Modeling Grae - Game Character Development with Maya - page 379

Attaching the Head
To complete the head and finish this section, attach the head shape to the rest of the body.
1. First we need to remove some polygons. Select the area of Grae's chest directly
behind the head shape and delete them. Also, remove any polygons that exist on
the back of the head geometry.
2. Combine the head and body geometry; then use the Append To Polygon tool to fill
in the gaps, bridging the head and the torso.
3. Play around with the vertices, using a mirrored instance to help you work on the
whole figure. Do this until you are happy with the way Grae looks ( Figure 7.13 ) .
FIGURE 7.13 The head is now attached to the rest of the body.
Delete the history on your model and save it as Grae_Basic.mb.
Muscle Line Mapping
We now have a shape that resembles Grae, although it still needs a lot of work. He is quite
a muscular character, so it's important that we map the muscle lines at this stage, sculpting
in some of the more prominent muscles on his torso and upper arm.
Mapping the muscle lines will improve the model not just visually, but technically as
well. Creating polygons that follow the correct muscle structure will help when it deforms
later—the polygons will deform correctly and give the impression of real muscles moving
under the skin.