Modeling a Hand



We will start our hand with an extrude object, which will give the first approximation of the hand body.
The contour to be extruded will look like :

We extrude it along a simple straight segment.
The result is :

Next, we will add the fingers. Activate the vertex toolbox (F5 or ), and select the two top vertices that define front of the hand. Divide this edge in 4 parts (). Do the same with the bottom two vertices. Now, We will link by an edge the 6 added vertices. Select the vertices two by two and add an edge between them ().
The result is :

Now, the hand body is ready for building the fingers from it. Activate the face toolbox (F6 or ). Select the face where the little finger will be. Select the extrude face tool () and extrude the face by 9.
The result is :

Now, select the front face of the extruded part. Select the scale face tool () and scale it by 0.9. We continue to build the little finger with the same process. The front face is already selected. Select the extrude face tool and extrude the face by 6. Then select the new front face and scale it by 0.9. The result is :

The last phalanx is build in the same way. Extrude the front face by 4 and scale the new front face by 0.8. The result is :

All the finger are build in the same way. For the next one, extrude by 10, scale by 0.9, extrude by 9, scale by 0.9, extrude by 4, scale by 0.8. The result is :

For the center finger, extrude by 12, scale by 0.9, extrude by 8, scale by 0.9, extrude by 4, scale by 0.8. For the last finger, extrude by 11, scale by 0.9, extrude by 8, scale by 0.9, extrude by 4, scale by 0.8. The result is :

Now, we will add the thumb. Select the base of the thumb and extrude the face by 8. Now, scale the front face by 0.8. Extrude the front face by 7, and scale it by 0.8. The result is :

We want our model a little bit more smooth. Active the object tools toolbox (F8 or ). Then, launch the mesh subdivision tool (). The wrist is not what we want. Move the hand (tool ) in the object toolbox ()) so that the model wrist is cuted by the (yz) plane, like in the following picture (the red cross position is important):

Activate the cut with a plane () in the object tools toolbox. Select the (yz) plane ().
The result look like :

The wrist is not round enough. Activate the vertex toolbox, and select the six vertices like in the picture bellow :

Select the scale selected vertices tool (). Scale the vertices a little bit. Then, select the top and bottom vertex of the wrist, and scale them again. The result is shown in the above picture. Now select the vertex at the center top of the hand, and move it upward (tool ). Select the center bottom vertex of the hand and move it upward too.
In order to finish our picture, we will add a background and a sleeve. The sleeve is a cylinder. Add a cylinder (tool  in the object toolbox) which is made of 5 parts. Scale it (edit->scale x,y,z menu) along the z axis). Then, add some noise to the cylinder (tool  in the object tools toolbox) and rotate it by 90 ° around the y axis (2 times the tool  in the object tools toolbox). Now, move the sleeve so that the end correspond to the wrist.
The background is a simple polygon. Add a grid of 1x1 (menu objects->grid), and scale it by 5. Move it so that it is bellow the hand and the sleeve.
The result look like :

The hand's faces are not planar, and the ray tracing process will leave holes between faces. So we need to convert these faces to planar faces. Select the hand and activate the face toolbox. Select all the faces of the hand ('a' key in the drawing area), and launch the face to convex planar face tool (). Now, edit the hand material ( in the object toolbox). Select a phong shading, with a pink color.
Select the sleeve, and choose a phong shading, with white color.
Select the background grid, a choose a flat shading (default) with the following parameters :

You can now add lights, move the camera and ray trace the scene :