Model a realistic hand!
(from July 9 to August 31, 2004)

High five, ladies and gentlemen! Since big_dave was the winner of our last challenge he gets to select the topic for this one: to model a realistic human hand. The human hand is very intricate and surprisingly difficult to recreate in 3D, and the July 2004 Challenge is to model one as good you possibly can, including veins, knuckles and fingernails. It could be the hand of a male or a female, of a young person or an old person, that is completely up to you. Since the focus here is on realistic modeling we urge you to take some time to study how the hand really looks. A common mistake, for instance, is to let the thumb align with the rest of the fingers but if you look at your own hand in a relaxed state you'll see that the thumb actually is placed slightly below the fingers, hanging down. For reference photos you can browse the web, check out the links below or why not scan or photograph your own hand!

Here are some useful links to start you off:

• Maxon - basig hand modeling tutorial in two parts on Maxon's site
• bunk's Meissie tutorial - bunk's famous tutorial on Maxon's site (link is directly to the part on hand modeling)
• aNTRo - the website of Krishnamurti M. Costa has one of the best hand modeling tutorials available (it's for Maya and unfortunately in Portugeese, but with plenty of images and translates pretty well to Cinema)
• Newtek - a video tutorial on hand modeling (for Lightwave)
• Subdivison modeling - another Maya tutorial
• Subpatch modeling - another Lightwave tutorial
• Human Photo References for 3D Artists and Game Developers - over 9000 high resolution photos of humans, an excellence resource for both reference photos and textures (membership is required but well worth the money)

A couple of things to keep in mind: This challenge is on modeling only, there's no need to texture the hand or rig it for animation.

Upload your entry (image and information) in the Cinema 4D forum (use the following message title: "My entry to the challenge"). After approval they will be included in this gallery. The members of the Cinema 4D forum will then vote for the winning entry.

Only one entry per member

First prize: you get to decide the next challenge!

Remember, we are a community, so don't hesitate to ask for help in the Cinema 4D forum!

Have fun and good luck!
Cartesius & Kromekat