I’m putting the images that I rendered on my account because I'm using hyperlink to link to them, which would require less traffic than hotlinking them. I'm hyperlinking them because I have too many images anyway, so I can't hotlink them all.
I’m working on a 3d animation with 3ds max, and have created a model called Neo. This tutorial will tell you how I modeled it. It might not be the best way, but it worked for me.
First, I used Flash to draw my model. I did a front and side view. These images will serve as reference images during modeling. You will see how effective they are soon.
My reference images
Find out the dimensions of your images, and create planes of those sizes in 3ds max by going to the create panel -> Geometry -> Plane. Open up the KeyboardEntry roll out and type in the dimensions for the front image. Select the front view port, and click Create. Repeat for the side image with side view port selected and the dimension for the side image entered. You should now be selecting the plane on the side view.
Now, press “M” to open up the Materials Editor. In the Blinn Basic Parameters roll out, click the gray square (not the rectangle) button to the left of “Diffuse”.
In the pop-up, double-click “Bitmap”. Select your side reference image, wherever you saved it. Select the second ball, then repeat the same thing but select the front reference image instead. Now, drag the first ball onto the side plane in the side view port. If the plane turned gray after this, go back to the Materials Editor and click on the icon with the checkered cube (Scroll down to the image if you don’t know what I’m talking about). And there, your reference images are set up.
Next, we will start modeling. Oh, forgot to tell you to save your file. Save frequently from now on. You can close your Materials Editor, because we’re done with that now. Most tutorials for modeling people say that you should start with a box. But have you ever seen a box like human (Hmm… Maybe you have if you’re American
)? That’s why one tutorial told me to start by creating a cylinder, which is what we’re going to do now. In the Create Panel, click on the Cylinder button. Change the Height Segments in the Parameters rollout to 7 or 8, or if you’re doing your own model, a number that best fits your design. For Sides, choose 8. This would make a nice even body. In the top view port, drag from the center out an octagon (or how many sides you made your cylinder) about the size of your image. Let go, and move your mouse up or down to make the cylinder the same height as the model’s body. It would be best if from now on your Front, Side and Perspective View Ports are in Smooth + Highlights and Edged Faces “modes”, so right click on one of the view port’s name in the top left corner, then select Smooth + Hightlights. Do that again but select Edged Faces this time. But, the cylinder would block the reference images’ view from you, so select the cylinder and press Alt + X. There, now it’s transparent. Next, move it along the Y axis (Up/down) so that its bottom touches the bottom of the model in the image, and if the top sticks out, go to the Modify panel and change the Height Parameter so that it fits. In the bottom of the screen under the timeline, you will see the values for X, Y and Z. Right click on the arrows next to the values X and Y to change the value to 0. Leave the Z alone. 
Then, right click on the cylinder > Convert To: > Convert to Editable Poly. Now we can mold the cylinder’s vertices to form the shape of our model. You should already have the Modify Panel on your right open, so click on the Vertex button with the 3-dot icon in the Selection rollout. There should be dots on your cylinder in your view ports. Move and scale them to the shape of your image. You do not need to make them fit exactly, because the reference image is just a guide, so if you think of doing something to make the model look better, do it and ignore the images. Below is a rendering of what I got.
Note: From now on, the non-screenshot pictures that I give you will be the renderings that I did in the progress of my original Neo model prototype. I did not think of taking screenshots instead when I modeled it, but I’m not going to model the whole thing over again just to take screenshots for the tutorial. Sorry… ~_~
Rendered Image
Rendered Image
That looks pretty good. To make the arms, changed to Polygon mode (with the red square icon), clicked the Insert Vertex button in the Edit Polygons rollout and added 4 more points on the right side of the cylinder (your left), forming a square with... Just see the next image. Oh, and from now on, you only need to model one side of your model because we will mirror it to the other side when we’re done.
Then select the all the planes (holding ctrl on every click) in the octagon that had formed when we inserted those vertices, and click on the Extrude button. In the Front View Port, drag the selected red planes up to extrude them to the length of the arm. Again, move and scale the arm to the right shape. To better define the shape of the arm, we are now going to “Slice Plane” the arm. Switch to Vertex mode with the 3-dot icon, and click Slice Plane in the Edit Geometry rollout. Rotate that yellow box to 90 degrees in the Front View Port, and move it right next to the body on the arm. Click the Slice button, move it a little more away from the body, click again, move again, and repeat for as much as you want (I did 4 cuts, separating the arm into 5 sections). Now you can mold the arm into an even better shape. Well, here’s what I got.
Rendered Image
Next, I pretty much did the same thing with the leg. Turn on Edged Faces in Perspective View Port and add one vertex in Polygon mode on the bottom of the body, then select the vertex in Vertex mode and change its X and Y value to 0, leaving Z alone again. Select one half (same side as your arm) in Polygon mode and Extrude it to the crotch. Move the vertices to make it fit the… crotch. Then Extrude again, about the same distance. Switch to Edge mode by clicking on the triangle icon, and insert vertices at the places where I have circled in red for you in the next picture.
In Vertex mode, move the vertices circled in blue towards the center a little, so that they are closer together. Move all four of them away from the body, so that now the bottom forms an oval-like shape.
Switch back to Edge mode, and delete the 2 diagonal lines by click on them and clicking Remove in the Edit Edges roll out. Then, Insert Vertex right at the center of the middle line.
Switch back to Vertex mode and Connect it to all its surrounding vertices on the same plane. Extrude the whole plane to the end of the leg. Move and scale again so that it fits the leg. Finally, Slice Plane the whole leg the same way as you did with the arm, and define the leg again. That’s all for the leg.
Rendered Image
Now we shall give our model a head. Uh… We shall make a head for our model. Connect the 2 vertices in the center of the top plane to divide the neck in half. Select one half of the neck plane, and Extrude it to the top of the head. Then, move all the vertices again and Slice Plane if necessary. Make sure that the vertices in the center of the model’s head are positioned 0 for X.
Rendered Image
Select all the vertices on the side of the model with no arm, leg or head, and click the Remove button. The model should remain as a whole thing (no holes, not hollow) if nothing went wrong. If something did go wrong, I don’t know why. Now, all you have to do is go to the Modifier List in the Modify panel and select Symmetry in the drop down list. Click Flip if the model is not currently a whole person. You have completed the modeling of Neo! If you want to smooth him out a little, go back to the Modifier List and select MeshSmooth.
Heh, if it allowed just one last hotlink this post would have been perfect... Here's the last screenshot, hyperlinked...
Screenshot
No MeshSmooth
MeshSmooth and changed color
You can just delete the reference images now.
Heh, this final version looks much better than the first version... Those were some heavy editing...
Thanks to ImageShack for Free Image Hosting
