the transformation of the vampire

Last time, the monster got me (video here), and now I'm about to trasform :-D


Part I : Preview picture

Hello everyone,
I had a problem with my internet connection, so this work is the one I made last sunday.

I'll begin a metamorphosis effect. I intend to integrate it in a very short video later, so this will be a preview of what I want.
To begin, I need a reference so I know where I'm going. I'll make a picture that I'll use as a guideline. I make a photo of myself with an aggressive (roaring) facial action.


I'll use a 3D monster head I have to make a composition. I need to put a human skin looking texture to this head before. So I open 3DSMAX and load the monster head.


I apply an unWrapUVW modifier and then a cylindrical mapping. I rotate the gizmo to have a symmetrical mapping.


I switch to Photoshop were I adapt the texture I made last time for the head modeling tutorial (see here>> human head modeling).


My monster head has a "morpher" modifier. I don't think materials morph unless one apply a morpher map, but I'm not sure, so I copy and paste the UnWrapUVW to the targets. Then I make a material with my adapted bitmap on the diffuse channel. I Also map a bump map by turning the picture to gray scale mode and increasing the contrast and brightness to get a proper picture.


I use the same map for the specular level channel. I set the specular level value to 30 and the bump to 60. I put 2 spotlights in the scene. The one on the right represent the lighting from the window in the room; I set its intensity to 0,7. The second spot on the left represents the indirect lighting from the diffusion of the wall; I set the intensity of this light to 0,3.
I try to get a good scale and position for the monster head according to the head on the picture and create a camera.

It makes me realize that I need further picture, at least one: a picture of the background without the character. It's a good remark for the future video.

I render end go under Photoshop to fine tune the composition.

I add some noise, some blur too, because the picture is not as clean as the rendered head. Then I smooth the borders of the head and the chin. Here's what I get.

There's something wrong with the picture. First thing is the inner mouth; it looks too unrealistic I think. I must fine tune it.

As I realized earlier, I lack a background-only picture. I will remedy to this by taking another photo of the room.



I paste this new picture on a layer on the Photoshop file of my composition and try to align it with the background of the original picture. I make a basic line up and then use the perspective tool transformation to fine tune it. Now I need to replace the original background with this new picture. I'll extract the character by masking it. I use the pen tool to cut out the character (magnet lasso can do it too, but you'll probably need more tweaking).



Then I convert the path to a selection and use this selection to mask the layer of the original picture. I duplicate the path, delete the lower part of it and keep only the head. Then I close it back by cutting out the head. I convert this new path to a selection; I select the mask on the layer and fill the selection of the head with black. The head is hidden.

Now I can resize the monster head to feat my character without wondering about possible overlapping. It already gives a more realistic picture.

The values of the filters I applied to the monster are the following:
Noise: 5
Blur: 0,7
Hue/saturation: saturation=33; hue=0; lightness=0

So at this stage, what I realize is that, for the coming video, an empty background is essential.
Ok, I can go head and deal with the inner mouth. I modify the mapping of the teeth and make a bitmap for them. It' seem ok now.



The next thing I try is to compose the top of the head of the man with the mouth of the monster. Under Photoshop, I use the Lasso to select and delete the top of the head of the monster.


Then I use the transform tools to match the mouth with the head of the man (resize and distort).

After this I use the lasso again to select the border of the cut mouth where it must connect to the head.

I use the refine edge tool to apply feather to the selection; I visually set the value. I delete the selection; it makes a smooth transition with the head.

I make a "match color" operation to the mouth, to match its colors with the top of the head (I need a layer containing the head alone). Then I play with the Hue/saturation of the Master, Red and Yellow components.

I realize that I should probably have masked instead of deleting the selection, because now I can't tweak it. Finally, I have two good remarks for the video :-D . This is it; the only remaining is the video. But then, "Photoshop" will be replaced by "after effect", and I'll probably need to use vector paint (which I managed to avoid at all cost until today :-D ).Thanks for reading, Rendezvous on Sunday for the video.
Cheers!

Cloud Smoke monster

see also>>making-of:::Smoke cloud demon

This is the video of the smoke cloud effect, for which I made a makind-of some days ago. It's not an acting performance, so please don't mention this. There is a slight time-lag (it's really slight, you have to look carefully to see it); it's due to a very small difference of frame rates (29,97 vs 30 FPS) which I hadn't been enough careful about at the beginning.
I'm speaking french in the video.


That's it, hope you enjoyed.

see also>>making-of:::Smoke cloud demon

Human head modelling (suite)

see also>>Human head modelling (partI)

Hello buddies!!
As promised, we'll finish the head modelling today. So last Sunday, we took reference photo of a model, drew topology atop the pictures, created the geometry conforming the drawn topology in the front viewport of 3dsmax. This resulted in a flat surface to which we added volume by moving vertices in a side view (right view for me, it depends which side you drew the topology). That's it for the resume.

Now what we're going to do is end up the modelling and then map and texture the model.


PartII: MODELING (suite)



Now I'm going to close the back and the bottom of the head.

I select the two first edges on top of the head and extrude them in the left viewport to make the shape of the skull.

I realize that it may become knotty because of possible difference of topology. So I undo this and go back to photoshop, to draw the topology before modelling. I set visibility to 0 and grab the viewport (screen capture works as well).

Here's the topology I drew

Ok, I can go for the extrusion thing :-)

Then I continue until I close the back of the head.below is what I get.


Now, I'll deal with the chin

I extrude edges and go so on until I close it.



I'll make the nostrils now. I select the polygon at the center of the bottom side of the nose and bevel it inward twice. I think it's gonna be ok for now.


-->It's time for the ear. The ear is complex, I wonder if I should spare time and use one I made before or stick to the model and go from scratch. Generally, I make the ear in a different file and merge it afterward. It'd need new guides to stick to the model, which means going back to photoshop. I think I'll use a ready ear and make another post especially about modelling an ear.

So I merge an ear. I'll try to put a link at the end of the message to dowload the ear model until I find some time to make the ear tutorial. I add a Xform modifier to and resize and get it to the right position.


I move vertices of the border of the ear to match the topology of the head.


After that I "cut" the model to create a countour for a hole the ear will plug into and delete the polygons.


I make sure there's no texture on the ear; I select it and type in the mini mascript listener the following : $.material=undefined
I attach the ear to the head and weld the backside vertices.


A view from inside, with "backface cull" disabled can be useful.


Before welding the front vertices, I need to insert some more vertices onto edges. Sorry, I went on and forgot to make a picture. The problem with using pre-made parts is that some times, the difference of topologies can force you to add triangles in the mesh. But I prefer having triangles than faces with more than four edges.


I'm done with the ear, let's make now the inside of the mouth. I select the edges except the one that connects to the coner of the mouth (I don't want the corner vertice to be modified) and make a "chamfer" with 2 segments, to have mater to work.




I select the vertices of the middle loop, except the 2 last. I move them inward.

I select the edges and make a "connect". I move those new vertices/edges to get a shape. I won't add extra details, but I could fine tune the shape by adding at least two more loops.


Now, it's time to have a proper symmetry plane. I go to "border subObject" mode select the boder, toggle to "edge subObject" (max keeps the selection). With "Alt" pressed I get rid of the neck edges. I convert my selection to vertice (Ctrl+click on the icon). In the front viewport, I align the vertices along X axis with "make planar".


I zoom in to have a look at the position of the pivot compared to the symmetry plane. I turn to "affect pivot only" and move the pivot to align it with the model's symmetry plane.


I activate my symmetry modifier. It looks ok.


______
Bonus: I organize my scene with the layer manager, so I can hide/unhide objects easily. Especially, the planes for the reference images are in separated layers. I also use the "Fetch" command from time to times sothat I can retrieve a previous valid state if needed. I use to keep copies of the model at differents stages of modelling in a layer that I call "safe".


PART III: MAPPING - TEXTURING


I apply a "uvwUnwarp" modifier above "symmetry".

I begin by separating the ears by applying a planar map to them while their faces are selected. I remove the nostril and the inner mouth too. I can then cylindricaly map the head. I turn the mapping gizmo sothat the green line lays behind the head (this is where the uvs will be sliced). There is a line of polygons behind that are not well mapped.

I select them and apply a planar map with the "align Y" option. the I open the Edit window and weld the UVs to the corresponding part of the main head (corresponding vertice highlight in blue).


Now I try to unstrech some parts, like under the chin and around the nose. I resize the separated elements and make a place for them.


Usually I would collapse the stack, delete half of the face, apply a new symmetry modifier and miror and weld the UVs of the symmetrized geometry to keep my UV perfectly symmetrical. But I won't go through that pain today ;)
So I'm ready to make the textures. I Use the tool menu to render the UVW template. I'll use the reference photo to make my textures so I use a size according to the photo.


I minimize 3dsmax and go under photoshop. I begin by selecting parts of my front image, making new layers from them and then matching them to my uvw template.


I take the face without its features and place it under my template. NB: the uvw template (background) have been changed to a standard layer (2-click) and placed on top of the drawing layer with the blending mode "lighten".


I do the same with the side. I use the clone stamp tool to begin to draw.


I want to select a base color; I choose a good area on the skin and pick my color. It will be #654026.


I delete the right part and use symetry to get it.


I forgot to delete the ear. I deal with this quickly.


Ok, I save the photoshop file and a jpg, because psd can be big and I don't want to load it into max. I want to have a look at it so far. Back into max, I create a material with the jpg as bitmap.


Ok, I go back to photoshop to deal with the cutted parts, begining with the ear.


It seems a bit too dark. In stead of modifying the map, I'll try to fix it within 3dsmax.

I go at the bitmap level on the material editor, under "output" and change some parameters. I enable "Clamp" and put RGB offset to 0,11; I also enable color map where I stay in mono and move the second point a little bit upward.

The head appears thin because I meshSmoothed it, so it would need some tweakings to match again with the model.

Ok, we'll end this here.
Hope it was useful.
Cheers!
P.S: the file for the ear:

see also>>Human head modelling (partI)