Facial Skin Layered Mapping

 

Part 1 – Creating the Groups

 

 

Before You Begin:

You should have the head mesh, ears, eyes, and inner mouth completed with any smoothing and tweaking already done.  You should have the model divided into Virtualmedia Studios’ standard groups and be working within the standard character model folder.  Open the model control file and update the revision notes then open a new version of the model.

 

Note: These instructions are for a Windows PC.

 

  1. In A:M select the HeadSkinNoEars group and hide everything else.  Insure that all the outer skin is showing and that no inner areas are visible such as the inner eye skin or mouth sack.  Hide the grid lines zoom to extents.  Click on the zoom indicator at the end of the status bar and even the zoom factor to an even number you can remember which still will show all of the mesh with a little background surrounding it.   Be sure and refresh the screen after adjusting the zoom factor.
  2. Capture this image by clicking in the A:M model window then doing <ALT>Print Screen.  Paste this into Photoshop by doing File->New->(defaults)-><CTL>v.  It should look something like figure 1.1.

 

 

Figure 1.1

 

  1. Next save this file in PS format to the Reference folder as HairSkinGideWork001.psd and create a new layer called hair line.
  2. At this point you may want to paste an image to use as a guide into a layer between the Background and ‘hair line’ layers.  I used a photo I found on the web of the actress this character was loosely based on.  Make this image slightly transparent so that you can see the model mesh background.  Select the hair line layer, select the color green (or some color that will be easy to see in AM) and draw in your hair line using the image as well as the patch lines of the mesh as guides.   When possible move the hair line to follow the spines of the model as much as possible.  You can use the free hand draw, the line draw or, what I do is use the pen tool to create a path.  First I outline the general hair line dragging each point a little so I get the tangent handles.  I go all around and connect the last points completing the path.  I select the Direct Selection Tool and zoom in and carefully adjust each point and the tangents as needed to get the hair line exactly the way I want it.  Then I go to the Paths pallet and drag the path to ‘Load Path as a Selection’ icon at the bottom of the Paths pallet and my path turns into a selection.  Making sure my new ‘hair line’ layer is selected I then select the Marquee tool right click on the path and select Stroke from the menu.  Make the width 3 pixels and select okay.  You should wind up with something like figure 1.2.

 

 

 

Figure 1.2

 

  1. At this point I create a layer with the model mesh on it colored Magenta to use in the guides I’ll create later.  To do this simply hide everything but the background, select the background layer and, using the eyedropper tool select the background color in the layer.  Then do Select->Color Range and crank the Fuzziness all the way up to 200 and click okay.  Now invert the selection (<CTL><Shift>i) and press <CTL>j which creates a new layer with just the splines.  With the splines and the new layer still selected, select Magenta and then press <Alt>Backspace which fills the area.  Rename the layer something like Colored Mesh and perhaps lock it.
  2. Next select the patches that will later used for the hair control decals – its just easy to do now so why not.  Duplicate the Colored Mesh layer and name it Hair Decals and select it.  You can hide the layer with the reference picture at this point.  Using the fill tool and with the foreground color set to orange (or some slightly different color then Magenta but one that will still show up) try filling in one of the patches within the hair line area.  The color should fill in the patch but if not undo, adjust the tolerance and try again.  Proceed to fill in all of the patches that fall within the hair line and also any that the hair line crosses.  You should wind up with something like Figure 1.3.

 

 

 

Figure 1.3

 

  1. And now well determine what patches we’ll need for the skin mapping.  Turn down the Opacity of the Hair Line layer until you can just see it then; create a new layer named Skin Line.  Besides the patches that are not covered by hair well also want almost all of the patches that are just under where the hair begins.  Change the color to Green.  We will draw this outline along the splines in the mesh as this will wind up being a guide for the area of the mesh we select to make the skin decal group from.   Keeping the outline as much as possible running under the hair line draw along the spines using whatever method you like.  It is okay if at some points your line and the hair line meet.  You  should wind up with something like Figure 1.4.

 

 

Figure 1.4

 

  1. Now hide save your image (you’ll be needing this later) and create your guide.  Hide all but the Background, Colored Mesh, and Skin Line.  You should wind up with something like Figure 1.5.

 

 

Figure 1.5

 

  1. Select Image->Duplicate and name the duplicate SkinDecalAreaGuide.  With this duplicate image still selected, choose Layer->Flatten Image.  Now save this image as SkinDecalAreaGuide.jpg in the Rotoscope folder.
  2. Return to A:M and bring this image in as a rotoscope for the side view of the model (should be as you left it with only the HeadSkinNoEars group visible.  Adjust the rotoscope to ‘fit’ the image and then using the lasso tool select the geometry indicated by your guide and name this new group SkinMapArea. 
  3. Now we must add the ears to this.  Make all the model visible and select the ‘Ears’ group and hide everything else.  In the PWS select your new SkinMapArea group and holding down the shift key select both ears.  Unhide, select your new SkinMapArea and hide.  You should now have something that looks like Figure 1.6.  Save AM.

 

 

Figure 1.6

 

  1. Carefully inspect the group and make sure that only the outer skin areas we want to map the detailed skin to are showing.  If needed remove or add CPs from your new SkinMapArea group.  Resave if needed.

 

 

 

Part 2.1  – Flattening: Preparation and the Flatten command