After completing the ear and attaching it to the head, I applied a basic material that I’ve made in the past and set up a light to get a preview of what the model looks like. I’m really happy with the outcome and now I can move onto planning the rest of my work. After that I will start modeling the remaining elements and see how much of Photoshop retouching I will need to apply before assembling the images into one article.

It is easy to tell where the texture gets confused and stretches in an unnatural way. I will have to either learn how to use Substance and operate with textures there, or fix this issue within Cinema 4D. I’ve already found a tutorial explaining UV mapping in this particular software. When doing research, I’ve encountered many negative opinions about how UV mapping was designed in Cinema 4D. Although, I also found some help on the Cinema 4D Cafe forum with linked tutorials. In the end, I will approach the solution which seems the least time consuming, as I have to be realistic with the timeframe ahead of me.

Sketchfab model: https://sketchfab.com/models/7e13d6e51d35494c8bcec681af051aed

The last step of finishing the base head model was creating an ear. The same 3D artist who posted the head model tutorial also created an ear creation tutorial. He also provided an image with suggested plain path to follow, as polygons created this way resulted in a very good base to extrude the ear shape.

As my model only has to resemble the person it’s representing, I gave up in the idea of using the real reference photo of Travis Scott’s ear. I could easily follow this guide and then roughly adjust the shape. Here’s the process:

When I finished modeling the ear and applied Subdivision Surface equal to the one on the head model, I had to attach the ears using Symmetry tool. If I was creating a very realistic model, also potentially for animation, I would take my time to connect all vertices together to incorporate the ear as an integral part of the model. Although, It might not be necessary in my case, so for now, I just attached it to the model to make it look like it’s a part of it. The flow and density of verts on the ear is similar to the rest of the model, it shouldn’t therefore be an issue when I start applying the materials.

Full tutorial:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rkvO0C5-Ths

After receiving the feedback from more experienced 3D artists, I decided to make a new model from scratch. Unfortunately, I skipped a few elements of the tutorial and the previous mesh was quite hard to fix. Instead of spending hours on small tweaks, I decided to make one final approach with a great attention to the details and correct vert alignment. I then applied Level 1 Subdivision Surface to get a smoother version of the model for further adjustments. Finally, I added another level of SDS and got a complete base. The next step will be creating an ear.

I re-posted the image in the same topic and got a more positive feedback. The same user who previously gave me advice said it’s looking much better now.

To make objects cast more light in the renders, go to the Illumination tab in the material settings -> Generate GI Strength -> make much higher. Turn GI Area Light on in the same tab to avoid odd odd shadows

This makes the GI to “pay more attention” to the objects meant to be the source of the light.

Difference:

The shadows are still not defined very well. The next step to fix this is  going to Render Settings -> GI -> Irradiance Cache -> Color Refinement 100% (or less – find the balance)

Result:

Applying Secondary Method in the settings adds light that bounces off the objects -> Light Mapping (tweak the Maximum Depth)

Result:

To make further improvements to the scene, go below the First and Secondary methods of lightning and focus on the Samples section. Best way to alter this is to set Custom Sample Count. Rise the Sample Count for more accurate results. It will extend the render time.

In the Light Mapping tab decrease the Samples Size for better quality. You can also increase the Path Count for more samples, but it extends the rendering time drastically.

Hemispherical Sampling box in general settings should always be on. Discrete Area Sampling and Discrete Sky Sampling focus more energy on the lights that we tell to be the area lights.

Quasi-Monte Carlo (QMC) – a brute force GI that samples every pixel. Good for fine detail, can be slow. IR+QMC = first GI bounce uses the irradiance method, extra bounces set using high diffuse depths use a special version of QMC. Quite a fast method for rendering GI and you get sharper results in the GI solution (so GI shadows are better defined)

Sample count up in QMC = less grain

Full video tutorial:

Even though I was quite happy with the current development of my model, I was sure that there still is a room for improvement. In order to get some feedback, I’ve set up a profile on a forum called C4D Cafe. I have posted my model and asked for people’s opinions on what could be corrected. Two very experienced users replied almost immediately offering valuable advice on what could be improved:

Most important points of the feedback that I will use as a guide in further development:

– eliminate all triangles – Subdivision Surface doesn’t tolerate them

– rearrange the polygons around the next, they should be turned into tidy strips of 4 sided polys

– extend the polygon density

– fix the ngons around the mouth and upper chin

– more clean loops around the mouth

I found those replies very helpful and I’m pleased with the fact that both users agreed that my work is going in the right direction. However, the next step will be improving the topology. My model is not intended for animating, but it’d be a good idea to adjust it correctly, just in case I decide to create a simple animation.