#learning3d

For posing I actually experimented with a couple of new tools like Mixamo and Maya's quick rig, but in the end they more than what I needed to pose her for just a still render. So I went back to what I knew, just builiding a basic rig, which was quick and got the job done.

I always do love the posing stage, it's when I feel like a model actually starts to take on life, I got really excited at this point as she was really coming together.

To move the bulk of the hair I just used a latice deformer and then manually adjusted indivdual hair strands into the position that I wanted. Making sure to keep an eye on the camera view so it would look as close to the concept as possible.

So I decided to try and do a test render. Initially I thought I might jump ahead and get into unreal to see how it was looking, often I find when you're learning something new a lot of doubt comes from being unsure of the next stage. But after opening UE, looking at a couple of tuts I just kinda noped outta that idea. It was definitely going to take too long to learn how to get her in there, which would ultimately push finishing the hair out further.

And. I Just. Want. It. Done.

So I decided to just set up the Arnold shaders and see how that turned out. I realise Arnold is going to look different to UE but the purpose is to push me forward and see what I can do with the cards I have. Like am I just being pedantic or can I just make this work and get it done?

The first problem of course was that the Albedo was super desaturated, which I had noticed when creating the texture maps. I have no idea why this was and I wasn't going back to figure it out so I just adjusted the levels in photoshop.

Once I was happy with the colour I was glad to see that it wasn't looking too bad and rendering it definitely gave me the perspective I needed to see what I need to do next.

I did a bit of a draw over, identifying what needed to be done:

The left side hairline line isn't too bad, I think I can just add some transitional pieces

Right side needs work: It's too far back and needs to be filled out underneath some more.

The entire thing needs to have loose, single strands that don't all flow with the overall shape and hide/breakup those flatter pieces on top

Lots of fluffy, flyaway, curly bits near the ears and caught on the horns