Creating Medieval Character Concepts in ZBrush and Maya
In this tutorial, we will learn how to take a medieval concept through Maya and ZBrush and create a nice character render from it. Software required: Maya 2010, Photoshop CS5, ZBrush 4R5.
What you'll learn
In this tutorial, we will learn how to take a medieval concept through Maya and ZBrush and create a nice character render from it. We will start with an old character sketch, and from there, we will take some reference photos, which we will bring into Maya to create our base mesh. Once we're happy with it, we'll take it into ZBrush, where we will sculpt the details and do the textures. We will learn about using masks, sculpting folds in fabric, adding skin detail, and using textures to create a base for our Polypainting. Then we will make some passes, which we will compose together in Photoshop to create the final image. This should give you a good understanding of how to take a concept from start to finish and create a nice still for your portfolio or to put online. Software required: Maya 2010, Photoshop CS5, ZBrush 4R5.
Table of contents
- Setting up the Reference and Cameras 7m
- Blocking out the Character 10m
- Blocking the Hands and Creating the Neck 7m
- Blocking out Clothing and Adding Detail to the Legs 10m
- Finishing the Rough Blocking 3m
- Setting up the Face 9m
- Bringing the Different Parts of the Face Together 9m
- Finishing the Head and Attaching It to the Body 8m
- Preparing the Blocking Model for Export 9m
- Starting on the Sculpt in ZBrush 9m
- Subdividing and Slowly Adding Detail 10m
- Adding Some of the Bigger Folds to the Shirt 7m
- Adding Folds on the Pants and the Boots 9m
- Creating Finer Detail to the Pants 10m
- A First Look at the ZBrush BPR Renderer 11m
- Adding Detailed Folds to the Sleeves 7m
- Changing Materials on SubTools 8m
- Adding a Cape in Maya 14m
- Polypainting the Eyes 9m
- Adding Skin Detail to the Face and Hands 10m
- Polypainting the Skin Tones on the Head 10m
- Using Textures to Create a Base for the Fabric 11m
- Using Spotlight for Projecting Textures 9m
- Cutting up the Cape Using Masks 11m
- Roughing up the Surfaces Using Masks 13m
- Finishing up and Exporting Our Layers 6m
- Putting the Layers Together in Photoshop 10m
- Adding the Finishing Touches to Our Image 10m
About the author
Maxim Fleury is a dutch 3D artist currently working as lead modeler at Double Negative in London. After studying computer science in Amsterdam, he started out in broadcast doing leaders and graphics for dutch television using Maya 1.5. After 4 years of this he moved to commercials and then finally features. He has been in the industry for 12 years and is still loving it.