Art in games and film demand ultra-detailed surfaces. And the most important kind of surface is the skin on a person’s face. If you want to succeed as an artist, it is absolutely vital that you be able to create this detail. But how? Continue reading Face sculpting in Mudbox 2015
Category Archives: Tutorials
Detailed, step-by-step process tutorials, focused on specific topics like 3d modeling, character creation, sculpting, and texturing. These tutorials show how to use Maya, Mudbox, and Photoshop like a professional!
Sculpting muscles in Mudbox 2015
If you’ve played any recently, you know there are two types of guys in video games – ripped superheroes, and bulging Hulks. Check this vid for the process I use to sculpt characters like this in Mudbox. Continue reading Sculpting muscles in Mudbox 2015
MILA Scatter and subsurface scattering
Subsurface scattering is a complicated shader effect that makes skin look alive. But creating subsurface scattering shaders for skin has always been a little bit like black magic – until now.
Start using the new MILA material in Maya 2015
Mental Ray’s new MILA material in Maya 2015 is a layered library shader that improves performance and flexibility. Wait, why do you care? What’s wrong with Blinn??? Continue reading Start using the new MILA material in Maya 2015
Zipper stamp for Mudbox
Here’s another short video, I go over the process of creating a zipper stamp for Mudbox. I also include the stamp as a download! Continue reading Zipper stamp for Mudbox
Head Sculpting Vid
Here’s a short vid showing the creation of a character head in Mudbox, starting from the default base head.
Continue reading Head Sculpting Vid
Using Vector Displacement Maps in Mudbox
Want to create super-detailed sculpts in just seconds? You need to use VDMs!
Continue reading Using Vector Displacement Maps in Mudbox
Environment UVs
Creating environment UVs isn’t hard, per se. It’s usually just planar UV projections on flat surfaces. The trick is properly creating UVs that take advantage of tiling textures. Here’s a short video that lays out what you need to know! Continue reading Environment UVs
Creating a simple level blockout
You know that creating a simple level blockout (aka greyboxing) is a necessity for video game artists. But this simple skill can also make you a better artist all around.
As for how it can do that – I like to compare a blockout to Cliffs Notes.
Continue reading Creating a simple level blockout
How to fix Maya
Now we know where to find our crash save files. But chances are good that whatever caused that file to crash once, will make Maya crash again. What causes these problems, and how do we deal with them? Read on to learn how to fix Maya when it breaks. Continue reading How to fix Maya