Step 85.
Select all of the points on the model except for the last spline ring at the base of the neck.

In the "edit" menu select "Compliment All" or simply hit the "." key. This will select all of the points on the model that aren't currently selected, in this case the last spline on the neck.

You might ask, "why not simply select the last spline on the neck in the first place?" To illustrate a point.

Sometimes when you select a large number of points on multiple objects, i.e. a head, eyes, and hair, AM misses some of the points in the selection. This happens more with the Lasso tool than the drag selection tool, but if your not careful you can mess up your model in subtle ways without even knowing it until you've saved it.

This problem with selection happens when using the "Compliment All " command under the "edit " window as well. So be aware of it and double check your selections.

So check the spline ring on the neck . If all of the control points are selected then we're ready for the next step if not... Select them.

Step 86.
Now you can hit the lock button . This will lock all of the points on the head except the last spline ring on the neck.

Drag a selection around the splines to see that only the last spline is selectable now.

We could just hide the head, but you'll need it as a reference for the torso's proportions, unless you're working from a rotoscope (which I do recommend).

In my case getting a 2 year old to assume the T pose and hold still long enough for me to take shots front on and from the side would have taken longer than the time it took to model him in the first place.

So I "free" modeled him, after the head.

Leave the spline ring selected and move on to the next step.

Step 87.
Extrude the spline ring up to start the collar. Scale the ring inward a little to create the effect of cloth laying on the neck.

Continue to extrude the collar out. Create a second ring by extruding down and scaling back out.

Extrude downward one more time and scale the spline on the x-axis only.

Tweak the points to create the curve of the top of the chest and back.

I wont be covering the modeling of collar bones here, but they are fairly simple to add into the model.

Notice the image on the bottom. The curve of the outer spline ring, particularly at the center of the chest, is very similar to the cleft created by collar bones. If your model has collar bones then simply move this spline up a little and follow this entire step all over again creating a collar bone ridge that will unnaturally go around the neck.

Break the Collar bone ridge splines 4 points out from the center spline and smooth the ridge over the shoulders and back. Now when you create the arms you'll be able to attach the Collar bone to the shoulder and continue on from there.

Step 88.
In the front view, either above or below your model draw a spline that looks similar to the one in the image on the right. Make sure it is out from the y-plane. In order to create a tube when we lathe it.

In a side view check to see if the spline is directly on the x-plane. If it isn't move it there.

On the Top menu bar under "Tools"/"options" select the tab labeled "Modeling". Make sure that the Lathe cross sections are set to 8.

Step 89.
Lathe the spline and Rotate it into position around the shoulder. If you need to Scale the arm as well to fit it to the proportions of the head.

Notice the 3 spline rings that make up the elbow. All Joints on a model should have at least 3 spline rings in order to flex easily. Less than 3 rings and you don't have enough control points to create a bend that will leave the limbs straight.

Looking at the other extreme. Try not to have to many spline rings in your joints as they become very difficult to animate when more geometry is added.

Even photorealistic joints can be created with 3 or 4 spline rings if you're good at sculpting the mesh.

Practice, trial and error are all it takes.

Step 90.
Tweak the points on the arm to create the bulge of the biceps and the forearm.

In the top view, notice how I slightly rotate the center spline of the elbow joint. This is a simple trick to make the elbow animate correctly when it is bent. When the spline rotates on its center, the elbows back will point and the inner part of the joint won't collide with the biceps as much. More on this later.

Step 91.
Select the arm and copy and paste it.

Then right mouse click (cmnd click on the Mac) and select "Flip"/"X-Axis". This will flip the arm on the x-axis to create the left arm.

Step 93.
Connect the arms to the shoulders by drawing and connecting splines using the add and add Lock tools.

Notice the 5 point patches at the shoulder. These will animate smoothly.

Step 94.
Now comes the point for some tough decisions. Why will they be tough? Well because they will depend more upon the shape and complexity of your mesh than most of the decisions you've had to make so far.

Continue to create the mesh of the torso by adding splines to create the shape of the rib cage.

Notice at the armpits that the spline goes under the arm instead of down the line of the body. This was one of those variable decisions. I chose to do my mesh this way for two reasons.

1. it created a nice anchor point for the underarm to bend with.

2. It allowed me to create a spline line which could be used to create the shading group for the top of the model. This is shown at the end of this tutorial

Notice the multiple 5 point patches under the arms. Notice the splines that end in "hooks" as well.

In truth I modeled the shoulder differently the first time. I went back later and changed it to close off the splines under the arm. I was afraid that it would make animation more difficult, but it actually helped make it easier. Perhaps the 5 point patches in this particular configuration give the shoulder a better range of motion (from a creasing point of view) than 4 point patches and "hooks" would.

The image on the Bottom shows an actual render to show that the 5 pointers don't create artifacts. Or if they do they're so slight that texturing will hide them.

Step 95.
Finally you can extrude the spline rings down the torso to create the abdomen and lower back.

I wanted to give the effect of a shirt so I got away from complete symmetry in order to simulate the effect of a tight shirt gathering at the hips.

Step 96.
Now onto the grouping. I selected the "Trim" areas of the model, aided by the fact that my patches where created to simulate the shape of the trim.

I grouped the points and gave them a blue diffuse color.

This step probably doesn't apply to your model, because you probably aren't modeling pajamas on your character, but it does illustrate a valuable technique for texturing which will be made very clear when we go over the texturing of the body.

For now its sufficient to show that the creation of groups as you model is very important. It allows you to select things quickly and easily for editing, duplication, hiding, locking, you name it. If you don't use groups much then your working way to hard.

Step 97.
I then selected the complimentary patches and created a group named "torso" , to aid in texturing later.