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Skills Expanded

Crafting Characters from Design to Composite in ZBrush and Maya

by Jean-Michel Bihorel

In this course, we will take a global look at all the techniques required to do the models, textures, and shading for a character. Software required: Maya 2012, mental ray, Mudbox 2012, ZBrush 4R3, Photoshop CS5, Alchemy, Shave and Haircut.

What you'll learn

In this course, we will take a global look at all the techniques required to do the models, textures, and shading for a character. We will start by taking a brief look at the concept and references, then start to model from scratch in ZBrush using a ZSphere structure. After reaching a certain amount of detail, we will retopologize our character and refine the model before exporting the displacement maps into Maya. We will then paint textures for the accessories on our character and create some shaders. Also, we will take a look at the new FiberMesh features of ZBrush to comb the mustache of our character. Finally, we will make a pose and render a picture with our character to present it as a final product. This is not designed to be a step-by-step tutorial but it will cover a lot of concept and techniques. It is not an entry level tutorial, but for users who have a good understanding about Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop, and Mudbox. Software required: Maya 2012, mental ray, Mudbox 2012, ZBrush 4R3, Photoshop CS5, Alchemy, Shave and Haircut.

About the author

Jean-Michel Bihorel is a french CG Artist. He was born in 1988, and for the past 4 years has been working on movies and commercials as a technical director.

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