You’ve got a Maya 2018 file, but you need to import it into Maya 2014. Just trying to open it in 2014 doesn’t work. And if you export it as an FBX, you might lose a lot of important data, like lighting, materials, deformers, etc.
But there is a trick to convert Maya files to open in old versions of Maya!
Continue reading Convert Maya files to open in older versions of Maya!
When Maya crashes, it promises to save a duplicate of your file. But where does Maya save crash files in Windows 10? And how can we use this knowledge to save GIGABYTES in storage on our hard drives? It’s all in a hidden-by-default directory.
You want to get a job in the game industry? So does everyone else! The competition is stiff. So you need a really good strategy to approach your job search. I will tell you what worked for me – and the people I’ve hired! Continue reading How to get a job in the game industry – the search
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
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
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
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
Continuing the bodybuilder series, my Mudbox character sculpting tutorial lays out the process of creating detailed anatomy for a muscular character, a pretty standard piece that should be in every character artist’s portfolio.
People argue whether Mudbox or ZBrush is best for sculpting – but no one argues about which is the better texture painting package. Mudbox is the best, hands down – and we can use its tool set to create amazing, photoreal textures quickly and easily.
Continue reading Mudbox texturing tools make photorealism easy
The head is the single most complicated challenge for an artist. Not only do you have to make an aesthetically appealing model, but there are tons of technical requirements that most artists don’t stop to think about. Learning how to model a head for animation the right way means knowing how to find the balance. Continue reading Learn to model a head for animation the right way
