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Creating an Aged Character and Artifacts in ZBrush and Maya

by Brad Groatman

In this tutorial, we will follow the entire process of creating an illustration from modeling and texturing, to lighting and rendering out a final composite. Software required: ZBrush 4R4, Maya 2012, Photoshop CS6, After Effects CS5.

What you'll learn

In this tutorial, we will follow the entire process of creating an illustration from modeling and texturing, to lighting and rendering out a final composite. Throughout these lessons, we will go through the process of creating a 3D illustration from scratch. We will block out the character's shape using ZSpheres in ZBrush, then systematically add layers of sculpted detail to our character as we go. We will jump between ZBrush and Maya to utilize the strengths of each program, utilize a combination of PolyPainting in ZBrush and procedural texturing in Photoshop to give our meshes diffuse and bump maps, and composite our final render passes in After Effects, where we can play around with some post production flourishes. By the end of this training, we'll have experience taking a general concept and allowing the work itself to shape our vision of the final product. Software required: ZBrush 4R4, Maya 2012, Photoshop CS6, After Effects CS5.

Table of contents

Introduction and Project Overview
0mins
Creating an Aged Character and Artifacts in ZBrush and Maya
621mins

About the author

Brad Groatman is a freelance animator and modeler with an MFA in Animation and Visual Effects from the Academy of Art University in San Francisco. He currently teaches 3D Character Design and Character Animation in the northeastern US.

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