select the Original01 (the one that attaches to the body ~ shown in white above)
Click File/Export
and in the 'Save as Type' box scroll it down to Cal3D Mesh File (*.CMF, *.XMF)
Give a name to your new Head, make sure you manually put in the extension ~ YourNewHead.xmf and press save.
The Cal3D box will appear, and in the blue-highlighted box, it shows the skeleton you will need to use ==> now, when you download the example file, and unzip it in a dedicated folder, this will point to the correct skeleton automatically. Click next and yes to everything.
Voila! Now you have your new head mesh and are ready to creat your own head.
I recommend you to derive from Female Head1 (and Male Head1) because the eyebrows can be changed on your head as an automatic feature (I hope to come back with another tutorial - Level 2 - for more advance techniques). Go to the page and click 'derive from product', or simply open the Previewer and create a derived product from 61995.
Once fully loaded you will see something like this, now click the 'Geometry Tab' as indicated by the arrow.
Click 'browse' as indicated.
go ahead and select your newly created xmf file. (WOW, we're almost there!)
After you put in your file, go to the Mesh Scale box, make sure you tick both 'Mesh Scale On', and 'Apply to all attachments' ~ this will automatically adjust the hair, earrings, and whatever other things you and your customers put on this head later on in the chat window. and on the right, where there are 3 boxes: X, Y, and Z. This is where you will specified the shape of your head. The Value 1 is the exact same size and proportions as the head you made in Max file. To make smaller heads, put in number less than 1, to make bigger heads, put in number bigger than one (most of the time in decimal).
I'll touch a bit on the scaling:
X = the width of the face
Y = the depth of the head (that's how wide when you look at the head from the sides
Z = the height of the face
You can play with these and have several derivations of one single head.
.
Click the black box (apply changes) and... wow, your new head is in !
Go ahead and save, and click the red box to submit your new head..
I made that head in the tutorial in about ten minutes. The finished product is here
Happy Developing
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