Blender 3D: Noob to Pro/Create a Clayman

Create a Clayman
(under construction)

This Tutorial was made using Blender version 2.41

Upon completing this tutorial, you will have made something like this:



Completed Clayman Render

Making The Clayman
Upon start, delete the default cube (X-KEY) and switch to front view with NUM1. Now add a mesh plane and under The Edit Buttons Window, Mesh Tools Tab click the subdivide button. Now select the 3 vertices on the left and delete them. (B-KEY for Border Select Tool)

If you can't select the vertices then deselect the Limited Selection to Visible button.



Now select/deselect all vertices with A-KEY (we want them selected). In the Modifiers Tab in the Edit Buttons Window, Click Add Modifier > Mirror You should now see something like this.



Now select the 3 right vertices and extrude them on the X axis by movement of 1.0 units by pressing E-KEY (Extrude > Only Edges), X-KEY (to constrain it to the X axis) and holding CTRL to constrain it to simple movements. Do this twice.



Now extrude the legs by selecting the 3 bottom-right vertices and extruding them on the Z axis by 1 unit. Do this twice as well.



Now extrude the top of the clayman on the Z axis (in units of 1.0) 7 times so that it looks like this.



Now let's make the arms by extruding the 2 boxes that are 3 boxes down from the top. Let's extrude it on the X axis by 1 unit 4 times so that it looks like this.



Now comes the extrusion of the whole body. As you can see, we only have a flat shape of a rough "Block". so lets move our view around with the NUMPAD arrows and extrude it on the Y axis. Select all vertices with A-KEY. Extrude > Region on the Y axis until it reaches 2.0 units. After done correctly, it should look like this.



With the Clayman successfully extruded, its now time to add some definition to him by adding a subsurface modifier. In the Edit Buttons window, under Modifiers, click Add Modifier > Subsurf and set the Levels bar to 2. It should look somewhat like this.



Now, Select all vertices with A-KEY, and click the Set Smooth button in the Links and Materials tab. Let's get to shaping the Clayman.Using the Border Select Tool (press B to get the Border Select Tool), grab the according vertices to make a shape like this.



after that's done, select the head vertices and grab them on the Z axis and move them up by 0.2 to make it look like this.



Now select all vertices with A-KEY, and scale them down (S-KEY) on the Y axis until it reads 0.6000. And finally, select the underside of the foot (the vertices that make it up) and subdivide it to make it more flat on the bottom.

Adding Materials
Start by going to the Material Buttons window (F5) and Clicking on Add New, and going down to the collumn of 3 rectangles that have one gray one and two blank white ones. Click on the gray one and in the top-right corner of the pop-up window, you'll see a Hex Code. Click on the current hex code and type in this new hex code to get the right color: 73BCF7. Now hit F6 to go to the Texture buttons window and click on Add New. Change the Texture type to Stucci. Now you'll see a new tab appear. On it, for NoiseSize enter 0.150. Now go back to the Materials Buttons window. On the far right there will be three tabs in one. On the Map To tab, Deselect Col and select Nor. Now your example should look like this.



Inserting Armatures
Now lets move on to inserting armatures in our clayman. Lets start by going into object mode (alternate between Object and Edit mode with TAB) and adding an armature. Press Space > Add > Armature. It automatically puts you in Edit mode upon adding the object. Switch to Object mode and grab it along the Y axis by 1.0 units so that it's inside the clayman. Sure, you can't see it now, but turn on X-axis Mirror Edit and X-Ray in the Edit Buttons window.



Now switch back to edit mode, and select the top of the bone. Etrude it on the Z axis by 1.4 units two times so that the tip of the second extrude is right in the center of the two arms. Now extrude it on the X axis by 3.0 units, then grab the tip of it and move it on the Z axis by 0.1700 units. Now extrude it on the X axis by 2.0 units twice. And do the same to the other side. It should look like this.



Now let's extrude the neck. Extrude the top bone along the Z axis by 1.0 units to make a pretty good size neck. Then extrude it up on one side so that the position reads like so. If you can't get it exact then at least try to get it as closest to the number as you can.



Then do the same to the other side so that it looks like 2 antennas. Now let's extrude the hips and legs. Lets start by extruding the bottom bone by 2.0 units on the X axis and for the Z axis, -1.0 units. Then extrude the foot by -2.0 on the Z axis. And last, select a forearm bone (select a whole bone by clicking the middle of it) and in the Edit Buttons window, you'll see a tab called Armature Bones. Deselect the Con button in that tab, and do the same with the other forearm bone. This allows us to be able to move the forearm out, instead of having it locked to another bone.

Applying The Armature
Ok, now we're going to apply the armature to the mesh so that when we move the bones, the mesh moves along with them. Lets start by switching to object mode and selecting the clayman mesh, and under the Modifiers tab, click apply on the Mirror modifier. You may see a pop-up, just click OK. Not only have we just made room in the Modifiers tab, we applied the mirror modifier to the mesh, so now we will have to edit both sides if we want to change something. But worry not, we wont need to change anything from here on. With that new space in the modifiers tab, let's add an Armature modifier. You may see a line that says "OB:" type in the name of the Armature in here (the default name for an armature is "Armature" unless you have made more than one) also, deselect the Envelopes button,for we will not be using envelopes in this tutorial. Here is what you should have.



Now, select the Armature and press CTRL + TAB. If you already have a bone selected, it should be highlighted blue now. We have just switched to Pose Mode. Now, while in Pose Mode, select the clayman mesh (if you cant select it, zoom in closer to get some of the bones out of the way) and press CTRL + TAB on the clayman mesh. We have just entered Weight Paint Mode. This allows us to assign vertices to the bones so that the mesh moves with the bones. Let's start by setting up the weight painting. You should see a new tab called Paint in your Edit Buttons window. Adjust your settings so that they conform to this.



Start by selecting the top-right bone of the head and start weight painting the front and back (you'll have to switch your view so that you can see the back to get the painting in there) Weight Paint it according to this.



Now Weight Paint the Neck. (pictures not shown of back view, but be sure to get the back anyway)



Now the Shoulder.



Now the Forearm.



Now The Hand.



And after getting the other side of the body, let's get the upper chest.



Now the middle chest.



Now the lower chest.



Now for the hips.



Now the Feet.



After doing the other side of the leg, switch back to Object Mode with CTRL + TAB, and select the Armature. You should already be in Pose Mode with the Armature. Now select a bone and grab it to move it. if you have Weight painted correctly, the Clayman mesh should move with the bone. There's two tips to moving the bones around in Pose Mode.

1) In the Edit Buttons window, whether Automatic IK is turned on or not affects how the bones move.

2) Where your view is affects how the bones rotate. (unless you have it constrained to an axis)

If you find that a part of your clayman isn't moving, just switch back to Weight Paint mode for that bone and repaint it.