Texturinng the face

Texturing the face using flatten.

Step 71.
In the front view select a point on the skin of the face. Hit the "/" key to select the continuous model and then hide the rest of the mesh using the Hide button .

Since we're just texturing the skin, you'll need to deselect the inner mouth points. This can best be done with the following steps.

In wireframe mode and from a side view, draw a selection lasso around the inner mouth. Double click on the Hide button , and you should have the lips, inner mouth and some of the cheeks left.

Using the patch select tool , and holding down the shift key, select the patches of the cheeks and lips to the point where they meet the inner mouth.

Under the "edit" menu select "compliment all". This will select just the inner mouth. Name this group.... "inner mouth".

Now unhide the meshes and repeat the first paragraph of this step. Then select the "inner mouth" group and under the "edit" menu select "Compliment all". Name this group "head" or something descriptive. Double click on the hide button one more time and you should be left with just the head.

Step 72.
Under the "head" group's surface properties, set the diffuse color option to something like the skin tone you want for your model. No need to be to exact yet.

Step 73.
In the side view select just the front face of your model. Double click on the hide button. You should have something similar to the image to the right on your screen.

Step 74.
Right mouse click (cmnd mouse click on the Mac) and select "New"/"Pose"/"On/Off" to create a new pose.

Step 75.
Animation Master defaults to skeletal mode when you first open poses or actions. In Order to flatten the mesh for texturing we need to be in "muscle" mode. Click on the "muscle mode" button.

Step 76.
In the side view select the entire mesh and click on the rotate manipulator button. Grab the "center point" and drag the rotational axis back until it's just behind the mesh.

Step 77.
From the side view grab the y-axis point (the little red dot 1/3 of the way out from the center) and rotate it down until its on the x- axis.

If you don't do this the face won't flatten correctly.

Step 78.
With the Rotate Manipulator still selected Right mouse click (Cmnd click on the Mac) and select "Flatten". This wont work if you deselect the manipulator so make sure you click within the manipulator.

You should get results similar to the far right image. If it doesn't look right you either didn't pull the pivot point back far enough, you deselected the manipulator and reselected it which resets the pivot, or you didn't rotate the y- axis point down to the x-axis.

Step 79.
When you decal, AM only textures faces that aren't blocked from view. So we'll need to tweak the mesh a little in order to get it into a form that will texture properly.

The jaw, nostrils and eye lids will definitely have to be fixed on this model. The image to the right shows the tweaks.

Step 80.
How you paint your texture is up to you. I usually start with my front rotoscope image and outline it with a neutral color, in this case flesh tone. Take note of this color's RGB values because you'll use them later.

Step 81.
I screen grab the flattened wireframe and use it as a guide for my texture. Then I paint, push and pull the photo to fit the wireframe.

Here's the finished texture.

Step 82.
In AM while still in the Flattened pose, right mouse click (cmnd mouse click on the Mac) on the Decals folder in the project workspace. Select "New"/"Decal"/"Other" and load your texture with the wireframe overlay. Having the wireframe overlay allows you to place the texture perfectly.

Position and scale the Decal to fit your mesh, then right mouse click (cmnd mouse click on the Mac) and select "Apply" to apply the decal.

Now in the Images folder in the project workspace you can change the file path of this texture to the texture without the wireframe overlay and you're almost done.

Step 83.
Notice the Hard line on the border of the face. This is easily fixed. Remember in step 80 where I said to remember the RGB colors of your general flesh tone. Well now we set the "Head" groups Diffuse color to those values and...

... Bingo! No more lines. You gotta love groups.

That's all for the head. Next the Body.

Back to tutorial index

Next tutorial

Texturing the face using flatten.

Step 71.
In the front view select a point on the skin of the face. Hit the "/" key to select the continuous model and then hide the rest of the mesh using the Hide button .

Since we're just texturing the skin, you'll need to deselect the inner mouth points. This can best be done with the following steps.

In wireframe mode and from a side view, draw a selection lasso around the inner mouth. Double click on the Hide button , and you should have the lips, inner mouth and some of the cheeks left.

Using the patch select tool , and holding down the shift key, select the patches of the cheeks and lips to the point where they meet the inner mouth.

Under the "edit" menu select "compliment all". This will select just the inner mouth. Name this group.... "inner mouth".

Now unhide the meshes and repeat the first paragraph of this step. Then select the "inner mouth" group and under the "edit" menu select "Compliment all". Name this group "head" or something descriptive. Double click on the hide button one more time and you should be left with just the head.

Step 72.
Under the "head" group's surface properties, set the diffuse color option to something like the skin tone you want for your model. No need to be to exact yet.

Step 73.
In the side view select just the front face of your model. Double click on the hide button. You should have something similar to the image to the right on your screen.

Step 74.
Right mouse click (cmnd mouse click on the Mac) and select "New"/"Pose"/"On/Off" to create a new pose.

Step 75.
Animation Master defaults to skeletal mode when you first open poses or actions. In Order to flatten the mesh for texturing we need to be in "muscle" mode. Click on the "muscle mode" button.

Step 76.
In the side view select the entire mesh and click on the rotate manipulator button. Grab the "center point" and drag the rotational axis back until it's just behind the mesh.

Step 77.
From the side view grab the y-axis point (the little red dot 1/3 of the way out from the center) and rotate it down until its on the x- axis.

If you don't do this the face won't flatten correctly.

Step 78.
With the Rotate Manipulator still selected Right mouse click (Cmnd click on the Mac) and select "Flatten". This wont work if you deselect the manipulator so make sure you click within the manipulator.

You should get results similar to the far right image. If it doesn't look right you either didn't pull the pivot point back far enough, you deselected the manipulator and reselected it which resets the pivot, or you didn't rotate the y- axis point down to the x-axis.

Step 79.
When you decal, AM only textures faces that aren't blocked from view. So we'll need to tweak the mesh a little in order to get it into a form that will texture properly.

The jaw, nostrils and eye lids will definitely have to be fixed on this model. The image to the right shows the tweaks.

Step 80.
How you paint your texture is up to you. I usually start with my front rotoscope image and outline it with a neutral color, in this case flesh tone. Take note of this color's RGB values because you'll use them later.

Step 81.
I screen grab the flattened wireframe and use it as a guide for my texture. Then I paint, push and pull the photo to fit the wireframe.

Here's the finished texture.

Step 82.
In AM while still in the Flattened pose, right mouse click (cmnd mouse click on the Mac) on the Decals folder in the project workspace. Select "New"/"Decal"/"Other" and load your texture with the wireframe overlay. Having the wireframe overlay allows you to place the texture perfectly.

Position and scale the Decal to fit your mesh, then right mouse click (cmnd mouse click on the Mac) and select "Apply" to apply the decal.

Now in the Images folder in the project workspace you can change the file path of this texture to the texture without the wireframe overlay and you're almost done.

Step 83.
Notice the Hard line on the border of the face. This is easily fixed. Remember in step 80 where I said to remember the RGB colors of your general flesh tone. Well now we set the "Head" groups Diffuse color to those values and...

... Bingo! No more lines. You gotta love groups.

That's all for the head. Next the Body.

Back to tutorial index

Next tutorial

Texturing the face using flatten.

Step 71. In the front view select a point on the skin of the face. Hit the "/" key to select the continuous model and then hide the rest of the mesh using the Hide button .