Latest Blender Project: A Humanoid

I stress the word humanoid because it would be quite a stretch to call it a human. It is roughly human, but the head is not quite as spherical as a human head. However, I think you will notice quite a few improvements over my previous render, the penguin.

Most notable should be that the skin looks a little more skin-like. This time instead of looking so plastic-like, the current set of tutorials I’m following has taught me about materials and textures. I really hope you can see the textures on your screen. This really looks like clay to me. I’m moving along a LOT faster than the penguin. I was really shooting blind with that one. I was in such a hurry to get my first ever computer animation out there that I learned as I went along. Not quite what you want to do with Blender. Now, I’m realizing how a lot of these things work. It also helps that this tutorial is not my first time using Blender. I have a better idea of where to find things and how to navigate around. Another improvement you may notice is that the eyes look a little more realistic. This has to do with the way I applied the materials and colors to it when compared to the penguin.

Another important thing I did with this creation was to create him in a pose which would allow me to give him bones very easily. This was not so easy with the penguin. However, I also now know about a new technique called weight painting which is a LOT faster and easier than the method I was using for the penguin. For the penguin you may have noticed some strange distortions in its body as I moved the arms around. The painting method would have allowed me to fix that.

I also used another technique which has made my life a lot easier compared to the penguin. I used a mirror while modeling so that as I created his left side, the right side was automatically created - wonderful for a symmetrical being such as a humanoid.

I still have a little bit to learn, but I feel that next time through will be even faster than this time!

After I finish giving this guy all his bones (man, if it were this hard for God, I’d understand why he made Adam and Eve and let them create the rest of humanity) I have a few more things to learn about animation. Once I finish that I want to either work on giving him some semi-realistic clothes or hair. I’d also like to start working on an environment for him.

All in all, I’m extremely happy that I have recently rediscovered Blender. It is allowing me to explore yet another area of creativity and I’m having a wonderful time of it. This is just a wonderful example of what free software can do for those who can’t afford high-end products like Maya and Pixar’s Renderman plugin. If I can do this, imagine what someone with real talent can do! People out there are creating some beautiful things.