For this tutorial I am assuming that you have a basic working knowledge of 3D Studio Max, Free Form Demodifers, and Patches and boolean operations. The operations that you will need to perform have been set out in a step-by-step fashion and all you need to do is follow the steps to get to the final product - Santa!

Let's begin by creating the hat.

1. Create torus (for base of hat)
2. Radius 1 = 10
3. radius 2 = 3

 
CONE (for the main shaft of the hat)

1. radius 1 = 11
2. r2 = 0
3. Height = 30
4. Height seg = 10
5. Bend this cone 190 (deg)
6. Sphere (for fuzzy little ball on end of hat)
7. r = 4
8. align/move to tip of bent cone
9. FFDx2 first torus and stretch Up / down to get desired result as in picture.

For the face
Skip these instructions if you have a photo to render a santa face with, these shapes just create basic reference points to work with.

1. Create sphere (forehead) R = 30
2. Shrink w/ FFDx2 till Y dimension is 20.

1. 2 spheres (cheeks) R = 13
2. clone Forehead sphere and uniform shrink to create chin. Repeat for second chin.

1. Cylinder
2. R = 9
3. Height = 40

1. Nose
2. Cone R = 2.5
3. Height = 10

1. Eyes
2. R = 2 to 3.5

 
Now begin creating lines to outline face shape. Use the shapes that you already have made, in the case that you don't have a photo.

Pay extra special attention to the initial creation of you face outline, the time you spend making sure you lines are setup right there will make a difference latter on. I am not going to explain patches in this tutorial because there are so many tutorials on them in the first place.

After you have outlined the face shape - apply patches to create an acceptable skin. In the end you should have the plump round face that you desire. Be sure to keep two of the cheek spheres, as you can see in my final model render, I used those to make the cheeks stand out the rosy red.

It may be much easier however to simply find a good face model and round it out to you needs.

For creating the main body first create a large sphere (size really doesn't matter - just so long as the object is big enough to be tampered with)

Using the FFDx4 - modify the sphere to the following shape

Create the arms and legs by creating spheres and FFDx4 to the shapes shown below. You will probably need a good knowledge of body shapes for this, but you can always just utilize another human form, add a large sphere in front, and FFDx4 till it looks like a hanging shirt/belly.

To create the hands, make two spheres of equal size then use the FFDx4 modifier  and shape to a desired 'Santa Glove' look. Use the FFDx4 to modify one of the spheres into a short cone shaped object (thumb) and modify the other into a small hand shaped item.

Create another Torus to be the fur at the end of the sleeves.

For the front seam of Santa's shirt create a sphere and FFDx4 until it has a flat look. you can also flatten the top and bottom by grabbing the outer top control points pulling them up, then grabbing the 2 middle sets and pulling them down. You will then need to use the Bend modifier to have the seam fit the shape of the shirt. Try using about 20 degrees. on the X-axis if you are in the Left view.

For the buttons just create small spheres, and FFDx4 them until one side is flat.

To create the Belt merely create a Torus, and use FFDx4 until the belt properly conforms to the shape Santa's body. For the belt buckle, create two boxes (make sure the width is not too large), about the height of the belt, and one slightly larger than that box. Subtract those two boxes (biggest minus smallest) and move the remaining boolean object till it aligns with your belt.

The boots will be a simple process to create - create two spheres, and a cylinder.

FFDx4 the first sphere till it joins with the cylinder and has an acceptable shoe look (slight slope inward, etc.). Then FFDx4 the final sphere till it is flat and well sized to be the rubber of the shoe.

Once all this is complete you can add hair like I did. For this just use a particle emitter, it may not be as good as a hair plugin, but it worked fine for me.

And your final result should be a nice (but not too detailed) Santa.

By Onawahya D. Jones

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