right people i have created a charter on paper and now want to put it on the screen the problem is though that i have never created a charter before and really need some advice i want to create him (its a dragon character incase anyone has a tutorial for a dragon character) if somone knows of a tutorial or can write one for me that would be great.

basically i need advice on where to start and what to do when making a character DONT YOU HATE BEING A FIRST TIMER

plzzzz help

thanks all your amazing

Hi todge666

Welcome to 3D and more specifically to Houdini

You should first check out some of the modelling tutorials and videos on this site and the links to other Houdini sites like Odforce. Start with any modeling tutorial, It doesn't have to be a dragon, just focus on understanding the workflow, the dragon will reveal himself in good time. Ok i'm going to stop rambling now and let you have fun on your own

cheers

If you are new to 3D then you really want to watch the 3D Buzz Videos first. The videos from Sidefx are better for people already in the field. Also Buzz Has a full character head modeling tutorial which will layout the character modeling process your will have to go through in order to do your Dragon. http://www.3dbuzz.com [3dbuzz.com]

Have fun

Cheers,
Nate Nesler

P.S. There is more than enough material on learning in houdini to keep you busy for awhile. Its one of the most freely documented 3d apps. Extremely flexable.

If animating is your primary focus, try to keep your character fairly simple because a heavy model is slow to animate. Alternatively you can animate with only the joints of your character visible(I find that much faster myself) but this tends to be difficult for some people to visualize at first.

(If your model is complex in nature, try to create a low resolution model for animating, and leave the hi res one invisible until render time.)

The work-flow generally goes like this:

A. Model your character
B. Rig it
C. Animate it.

If you want textures, fur etc. great, but be aware that these things will increase your file size and often slow you down.

As to how to Model, Rig and Animate in Houdini, check out the docs available on the sites mentioned above for some useful tutorials.

For general character animation information, try “The Animator's Survival Kit” or Disney's “The Illusion of Life” for some instruction on the principles of character animation. You should be able to find them at most bookstores with a decent art section, or order them online.

Good luck!