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1078 Chapter 14: character studio
standing pose. If the skin and biped are for
afigurethatstandserect,positionthehead
normally. If the character stoops forward, for
example, a chimpanzee, make the head face
upward so that it will face forward after the
spine is bent.
As a general rule, create a reference pose that has
the limbs outstretched, but otherwise represents
the character’s natural at-rest posture.
Skin S implici ty
The deg ree of detail on the model m a kes a
difference in how well it works for s kinning. On
one hand, your skin must have a sufficient number
of vertices so Physique can deform it smoothly. On
the other hand, the fewer vert ices the mesh has,
theeasieritwillbeforyoutoadjustPhysiquefor
the mesh. In addition, a highly complex mesh can
slow your system’s performance when working
with Physique.
If you plan to use an Editable Poly mesh, create
themeshwithevenly-sized,rectangularpolygons.
Avoid using long, triangular polygons, as these
do not deform smoothly with Physique. These
attributes are particularly important around the
hip and shoulder areas.
Models wi th evenly-sized rectangular polygons
A common workflow is to create the simplest
possible version of the mesh, apply Physique to
it, and apply the MeshSmooth modifier above
Physique on the stack. This makes Physique as
easy as possible to work with, but retains mesh
smoothness for rendering.
Same models rendered with MeshSmooth applied
If you want to use a particular mesh but its
polygons violate these gu idelines, use 3ds Max to
add or delete edges and polygons as needed before
applying Physique to the mesh. Usually, these
rules are not so important for the facial area of
the model, w here little deformation will take place
with Physique.
For example, the character shown below was
originally modeled as desig ned, but with no regard
for the best polygon distribution for Physique.
The numerous odd-shaped polygons (especially
around the hips), and the pose with the legs
too close together, would have made this model
difficult to work with after Physique was applied.
The model was altered to work be tter with
Physique by deleting edges and vertices, and
reshaping many of the polygons in the hip area.
The model was also altered to make the character
assume the reference pose.