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Modeling the hands...
Step 109.
Draw a spline that resembles half the silhouette of you index finger.Notice that there are 3 points per joint, with the exception of the knuckles which only have 2 points.
Step 110.
In the modeling options panel set the lathe cross sections to 6. We could set it to 8 but the 2 extra splines aren't really necessary for something as small as the fingers. If you are going to get close up on the hands, you may want to set the cross sections to 8 or even 10, as this will give you more to work with when you are modeling the nail beds and knuckles.
Lathe the cross section of the finger.
Step 111.
Rotate the finger on the Z-axis.
Step 112.
Tweak the points to resemble a finger. Make sure you have 3 spline rings for the knuckles, and notice that the center spline of each knuckle is angled toward the hand. This rotation of the knuckle splines allows for an easy bend when you flex the finger.I also tend to peak the points in the bends at the joints. This gives a nice crease when you animate. This is seen in the front and bottom views.
I didn't model the nails on this hand. I hinted at them but intentionally left them out. I will texture them using color and probably displacement or bump maps. This will give me greater control over the look of the hand without having to make it spline heavy.
Allways remember that making a model more generic and using textures to make it specific will allow you to use that model over and over again. Why model a hand 100 times over your lifetime when you can do it once or twice and texture or tweak those versions to the desired look?
Step 113.
Copy and paste the finger 3 times. Scale and tweak the other fingers to match the middle, ring and pinky fingers. Don't forget the fan the fingers out so that you can texture and rig the hand. If you leave them pulled together you'll constantly be zooming in to grab points and bones.
Step 114.
Join the splines between the fingers.
Step 115.
Hide all but the last splines on the fingers. Copy and paste these splines and scale them slightly. Pull them back from the fingers on the x-axis.
Hide the smaller splines and the fingers.
Disconnect and reconnect the points between the knuckles to create one continues spline ring.
Step 116.
Unhide the fingers and start connecting the two spline rings that make up the knuckles.I created an additional spline that ran between the fingers.
Notice the five point patches that join the knuckles and palm at the fingers.
Step 117.
Now that the fingers are joined, begin extruding the hand back toward the wrist. You should only need 2 or 3 spline rings before you get to the thumb.
Step 118.
In order to create the thumb, copy the splines that make up the index finger.Paste the finger and rotate it so that it is horizontal.
Notice that I deleted the last spline on the copied finger. This is because, the thumb only has two knuckles as opposed to three for the fingers.
Step 119.
Tweak the points to look like a thumb. Don't worry about getting it perfect right now. It will be easier to tweak once you see it in position on the hand.
Step 120.
Position the thumb. Make sure you rotate it so that it can oppose the fingers, after all, that's what opposable thumbs are for.The thumb swings in a half arch when it moves, which means when it is flared out, like the images to the right its nail will point up at about a 45 degree angle. When it is brought in this changes to a 45 degree down angle.
So remember to rotate the thumb slightly, it adds a great deal to the realism of the hand.
Step 121.
Join the points between the thumb and the hand.
Step 122.
Copy the last spline ring on the hand and paste it toward the back of the thumb.Scale this ring so that it is flat on the x-axis.
Step 123.
Break the spline this floating ring at the thumb. This will allow us to connect it to the thumb splines.Delete every other point on this spline except for the ones that make up the side of the hand.
Begin joining the hand and thumb splines together.
Notice the use of hooks to join the odd splines to the places where we deleted every other point. This will reduce the geometry that inserts into the arm and make animating easier.
Notice the five point patches around the thumb and how I broke the spline below the index finger's knuckle to run it down the hand. I did this simply to mimic the way the hand curves and creases.
Again, unless you are really going to focus on the hands, don't worry to much about the hidden areas like the palms. The great things about palms, armpits, and crotches is that they hide themselves when they animate.
What difference does it make what kind of creasing you have going on in the palm when you make a fist? Who will see it?
Step 124.
Copy and paste the last spline on the hand.Fix the two kinks by breaking the spline and reattaching the points to create one contiguous spline.
Step 125.
Attach this spline to the hand.Notice the five point patches and hooks.
Step 126.
Group the whole thing and give it a skin tone to match the face for now.
Step 127.
You can simply insert the wrist into the sleeve, making sure that the innermost spline ring is scaled down a little. This will prevent collisions when the wrist bends.If you aren't using sleeves, just attach the points of the wrist to the arm using hooks where there is a mismatch in the point count.
That's it....
Next up... the feet.
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