modeling pants - advice needed please

XoechZ

Hello!

I tried to model pants - jeans type tight pants to be more precise, but it all ended in a huge mess of polygons and n-gons :-)

So, please, can someone of you give me some advice how to start modeling pants?
I have no problem with bikiny-bottom-type panties where I can simply follow this tutorial (which was very helpful for me): http://www.daz3d.com/tutorials/classic-bikini

The problem then is how to add the legs. As described in the beginning, I always end up with a mess of polygons which gets even worse with refining and tesselating. And what I have learned so far is that it is very important to keep a good structure and flow of polygons for good looking results.

So, who knows a good way to model pants? Maybe there it is a whole different start than with bikini panties?

Any kind of help is very welcome!

Thanks!

SickleYield

When I do it I start with a strip of polygons around the intended waistband area. Then I extrude it down to just above the crotch area, fitting to to the figure as I go (usually using retopology). Then I extrude the two middle rows of polygons down between the legs and back up to connect in back, forming the leg holes. It takes a little adjustment and smoothing around the edges of these areas to get good rounded leg holes, but with practice it's not difficult.

When the pants need to have a fly I will create that by splitting the front area subsequently and extruding behind the split to form the inside flap.

I use Blender for modeling, but hopefully this makes sense?

XoechZ

Yes, it does make sense. Just let me know what you mean with "retopology"? I dont know that word.

The biggest problem area for me is always the crotch - inner tigh connection. I will see if it goes better with this method. Thank you!

SickleYield

It's actually called "snap to" in Blender now. I'm showing my age. ;)

http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.6/Manual/3D_interaction/Transform_Control/Snap_to_Mesh

XoechZ

Ah, ok, I understand. In Hexagon this would be called welding, right? Welding points or traget weld comes to my mind. Or simply connect points. Or the bridge tool (which is very cool and useful in my opinion).

Lissa_xyz

No, welding would not be snapping. Welding would actually fuse them.. think of an actual weld between two metal objects. Same idea. In Hexagon I think it's the Snap/Align tool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z-YxGE4dB_4

Here's a video specifically on retopo in Hexagon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2Teo9sFAoY

/edit
You would however use weld if the two points are part of the same object. In this case though, they're not. Pants and person. I mean, would you want a tailor sewing your pants to your leg? Ouch! ;)

Roygee

Retopo in Hex is pretty much an expert type of method - not really viable for someone wanting to just get started in modelling pants.

Here's a very simple and effective method

1. First make sure that the figure you are modelling for is locked so you don't select any part of it. Draw out a cube and size it to roughly fit from the hips to the crotch. Select a horizontal edge, ring-select and connect. With the new vertical edge selected, extract edges around - keep them close - you now have three vertical edges running right around the cube. Pic1

2. Delete all the top facets. Hide the figure and resize the the cube in the X and Z axes, so that the bottom factes which will make up the legs are perfectly square - this is very important, because square facets will become round when smoothed. The cube will no longer fit the figure - we'll get to that later. Go into symmetrical mode. Select the outer verts and drag up, to form a bikini-type shape. Pic2

3. Select the face on the side of the bikini and extrude downwards (hold Ctrl and drag) - rotate the faces and pull them towards the centre, pull in the outer verts and get all the bottom verts to line up on the Y axis (select them all and in the properties panel set size on the Y axis to 0. Pic 3.

Roygee

Continued...
4. Delete the leg facets, smooth level1 and collapse DG. Pic4.

5. Re-set symmetry, unhide the figure, resize the pants to fit - this is where you start pushing and pulling verts and facets (use soft selection). Once it fits snugnly, you can extrude and shape the legs.

XoechZ

Wow, that is cool! Thank you very much Roygee! I will try that asap.