3D modeling part 5

 In this blog post I will explain my work process when creating the hair. As I have mentioned in my previous posts, I was a little bit afraid of this element of the character, because it is the only element that I could not immediately see how to approach. When creating a volume in blender I need to start with a basic geometrical shape and then I can manipulate it so it looks like I have planned. For example for the dress I knew I wanted to use either a cylinder or a cone, for the arms and legs I wanted to use cylinders etc.. The hair though was not so obvious to me, therefore I needed to do a lot of thinking and experimenting before getting to the shape I liked. 

I started by adding the top of the hair and for that I thought about a sphere. When looking at my reference images, I could see a sphere like shape on the top of my character's head, therefore this is how I started.

Of course right after adding the sphere it did not look exactly how I wanted to, therefore I needed to do a lot of manipulating of the vertices to get it to a general shape that I would be happy with. I needed to move vertices, edges and some of the faces to avoid those random places where a face from under the added volume would appear through the new shape. This was something I spent a lot of time working on the top of the head to make it look like I have imagined. 

To get this kind of a nice edge of the hair, I needed to manipulate the edges mostly and make them a little bit in front of the face, so one shape would not destroy the overall look of the other one. When I was happy with this side, I added another sphere for the second side of the head. 

This time I already knew how to approach the top so it is always easier with the second side. One would say that it may be repetitive then, but I do not see it that way. I see it as a lot different because I still need to move the vertices and since it is not exactly the same thing, I need to move them differently and even though the final effect is similar, it is still not exactly the same, which means the process needed to be different. 

The next step was adding the rest of the hair. This is the part I have feared the most. I did not really have a good idea on how to approach it so I needed to experiment. At first I have created a cone and wanted it to be the base structure for the hair. However, when I have started manipulating the vertices, something just wasn't right. The base was very complex and all of the vertices were ending up meeting in one point which was not ideal. It would be great if I wanted to create a ponytail, but I wanted my character to have her hair down. I thought about a cylinder for a moment too, but then I realized it would also be a lot too complex. I decided to go with the least complex shape - a cube. At first I did some loop cuts to extend the amount of vertices, so it would be easier for me to manipulate them and then I started to deform the cube to the shape resembling the hair. 

My process of working on vertices is quite complex. I work on both - the wireframe and the solid view. I also change the view from front  to side to back to make sure this looks good from every side because unlike a 2D image, when working in 3D I need to take all views possible into consideration so the model looks good overall. 

The process of changing the cube into hair was very long and difficult. I needed to align the vertices correctly with other volumes that I have already created, for instance with the top of the hair which I have created previously. This was quite a challenge actually and took a lot of my time. When working on the existing vertices, I have realized I do not have enough of them to really be satisfied with what I am working on. I needed more of the lines and vertices to be able to really work on the hair more. For this I have used the tool I have found out about not long ago - the knife. 

The knife helped me to create more space for me to work on and with this I was able to really create a hair I would like. I am very happy I got to use this new tool I found out about. I think I did a good job applying what I have learned to make my work more beneficial. 

The process generally took a lot of time and it was not easy at all. As I have expected, it was the most challenging part so far, or somewhere similar to the head, since the head was also a big challenge for me. I think it was more difficult because I needed to think of all of my ideas myself and I could not really find any guidance on that on youtube or online in general. I did it completely myself without watching how others approach the problem. I am very proud of myself for completing the hair to a standard I am happy with and that looks good from all of the sides.