Jacko's New Body

I'm back working on Jacko again. Turns out even if the model looks like you want it to, it does not mean it's right. From what I understand (and it does make a lot of since) each polygon (the little squares and triangles that make up the grid of the wireframe) has to be in the right place. Let me see if I can put that better. Jacko's old face was basically made from a flat grid pattern of rows and columns with eyes and a mouth cut out of it, as if by a cookie cutter. When that type of arrangement is animated the face would tend to get all sorts of strange creases in it. So what you are supposed to do is to create the polygons in circular patterns around the key areas. In this case around the mouth and the eyes. This sort of simulates the way muscles are arranged on a human face. (Other critters as well).

      It will be awhile before I get back to any serious animation tests, but since I knew it was wrong, I've gone ahead and started getting him ready. Unfortunately it is a little hard to see the pattern on the movie above, but if you look close you can see what I'm talking about. I will probably do some more work on where his arms connect to his body. They will also benefits from this technique. The idea will be to have rings of polys (short for polygons) that circle out from his arms and blend into his body. In the rudimentary animation tests I've made in the past, you can see problems with his shoulders.

      The reason there are two different sets of polygons in the movie above is that I'm using a construction method call Selective Sub-Divisions (SSD in 3D parlance). I built the version with the big polys and then the 3D program calculates a smooth version based on my model. I rendered this test with the SSD turned on and turned off and then stuck them together in a Special Effects program.

      If you click on the movie above, it will stop so you can get a better look at it. Double clicking it again will start it playing.

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