Tobia at work, part 2

Tobia's pal

This is the final rendering of the Tobia project, a collaboration between Anna Maria Bonanese and myself. The previous post dealt with the construction of the barn and a few props. This one focuses of the design and construction of Tobia's companion.

mouse forms by Anna

The first step in the mouse design was to research photos of mice and their anatomy. From those, Anna produced these sketches. Silhouettes are used in order to resolve the form. The modeling environment is not the place to resolve rudimentary design issues, so we sketch until we're happy with its shape.

spec drawings by Anna

Then Anna designed these modeling guides.

early modeling

The modeling begins.

UV layout

After modeling, the UVs were laid out in such a way to best hide the fur seams. With this layout, the main seam runs down the belly, from nose to tail. Then there's a seam for each of the legs, and at the base of the ears and tail.

various maps

UV coordinates allow for the mapping of color and other surface attributes like fur length. For example, fur is commonly shorter around the face and longer on the torso.

posed rig

For the model to be posed, it needs a deformation skeleton. I used FBIK (full body inverse kinematics) because it's quick and easy to implement; and because I don't require customized control, as the mouse won't be animated and will only be posed once.

AO pass

With the mouse complete, the final rendering is produced. This image is called an ambient occlusion (AO) pass. It's used to add detail and contrast to parts of the rendering.

final rendering