Cinema 4D progress

Now knowing what i was going to create i was faced with the task of how. I began to watch tutorials about how to create a character in 3D, though time consuming i slowly learnt how using a vast range of techniques.

I used a picture i took of a Meerkat and began creating his body and arms, the body was a lot easier than the arms as it was a solid shape and not twists or turns but creating the shape posed a challenged. The arms proved difficult since i was making the character in 3D i took in mind how the arms would bend but eventually came up with a shape i was happy with.

As i progress i have created the Meerkats claws and have now started on the head which will be the most difficult as it contains features, to overcome this problem i will look at more tutorials on how to create facial features later on.

further into my creation and i have now added legs and feet, which was a difficult task, getting the rotation on the feet was key, i decided not to go ahead with the image for the feet as they were stuck out a lot so i made them as i went along and to my surprise came along really nicely. After the rotation the rest was fairly simple .

Creating the basic shape of the meerkat was tough but the real battle was defining the micro details to make the meerkat come to life, I started with the shape of the head to make it alot easier to add the eyes and nose but getting the definition and percision i wanted was time consuming and frustrating.

 

Here you can see further into development i studies the shape of a meerkat's head in detail looking at various pictures from different angles i positioned where to put the eyes and using the sculpting tool on cinema 4d i sculpted out the holes for the eyes and i also added more shape to the chin area and the back of the head positioned correct as i delved into more research and into the skeleton of a meerkat to get the best possible results.

I sat looking at my meerkat for hours, thinking how to approach the stage of adding fur, I tested alot of techniques, the thickness, the lengh, the depth, the shape of the fur, trying to get the perfect colour. The body is proving the most difficult as there are less points on the shape so increasingly harder to get the correct fur texture. But at this stage i am trying various ways to get the best out of my creation.

As i progress i hit wall after wall, on certain shapes there was not enough points for the hair to grow off so i ended up with the effect of the left arm. At this moment in time i dont know if its a good thing or bad. In order to be able to see the claws and feet i had to only add thin hair but i personally believe it works but now i am looking towards the finer details on the face and face the challenge of adding the ears and darker patches. Each stage i complete it is looking more and more like a meerkat and im happy about that.

My final stage of my creation was the facial features, eyes, nose, ears and shaping the head more. Cinema 4d is a complex programme to master, my meerkat has not come out as my head imagined it would but nevertheless a good effort i tried my hardest but the fur was the most difficult as the shapes were distorted and not enough roots to plant the hair so there were some darker patches and bald patches but also i could not define the facial features as much as i needed to add black fur but i could not change the colour in patches. Now i am focusing on replicating this meerkat and slightly altering it for my younger meerkat. Then further on i will look to animate my meerkats to clearly show visual conversations between the two.

Having created my meerkat i had to create the baby. I duplicated the daddy meerkat and shrunk it and adjusted it slightly to create this scene of a son looking up to his father for guidance, further on i will animate them to look as though, through visual language the son is following and learning from what the daddy meerkat is doing ultimately creating a conversation between the two.