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31. A Human Skull - Modeling the Jaw 3 |
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 MODELER, JOINING THE TOP AND BOTTOM EDGES Load 'SkullTutorial9.lwo'. I already had you bump the number in the last tutorial so you're ready to go. Load the Backdrop preset images. Make sure SubSurface mode is turned off and 'Point Select' mode is turned on (CTRL-g). I'll be doing some final touchups, building the bone structure behind the wisdom teeth, and building the hole where the spinal cord attaches. I start by selecting four points just behind the wisdom tooth. I choose 'Extender' and use 't' (move) to extend them backward. I delete the junk polygon and flip polys if necessary with 'f'. You getting the idea yet that there are many things which remain the same each time you create something?  I extend two more times, wrapping them around in a 'U' shape with each pull.  And, because they are out of view I use triangles to attach them to the structure. I now will create the palette at the roof of the mouth. This is probably not going to be seen, but just in case I'll create it. I won't spend much time, or many polygons on it. I select the outer points of the wavy gumline.  Again I pick 'Extender' and drag it towards the center of the roof of the mouth in the 'Top' viewport. until it is about halfway across the teeth. I click 'Extender' a second time, and this time drag it almost to the other side of the face so it will be out of the way. I hide all polygons above the gum line, straightening the two jagged rows of points.  I select a point in those two lines of points in the 'Back' viewport that seems it is the correct height for the palette.  I press 'i' to bring up the 'Point Info' requester and note the 'Y' axis value.  I select every point in the two rows.  I again press 'i' to bring up the 'Point Info' requester. I enter the value I read from the Y axis into Y (-52.65 mm). I select only the centerline of the palette.  I again press 'i' to bring up the 'Point Info' requester. I enter the zero as the value for the X axis. In the 'Right' viewport I press CTRL-t to select the 'Drag' tool and drag the points into a curve that I guess would be the height of the roof of the mouth.  I highlight the second row of points, which are now distorted relative to the more correcly placed roof of the palette that I just did.  I use 'y' to rotate it clockwise until it is flatter relative to the palette roof-of-the-mouth line of points. I press SHIFT-h to shorten it a little, CTRL-t to start arranging the points individually in the 'Perspective' viewport, rotating it with ALT as I work. I work on the way the curve of the skull meets the inside of the jaw. Also work on the way the curved planes all meet at the back of the jaw and the inside of the nose.  There are two thickness of thin bone which come up inside the nose and split the nose hole in two. Without them, the hole feels gaping and not correct so I split the upper surface of the inside of the nose and pull it slightly away from the center 'zero X' position as it will need a thickness.  I click on 'Extender' and extend the points upward. I do this 3 times, dragging upward each time. I extend it to the left to make a very tiny top, extending it downward 3 times. I hide every polygon except for this tall thin box, create three 4-sided polygon on the side towards me and the side away from me, deleting any 'junk polygons' that were created from the 'Extends' (They'll be the straight ones that go all the way from the front to the back).  I have to also extend a tiny platform from the points along the bottom left edge. This will be extremely small platform and will separate the two plates from each other.  I press 'i' to bring up the 'Point Info' requester and enter zero for the X value making a very thin strip on the left bottom side of the tall box. After I have created this completely closed tall thin box, I unhide all polygons. I select all four sets of points at the front of the box, enter SubSurface mode and in the 'Right' viewport I manipulated the points to give a curve to the front of the plate. Since I don't have a photo of what it should be shaped like from the side, as the one in the image is not complete, I just do what feels natural.  I change the surface to white, mirror everything, seeing what it looks like.  MODELER, HOLE FOR THE SPINAL COLUMN I undo the mirroring, press 's' to save it, do a 'File->Save Object As' and bump the number by one to 'SkullTutorial10.lwo'. I enter 'Polygon Select' mode with CTRL-h, highlight the top of the head in the 'Back' viewport, pressing '-' to hide those polygons. In the 'Top' viewport I select the polygons that are over the hole.  ... and press 'k' to kill those polygons, leaving their points behind so I can use them. I place (or position the ones that were left from when I killed the old polygons) 11 points. I select the center ones which should be at the zero X axis.  I press 'i' to bring up the 'Point Info' requester, enter zero into X and exit. I create polygons by selecting clockwise, pressing 'p' as usual. I select all of the points around the hole's edge, do 'Extender to pull an edge down and into the skull to round it.  Now, if it has to be turned over, it will also look good.  Click for a Rotating 3D Version of the skull done using the Blaxxun3D Applet |
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