I continued to work on the model (UV mapping and texturing) while improving the topology as I worked on it. My main way of doing this was by smoothing the UV maps and adjusting the edge loop (add or remove) in the main model.
After adjusting the maps and playing with the Mudbox (I know it wasn’t perfect but I had to keep going) I opened my eyes (trying to think about the movement, the skin around the eyes, the corners of the eyes and the lower lip – checking if it looks good from the front and the profile side). Later I got into adjusting the UV maps (ears) and solving any topology issues (mainly inserting edge loops with edge flow) to add geometry.
Workshop notes:
Creating joints:
Orthographic view>Rigging section>Skeleton>Create joints.
Shading>X-Ray Joints (on).
Display>Animation>Joint Size.
Skin Weights:
Skin>Bind Skin Options>Send to: Selected joints>Maintain max influences (off).
Skin>Paint Skin Weights>Paint interactions (Add, Scale, Smooth).
Keyframe movement (Rotate X, Y, Z).
Sources:
Autodesk Maya: Joints and bones (2016) Available at: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/ENU/Maya/files/GUID-1B59334F-2605-44C3-B584-A55B239A2CBE-htm.html (Accessed: 14 November 2022).
Introduction to rigging in Maya – Part 3 – Rigging the neck and head (2014) Available at: https://3dtotal.com/tutorials/t/introduction-to-rigging-in-maya-the-neck-and-head-jahirul-amin-animation (Accessed: 5 December 2022).
Autodesk Maya: Paint skin weights (2021) Available at: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2022/ENU/Maya-CharacterAnimation/files/GUID-7D773C38-F9CF-4141-8ADD-4E0454838BB7-htm.html (Accessed: 26 November 2022).
Autodesk Maya: Lock smooth skin weights (2019) Available at: https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2019/ENU/Maya-CharacterAnimation/files/GUID-C170E134-0746-44DC-B122-9F8FA7894674-htm.html (Accessed: 5 December 2022).