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32. Cartoons - Leroy the Hawk - Part 1
 
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MODELER, CARTOONING

Cartoons are done in no different way than a realistic object is done.

It is now time for you to create your own monstrosity, instead of doing mine. Get two pieces of cheap notebook paper with blue lines, and tape them together side-by-side.

The blue lines will allow you to keep a one-to-one correspondence between the front and side images.

Get a couple pencils and sharpen them. Get an eraser and start doodling.

As you possibly learned in the tutorials on 'Skelegons', if you are thinking of animating your cartoon afterwards (and who isn't?) you should ALWAYS draw the figure with its arms pointing to each side with the palms facing down.

The legs should be spread at about a 35 - 40 degree angle from center.

Both the arms and legs should be perpendicular to the body.

This is how skelegons were designed, and how the people who programmed LightWave figured you would use them.

Keep in mind at all times key correspondences such as the top of the eye, the top of the beak, the bottom of the beak, the top of the shoulders, any place where connections occur between two parts such as the arm and the body.

Your initial crude sketches should look a bit like this... Again, don't feel bad if your cartoon disappoints you. Practice, practice, practice. That's how you'll get better and better.



So, in this image I have already scanned it in via flat-bed scanner, I've remove the notebook paper lines, made the background be a plain white color and intensified the blacks using 'Levels' in Photoshop.


PHOTOSHOP, MAKING LEROY SYMMETRICAL

When you are working with a sketch, remember that symmetry will be way off at the beginning. The thing to do is take the parts of the drawing that you like the best. Leroy's eyes are off-center, his top-knot is also off-center; but his left wing is nice and straight.

I create a new layer in Photoshop and call it 'Centerline'. I pick the 'Single Column Marquee Tool' from Photoshop's Selection Tool menu. I select red as the foreground color and use 'Stroke' to draw a red line down the center with 2 pixels and 'Center' for the stroke type, creating a red line which cuts through the tip of Leroy's beak.

I chop away, up to what I think the center of each section should be and press the 'Delete' key to remove the non-symmetrical parts.



I line-by-line move each section until each lines up to the red centerline. I select the better of the two sides, and delete the bad side. I rotate the tail so it is in the center.



I lasso each good side, do an 'Edit->Transform->'Flip Horizontal' and paste each one until they are all symmetrical.



I delete the center line and it's good enough to use.

The side view should be fine the way it is.

I've already shown how to convert images so you load them as Backdrop pictures into LightWave to use as a platform from which to stand on (West Mexican Shaft Tomb Figurine Tutorial).


MODELER, SIZE BACKDROP IMAGE BOX

I figure the proper ratio box that the two images will fit within. Front view is 114.65 mm wide by 138.99 mm tall (at 72 dots-per-inch resolution). The side view's matching dimension is height, so when I put 138.99 mm tall in the 'Image Size' requester with 'Resample Image' turned on and 'Constrain Proportions' checkmarked, It resizes the depth to be 146.76 mm deep.

As usual, I like drawing the image so the head points to the right, so I flip the image so his beak points to the left.




Download Leroy's Backdrop Images Files

MODELER, CREATE BOX

In LightWave I press SHIFT-x to enter 'Box' mode, press 'n' to bring up the numeric requester and enter 114.65 mm Width, 138.99 mm Height and 146.76 mm Depth.

I press ENTER to have it do the box, enter 'Polygon Select' mode with CTRL-h, 'd' to bring up the 'Display Options'.

I click the Backdrop tab, click on 'BL', choose 'Load Image' from 'Image' drop-down and load the 'Leroy_Front.bmp', click 'Automatic Size' and adjust the 'Brightness' and 'Contrast' controls until it's gray.

I load the side image the same way in the 'BR' viewport. I do a 'Presets->Save All Backdrops' and save it as a .cfg file.




MODELER, CREATING LEROY'S PERIMETER POINTS

I can now either save or delete the box.

I start in the 'Right' viewport and press '+' to enter 'Create Points' mode. I draw an outline of dots around the body's perimeter. When I'm done, and they're all highlit, I press 'i' to bring up the 'Point Info' requester and put zero as the X value to throw them all to the centerline.




MODELER, CREATING LEROY'S NECK

I place more points down the center/side of his neck, just because that is an easy place to visualize and it will start giving me a reference point from which to understand the body's size and position.

I line the side points up to match the front and back points.



Just four dots around the entire neck aren't enough, eight is much better so I will make four divisions for one-half of the neck. I draw them one-by-one by clicking with the right mouse button to place it and the left mouse button to position it in both the 'Back' and 'Right' viewports.

I connect each rectangle by selecting them clockwise, pressing 'p', flipping them if necessary and press TAB to see how it looks and adjust the roundness.




I press TAB again to exit from subsurfacing mode.


MODELER, CREATING LEROY'S BEAK

Next I tackle the beak. It is intricate, but once I have it, I'll be able to visualize Leroy much better. When nothing has been laid down yet, this is always the hardest time. The trick is to place points one-by-one by pressing '+' and clicking with the right mouse button to place it. A cyan crosshairs will appear.

I move them in both the 'Back' and 'Right' viewports using the left mouse button until it's in the right position relative to the other points and I press ENTER to have it take the point and create that polygon, flipping it if necessary.

At this stage I work in Wireframe mode to be able to see the points.

I select 'Wireframe Shade' mode to see the contours better and adjust them.

I do it a row of polygons at a time, pressing TAB to see how it looks in subsurface mode and to adjust the perimeter.




Once a section has started taking shape, you can select an entire row, sequentially from one side of the row to the other, and from the 'Multiply' tab I pick 'Extender' from the 'Extend' section. I did that twice in this case. I'll highlight a row of points...




I'll press CTRL-t to enter 'Drag' mode and I'll arrange the entire contour in both views. I'll select the next row of points, and do the same thing.

Only the points that are in the selected row of selected points will move, and if you are in wireframe mode, you can move the points all the way through the object.

I extend the rows a couple more times, deleting the junk polygon each time.

I extend the front polygons, joining three of the front polygons for the tip of the beak. In the 'Back' viewport I do a 'Create' tab, 'Ball' from the 'Objects' section and draw an eye, dragging it into position and size from both viewports.

I press SHIFT-v to mirror the upper beak, eye, and neck. I press 'n' to do it and exit the mirror command.

I select the end polygons for the iris, call them 'Iris' and make them black. I do the same with the second row of polygons, and call it 'ColoredEye'. I select the entire eye, subtracting those two sets of polygons and call it 'Eyeball' and define it as white.

I select a polygon on the upper beak and press ']' to select connected, press 'q' and call it 'UpperBeak' giving it an orange color.



Leroy's actually taking form now. The mind identifies an eyeball easily, so once eyes are in, the mind can generally see the form as an animal when you add even simple eyes.

I cut the eyeballs off with an 'x' and paste them into Layer 2 with a 'v'.

Yep, not explaining everything any more. Time for you to start standing on your feet.

In the 'Perspective' viewport I select the points along his forehead, extending them twice to create some forehead polygons, forming them into shape and deleting the junk polygons, flipping reversed ones.

I name the new polygons 'Body' and give them a light blue color.



I continue extending his forehead sideways, forming it to the contours of the top of his head.



I mold the shape to the head MINUS THE FEATHER TUFTS. I will drag those from the head afterward.

I gradually pull the back of the eye socket to it's rightful position.



I press SHIFT-v to mirror it, 'n' to set it, pick CTRL-h and deselect all polygons to exit Mirror mode.



With SubSurface mode turned off, from the 'Perspective' viewport I select the row of points along the back edge. In the 'Right' viewport I Extend, rotate, size the row, extending again, rotating, sizing, again having the outside edge be even to the head without the spiked feathers.

I extend, rotate and size five rows.

I select all of the points which should be on the zero X axis, press 'i' to bring up the 'Point Info' requester and put zero for X.

I highlight a row at a time (minus the point which is already on the zero X axis) and drag them so all of the points are on the correct side of the head. I select a row at a time, press CTRL-t to drag the points and start contouring the back of the head in wireframe mode in the 'Perspective' viewport, turning on 'Wireframe Sketch' mode to see how it looks every so often.



I select all new polygons, pressing 'q' and selecting 'Head' to add them to that Surface name. When I exit from the requester, they turn blue.

I turn on SubSurface mode, select a row at a time, turn on drag and rotate the head in the 'Perspective View' so the contour line is tangent with my eye, select that row of points, and adjust the contour.



I rotate the head so the next row is tangent, select that row of points, enter drag mode and adjust that contour.



And, then I do the next row...



I go to the 'Right' viewport, select the points around the hole in the side of the head, 'Extend', CTRL-h to size and size the points towards the center of the hole. I don't have to worry about deleting a polygon on these because it is a closed shape.

I turn the head in the 'Perspective' viewport so I can see the points through the back of the head, press 't' to move the points and pull the points back so they're tangent with the side of the head.

I magnify the 'Right' viewport with the '.' key and adjust the points so they are a circle.



I 'Extend' one more time and do the same thing again, pressing CTRL-h to size it, rotating it to the back view, 't' to move them, move them so they are tangent to the side of the head, rotate back to side view and move them into the center of the circle.



I flip those polygons, do one more extend, repeating the same process to make a very small circle in the center of that circle, tangent to the side of the head.

I press CTRL-w to weld all of those new points into one point and press 't' to move them into the center of the circle (rotating the head in the 'Perspective' viewport, if necessary, as I do it).

I ensure I'm in the 'Wireframe Sketch' view type, throw the perspective view into a very steep angle relative to the circle, and press CTRL-t to start adjusting each junction point. I separate each dot so it is equidistant from all other points, and straighten all crooked contours.



I highlight the points around the bottom edge of the eye socket and 'Extend' them inward with SHIFT-h, move each point with drag, separating the blue from the orange so the blue is all around the eyeball.

I straighten all polygons, shaping while in SubSurface mode. Just to see how it's coming, I press SHIFT-v to mirror, 'n' to make it do it, clicking on CTRL-g and deselect all polygons to make the cyan mirror control go away.




MODELER, CREATE BEAK'S BOTTOM JAW

I select 'Wireframe' view type and select the points that comprise the centerline for the bottom jaw.



I do CTRL-g to make sure I'm in point mode, press 'x' to cut them to the clipboard, select a new Layer, and paste them into that layer with 'v'.

I exit 'Symmetry' mode, select the points, 'Extend' three polygons.

I extend the four points along the front edge three times, connecting the four points together to form the bottom point at the end and shaping, forming, and dragging points until they feel correct.



I highlight all outer edge points and extend upward and inward, four extended polygon rows later, I highlight the last set of points and do 'i', and give them a zero X coordinate to create the upper part of the beak. I enter CTRL-t to drag the points, turn on Symmetry' mode so the zero X coordinate points will stay there, and form the inside of the bottom jaw of the beak.

I mirror it to see what it looks like.



I select the polygons along the top of the neck one at a time. I add a point to the middle of the top-edge of each polygon and split each edge polygon into three triangles. I attach them to the back of the beak. This is not easy, as the beak curves around backward. I get most of it from looking at it from the inside of the head.

I mirror it, and the crude shape of the head is done except for the feathers.




I save it as 'Leroy_1.lwo'


MODELER, SIDE FEATHERS

These will be the points which I'll use to create the top side feather.




I press 'k' to kill those polygons, deleting the center point.

I select each of those points around the inside edge of the hole and do 'Extend' twice.

Next, I select the two polygons six points beneath that feather.




I 'Kill' those two polygons. I extend it three times.

I do the same with the polygons just below those.




And, the ones below those. I highlight the ends of the polygons, pressing SHIFT-] to extend the selections up the feather shaft and SHIFT-[ to back them up. I rotate the head and press 'y' to rotate the feathers backward and twisted a little at a time until they feel right.




At the back of the head there aren't enough polygon points to create a good back feather so I subdivide a polygon into three parts with 'Add Point' and then 'Split' it.




I change my mind about putting two feathers at the back of the top of his head and just use one, instead.




After finishing the third and final head feather I work a bit on his expression.




On to Leroy the Hawk - Part 2...

Click for a Rotating 'Leroy the Hawk' done using the Blaxxun3D Applet

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