Techniques for making Realistic Characters

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone,

I'd like to create a 3D Model of myself and make it look as real as me in real life, so that somebody can hardly notice the difference, So does anybody know what's the key in modeling and texturing in order to make a realistic character?

Thanks in advance.

[Brock_Lafond]

You're looking at doing a big task. Creating believable humans is not easy; often something seems wrong. It requires a careful blend of quality modeling, texturing, lighting and shader setup.

Here are a few tips to get you going:

-Take many high quality reference photos to use for modeling and texturing.

-Get a sculpted anatomical structure that shows you the underlying muscles and skin deformations; anatomytools.com

-Study many tutorials on basic character modeling and then work your way up.

-Study hair styling and rendering techniques

-Invest in sculpting software like ZBrush or Mudbox to help with modeling fine details; take lessons to use the software.

-Learn the ins and outs of a render package that uses SSS (Subsurface Scatter) shaders; mentalRay, V-Ray, Final Render... etc

-Learn how to set up the SSS shader and how to effectively light it.

-Learn how to paint control maps for highlights, bumps and scatter effects.

Alternatively, go to a 3D scanning shop and ask them to scan you. Then all you have to learn is how to set up a shader, lighting and render.

[Anonymous]

Thanks.

Well, I am already familiar with software such as 3ds Max, ZBrush, Photoshop, etc. The thing is that, for example, whenever I try to create myself, even though the structure of my body, face, etc, are almost the same as in real life, still the character doesn't look exactly like me.

Does this have to do with the texturing or I should also carefully place the vertices in the right place so that the structure looks 100% like mine in real life?

[Brock_Lafond · Accepted solution]

Having a model that exactly matches the shape will definitely help.

Here's something to keep in mind when trying to recreate yourself in any medium. We are very much used to viewing ourselves in the mirror. When we see a direct representation of ourselves, it is a flipped image of what our brain is used to, so it will appear to be different.

When addressing students I've always said that the biggest part of the rendering process is lighting. Good lighting can make an average model with average textures look quite pleasing. Whereas, a high quality model with high quality textures and poor lighting won't look very good.

If you're working from photographs, remember that the photo has perspective and a specific field of view. If you're trying to match your model to photo reference in the top, left or front views, it will be off; those views are orthographic.

When sclupting a model, ZBrush is my tool of choice. I like to have the photo reference in front of me while I work. By default the FOV in ZBrush is awkward. By trial and error I've come to use a FOV value of 20 as my default. Try to match every angle of the geometry with the photo reference.

For texturing ZBrush's polypaint works okay, but I prefer using a combination of Photoshop and Mari. After unwrapping the UVs in Max I will quickly lay down colour by means of photographs in Photoshop to get things started. Then I bring the model with texture into Mari to do some high quality projection painting. From the main colour map I can extract bump details.

Keep referring back to your photo reference throughout this process.

Here's a big tip:

Show your work around and get feedback from others. If the only response you get is "It looks good", try another source.

[Anonymous]

Thanks man, that really helped a lot!!

So, No matter what I do, my model will always look different for my brain, however with some nice Modeling, lighting and texturing, It might look close to me.

By the way, Have You ever tried to create a model of yourself? Did You made it?