Human Eye Modeling training video
Video tutorial for MODO 401
Eyes are unique, complex and compelling objects. Get them just right and your head (and creatures) will come alive. But get the eyes wrong, and the effect is immediately unsettling and obvious. The key to creating a believable set of eyes lies in the surrounding facial structures, as these are what convey expression and emotion. This area of the human face is complex, being the confluence of many curved surfaces flowing into each other, and re-creating it is an opportunity to learn new MODO skills.
In this project Andy Brown uses MODO 401 to investigate a method of modeling a human eye and its surrounding facial structures. In the process the video tutorial utilizes many aspects of MODO, from polygon modeling, UVing and hair to sculpting, painting and rendering.
Included with these videos are all the supporting files necessary to complete the project, including reference images and scene files of the eye model at different stages of completion. These scene files let you jump into the video at any specific point without having completed all previous steps.
This tutorial was developed for MODO 401. Users of later versions of MODO will find the tutorial useful, but will have to adapt some instructions to new techniques found in more recent versions of MODO.
Detailed descriptions of video tutorial segments
Video segment 1
Building the geometry
In this video we focus on building all of the geometry that underpins the scene. This involves an investigation into the anatomy of the eye and how to construct the topology of its surrounding facial structures. We then use a combination of deformers and sculpting to shape it. We finish off by sculpting hair guides to control the application of eyelashes and eyebrows.
Video segment 2
Lighting, painting and texturing the model
Modeling is about much more than positioning polygons and in this video we light, paint and texture the model. We paint the eyeball using image ink and the skin using various preset brushes and vector displacement. We render and take the resulting image into Photoshop for some postproduction.
