#048 GAD BA2 - P2: Mudbox Topology

On top of creating a sculpt in Muxbox, we have also been asked to look into what topology is and to draw a suitable topology for our sculpt. So, first things first.... What is topology? As wikipedia defines it:

"Topology is a major area of mathematics concerned with spatial properties that are preserved under continuous deformations of objects, for example, deformations that involve stretching, but no tearing or gluing."

To tailor that to the subject, topology is the use of 2D surface shapes positioned at different locations, angles and sizes to create a 3D object. An simple example of this would be a cube. Each face could theoretically count as a plane, 6 planes creating a cube, which when spread out would be the topology of a cube.

The planes can be split up, for example a single square plane can be split up into 4 pieces, creating what is called a subdivision. The cubes topology now has 24 planes, as opposed to 6.

You can continue to create new subdivisions, you could split each of those new 4 pieces into another 4 pieces, creating 16 planes per face... or 96 total planes.

A cube is a very basic example though, when it comes to the topology of the face it is much more complicated. You have different areas containing different sizes and shapes of planes, allowing stretching in certain places for things such as lip and eye movement.

The topology is essentially done around the muscle groups in the face, as you can see comparing the images above and below. You have the forehead & jaw, the cheeks, the eyebrows & cheekbones, the eyes and the nose & mouth. If you put these together in their groups you will have the full topology of the face, ready for manipulation and animating.

So putting together what I have learnt, here is my version of the topology drawn on top of my 3D head sculpt.

#047 GAD BA2 - P2: Mudbox Sculpting

Well, I have tried my best to create a 3D Sculpt that resembles the subject of my reference material... But I can clearly say that I have not achieved this. With more time, perhaps a decade or so, I could achieve it but it's just something that if I want to improve on I will have to practise repeatedly.

While I think that the facial structure features are fairly similar to my model, the hair defiantly is not. So anyway, here is the 360 view of my head sculpt.

#044 GAD BA2 - P2: Mudbox Sculpting

Our second assignment for this unit is to sculpt a 3D head of a person of our choosing using Mudbox. I'm going to be using one of my house mates, Anton, as my reference as It makes it much easier if I need to take another photo as a reference while sculpting.

Left, Front and Right reference shots.

First I started with the ear, the part that I thought would be most difficult. As much as I tried, even with the reference images I took, I just couldn't seem to get the shape of the ear right or the internal structure although it does at least resemble an ear. Below is a screen capture of it.

I decided to take a rest from the ear and move on to another part of the face, the nose. This time it at resembles a nose and the nose of the model, just. I found that it was easier to build up on the face first and then sculpt into it, rather than adding it in bit by bit to achieve the final piece. The lips are nowhere near done (I still need to sculpt into it) and I want to flatten the bit below the nose leading to the mouth  Below is a screen capture of it.