CGNetworks Reader Project The Making of "Bunny"
Andrew Hickinbottom, 21 March 2005 After watching ‘The Incredibles’, Andrew Hickinbottom set about creating a Bunny girl in 3ds max. He’d not seen a 3D Bunny before, but the style fitted perfectly, complete with bombshell features.
After seeing 'The Incredibles' I was inspired to create a character in a similar style. Not trying to emulate reality, but to create an appealing, stylized character where the shape and form are more important than the small details.
I liked the idea of making a ‘Playboy’-style bunny girl because I've never seen one made in 3D and the costume would be pretty easy to model, has a lot of character and shows off the curves very well! The design was made up as I progressed, but I did have a clear idea on what I wanted her to look like.
She was blonde, had big thighs, a thin waist, small feet and a large head. From The Incredibles, I used Elastigirl's body and Mirage's face as my main references.
About Andrew Hickinbottom
I was born in 1979 and live in Wolverhampton, UK. I have been employed in the 3D industry since 1999, and have been interested in it as a hobby for over 10 years. Although I went to college and university studying graphic design, I saw a better future in 3D graphics, and found it a lot more exciting. As well as high poly 3D work, I also enjoy modeling low poly games models. I’m a keen games player, and love all things Japanese, which naturally means I'm a big anime fan - in particular, the works of Mamoru Oshii, Hayao Miyazaki and Production IG - some of my main sources of inspiration. My preferred job is character modeling and texturing.
Using 3ds max 6, I started out with a basic cylinder and scaled the vertex segments to create the basic profile. Using various wire-frame images for reference, I began moving the vertices around and cutting and connecting the edges until I got the edge 'flow' right, then I extruded faces on the shoulders and pelvis to create basic arms and legs.
After shaping them, I added hands using face extrude, then began sculpting detail like the breasts, elbows, knees, feet and the basic box form of the head. Generally, I begin modeling in low poly, and start adding detail later once I’m happy with the overall shape. Its a much more managable workflow because you don’t have loads of polys to deal with when making quick edits.
Next, I tweaked the general shape and fine-tuned the mesh flow using a combination of edge cutting and vertex manipulation, sometimes with soft selection to get a gradual effect. Simple placeholder objects for the tail, collar, ears and cuffs were added to make it easier to visualize.
Moving on to the head, I cut edges into the shape and pulled around vertices one by one to form the basic face topology. I made sure I stuck closely to the correct edge loop system because it allows for much more efficient subdivision, as well as making morph targets more flexible and easier to make. All the while I was modeling, I worked on the one side, with the symmetry modifier on the top of the stack
