Asset Creation: Maya Character Creation - Creating Games with Unity and Maya - page 216

Hands
Anyone who has done a figure drawing class or done any figure drawing
knows that drawing hands is a particularly difficult task. It seems as though
they should be simple—we work with them every day and everyone knows
what hands look like. But because everyone knows what hands look like, they
are pretty tough to get “right.”
In 3D this can be a challenge as well. Of further complexity are the issues of
deciding how many polys to drop into these bad boys. Should each finger be
modeled separately or could we get away with a mitt and save the polys? How
well defined should each joint of each finger be modeled and subdivided?
Most of the answers to these questions are defined by the nature of the game and
nature of the character. If the character is only going to be seen from a long way
off, there is little need—and in fact it is a waste of time—to put a huge amount
of detail into the hand. It would be quicker to model and then quicker to rig and
then quicker to skin and then quicker to animate the hand as a closed fist that
would be grasping a gun (for instance). However, a character who will be close up
and who might be swapping weapons might need to have more-articulate hands.
For this character, since he is the main protagonist, the hands will be given a
fair amount of detail. In first person, the hands will often be the only part of
the person's body that we see, so getting them right will be important.
Step 78: Extrude the end of the arm down to create the polys that will
become the palm ( Figure 8.61 ).