Just a quick note; The letters you're going to read was written while animation is still in progress. Originally it was a WIP Thread at CGTalk.com. And you may still check it out by clicking here... or here... :) Have fun.

Well... first, I have to model a character for my short, thats obvious. So I started modelling with a simple Box. I wanted to keep polygons low, (which I don't!) so I could animate it more easy. I didn't want to make a realistic character anyway. I wanted it to be funny and also cool looking. Main character will be an old Cop, or a FBI Agent, or between a Cop and FBI Agent. :) I'll call his name "AJ", Like Alexander James, or Ali Jilet, or something I don't know. Just A.J.

Anyway. I created his head first. He'll be wearing glasses all the time, so I didn't make any eyeball for him. He'll see just fine. :) After Head and Glasses models finished, I started to play with materials. Tried different skin textures, and decited to use Falloff Material for all of character's skin. Also, I've used Vertex Paint modifier to paint a beard for my character. Then apply some mask, noise, and bump materials to it to get a nice beard. He'll look more "tough" that way. :) I don't know why I used Vertex Paint modifier for this. Maybe because it is fun to paint a beard with it. :)

Body Building
After I finished with the head, I continued modelling rest of the body. As I descided before, I didn't try to make a realistic body. So I modelled characters body without adding too much details. But, when I finished it, I think about adding collar to put a nice necktie on him. Then, a lightbulb appeared in my mind. (Later, I wish hundreds of times that it doesn't) Why I'm not using a real Cloth Dynamics for my character's tie? I didn't do any Cloth Simulation before but I always wanted to try. So, I started to dig up Havoc's Reactor help documents to learn about that powerful Plug-in. After 3-4 days of self-study, I understand all tools that Reactor offers and made some Cloth and Rigid Body experiments. After that, another Lightbulb appeared in my mind. (I hate these Lightbulbs!) Why I'm not model a trenchcoat and use Cloth Dynamics on it too? That would be cool! Memory and Time consuming but cool. :)

So, I've modelled a trenchcoat for my character. Just Cloned his body, scale it up a little, and modify it to looks like a trenchcoat. I don't wanted it to be "Matrix-Like" black trenchcoat that everyone wears these days. :) I wanted it more like a old Private Detective style trenchcoat. Thats more like it. I also decided to make black gloves but instead of make it seperate object, I've use another Material ID on hands. And apply Noise&Bump Material to it. It looks more like "Hitman" than "Private Detective" but it makes him looks tough. Then I keep it.

Reactor is very powerful tool indeed, but you need a lot of tweaking and a LOT more patience to get it look the way you want. Well... did I said it is also time consuming too? :) It is easy to make a flag or a piece of cloth hanging, but it is a real pain in the... eye to make a cloth and use it in a Character Animation. Espacialy this kind of Cartoony characters. Like my "Character Animation" experience is BEYOND The Master degree, I'd like add it a Cloth Simulation to reach out the outer limits. After I done this, I'll build my own space shuttle and go to Mars. And laught at Pixar from there... :)

Anyway, Character model is finished. Lets start rigging...

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