Setting up a character’s body is one thing – but Maya face rigging is on a whole other level! It isn’t uncommon to have more joints in the face than in the rest of the body combined. In fact, you may end up with double or triple the number!
So how do we handle the complexity of all those joints, and the accompanying skin weighting issues it brings?
Continue reading Maya Face Rigging Basics – a Maya 2017 Character Setup Tutorial
How do you know when to use modeling vs sculpting? What objects are best handled via modeling, and which are best handled via sculpting? They seem very similar… but using the wrong approach means uglier art that takes longer to create!
Want to know how to place joints correctly? Looking for an explanation for Maya’s skin weighting tools, like the new Geodesic Voxel bind method? Want a cheat sheet for bone placement? Keep reading! Continue reading how to rig in maya: joints & skinning
When inspiration strikes, getting to work is easy. The idea is fresh, you’re still excited, and you have all sorts of ideas on how exactly to proceed.
But 3D art takes a lot of time, and inspiration passes quickly. How can you make sure to keep your momentum when that eureka moment has passed? Continue reading how to keep your artistic momentum going!
Have you noticed that modeling heads and faces is really hard? So have I! Here’s why: Continue reading Maya 2016 female head modeling tutorial
Reader Ric Williams emailed me a raft of questions about animation with blendshapes versus joints, mostly for facial animation. I thought I would post my answers here, as others might find them helpful!
Historically, it used to be that blendshapes meant pre-rendered, and joints were used for real-time stuff. Continue reading Joints or Blendshapes?
So the first character modeling vid I published on YouTube still gets tons of hits… but it’s a bit long in the tooth. So here is the new improved version, updated for Maya 2016! Continue reading Maya 2016 female body modeling tutorial
The common thinking is that starting with a T-Pose for characters is the best way of building a model. However, after years of experience, I don’t use a T-Pose any more. In fact, I think modeling in a T-Pose is a terrible idea, and results in characters that don’t look right or deform correctly. Why?
New to Mudbox? Knowing Maya or Max gives you a head start, but like all software, Mudbox has its own quirks.
I’ve assembled this list of Mudbox tips for beginners, based on my experience using the program since version 1. It should help you use the program more effectively! Continue reading Mudbox tips for beginners
Welcome to Maya 2016! I’m kicking things off with a tutorial on creating eyes in a really easy way. Get good eyes in like 10 minutes, seriously!
