Step 0 : Prep your working environment

Preparation is vital if you want to come out of the back end of a project smelling of roses and looking awesome.

Studio setup :
Ensure there is a constant flow of coffee, invest in a couple of days worth of tobacco, get some half-decent red wine and tell the wife to hide your weed (we're trying to actually achieve something here)


Max setup:
I will be using certain features a lot during this process. I have mapped the functions I use most often to keyboard shortcuts or added them to quad menus. I suggest you do the same, here's some of them...

Keyboard:
W = select loop
E = select ring
Q = show end result toggle
X = toggle edge constraint (edit poly)
shift+X = toggle normal constraint (edit poly)
R=right view
K=back view
B=bottom view

Quads:
left lower quad > edit poly = detach

Another shortcut I recommend learning is this...
alt+Q = isolate selection

Also, set your default viewport orbit behaviour to "around selected subobject" by clicking and holding the orbit tool button and choosing the bottom-most option

Having done this, max changes from a pretty decent modeller into an unstoppable modelling powerhouse.

It begins...

Good evening :)

I think it's fair to say that I've been hoarding awesome for far too long and the time has come to spread it around a little.

As part of this enormously generous process I have decided to grace the internet with an insight into how I go about building a character model for use in a game engine.

I'll be covering the process from start to finish without going into heavy detail on specific tasks but will be explaining why I make some of the slightly odd looking decisions I do. The focus is on getting a result as quickly and efficiently as possible while minimising the possibility of disaster further down the line.

I'll be using a variety of packages to complete the project - namely max 2009, zbrush 4 and photoshop. You should be able to follow the process in other apps but obviously you'll have to use your initiative a bit.

I expect the reader to be familiar with 3d terminology, the apps in question and the basic principles of realtime 3d work.

The more observant among you will have read the title and have a pretty solid clue as to what I'm going to be making (that's heatblast from Ben10 if you don't fall into the above category).

I picked Heatblast for several reasons - these are some of them...

1: I like Ben 10
2: My 4 year old likes Ben 10 and this will make him think I'm awesome
3: Heatblast is awesome because he's made of fire & stuff
4: Heatblast is a simple character in terms of design so there won't be too many details bogging me down when I explain things
5: I get to muck around with glowing shaders