Modeling the Character - Game Character Creation with Blender and Unity - page 76

Figure 3.49
Finished head
geometry
Finishing the Head with Ears
Ears are a constant worry for 3D modelers, even after they've gained considerable skill
with their tools. Indeed, the methods described here for creating head geometry turn the
ear into a sort of dump for leftovers of the geometry created for other areas of the head.
Luckily for game developers, the focus on low polygon modeling helps alleviate some
of these troubles by letting our textures do the work. Instead of a complex ear, you will
model a basic ear that will save you some polygons.
1. Select the edge loop around the ear cavity, extrude it, and scale it down so the new
loop moves in toward the center of the cavity.
2. Extrude vertices to create new edges in the ear area. Doing so will help fill in the
geometry. Make sure that the number of vertices you are adding corresponds to the
number of vertices on the existing mesh. You should try to create something like
Figure 3.50.
3. Select vertices in groups of four and press F to create new faces. Although I've advised
you to model only with quads up to this point, it is possible to get away with one or
two stray triangles in this portion of the head. Players will generally not be staring
at the zombie's ears and they will not be directly animated. If you have any trouble
creating the geometry in the ear, take an edge loop cut to add vertices wherever
needed. Also remember that while you should try to model polygons with four verti-
ces, that does not imply that they have to be perfect squares or rectangles. Sometimes