Creating and Rigging a Low Poly Robot in 3ds Max and Photoshop
In this tutorial, we will make a low-poly robot, texture it, and then rig it. Software required: 3ds Max, ZBrush, Photoshop, Mudbox, xNormal, Marmoset Toolbag, CrazyBump.
What you'll learn
In this tutorial we will make a low-poly robot, texture it, and then rig it. Throughout these lessons, you will see a proven process of turning a high-poly robot piece that we have into a low-poly piece. We'll take a look at working with floater geometry and fixing our high-poly, then we'll move on to low-poly retopology of the robot. From there, our next goal will be to make the UVs of the robot. Then, we will get to the texturing stage, where we'll go into different programs to create the texture look that we want for our robot. Also, you will see how to make different variations of robots using the parts from this robot. Finally, you will have an overall idea of how to rig your creation using the CAT rig system inside of 3ds Max. Software required: 3ds Max, ZBrush, Photoshop, Mudbox, xNormal, Marmoset Toolbag, CrazyBump.
Table of contents
- Robot Design Exploration 6m
- Additional Floater Placement 11m
- Refining Floaters on the Arm 8m
- Refining Floaters on the Leg 7m
- Colorizing Parts 12m
- Grouping the High-poly Parts 11m
- Creating the Low-poly Joints and Arm 10m
- Creating the Finger Joints and the Leg 10m
- Creating the Pelvis and the Rest of the Leg 11m
- Creating the Palm of the Robot 9m
- Creating the Fingers and the Eye 12m
- Creating the Jaw and Finishing the Eye 11m
- Finishing the Jaw Piece 10m
- Creating the Helmet 13m
- Unwrapping the Chest 11m
- Unwrapping the Pelvis and Limbs 10m
- Unwrapping the Joints and the Palm 12m
- Unwrapping the Eye 10m
- Unwrapping the Jaw and the Fingers 11m
- Unwrapping the Helmet 11m
- Organizing the UVs 7m
- Packing the UVs 13m
- Final Touches on the UVs 7m
- Checking the High-poly 11m
- Preparing the Meshes for Baking 9m
- Exporting the Meshes 3m
- Baking the Normal Map 12m
- Mirroring the Low-poly Geometry 11m
- Extracting Texture Information 10m
- Importing the Robot into Marmoset Toolbag 4m
- Texture Wrapping in 3ds Max 12m
- Organizing the Textures 10m
- Painting the Bolts 11m
- Texturing the Eyes and the Leg 10m
- Texturing on the Arm 11m
- Adding Texture Detail 12m
- Adding Highlight Detail 11m
- Adding the Robot in Mudbox 10m
- Preparing the Texture for Projection 7m
- Texture Projection in Mudbox 12m
- Extracting Normal Map Detail 9m
- Refining the Diffuse Texture 7m
- Applying the Final Textures Inside 3ds Max 8m
- Creating Different Variations of the Robot 12m
- Blocking the Base of the Rig 11m
- Blocking the Fingers of the Rig 11m
- Finishing and Testing the Rig 8m
- Rigging the Robot 11m
- Adding Spline Controllers to the Rig 12m
About the author
Valentin Yovchev have worked as a 3d visualizer, and created two character models of creatures and robots for the game industry. As well as doing 3d concepts as a freelancer. He has worked on different game projects mostly as a freelancer and has also made prototypes for toys. Currently he is working as a 3d generalist/character artist at Kitmaker Entertainment.