Hello! My name is Liz Staley and I’m a long-time user of Clip Studio Paint (I started using the program back when it was known as Manga Studio 4!). I was a beta-tester on the Manga Studio 5 program and for Clip Studio Paint, and I have written three books and several video courses about the program. Many of you probably know my name from those books, in fact. I write weekly posts on Graphixly.com and on CSP Tips, so be sure to come back every week to learn more Clip Studio Tips and Tricks from me!

One of the updated features in Clip Studio Paint Version 5 is a new 3D hand model that has tons of new options and is, in my opinion, a lot easier to pose! This week let’s take a look at it and all the new options it offers!

Using the Updated 3D Hand Models

To use the updated hand models, you will need to be able to update to Version 5 of Clip Studio Paint. Once you have done this, simply go to the Materials Library, then select the 3D folder - Hand Model. (You can also go to 3D - Pose - Hand and choose a pre-posed hand to start off with!) Drag and drop a hand model onto your canvas. 

You should instantly see a difference between the new hand models and old ones! The new ones look much more realistic than in previous versions. However, if we open the Advanced Tool Settings (Previously called “Sub Tool Details”) then we can take advantage of the incredible new customization options. 

Once in the Advanced Tool Settings select the “Hand Model” category. Here, there are six types of hand that you can adjust to change the proportions of the hand and fingers. These six types can be used on their own or mixed by adding two or more types. 

If you want to really customize the hand model, tap on “Adjust Parts” in the category list. In this screen we can adjust everything from the length and thickness of individual fingers to the width of the wrist! But let’s start with the fingers first. 

In this screen you will see a line drawing of a hand broken into individual fingers, the palm, and the wrist. At the top of this drawing is a button that has all five fingers in it (shown in the screenshot below in blue). To adjust all the fingers at once, make sure this icon is active. 

When adjusting all the fingers, you can adjust the finger length, finger thickness, fingertip taper, nail length, nail width, and nail shape. 

To adjust an individual finger, click on the finger in the line drawing to select it. The pinky finger is selected below, showing it highlighted in blue. 

At any time, you can reset changes to the default using the icon circled in red in the screenshot below. 

When editing individual fingers the length, thickness, and taper can be adjusted using the sliders. 

Click on the palm of the hand in the line drawing to switch to the palm customization options. Here, you can adjust the palm width, palm height, and palm thickness. You can also turn on hand veins, and adjust their prominence with the Vein Prominence slider. 

Now let’s switch to the wrist settings. Here we can change the wrist width using the slider.

The “Show wristbone” checkbox can also be unchecked, leaving just a hand with no arm attachment. 

Once you’re finished adjusting the look of the hand model, you can close the Advanced Tool Settings window. 

Now let’s check out the improved posing controls! Clicking on the hand model will reveal some control points in the forms of circles on the finger joints, triangles on the joints where the fingers and palm connect, a half-circle in the palm, and a triangle at the wrist. Let’s start with the circle controls at the midpoint of each finger. 

Clicking one of these controls reveals the slider adjustment for that finger, where you can control how much the finger is curled at the top joint.

Clicking on one of the triangle controls at the connection of the palm and the finger gives us two control sliders - one for the spread of the finger (how close to the nearby fingers it is), and the bottom slider controls the curl of the finger at this joint. 

If you want to control all the fingers at once, click on the half circle control at the palm of the hand. With these sliders you can control the spread and curl of all five fingers at the same time. 

The final new control is the long triangle at the bottom of the 3D hand model. The top slider here controls the flex of the wrist up and down.

While the bottom slider controls the flex of the wrist from side to side. 

There’s one more way that we can pose the 3D hand model, and it’s probably the fastest of them all so long as you are using a device with a camera (whether that is a mobile device or a desktop computer with a webcam). 

To use the camera to pose the 3D hand model, click the Hand Scanner icon shown in the red square below. You will get a notice that the device’s camera will be used and that the camera’s footage will be shown on the screen while this function is being used. You can click Cancel if you do not want to use this feature or click OK to continue.

Now you can hold your own hand up to the camera and move it to move the 3D model in real time. Press the OK button in the Hand Scanner window to set the pose when you get it where you want it. 

Now you can use the 3D hand to complete your drawing!

Conclusion

As someone who used to take photos of their own hands on a very old digital camera and then put them onto my computer, I really love the ease of use of having 3D models of all sorts that I can just drop onto my canvas and use! These new controls and customization options make the hand models even more, well, handy!

For more information on CLIP Studio Paint, please visit https://www.clipstudio.net/en or https://graphixly.com