Character in scene workflow? How is this done? –

[Mark Symms]

Hi All,

I am relatively new to Blender on the great artist continuum, but I know my way around the interface enough to be dangerous.  My ultimate goal is to place characters (or objects) in a scene or background and create a 2D image.  For my application I need it to be as photo-realistic as possible.  I can just sketch and draw my scene on paper or in PS, but I can’t get the photo realism I want and need.  At this point I have no interest in animation or game design, it is strictly telling a story with one image.

So, my question is workflow (and learning path).  I am not afraid of learning the fundamentals I need to achieve my goals, but am really confused as to the path.  I have gone through several of Mr. Price’s tutorials and am currently in the modelling boot camp now.  I think I can model the background environment of my scenes, but when it comes to adding in a character what is the process??

Do you model/sculpt your characters from scratch for each new project?  Do you import a pre-posed character from something like Daz3D or Poser?  Can you re-use a sculpted character? And the granddaddy of all questions I have, is how do I make these characters look real?

I know this is probably an age old question, but I have not found a CGCookie tutorial that explains this.

TIA,

mark

[Jonathan Lampel]

Hey Mark, welcome! Characters are a bit more complicated, so my suggestion would be to just start with making a character in general first and worry about realism later. These courses will help:

https://cgcookie.com/course/introduction-to-character-modeling

https://cgcookie.com/course/sculpting-the-wrangler

https://cgcookie.com/course/art-of-sculpting

https://cgcookie.com/course/modeling-realistic-characters-with-blender

At this point I would suggest you sculpt and model your characters from scratch for each new project, until it becomes so easy for you that it becomes tedious. If you need a quick result to start (or want to focus more on learning about making environments first) you can definitely use Daz or Poser, but in the long run they become creative crutches if relied on too heavily. 

Hope that helps! 

[Mark Symms]

@jlampel Thanks.  I will definitely get on those courses.  I do not want to rely on Daz3D or Poser.  I want to be able to generate what I need to the detail that I need without being constrained by someone’s else’s software or models.  Sounds like I have some work to do.  Thanks again.

Mark.

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