Figure 50
Figure 51
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Figure 50 |
Figure 51 |
STEP 59: Go to Polygon Selection Mode and select this new spline. Use the Add Points tool to add a point to it. In the Right View use the Drag tool to Drag the new point until the spline matches the shape of the black line defining the rear. In the Back View, hold down the Ctrl key and Drag the new point horizontally until the spline appears straight. (Figure 51)
That's it for the rear. The rear is now divided into two four-sided spline boundaries. The front, however...well, to put it tactfully, the front of the human hip area does not resemble the rear of the human hip area. To use more expressive language: one's butt does not look like one's crotch.
This part of the hip, then, needs a different "flow" of polygons, which means using a different spline structure. No problem.
STEP 60: Deselect everything. In the Right View, select the spline that defines the front of the hip section. Type c to Copy it. Go to an empty layer and type v to Paste the copied geometry into the new layer.
STEP 61: Go into Points Selection Mode. Select the bottom point, then type " (the double-quotes key) to Invert your selection (Display > Selection > Sel Invert). Now everything but the lowest point should be selected.
Tip: By not editing the lowest point, you won't have to do any fancy Welding tricks to attach the lowest point to the center of the crotch, since both points currently have the same XYZ coordinates.
STEP 62: Type y to bring up the Rotate tool. In the Back View,
place your mouse pointer over the lowest point of the spline. Left-click
and drag to the right until the spline appears to point to the rightmost
corner of the waist. In the Right View, left-click on the lowest point
again and drag slightly to the right to lift the points away from the front
of the hip section. This will help keep the front of the hip section from
looking unusually flat. (Figure
52)
Figure 52 |
Figure 53 |
STEP 63: Deselect everything. Type x to Cut this geometry out of this layer. Return to the layer containing the hip section, and type v to Paste this new spline on top of the hip section. Type m to Merge Points (Construct > Reduce > Merge Points). You should see "1 point eliminated." (If not, chances are the lowest point of the new spline got moved somehow. Select the lowest point of the new spline, then select the point at the center of the crotch, and type Ctrl-w to Weld the two together).
STEP 64: In the Right View, select the topmost point of the new spline. Then, in the Back View, select the "rightmost" point of the waist spline boundary. Type Ctrl-w to Weld these two points together into one point. (Figure 53)
Tip: For Weld, the order in which you select the points is important. All welded points will snap to the XYZ coordinates of the last point selected.
STEP 65: Go to Polygon Selection Mode. Select the newest spline. In the Back View, use the Drag tool to move the three inner ("tweak") points of this spline to the right, so that this line better resembles the contour dividing the front of the leg from the front of the hip. (Or the cut of a ladies' swimsuit, take your pick). (Figure 54)
Figure 54
Almost there. We have the contours defined, but everything needs to be made up of three- or four-sided patches. The crotch spline, the "swimsuit" spline, the two front splines of the leg circle, and the outermost hip spline form a five-sided boundary. We could merge the two front splines of the leg circle into one spline, and make a mental note to patch that section (and the "swimsuit" section next to it) with 4-by-2 patches.
Or we could add a spline that splits the would-be 4-by-2 patch into two 2-by-2 patches. Let's do that now.
STEP 66: In Points Selection Mode, deselect all points. In the
Back View, select the middle point of the "swimsuit" spline. In the Right
View, select the "leftmost" point of the leg circle and type Ctrl-p to
make a spline. (Figure 55)
Figure 55 |
Figure 56 |
STEP 67: In the Right View, select the center points of the "swimsuit" spline and the spline that defines the front of the hip section. Type Ctrl-p to make a spline. (Figure 56)
One final touch. Notice that on the model sheet, the legs angle outwards from the hip. Since the leg circle forms the root of the leg, it ought to do the same.
STEP 68: In Polygon Selection Mode, deselect everything, then select the leg circle. Type y to bring up the Rotate tool. In the Back View, place the mouse pointer over the "leftmost" point of the leg circle. Left-click and drag to the left slightly, raising the outer edge of the leg circle. Rotate about ten degrees, then stop.
You have just completed the hip section! Now you must attach it to the torso.
STEP 69: Go into Polygon Selection Mode and deselect everything. Now select just those four splines that define the waist (in the shape of an ellipse). Type the " key (the double-quotes key) to invert your selection. Type c to Copy this geometry. Return to the layer that contains your upper torso section. Type v to Paste the geometry.
STEP 70: Type m to Merge Points. It should say "3 points eliminated." If less than three points were eliminated, check those points where the hip splines join the waist spline. If what should be one point turns out to be two points, Weld them together.
This spline cage defines only half of the torso. Once patched, the patches will be mirrored on the X axis. Then the points along the "seam" will be merged. If the points along the seam lie right on top of each other, then they can be merged with little fuss.
STEP 71: To make sure that the patches generated by this spline cage can be Mirrored-and-Merged successfully, select all splines that lie on the YZ plane, type Ctrl-v to bring up Set Value, choose 0m on the X axis and click OK. The splines that lie on the YZ plane are:
The spline cage should now look like Figure
57.
Figure 57
One more thing. The hip currently has an interesting spline patching problem, involving the area bordered by the waist spline, the front center spline, the "swimsuit" spline, and the "divider" spline added in Step 67. Depending on which spline is selected first, the Patch operation will either work or it will tell you "Curves do not cross correctly."
This is because the front center spline and the "swimsuit" spline share a point at the crotch, past the "divider" spline. A Patch-able spline boundary must be made up of three or four splines, joined at the corners -- but the Patch operation may get confused as to which "corners" it should be using.
The fix is to make it clear to the Patch operation where each spline ends. We'll use the Split tool.
STEP 72: In Points Selection Mode, select the two points that form the "divider" spline of Step 67. Enter Polygon Selection Mode and deselect everything. In the Right View, select the front hip spline and the "swimsuit" spline. Type Ctrl-l (that's a lowercase "L") to Split these splines at the points selected in Points Selection Mode.
The angles at the points where these splines have been Split look a little too sharp. Since this spline cage will be Patched with low-resolution, 2-by-2 patches, this sharpness could be left alone. However, for aesthetic reasons (and future spline patching), they ought to be Smoothed over. If you try Smooth them all at once, though, you will get unwanted Smoothing where the lower two splines join together at the center of the crotch. It's better to Smooth one pair at a time.
STEP 73: Deselect the two splines that now form the "swimsuit" spline. Type Ctrl-s to Smooth the remaining two selected splines. Deselect everything, reselect the two splines that form the "swimsuit" spline, and type Ctrl-s to Smooth.
STEP 74: Save this object right now as torso04.lwo.
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