Hello,
do not speak English I dare not speak on the forum, however, I would like to thank the community of AM for any advice it provides.
At my turn I'd like to offer the synthesis of what I learned in modeling from AM after some years of use.
I hope that this might help someone.
http://treser.net/AnimationMaster/modelingacharacter.pdf (3.1 Mo)

Why would you not speak? Your English is not that bad. Don't worry about writing imperfect language, we don't mind if someone is a bit harder to understand. (my English isn't that good either ) Thanks for posting that tutorial. It will be very useful to many A:M users.

Very good and usefull thank;s

That's great!!!!
Thanks!!!!!!!!

Excellent!!

Steve

I really like your way of modeling. The results are very nice. I especially like the giraffe. Don't let your language skills hold you back from showing us more. I would like to see more of your work and any other tutorials you come up with.

Very interesting and something that a lot of spliners are going to be happy to discover!

Great work, Malo! Nice characters and a very informative tutorial.

Top marks! YOU are quite an educator... please do not be a stranger!

Great Job!
Thanks.

Wonderful tutorial (and great character modeling) Malo!

...and what a great way to kick off the new Modeling Tutorials area.

Thank you for your encouragement.
Reassuring that my "English" and that tutorial are understood.
I will share more on the forum in the futur.

I have a question:
When I modeled, i spend much time to close 5 CPs patches.
While it is more common to have more 5 CPs patches than 5 Cps not closed (very rare case for my models).
It is possible that my comment was stupid and badly placed in the forum, but would not it be faster and easier to reverse the creation of 5 CPs patches? (i.e. that all forms 5-point patches become closed automatically , and to open them use the tool.)
Do you know the reasons for the current procedure? I searched in the forum for an explanation but found nothing.

I am very unlearned here so... until the experts weigh in:

I believe the problem with making 5 point patches automatically appear is the problem you would have with areas larger than 5 points.
Think about this for a moment. If you have splines that make up a 6 point patch, might they not also have a valid 5 points between them. What about 7? What of 8?

There is no reliable way to automate 5 point patches to on.
That is why we must specify whish CPs to use instead.
When we select 5 CPs A:M does the calculation and if the 5 CPs would form a valid patch it turn the option on.

(I'm sure I'm missing important things here)


Edit: Did you know you can create a 5 point patch from one spline?
Its easy to test this out.
- Lathe a cylinder with 5 cross sections
- Delete the bottom of the cylinder
- Select the remaining spline circle
- Click the 5 Point patch icon
You now have a 5 point patch circle

This might seem unrelated but this is one example where a valid 5 point patch would be created from one spline. It illustrates how difficult it can be for A:M to know which case to use.

Thank you for the explanation Rodney!

Unfotunately!

Yes, unlike the spline made with 3 or 4 cps, it is possible to make patches with 5 cps spline.
Well, not quite ...

http://treser.net/AnimationMaster/closepatches.mdl
To get the spline patches with 3 or 4 Cps, I had to edit the file ". Mdl" added the lines highlighted in yellow.
But it is understandable, It isn't posible to do it with AM program cause the result.

Part of the reason is that a long time ago 5-pointers weren't even possible so the software didn't' automatically think about them. 5-pointers are "an extra".

But the big reason probably is that unwanted 5-point patches would usually be ones that form inside the object ("interior patches") and hard to find to disable them.

An unclosed 5-pointer on the surface of a model is easy to find and correct, but an unwanted 5-pointer inside a model is hard to find to "unclose".

"Interior Patches" are bad because they can make creases appear on the model.

Malo,
I hope I haven't misclassified your tutorial by dropping it in the Modeling Tutorials forum.
You've got more than just modeling in this tutorial.
I'd like to explore them here in this tutorial topic.


Regarding the 5 point patches you've posted:
I'm not sure what you are doing differently but I've never had a lathed 5 point patch fail to form.
Obviously something is different.
By the bias pinching I'd guess that you've got something else going on with those.
Did you Lathe those?

I think I misunderstood your post.
I see now that you were trying to get the results with the 3 and 4 CP spline loops.

Every circle in the attached image is a 5 point (lathed) circle.
One is the orginal while the others are copies that have been scaled/distorted.

I'm curious:



What did you do exactly.
You added those lines in?

Hello robcat2075,
thank you for your explanations.


Hello Rodney,

Initially I was wanting to create plugins for modeling:

Example, for extrution patches, it is always the same steps:
3 splines around the selected patches, and transform 4 "5 cps" in patches.
So I made a study mdl format and try to understand it.
As I am not a programmer I quickly stopped for lack of time and knowledge.
But so, I found it was possible to make patches by adding lines... and make me more admiration for programmers.

To complete the tutorial, here is the fastest way that I find to extrude a patch : ( If someone know of a faster I'm interested.)

1 the begining
2. with key "y" I insert CPs around the patch.
3. key "a" and I click to attach the Cps that bypass the patch.
4. I moved the patch, because I shall then use the Zevel plugin ( http://www.kci-group.com/z/zevel.htm (Thank Marcel Bricman!) ).
5 first application of the plugin. (selection of the spline by "," key )
6. Second application.
7. Selection patches 5 cps to close.
8. end

The other two pictures show other applications that could be done with the same method.

Wonderful tutorial ! Thank you very much.

Your tutorial also highlights how handy it is to morph/modify models into entirely different characters, as most "human" types will have (should have) very similar construction topologies.

Your screen capture illustrations "speak" English very clearly.

Hi Malo,

Thank you for that great tut!!

By the way, where do you come from?

Thank Nancy, thank Jake, I come from Brittany.

<Brittany? Never heard of that.
And when I googled it, I found the following:

http://thegirlfromtheghetto.files.wordpres...3/brittanya.jpg

not bad, but certainly not right thing.
Is it maybe an island in the Carribean?

Not this Brittany, unfortunately my Brittany is not as so hot of yours
My Brittany is: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brittany

Ah Le Bretagne I see!

Must be a very beautifull country especially for vacations at the seaside!

Studying your tutorial more closly I find it very usefull.
Thank you again.

Your designs look very professional.

Do you work on a special project/goal or is 3D just hobby for you?

This is just hobby for me.
But later, I will be pleased to create a cartoon, when i will have more experienced and times.

I finally got around to reading your PDF. That's a great technique!

It seems to me a modeling plugin could be made to automate the addition of the spline rings you are adding around patches you want to extrude.

Hi Malo!

I had missed this thread. Merci, your PDF is very interesting!

Michel

Malo from Saint Malo !! ? en Bretagne ?

thank you for these techniques very clever and straight forward...

Cold water in French Brittany !! only go there if you got a war or a girl to save....

Thank you,
Robcat, yes I think so, that it will be possible to create plugins from this method. Unfortunately, I am not a programmer

Thank you, Michel.

Thank you, Maddle.
I am not from Saint-Malo, but not far: Saint-Brieuc.

This is a wonderful modeling tutorial, and this method of modeling is fantastic for adding details. Thank you for this wonderful contribution!

Hi,

Just an idea.
It is a method that complements the extrution Patches/Cps using the bones to move groups of CPs like this:
Extrution patches


extrution member


Here is a model for testing (to used in action window) :
model