Using 3ds Max

by Athey Nansel-Moravetz

Introduction:

There is no 'one' right or wrong way to model a head. Everyone seems to have a technique they prefer, but there is a vast number of different ways that a person can choose to tackle the problem of modeling a head in 3-dimentions.

I think that one of the earliest things that I started trying to model was a head, and I can tell you that I made a LOT of very ugly heads. I think that it was the 12th or 13th time that I modeled a head that it actually looked okay. So if this is your first time trying this, and it doesn't come amazing, don't worry. This is one of those things that takes practice to get right.

I've used lots of different techniques to model heads. It seems like I was trying a new technique with every head for a while there. The technique that I'm going to use today is the one that I've used on the last 3 heads I've modeled, and I personally think I've gotten the best results with it.

This is not the only/best way to do this! If you try this, and it doesn't work out for you, don't loose hope, there are plenty of other options to try.

Reference

Modeling without reference is possible... but in my opinion, it's kind of stupid. Sure, it's possible for someone to model something amazing without using a single bit of reference. But I bet they would have gotten it done quicker, and without having to fix things nearly as often if they'd just taken some time in the beginning to prepare.

Modeling a head without using any reference is probably just a very quick way to get frustrated.

For reference it's usually a good idea to use a photo of a real head. Sure you can draw a head, but it won't be as accurate as a photograph, and will be more likely to mess you up at some point.

But this tutorial is for modeling a stylized head. Something more along the lines of anime. For this I would usually just go off of a drawing, however this time I'm doing something a little different.

Not too long ago, I found a website (http://dreamofdoll.com) and I FELL IN LOVE with the faces of the dolls. The second I saw some of the photos of these dolls, the first thing that came to my mind was "I wanna model that!" So I saved the pictures and they have rested on my hard drive ever since.

When I was asked to make a 3D Anime Head Modeling tutorial, I remembered the pictures and decided that this was a good opportunity to put it to use.

So This is the head I choose to model:

Not only is it a straight front shot, it's also got a perfect profile shot. It was perfect reference for modeling.

But it still needed some prepping.

There are some important key things to take into account when preparing modeling reference.

1. The images that you put into Max need to be the same size as each other. If one image is 400x412, the other one needs to be 400x412 too. Not only that, but they need to be lined up to each other perfectly. The head needs to be the same size, the noses need to be aligned, the eyes, the chins, the mouths, etc.


	Quick Tip In Photoshop, turn on rulers by pressing Ctrl+R. Click on the top ruler and drag down to create a horizontal guide line. Click on the left ruller and drag across to make a verticle guide line.

Take your two images side by side and rotate and scale them until they are the same size and are lined up properly.

Make your two images so that they're still aligned, etc. These are the final reference images I ended up with:

(Click to download larger versions)
I added lines to the front view in photoshop using the pen tool, to help guide myself. I'll explain the point of these lines later on.


	Quick Tip Avoid having a white background on your images! If you draw your reference images and have it on white paper, darken the image in photoshop so that the background is grey. If your photos have white backgrounds, do the same. When you have objects selected in max, that object's wireframe becomes white. If the image you are using as reference has a white background, it will make it very difficult to see the object over it!

Setup

I'm using 3ds max 7 for this tutorial, HOWEVER I garuntee that the tools and steps I will use will be the same in just about any version. I use editable poly (I'll explain what that is later) so if you have a reeeally old version of max (like... version 3 or something) then you won't have the same options. It only has editable mesh/patch/etc. But version 4,5, & 6 have the same tools I'm about to use (I know because I used all of those versions and I did things the same in them as I do in this one). And I can just about garuntee that these things will still be the same when version 8 comes out. So no worries about versions.


	Side Note If you do not have 3DStudio Max, there is a free version called gmax. It's released by descreet, the makers of 3dsmax. I haven't personally used gmax, but I understand it's quite similar to 3dsmax vs4.

Open 3ds max. First thing we're going to do is setup our reference images. The screen should be divided into four screens. One that says Top, Front, Left, and Perspective. If all you see is one large screen, go to the very bottom-right of the screen, and click on this button:

Okay, so if you see the 4-way split screen, click anywhere in the one that's labeled "Front".

Now from the top menu (File, Edit, Tools, etc.) click on Views > Viewport Background... or press Alt+B. This will open the viewport window. Under Backaground Source click the "Files..." button and open the reference image for the front. (This should be the larger version of the image above, that has the lines drawn on it).

IMPORTANT! Next, make sure Match Bitmap is selected, and check the Lock Zoom/Pan option. Once done, click ok.

Repeat this step for the Side viewport. First make sure you click in the viewport labeled Left, press Alt+B to open the viewport background, etc.

Checking the Lock Zoom option, freezes the images with the viewport so that you can move around the the image will move with it. If you do not check this option, the image will stay in place while you move around, rendering it just about totally useless.

Okay, so now we have our references images imported to max. Let's get started with the actual modeling!