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This is part of a tutorial I am writing about making a human.
This tutorial does not rigidly dictate every step you need to perform to achieve the desired result. It is designed to be flexible so that simular techniques can be used in different situations.
This tutorial was written for 3D Studio Max 2 (kinetix.com), but can probably be used for other 3D programs aswell.
It was written while I was making a human head (and body). I was looking for some tutorials myself and found out that a lot of people are looking for tutorials on making a human head and/or body.

Do not ask me for any plugins or other programs. I do not use or spread illegally obtained programs.
All I can give you is advice on what plugins to use, and where to find the designers of these plugins.

If you need more help on NURBS, especially the basics, check the kinetix (kinetix.com) website. There are some good 'step by step' tutorials on there. They will not teach you how to make a human, but some basic shapes like a surf board and valley. That's the way I learned the basics about NURBS, so check them out.

1. The outline

When making a human head, the best way for me is to start drawing the outline of the head. (Or search the web for a picture). This outline does not need to be exactly the way you want your head to be, it is just a guide. Still, the closer it gets to the head you want to make, the quicker you will finish shaping the sides of the head.

Load it into the left view port.

Draw a sphere, about the size of the outline, and convert it into a NURBS surface.
Why using a sphere and not many outlines like other tutorials say? Because I think this saves you time. I tryed making a head with outlines, but searched for a less time consuming methode.
For other NURBS objects, like a human body, outlines are the best way, as far as I know.

3. Shaping the NURBS Sphere

Now that you have the NURBS surface, start moving the surface CV's to match the outline in the left viewport.

You will need to add some ROWS and COLS to be able to do this. Add as less ROWS and COLS as possible to make the right shape! More ROWS and COLS slow down the process a lot.

In this picture I added to many ROWS and COLS, but at that time, I didn't know that.

As you can see in the front viewport, the head doesn't look like a head. But in the left viewport, the head already looks like a human head. This should motivate you to go on. (at least it did for me).

1. The front viewport

Now the most time consuming part of the whole process begins.
This wil probably take you a couple of hours to get it the way you want it. Don't be affraid to start over when you messed up the head. So don't forget to save in different files, so you can always go back a step.

Start selecting and moving the Surface CV's to the right spot. I myself prefer to start with the basic shape of the head. Then start with the nose, then the lips and finally the eyes.

Don't add to much detail in the beginning of the process, with NURBS you can always move CV's later, or add more ROWS or COLS.
Slowly the head starts to appear. When you have all the basic shapes modelled on the head (lips, eyes and nose) you can start adding detail.

As you can see, there are no ears on this head. Since I wanted to use long hair, the ears wouldn't be visible anyway. I did make ears later on, and added them to the model. This is no problem, because ears can easily be attached and look like part of the head.

1. Shaping the nose and lips (basics)

Now you will add detail to the nose.

First make the basic shape of the nose. It is important to think about if you want it to be a male or female. Males usually have bigger noses, smaller lips and a bit different eyes then females.

(the difference in the eyes is not that important, because we are going to us makeup later on).

While you shape the nose, shape the lips at the same time, because the lips and nose are very close to eachother.

2. The nostrils and detailed lips

When the basic shape is finished start adding the final detail, the nostrils.
They are not hard to make, select the right CV in the front viewport and move it up in the left viewport. Now go back to the front viewport and align it to the left center of the nose.

Also adjust the sides of the nose. You will need to switch between the left and front viewport for this. When the nose is finished we will add more detail to the lips.

Look closely at real pictures of people to see how the lips are shaped. We don't need to much detail, because we will use lipstick on the lips.

When the lips are done, we will continue with the eyes.

As you can see, I only did one side of the head. Later on I converted the head to a editable mesh cut off the right side of the head, and mirrored the left side.

But I would advice you to do both sides with NURBS. This takes up more time, but you can change the head easier later on.
For example, if you made a female head with NURBS, it will be fairly easy to change it into a mans head or childs head, whatever you want to make next.

1. The eyelids

(Also check the picture above for CV positions)
First you make the eyelids. Don't over do on them, because when you will use makeup on the eyes, you did most of the trouble for nothing. A basic shape will do just fine. (unless you will zoom extreemly on the eyes).

Check a real head to see where the eyelids start (top of nose etc). Forget about putting in an eye already.
First make the eye socked (again basic shape, unless you want to pop out an eye or something).

You might need to add some ROWS and COLS to adjust the eyelids and socked.

2. The eyes

Then make the eye itself.
Just take a sphere, modify it with FFD modifier, an shape it into the eye-shape.
Convert to editable mesh, and delete all useless faces.

Now adjust the eyelids and eye a bit (if needed) so that they fit together and have the right size. (I asume you made the head with NURBS, if not, then resizing will not be that easy, then you should try to get the size right from the start).
This should do it. More detail will come when you add the right materials.

1. Makeup

Making up the eyes and lips isn't as hard as it looks. With a little help from 4D paint (4dvision.com) you will simple draw them onto the head.

What I did was, I draw the outlines of the eyes and lips in 4d paint, then I opened the exported MAX material in Adobe Photoshop (adobe.com). Then you simply draw the colors you want to use onto the head, or use parts of a real face and copy/paste and resize (transform layer/scale). Use the Smudge tool to finish things off. Et voila.

(Tips on using 4d paint, check the 4d vision website.)

1. Hair

Making hair is a time consuming process. At least, if you want it to be a bit realistic.
If you are making a manga style head, hair is more easy to make.

On this head I made the hair by hand, and I will add more detail to it in the near future. I made the hair by creating a small piece of hair, and copying it onto the whole head.
Use the right materials to add more 'hair-like' detail to the hair. Try changing the Opacity at the tips of the hair by using a bitmap that is 100% opacity on the top (100% black) and slowly goes to 0% opacity (white).

A good solution to making hair could be plugins that are being made to generate the hair for you.

A free(beta) plugin is Peter Watjes Hair plugin. (http://www.blarg.net/~peterw/hair.html). I have not tryed it yet, so I don't know if it is anygood.
Other plugin will be on the market in the near future.
Or maybe you know a good hair plugin? Please email me, and let me know.

If anyone knows a good(better) way to make hair. Please let me know, I will add it to this tutorial.

1. Render time

When you have finished the head, render it and email it to me, if you like.

I would like to see what you have accomplished with a little help from my tutorial.

Email: Kees1977@hotmail.com