01. Creating the Character Mesh

1. Introduction

In this series, I'll 
introduce the 
fundamentals of 3D 
character development 
using a *very* basic, 
simplified character 
model and rig. The idea 
here is to start small 
and work your way up to 
more complex and 
detailed meshes and 
rigs.

The first step in 
creating an animated 3D 
character is to 
generate the geometry. 
By now you know that 
any virtual 3D object 
is represented as a set 
of *vertices* (CV's ) 
in 3D coordinate space. 
The points are 
connected by lines 
which form edges, the 
edges enclose polygons 
and collections of 
joined polygons form 
surfaces.

Well 3D characters are 
no exception. Character 
models are nothing more 
than complex 3D 
objects! In this 
lesson, we'll explore 
techniques that can be 
applied toward the 
development of your 
character geometry.