Maya 2015

Lecture Details

When building your topology you may often times require what are known as Edge Spiders. Anytime a point has more than four edges connecting to it, it is considered an edge spider. These Edge Spiders are essential to modeling and there is nothing wrong with creating them but the placement of them can be a problem. Edge Spiders are best not placed in locations where a model will be folding or creasing during animation. Since multiple faces are all going to be controlled by that single point, placing an Edge Spider for instance directly under the arm where it will crease, could cause weird deformations or shadowing during animation.

There is no exact science to developing the torso for a body object. This is where a Modeler’s style and experience will come into play. There can be any number of different ways for building the character’s torso and many factors come into play. Factor’s such as polygon count and the body shape will always have to be taken into account. It is often an excellent idea to explore the work of other Modelers and contemplate the reasoning behind the topology they have chosen to use. While the arms and legs can be rather easy to build, the torso is a bit more challenging since you will be connecting other parts to it. Take your time and explore different options while building your character models. Don’t forget though that when developing a model, simplicity is pure gold and the lower your polygon count is the easier it will be to form.

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