The gaming industry is a niche with ever-growing popularity, and jobs in game development are among those most coveted in IT. This includes the job of a game artist. Many illustrators would jump at an opportunity to create characters for a game. The job is widely believed to be a heaven of creative freedom. However, it’s not an easy job! In this article, we’d like to talk about the process of modeling a 3D character — an interesting but tedious and multistep process.

2D vs 3D: The battle of styles

Before we dive into the topic, let us first offer you a short opinion piece about why 3D became so widespread.

Of course, we’re not here to say that 3D art in games is ultimately and inherently better than 2D art: each game has its unique style and charm, and in many cases, 2D art is the heart and highlight of the game. However, there are several reasons why 3D is so popular, specifically in games.

• Realism. From the way characters look to the way they move, the realism of 3D graphics is quite a bit above that of 2D. This facilitates higher relatability for players and, as a result, higher engagement.
• Freedom of movement. However complex 2D characters are, generally, they move linearly. It’s one of the restrictions this type of graphics have. On the other hand, 3D models can move in any direction whatsoever, since they’re in a three-dimensional space.
• Animation simplicity. Modern 3D modeling software makes it possible to easily change poses of a character without losing proportions or redrawing major parts. This streamlines the animation processes, which is important when the product — a game, in our case — has a clear deadline for launch.

7-Step 3D character modeling tutorial: How to model in 3D

3D modeling characters is the process of several important steps. Below, we’d like to walk you through them with simple explanations.

Step 1. Concept creation

Before they start modeling, artists need to prepare thoroughly. Based on the particularities of the game and the character, they collect character reference for 3D modeling — as many as possible.

Reference collection isn’t limited to the way a character looks in general, too. It’s important to gather details as to the character’s background, individuality, story before and throughout the game. All this data will greatly influence the way the character looks and moves.

Proper reference use will make the modeling easier and faster. At this stage, the rough drafts of concepts are made.

Step 2. Concept art

Concept art means the look and feel of the character. Often, it’s made in 2D even for 3D models.

Concept art is a set of images depicting the character in a selection of poses, as well as a number of pictures showing different facial expressions. As most works, it starts with a rough draft — a sketch — and then gets more details as they get approved by the team and the client. A finished concept art for a popular game can be made into an art book and sold to fans.

Step 3. Blocking

Not the kind of blocking we do with our Twitter feeds and internet trolls, of course 🙂

Blocking is how artists start modeling a 3D character. Basically, same as a 2D sketch of a person starts with a very rough collection of shapes — a circle, a triangle, some squares — a 3D character model starts with blocks. Say, a sphere for a short plump person, an upside down prism for someone with wide shoulders and narrow hips. Several blocks are added for the head, arms and legs, and all other body parts (tail, for example).

These blocks will serve as the basis for character models.

Step 4. Sculpting

This stage is to turn a set of blocks into the character shape. The name says it all, it’s the work of a sculptor on a statue, when from a block of stone emerges a figure — a Statue of Liberty, a Venus de Milo, or a Buddha. Or a bipedal lion in medieval armor — the one necessary for your fantasy-themed game.

Step 5. Topology

Topology of a 3D character model means creating details on the sculpture, for example, face details like lips and eyes, fangs, or claws. Topology is necessary to make these details distinctive and also to simplify future animation: when working with polygonal modeling, artists choose different shapes for different model parts so that the animated movement looks natural.

Step 6. Rigging and skinning

As we’ve mentioned above, one of the distinctive advantages of 3D modeling is that it’s easier to animate. However, animating a sculpted shape isn’t a valid option as it would actually involve animating too many separate parts. Instead, what 3D artists do is create a carcass — a skeleton of the character that will be used for moving the shape. Same as a human body is made to move when our skeleton moves. In 3D animation, it’s called rigging.

The second part of the process — skinning — is connecting the skeleton to the shape. After this, when the skeleton is animated, the shape will be animated with it.

Step 7. Animation

The final stage of modeling a 3D character is the animation, making the character move. This is when a character comes alive — they walk, run, fight, laugh, and scream. Animation is necessary for all actions, including the display of emotions.

There are several ways to animate a character. The simpler one most studios employ is animating every polygonal shape and sets of shapes with the help of software.

The second, more expensive way to animate is to use motion capture; this is when you ask people to demonstrate necessary movements or emotions while wearing special detectors. Detectors transfer the data to software, which, in turn, translates it into movement of a character. It’s a neat technology that helps create the most lifelike, natural-looking characters. However, the cost of such tech is quite high, only the biggest and richest game studios tend to be able to afford it.

This is it! Quoting the classic movie, IT’S ALIVE!!! The character is ready to be added to the game.

Summing up

As you can see, modeling a 3D character is hardly a cakewalk. Making a lifelike character involves tremendous work of sometimes several people. If you’re looking for enthusiastic creators who will build stunning 3D models for your game, turn your eye to Pingle Studio: we have a team of highly experienced 3D artists who will gladly invest their passion and skills to create something that will capture the gamers’ hearts.