Design and Animate the Representative 3D Model of Soothsayer of the Shang Dynasty

During the Shang Dynasty of China, Zhen, who presided over sacrificial rituals and made predictions about the future, is one of the oldest prophets in human history. People tend to visualize the Zhen just as they do modern humans. Since the history of Zhen ceased many centuries ago, it may be difficult to recall its characters and to visualize the face and the cloth. Hence, portrait modeling and animation design, especially the modeling design based on the costumes, hairstyles and movements of characters in ancient historical stories grows very important for 3D human modeling. This paper proposes a feature-based modeling method of historical figures. Through analyzing the characteristics of historical figures from multiple angles such as hairstyles, clothing, and movements, combined with virtual portrait 3D modeling technology and OpenGL drawing technology, a virtual human's model has been designed for Zhen. The model has also been tested in virtual portrait 3D model platform (VPMP) to evaluate the pixel displacement error. This method provides ideas for the construction of other historical figures, and also provides opportunities for exploration and learning for a better understanding of Shang Dynasty.