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Description

I can't emphasize enough how this is a test. As if the title didn't make it obvious lol. But yes, it's a test. Yes there's a ton wrong with it and i'll point it out below.

I've been trying to learn how to properly pose facial expressions in xps and blender for a long time, which is just one reason why i've slowed down on my render uploads lately. I'm trying to learn many different things at once to get better and i've been trying to get down what's been taught to me thus far before moving onto more advanced things.

I have next to zero experience with MMD models and don't intend to leave one fandom for the other (xps is much easier IMO but to each their own of course!) but i do feel that what one side uses, can be used for the other if it can help the learning process. In this case, I learned through MMD usage, about shape keys. I had no idea they were even a thing until I came across the tutorial by crazy4anime09 , who gave me a tutorial to basic shape key learning here youtu.be/OITWiN8Dplo (because i was having issues trying to figure out hair clipping through clothes when the hair had no bones to begin with and i thought shape keys could help), and that video gave me the idea to look for more tutorials that lead me to this one youtu.be/zO4nADGlUwk and that helped me to understand proportional editing better, which is something i've been struggling to learn and get right for just as long as i've started using blender again. I really think shape keys could come in handy for xps models in blender, if it were possible. I used the MMD model of Kairi because at the time i started this, it was the most immediate model i had on hand.

I want to use these things in order to make better renders in the future. So i hope i'm on some kind of right path. I welcome any input on what might help or might work better.

The things you should ignore when looking at this:

The skin crease marks around the face and neck. Even with SubdivdeSurf added, that still happened. But i think i know what i did wrong there.

The clipping of the necklace. I tried to use proportional editing on that as well. Didn't turn out so great lol. Will practice more.

Eye reflections. Actually tried to turn this off but wouldnt work for some reason.

General clothes issues. Again was mostly focusing on the face / hair here so i wasnt paying much attention lol.

Lighting. I literally set a small basic light set up on this one. Its nothing special. In fact the only editing I did in photoshop was adding the bokeh background, the tag, and adding a rim light effect to make the image of Kairi pop a little more. Everything else is untouched.

Things I am looking to IMPROVE based on this test:

The hair. Yes that was where i was practicing proportional editing most as evident by the swept bangs. But i still had an issue with clipping around the hood of Kairi's clothes. Eventually i want to learn particles for hair but i want to get through these basics first if it'll help later.

The actual smiling expression. I know its by far not perfect. Even though the model has built in shape keys set, i still had to actually make adjustments and that took a ton of experimenting and practicing. Proportional editing came into play somewhat here as well. The eyes actually have some shape key effect on them too.
The teeth. Seriously no matter what I did, they still came out looking, i dont know, dull? I tried to make the texture for them brighter without white-washing it but it wasn't doing much luck and no matter what light i set on it, they wouldn't stand out properly. Not sure how to fix that at all.

But the positive i can draw from this is that i feel like i've learned something new here that can help me with xps and more renders in general later on. I just need to keep practicing and studying to see what i can make possible.

MMD KH3 Kairi mod is from

Bokeh background from google

Posed and rendered in blender cycles

Kairi and Kingdom Hearts are completely credited to Square Enix

Description

I can't emphasize enough how this is a test. As if the title didn't make it obvious lol. But yes, it's a test. Yes there's a ton wrong with it and i'll point it out below.

I've been trying to learn how to properly pose facial expressions in xps and blender for a long time, which is just one reason why i've slowed down on my render uploads lately. I'm trying to learn many different things at once to get better and i've been trying to get down what's been taught to me thus far before moving onto more advanced things.

I have next to zero experience with MMD models and don't intend to leave one fandom for the other (xps is much easier IMO but to each their own of course!) but i do feel that what one side uses, can be used for the other if it can help the learning process. In this case, I learned through MMD usage, about shape keys. I had no idea they were even a thing until I came across the tutorial by crazy4anime09 , who gave me a tutorial to basic shape key learning here youtu.be/OITWiN8Dplo (because i was having issues trying to figure out hair clipping through clothes when the hair had no bones to begin with and i thought shape keys could help), and that video gave me the idea to look for more tutorials that lead me to this one youtu.be/zO4nADGlUwk and that helped me to understand proportional editing better, which is something i've been struggling to learn and get right for just as long as i've started using blender again. I really think shape keys could come in handy for xps models in blender, if it were possible. I used the MMD model of Kairi because at the time i started this, it was the most immediate model i had on hand.

I want to use these things in order to make better renders in the future. So i hope i'm on some kind of right path. I welcome any input on what might help or might work better.

The things you should ignore when looking at this:

The skin crease marks around the face and neck. Even with SubdivdeSurf added, that still happened. But i think i know what i did wrong there.

The clipping of the necklace. I tried to use proportional editing on that as well. Didn't turn out so great lol. Will practice more.

Eye reflections. Actually tried to turn this off but wouldnt work for some reason.

General clothes issues. Again was mostly focusing on the face / hair here so i wasnt paying much attention lol.

Lighting. I literally set a small basic light set up on this one. Its nothing special. In fact the only editing I did in photoshop was adding the bokeh background, the tag, and adding a rim light effect to make the image of Kairi pop a little more. Everything else is untouched.

Things I am looking to IMPROVE based on this test:

The hair. Yes that was where i was practicing proportional editing most as evident by the swept bangs. But i still had an issue with clipping around the hood of Kairi's clothes. Eventually i want to learn particles for hair but i want to get through these basics first if it'll help later.

The actual smiling expression. I know its by far not perfect. Even though the model has built in shape keys set, i still had to actually make adjustments and that took a ton of experimenting and practicing. Proportional editing came into play somewhat here as well. The eyes actually have some shape key effect on them too.
The teeth. Seriously no matter what I did, they still came out looking, i dont know, dull? I tried to make the texture for them brighter without white-washing it but it wasn't doing much luck and no matter what light i set on it, they wouldn't stand out properly. Not sure how to fix that at all.

But the positive i can draw from this is that i feel like i've learned something new here that can help me with xps and more renders in general later on. I just need to keep practicing and studying to see what i can make possible.

MMD KH3 Kairi mod is from

Bokeh background from google

Posed and rendered in blender cycles

Kairi and Kingdom Hearts are completely credited to Square Enix