Entry 11: NPC Modelling Part 1

In this entry, I'll be talking about the current work that I have produced for my NPC mum and dad's base meshes.

To start with, I needed to create a base mesh that I could work from in terms of detailed modelling, e.g. being able to change it to look like either of the parents concepts, and for considerations of animation so that it can be easily animated later on.

I followed a YouTube series of tutorials on creating a base mesh by Lee Jackson, which I had used in the past to create character base meshes. He spends roughly 5-6 videos creating most of the characters body, so at first I followed the tutorial by eye. This is how the 1st attempt turned out:

Base mesh first attempt progress. 

As you can see, my first result has come out a little thin in places, and some of the body's proportions looked off. I felt unhappy with this model, and attempted to create new ones based off the work from the tutorial and my own eye. However, these didn't turn out too well, as I couldn't quite grasp how to properly move the verts and polygons into place.

The 2nd attempts by eye didn't work very well. 

Base mesh reference. 

 So instead I went back to my first mode, and this time round made good use of the image reference that Jackson provides when he created his own model. Below shows you a general progression of how this stage went.

Base Mesh progression.

I was a lot happier with this results, as using the reference images to tweak my original model made the proportions and shapes fit together better. I also made use of a 3D human muscle figure to try and make the proportions work a little more. Note the Mudbox mesh was also used as a reference point.

3D Anatomy Model reference. 

Mudbox mesh reference. 

This added a little to the model but not a major amount. After this, I decided to create some of the static objects that the NPC's wear/hold when exploring the household, as seen in my original concept work.

NPC concept art reference. 

Most of these assets were pretty simple to model, such as the torch, rolling pin and mug. The bear slipper was a little more difficult, in terms of working out the shape and the topology, but once found what I wanted it got a lot easier to model.

Static assets: A mug, a torch, polar bear slippers, and a rolling pin. 

The most difficult one so far has been the cat slippers, in terms of working out how to place the topology correctly for the cats face. I tried a few different shapes, but just found myself deleting and trying again a fair few times. The progression of the slippers can be seen below.

Cat slipper progression. 

I've decided that I'' either paint the majority of the detail on or possibly mudbox it onto the surface, depending on which method I feel would wold work best. In the meantime, i'm pretty happy with how the work has progressed so far for the NPC characters.

The next blog entry will cover work recently done for creating the NPC's heads and feet.