Refining the Forehead, Chin, and Cheeks

Autodesk 3ds Max Tutorials > Modeling Tutorials > Modeling a Low-Poly Character > Modeling a Low-Poly Head >

This lesson unfolds into three sections. You first add more details to the forehead, then the chin, and finally the cheeks. You'll orient the edge loops progressively to interconnect these regions.

Remember the importance of keeping your geometry uniformly spaced to prevent stretching in later stages of production such as UV texturing and skinning.

Refine the forehead:

Continue working on your file from the previous exercise, or load the file Low_Poly_Head04.max found under \tutorials\low_polygon_modeling.
Go into Edge sub-object level, then select the edge linking the eye muscles to the temporal bone on the side of the head.
Click Remove on the Edit Edges rollout to delete it.
Click Cut and, in the Front viewport, draw a series of edges to define the forehead.
Go into Vertex sub-object level and adjust the new vertices in both the Front and Right viewports to match the forehead as well as the skull volume underneath.

Refine the chin:

Select the cheek vertex as well as the one shaping the top of the nostril. On the Edit Vertices rollout, click Connect.
Click Target Weld and select the cheek vertex. Then, move your cursor towards the one below it.
Notice the dotted line linking the selected vertex to your cursor.
Select the vertex below the one you previously selected to complete the welding operation.
This starts the mouth crease, which is crucial to portray emotions.
Click Target Weld once more or right-click in the active viewport to exit the Weld tool.
Click Cut and connect the mouth crease edge to the vertical chin edge.
Following the same technique, link the outer mouth edge loop to the mouth crease edge loop through the remaining vertices.
Adjust the vertices to match the circular edge flow originating from the mouth.
On the Edit Geometry rollout, choose Edge from the Constraints drop-down.
In the Right viewport, pull back the vertex currently in the chin area until it follows the curvature of the mouth crease. You need to translate the vertex on both the X and Y axes using the Move transform gizmo.
Choose None from the Constraints drop-down.
Use the Cut tool to connect that same vertex to the edge under the chin.
This completes another edge loop.
Go into Edge sub-object level and select the vertical edges linking the lower lip to the chin.
Click Connect to create a joining edge between them.
In the Right viewport, select the four edges defining the chin and throat.
On the Edit Edges rollout, click the Connect Settings button. In the Connect Edges dialog, set Segments to 2. Click OK.
Go back into Vertex sub-object level and, using either the Cut or Connect tool, connect the vertices between the mouth's lower edge loop and the chin's upper edges.
Adjust the new vertices to round up the chin while maintaining the circular edge loops.

Refine the cheeks:

Click Cut and draw new edges to link the vertices from the mouth crease to the eye's lower edge loop.
Go into Edge sub-object level and select the edges covering the nose and cheeks. Although they are not parallel, they are running in the same direction.
Click the Connect Settings button. In the Connect Edges dialog, set Segments to 2. Click OK.
Do not worry if the resulting edges do not run smoothly across the face.
Go into Vertex sub-object level and move the resulting vertices to recreate the bump in the nose, build up some volume in the cheeks, and emphasize the mouth crease.
Use either the Cut or Connect tool to complete the edge loops by linking the remaining vertices together.
Make a cut to divide the outer cheek's polygon in half.
The cheek's last edge loop originates at the corner of the eye and ends at the jaw line.
Draw two new edges to link the last cut to the jaw line.
Go into Edge sub-object level and remove the obsolete edge. Then, replace it with a new one to connect to the cut from the previous step.
Go back into Vertex sub-object level and adjust the resulting vertices to define the zygomatic bone.

Reconstruct the mouth corner:

Now that you have established the major edge loops around the mouth and cheeks, you will go back and change some edges to clean up the mouth crease's edge loops.

Click Cut and make a straight cut from the corner of the mouth to the mouth crease's outer edge loop.
Click Target Weld and merge two vertices located near the lips.
Adjust the respective vertices to align the edges so they match the other neighboring loops.
Select the diagonal edge and click Remove on the Edit Edges rollout.
Save your file as My_Low_Poly_Head_Forehead_Chin_Cheeks.max

Refining the Head and Neck