3d Modeling Sheet (turnaround)

[Catmandolin]

Hey, folks--I do modeling in Blender and generally I have been drawing my model sheets on real paper and just scanning into the computer and then loading the image into blender. Well i have all this nifty software laying about and I want to do my turnarounds in artrage and then save as a png and then a blendering I will go.

Has anyone here had any experience with designing modeling sheets in Artrage? Any advice would be appreciated.

[jmac]

I can't help you but I would be interested to know what a modeling sheet is.

[D Akey]

I can't help you but I would be interested to know what a modeling sheet is.

I would be curious to know that context as well. But with animation and toy manufacture (essentially where you have to have many people replicating the same characters), you have each model posed often front facing, side facing, a shot from the back, and an action/personality revealing shot if appropriate. Don't know if they have down shots and up shots and 3/4 shots as well. I suppose that would be up to the production company if their budget allowed for it and needs required it.

In traditional animation, the storyboard guys use it since those are the guys who would make up the story visually and draw each character acting out the scenes (ie. inventing the visuals off of a script and so all the different storyboard guys need to be on the same page as it were). And a character sheet (aka model sheet) allows for them to know what they're drawing. Then model sheets are super important when the actual production work goes to a foreign country and the director can't stand over the shoulder of each of the animators.

But I'm not very familiar with 3D modeling so I'm also curious to know how that might require something different. I have my suspicions but would love to hear it from someone actually doing 3D. That technology passed me by.

[Someonesane]

I can't help you but I would be interested to know what a modeling sheet is.

From what I know of it, it's basically a series of images drawn of the same character/object, designed so every aspect of the character is of the same height/size, from various angles (usually side and frontal profiles). These images are then imported into a 3D modeling program and aligned together to create a starting point for the artist to begin modeling from. By having the flat images posed within the program, it becomes easier to eye where each point of the 3d model needs to exist. For a better idea of what I mean, this video might help.

@Jayd - I don't have any real experience with 3D modeling (unless you count SketchUp; which I don't), but I do know a little bit about it, from having conversations with friends of mine who do a lot of 3D modeling. I actually used ArtRage to make a character sheet for one of them, when he was having some trouble with ideas for a project. So I don't think you'll have much trouble with it. At the time I made the sheet for him, I was using a version of ArtRage that didn't have the Symmetry feature, but now that it's there, you could probably make good use of it for the frontal view. You might be able to make some good use of the new Grid feature in ArtRage, but I just used the Rulers to mark off guide points for the head, eyes, nose, shoulders, pelvis, etc. on a new layer and then used them to draw a side view next to the frontal view.

[Catmandolin]

Hey guys

it has many names--modeling sheet, character sheet, turnaround ---

but essentially, the ones that I would do have what is called a beauty shot which is the posed character and usually in color--then a front, back and side view---you put this sheet in your modeler and you have windows for each view---you line up each image so that they are aligned with each other so that when you model on top of them you can make changes in all three windows on the fly and thus create a 3d image be it a person, animal whatever.

I have been noodling around today with Artrage and one of the things that I really really really LOVE about artrage is the paint symetry tool--the cool thing about the tool is that you can move it anywhere on the canvas and then use it--you can then turn it off and add nonsymetrical parts. very cool.

SO--i did a front view of a design for a female character using the paint symetry tool--the back I can do using that tool as well.

for the profile, i discover the nifty ruler now from there I can use the ruler to locate and rule lines from key points of the front image--then draw the side view based on those points i made with the ruler.

Now i havent gotten that far yet because one of our many storms decided to pay a visit and i had to shut down my systems.

If anyone else has done this type of thing I would love to hear from you.--jay

[SCP]

Hi Jayd ,another thing you can try is after doing the front view with the paint symmetry tool.Make a stencil from the the front view and draw over that ,proportions should match up and may save some time.
Then you need the side view Also you could use the new Grid to align things.

[Henry Stahle]

Jayd:

I can recommend you to buy the Blender Open Movie Workshop DVD "Chaos and Evolution". It is all about the Character Design...with some exellent artwork by David Revoy. Here is one from the DVD:



The site has links to some of the video tutorials on YouTube. Check them out! You won't regret it. Great stuff all in all on thet DVD: Chaos & Evolutions

[Catmandolin]

Hey Henry, thanks for the tip--i live at Blender.org it seems nowadays and I hang out a lot over and blender and concept cookie---funny you should mention that series--i'm probably going to grab it.

I usually do my model turnarounds by hand and I am just start to squeak my way into the digital lifestyle (need to hear the pen scratching the paper I think)--I would love to say I'm good at this but I have a long road to travel.

Meanwhile, in artrage--I am creating my initial drawing using the symmetry tool and pinning a reference so i draw it out correctly of course--- when i finish the first sketch, will copy it and then paste it into a new layer then move the new image out and then connect with lines from the ruler.

when i make the copy, i only copy half of the image as i have to redraw the profile but this way is giving me sufficient points of reference so that i can plot out and draw the profile.

Artrage is very fun---oh and i love your tutorials, just sayin'.

[Henry Stahle]

As David Revoy is a Krita and Gimp and Blender guru, all Open Source software, the DVD is about using them. But the instruction videos are easily "translated" into every software of the kind. ArtRage also of course. And thanks for the liking!