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Now we return to work with the eye socket.  You may choose to hide the eyeball and eyelids, or keep them visible as you choose.

Start in the Point Editor. Use the "Edge Select" tool and select the edges that you will "grow" the brow from - the foremost upper edges of the eyesocket, per this drawing:  http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d69/aric_001/SARGE/?action=view&current=browridge1.jpg

Then switch to the "Extrude Edges" tool, and draw forth your first extrusion, as shown here:  http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d69/aric_001/SARGE/?action=view&current=browridge2.jpg

After this, adjust the newly extruded edge using the "Non-Unifrom Scale" tool, Move" tool, and scooting indivitual points around until you have the new edges in the order you like: 
http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d69/aric_001/SARGE/?action=view&current=browridge3.jpg

Select the new edges again, and create another extrusion, likewise adjusting, re-sizing, and re-arranging as you begin to work up to form a brow.

Repeat this process a few times as needed to bring the brow up and form into the forehead. It may be that you need to create a few lines here and there to bring outer areas together and create new faces to fill gaps.

http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d69/aric_001/SARGE/?action=view&current=browridge4.jpg
http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d69/aric_001/SARGE/?action=view&current=browridge5.jpg

After working these techniques some, you should be able to come up with a complete brow and forehead.  Then you can mirror the object and see how things look.  In the following image, and the final render at the bottom, I have taken the liberty of mirroring, joining solids, and "Smoothe Angles" to 180, to see how well the whole thing fits together. 

http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d69/aric_001/SARGE/?action=view&current=browridge6.jpg

Very important, I do NOT save the mirrored and joined work... It is only for me to look at and verify that things will be coming together properly. 

I "undo" back to the point before mirroring, and then continue on with the work.

If for some reason you cannot undo, it simply means you will have to delete the points on the side you created when mirroring.

Not bad for a longtime Noob, I think...

Next we will use the same techniques to form the upper cheeks out of the lower eyesocket edges, and of course we will have to come up wiith a nose.

Create a sphere and located it at 0. 0. 0 (for ease of relocating as needed later):
--Sphere 50 Dia
--Long 16, Lat 12

Rotate the sphere X = 90 degrees

Object/Point Edit
--Cut Faces to front of sphere = shape of eye "wide open"  (see "Eyesocket 1" image: http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d69/aric_001/SARGE/?action=view&current=eyesocket1.jpg)
Mesh Editor (double-click on the object) Smooth Angle - 180 for more roundness

This eyesocket becomes the base for making one side of upper face. The reason I rotate the sphere the way it was set is that it works well for extruding the eyebrow and cheek form when later continuing.It is my base for shaping upper face - from the eyebrow and on up, the cheek on down, and the nose ridge. (To be detailed later).

Locate the eye socket to left of the X: 0 coordinate, as far over as the socket would be relative to the face/head (see "Eyesocket 2" image: http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d69/aric_001/SARGE/?action=view&current=eyesocket2.jpg).

In this case, I have located the eyesocket at X: -30, and mirrored it to compare and see if it looks reasonable in the forming of both sides of the face/head.  "Sarge" is to be "toon-ish" so the sockets are closer larger, and closer together, than a "realistic." I may or may not delete the mirrored image depending on how useful I find it while continuing to build the original side. After all, it will be deleted and replaced with more developed versions as I continue to make the face.

Now I like to create the eyelids and eyeball before resuming "facial construction."


The eyelids are made using a sphere centered within the eye socket, and slightly smaller than the socket. For Sarge, I make the eyelid sphere as follows:

Create a sphere and located it at X: -30. Y: 0. Z: 0 (placing the sphere centered in the middle of the eye socket):
--Sphere 48.75 Dia
--Long 16, Lat 12

Rotate the sphere Z = 90 degrees. This makes for the most appropriate structure of an eyelid, as the sphere divisions run the same way that an eyelid structure works.

Convert the sphere to mesh.

Obviously, the eye socket is in the way at this point, so hide it (Edit - Hide).

In "Object/Point Edit" mode, select the points of the lower half of the sphere, and delete them, so that now the basic upper eyelid is in shape.(see "Eyelid 1" image: http://i33.photobucket.com/albums/d69/aric_001/SARGE/eyelid1.jpg)

Now, to form a flare for the eyelid's "lip"...
working in the "Left" view. use the "Cut Faces" tool to cut a new line from the sphere's "polar points" toward the front, a small distance above the edge as shown here: http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d69/aric_001/SARGE/?action=view&current=eyelid2.jpg

Select the lower front edges, except for the ones connecting to the "polar points", as shown here: http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d69/aric_001/SARGE/?action=view&current=eyelid3.jpg

Then, in Top View, select the "Non-Uniform Scale" tool and stretch the selected edges so that the flare out a little as shown here:  http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d69/aric_001/SARGE/?action=view&current=eyelid4.jpg

Now you can copy and paste this eyelid, and then: Rotate Z = 180 the new copy, thus ending up with your upper and lower eyelid.  http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d69/aric_001/SARGE/?action=view&current=eyelid5.jpg

You may now "Show All" to see your "closed eye" view... and if you like, even open the eyelids by selecting the upper, and Rotate X = -30. Then select the lower eyelid and Rotate X = 30. Thus, you have this: http://s33.photobucket.com/albums/d69/aric_001/SARGE/?action=view&current=eyelid6.jpg

Next comes the eyeball... but I'm taking a break because I have a bad need to fry up some pork sausage and potatoes... BREAKFAST!

But first, here I have progress to date, adding some color and an extra sphere (47.5 dia) to serve as a placeholder for the eyeball that is to come...

Making Eyes (at the girlies )

headwax's comments on making eyes reminded me of what I am currently working on... so I thought I'd share here, plus create a thread showing the development of a character I'm making.

I've only created a few heads from scratch so far, but when I have, I've found I like most to make the eyes first... starting with the eye socket, eyelids and eyeball - working on one side, and then mirroring when I have the entire side of the head created, and joining the two halves into one complete head.

Starting with the eye socket.... I make the eyesocket made from a sphere that I convert to mesh and rotate the sphere forward, so that the "poles of the sphere" are facing front to back. I cut out the shape of  the eye into the socket as if the eye is "wide open". 

I then create the eyelids from a sphere that has been rotated sideways and cut in half. I flare outward the front edge of the eyelid.

The eyeball is a sphere slightly smaller than the eyelid sphere size. Like the socket, the eyeball is rotated forward.  I then do whatever seems right to make it "eyeball-ish". You can simply color the eye or add a texture of the iris and pupil.  But I am a nut for anatomical appearances with eyes.  I don't like the simpler look of an eye with the iris and pupil simply plopped on the sphere. I go to the extra bit and flatten the iris area and the color/texture it, plus the pupil. Then I add a high-gloss, transparent dome to cover the iris circle... thus you have a more realistic eyeball appearance, which gives more character and pizzazz even if you make the character cartoonish.

Building off of the eyesockets is fine for the upper face and head, but likewise I form the lower part of the face by building from the lips and outward, with the hopes of bringing the upper and lower portions together.  Teeth, gums and inner mouth structure are another area formed separately.

I made the below goblin head with the above techniques in mind...

In fact, the goblin's irises are not flat, but actually concave into the eyeball like a dish.  Also, the pupil is an actual hole with a black surface set behind it... I did that as an experiment to see about maximizing the realistic look of of the eyes.

This below face, too, was made following the idea I've tried to explain.



I also like to make pictorial  "tutorials in progress" for myself when trying to standardize my techniques that work for me... in case someone else wants to try it my way...

So, I'm going over this stuff with screenshots, etc., in a "Work in Progress" thread... because I want to develop a character here in the forum and get some feedback, criticism, etc.  I think it could also serve to give others pointers as I share and learn from the "experts" better ways to make the character.

If you like, you can follow that in the thread Making Sarge: http://www.anim8or.com/smf/index.php?topic=2094.0

She looks pretty good to me! Tell us about the hair?

$imon, this loccy is looking really nice.

If you are wanting to get into serious reference images, look into model railroad forums.  I used to do model railroading as a very "part-time" hobby, and had a big stack of "Model Railroader" and "Railroad Model Craftsman" magazines. These magazines always had features with technical drawings of actual locomotives, rolling stock, etc., for anyone wishing to try and build a model from scratch. I would wager that you could get drawings from a railroad hobbyist if you posted in one of those forums. In fact, two magazines - "Model Railroader" and "Trains" have an active forum where people share their works, plans, etc.  Try these: http://cs.trains.com/trccs/forums/default.aspx?groupid=8

cool... what about the "hat"? did you make that in anim8or, too?

BenCole, how can you possibly say that statement is false?  Firstly, it states, "in my opinion" about the writer's view of anim8or... and lastly, unless you can actually speak with knowledgw otherwise,  it may very well be possible that many animators using high ends programs DO use anim8or  for wireframes... as a matter of "fact," that is very much true... go to "AnimAnon" and "Cg-Nation" both have people who use high end programs for much of their work, but settle for using anim8or for their object-forming.  I know of a number of users of Carrara, 3DS-Max, and Lightwave who also use anim8or for their design work. And the things they create are quite spectacular.

And as for the one quoted.. Ensoniq is VERY familiar with the works of quite a few who do in fact use anim8or as well as those higher end programs.  There are a number of works in AnimAnon's competitions that were created in just that way - using anim8or for the modelling, and then moving on to Carrara, etc., to implement some of the higher end work.