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Create For this face, we're going to work all in the front viewport first, and after we've gotten a fair distance, we'll move to the left and perspective viewports to add depth to the face. I don't usually plan out my edgeloops, but I've gone ahead and done it for this tutorial to help show what we're aiming for.
 The above image shows the sort of geometry we're aiming for (mind you it'll end up more detailed then this, but this is just a vague guide). When you make your model with these loops in place, it makes it easier for the model to be animated later if you so desire (it'll deform more accurately with proper edge loops in place) but it's also easier to get a more accurate shape, if you model with edge loops too. The loops around the eyes and mouth is where everything begins. The lines coming down from the nose and around the mouth are also hugely important for later animation and deformations, but even if you have no intention of animating your face, these edges will still help improve the shape of the model greatly. Let's get started. First click in the front viewport and click the viewport toggle button in the lower-right corner of the screen. This will full-screen the front viewport an make it easier to work there. 
Click on the button called Plane (if you don't see a button called Plane, first make sure that the first of the top buttons 'geometry' is highlighted, and if it is, then make sure that Standard Primitives is selected in the drop-down menu) In the front view, draw a rectangle around the head. (don't worry about it being perfect yet).
With the Move Tool selected, go down to the bottom of the screen and type in 0 for X.
 
If you made your reference image correctly (or if you're using mine) this should center the plane right down the center of the reference image.
Right now the object is still a pimitive object and it has parameters that can be changed. You should see settings like Length, Width, Length Segs, Width Segs, etc. I set my Length Segs to 6 and Width Segs to 6 to start. It made the plane look like this:
 Next we'll convert it from a primitive to an editable poly mesh. Right-Click on the word Plane in the modifier stack and you'll see a menu appear. Choose Editable Poly. This will change the modifier stack. You will loose the option to automatically add more virticle or horizontal segments, however you can add them manually now and will have control over individual vertexes, etc.
 Select one half of the polygons and delete them!
 Now click on the drop-down menu "Modifier List" and go way to the bottom and find the modifier called "Symmetry". The parameters in Symmetry are very simple. Choose the Mirror Axis, in this case it should be X. If you see nothing, check the Flip options. Now it should look just like it did before - squares on both sides of the face. The difference is that now, any changes you make to the left side of the face will automatically happen to the right. Click back down onto Editable Poly... ah! the other side of the plane disapeared again! No worries. There are several buttons directly under the modifier stack, one of them is "Show End result Toggle On/Off". If you click on this button, even if you're working at the bottom of the stack in the editable poly modifier, it'll show the end result with all of the other modifiers applied to it.
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Start move some vertices around to match the edge loops we're aiming for. Right now we're only working in one dimention, so it's still just a flat plane, but later on, we'll start pushing in and outwards and giving depth to the face. Okay, so 6 edges isn't enough to get much done is it? You want to add some more edges in and it's pretty easy. There are several ways to add in more geometry. One is to connect selected edges, another is to cut edges. Right now we're in vertex sub-object mode, but we need to be in Edge mode, so select it from the modifier stack. Select and edge and click the button that says "Ring". It selected all of the ledges paralell to it in a row! If you click the button that says Connect, it'll create edges going along the center of all of those edges. If you select an edge and click on the button the says "Loop" it'll select all of the edges in a straing line. These selection tools are quick and easy ways to select groups of edges. You can also do it manually. Click on an edge and hold down the Control key as you click on additional edges. If you select a group of edges and click Connect, it'll create new edges connecting all of the selected edges.
Anothe way to create new edges is with "Cut". Down a little bit, under Edit Geometry, you'll find a button called Cut. Click the button and try clicking around the plane. It'll create edges as you cut. Add edges, go into vertex mode, move around some vertices, and try to match the loop guide. If you need to remove an edge, click on it and click the Remove button. Removing an edge leaves a verticie behind, and you have to remove any extra verticies too. If you remove a loop of edges and then go into vertex mode, you'll see a string of verticies were the edges were. Select the verticies and click the remove button to remove them. Not only can you connect edges to create new edges, you can connect verticies as well. Select two verties that are diagnol from each other and click the connect button. It'll create an edge between them.
I pretty much just followed the image reference. I added a bit more around the nose because I know they'll be nessecary in a moment. The nose is a hard area to prepare for, it's one of those things that I tackle mostly when I've got depth to the face already and working in perspective view. |
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In max, on the far right-hand side of the screen is a menu section. At the top are several tab-buttons. The first tab is called Create and it's icon is that of a little mouse cursor. Make sure you're on this tab.
With the plane still selected, go to the Modify tab (it's the button directly next to the create tab we were just in). The Modify Tab is where most everything happens. The drop-down menu that says "Modifier List" is where you'll find most of Max's tools and features.
