Cartoon Character Creation Volume 1 - by Wordware Publishing
by Jeremy Rayment

The Background

There seems to be a large movement towards video-based training. The benefits of video-based training are plenty. Video, audio and second by second instruction all packaged into one neatly rewindable, and downloadable or purchasable movie. But there is something special about picking up a book and really digging into the material and learning. From the moment your book arrives, you get that christmas-like joy as you rip through the packaging, and thumb through the table of contents for the first time. In this two part review I will be looking at WORDWARE Publishing's two volume set; Cartoon Character Creation. Author Jonny Gorden takes you step by step into all facets of creating professional level 3d cartoon characters and animations, using NewTek's popular Lightwave 3d software.

In Volume 1 (and part 1 of my review), Jonny takes you through Lightwave setup and workflow, pre-production, modeling, skelegon-based rigging, and the texturing process. In part 2, I will review Volume two where rigging and animation takes centre stage.

Lightwave setup and workflow

Jonny spends valuable time going through Lightwave workflow and setup, and its time well spent, especially for new users of Lightwave. Each and every workflow concept Jonny shows, from keyboard shortcuts to content directory customization is something every artist has to learn to deal with at some point. The Lightwave manual is a good resource for this type of information, but there is something self containing about working on a project from the very start, including learning Jonny's own worflow style as it pertains to working within the software itself.

configuring modeler

Pre-production

The single biggest mistake that "newbies" to 3d production make is to downplay the importance of pre-production or concept development. I've been there. The allure of jumping right in and making the next superstar cg character is extremely powerful. For 3d artist beginners, the concepts covered in the pre-production chapter are gold. From character concept development to sketching polygon flow, to correctly producing background modeling reference, there are no shortcuts for Jonny's students. You learn it right the first time.

background images

Modeling - Part 1 - Morfi

The modeling section of Volume one is divided into two sections. First you model a cute little alien character "Morfi". In the second part of the modeling chapter, Jonny shows you how to model a more advanced cartoon animal, "Hamish the pig". The first "traditional" 3d modeling convension Jonny breaks is to use a cylinder primitive instead of the preverbal box. I am amazed there are not more artists using or teaching this method. If you are like me, thinking in 3d is the hardest part of learning how to model. A box primitive is, well boxy. Even a subpatched box stills requires a lot of tweaking up front to properly match the contours of say, a torso or a head. The cylinder primitive process worked better for me and I would encourage any artist to try their next model in this fashion. Workflow is very subjective and it may not be for everyone, but it is worth a try. Who knows you may like it!

cylinder (or disc tool) primitive

For the most part, the direction and lessons for modeling Morfi were very straight forward and easy to follow. Jonny uses a couple of modeling techniques that I have never used before and they worked great. For example, to create the arm socket you copy, paste and merge the arm polygons while then dragging the front point of the polygon up to form the shoulder socket and also modifying the polygon flow of the mesh.

completed arm socket

Another convention Jonny is not afraid to dismiss is the use of triangles. Not to say Jonny is pro triangle or anything, he clearly demonstrates the pitfalls of using triangles. On the other hand, triangles are ok to use and are often required at times to get the look and flow to a model's mesh. Jonny shows you where, when and more importantly why to use triangles in a mesh, finding a nice balance of animatable geometry with efficient modeling workflow.

some triangles are ok!

I did run into a couple of problems modeling Morfi, specifically the mouth region (teeth and gums etc.) and the ears. In some places the images could have done a better job highlighting the action taking place. I think part of the problem is the nature of the media and black and white images can be hard to show crisp details, and when trying to highlight a single point on a mesh with many points, you can get easily confused. Another suggestion I would incorporate revolves around the stability of Lightwave's symmetry tool. It would have been helpful to have seen a mini graphical tutorial on how to fix symmetry on a model since it's a trick that is often required . Coming from a Lightwave background I am familiar with the tricks, but the average beginning user may not be. These are minor gripes. As you can see Morfi turned out just fine!

final Morfi

Modeling - Part 2 - Hamish

Hamish is a more detailed and complicated character to model and Jonny's demonstrates many more advanced tools that are ideal when working with higher detailed models. Hamish starts out as cylinder primitive, but as the general form is created, and more details are added, we see some of Lightwave's power modeler tools put to use by the master. Spin quads is a great tool for adjusting the flow of geometry and it gets used on the top of Hamish's nose to adjust the polygon flow.

resulting spin quads

Jonny showcases some of Lightwave's power detailing tools, like the cut tool and bandsaw pro, while creating enough geometry around the nose and mouth regions. Building on the foundation learned while modeling Morfi, the extend and super shift tools are used to build the form as you create the ears and nostrils.

using the cut tool under the nose to add geometry

To create wrinkles, the edge bevel tool is used. Hamish is starting to look great! The rest of the modeling body process involves the same tools as Morfi and if you have gone through the first tutorial then the creation of Hamish is really straight forward.

final naked Hamish

One section I really enjoyed was the dedicated to modeling clothes. Jonny teaches you all the tricks and workflow to create great cartoon shoes, socks, pants and a shirt. All in all, the skills and modeling techniques are presented in great order. Morfi was a perfect starting point and based on that foundation, creating Hamish introduced some more advanced skills.

a pig's clothes

Rigging Morfi

In Lightwave there are two ways to rig a character for animation. You can create skelegons in Modeler (like fault or temporary bones) and/or use the new bone tools in Layout. Jonny takes you through using skelegons to rig Morfi. The process of creating a rig can be a daunting one, to say the least. In this section Jonny walks you through the process step by step. Getting through the rigging section really gives you an idea of how much work is involved with creating a character rig.

The more advanced rigging is saved for Volume 2.

skelegons

Creating weight maps (weight maps are boundary regions of points or polygons that influence a bone's movement for Morfi was very straight forward. Jonny prefers a simplistic strategy when it comes to the creation of weight maps. Create only as many as you need! The trick Jonny shows to mirror weights is a great time saver!

weight maps

Finishing the rig in Layout is where the bulk of the work comes in. The process includes tweaking bone placement and properties, creating the animation controls, parenting, setting up IK, setting up some custom eye functions, and the creation of expressions. The process is well explained, although I found myself starting over more than a few times as I missed some steps along the way. Once you are done the rig, testing the deformations and movement is quite rewarding. All that hard work pays off as you can now use the Jonny rig to animate Morfi and bring him to life.

poseable morfi

Texturing

As good as the modeling and rigging chapters are, my favourite chapter is the one on texturing. Jonny does a fantastic job of outlining the strategy and concept of texturing and also on dispelling some of Lightwave's myths on creating and editing UV's.

outlining seams

The first trick is not to rely on automatic projections and to take advantage of the manual settings. Once you have a UV map ready to go, you need to edit it and that usually requires the dreaded "un welding"! Ahhhhhhhhhhh sounds very scary. Not with Jonny at the helm its not.

un welding geometry

The checkerboard test allows you to see the affect of your UV maps.

checkerboard pattern

Once all the UV maps are in place it's on to layout for lighting and surfacing. Once the basic surfacing channels are explained, Jonny explains the use of gradients and weight maps as they pertain to surfacing. Next up is the use of procedurals to add some finer details.

procedurals

A trip to Photoshop to create the final image maps is the last piece of the puzzle. Jonny showcases some cool photoshop tricks to create the image maps.

photoshop

The final application and render of Hamish finishes up Volume 1 with a special lesson on creating a QuickTime VR of your finished model.

Conclusion

If Volume 2 is half as good as Volume 1, I am in for a treat! Creating cartoon type characters have always been interesting to me and to the best of my knowledge there is little training material out there specifically aimed at creating this type of 3d art. I have mixed feelings about the format of the book (it's a non-standard size when compared to other computer training books). The smaller size is great for portability and for general reading, but it also means smaller images and at times it caused me some struggles. Jonny also offers great support and feedback via the spinquad forums where students post their progress and ask questions. If you have Lightwave 3d or have been considering it to model and create cartoon characters I would highly recommend Volume 1, and I cant wait to see what Volume 2 has to offer.

Article Rating

What We Liked

• Pre-production
• Modeling Morfi
• Modeling Hamish
• Great step by step rigging overview
• Fantastic texturing chapter
  

What Should be Improved

• This is a hard one because I liked the format of the book in terms of size, but the smaller images did cause me some confusion in places.