Game character production pipeline

lpanic

Hello.

I am starting to learn how to make 3d game characters. Now before touching any tutorials I would like to ask some experienced people in that topic what pipeline is the best for doing it at the moment, and what software should I use.

I want also to do rigging(including face rig) on that character after making it.

I have got access to the "digitaltutors", "3dmotive", etc. Now I need to know where to start and what way is the best at the moment to do it good.

Any advice would be welcome.

Thanks for answers.

SuperFranky

First of all, what kind of characters you want to make, realistic or stylized? What is your 3d modeling experience so far? What software you do have? What is your knowledge in sculpting or have you ever used a sculpting software before? What is your knowledge of anatomy?

lpanic

Stylized characters. Like from dota2, league of legends or skyrim. Being able to do any of those would be good.

My modeling experience so far is one year in "3ds max" where I was doing house models, some game assets like weapons etc. Also some basic animation and rigging. I wasnt doing any organic models before.

I got access to :
3ds max (i am using it for one year+)
Maya (never touched it before)
Zbrush (known basics)
Adobe Photoshop (Using it for few years, but like a year for textures)
Unrealengine4 ( one year in UDK so i believe its similar )
Quixel Suite ( mostly used for normal maps )
Substance Designer ( never used )

I've started the zbrush course at digital tutors about interface and basic tools inside zbrush but never really finished any projekt in it.

I am drawing from time to time so i know also basics or a bit more than that about anatomy and im getting it at university course each week this year.

Thats what I am thinking is pipeline for making game character:
1.Model at Zbrush or 3ds max and Zbrush
2.Unwraping i dont really know where, i would think about headusUV or 3ds max.
3.Texturing at Zbrush or in photoshop
4.Pose character to make rigging easier
5. Retopology for making game res model in 3ds max
6. Start rigging and animation in 3ds max. But i have readed that Maya seems better to deal with rigging and animation so im not sure if 3ds max will be good for that.

I have founded some tutorials about character design that i think could be good for starter like me, what do you think?:
1. creating human female assasin(digitaltutors)
2. Character designs in zbrush(digital tutors)
3. Character rigging (gnomon workshop)

SuperFranky

This is how characters are made for League of Legends :
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL75R0K_j7g"]ZBrush UGM with Josh Singh at Riot Games - YouTube[/ame] from the game's artist himself.

If you want to do that you would need a good experience with Zbrush. So grab tutorials related to getting started and learning all the features of the software.

For retopo you can use 3ds Max or any other software like 3dCoat or Topogun, it doesn't really matter.

Unwrapping can be done in 3ds max, 3dCoat or UV Layout. Many artists will swear by UV Layout and I will recommend it too.

Texturing can be done in Zbrush over a high polygon model or in photoshop after you unwrap a model. Or you can paint in Mudbox or 3dCoat over a low poly model directly. It's up to you to try all of these and chose which one you like more.

So the basic pipeline would be:
1. Design and model full character in Zbrush
2. Retopo the character in 3ds Max or any other software
3. Unwrap it
4. Bake maps
5. Texture it
6. Rigging

That's a traditional workflow. If you wish to choose polypainting in Zbrush, it will look like this:
1. Do character
2. Texture high poly model in Zbrush
3. Retopo
4. Unwrap
5. Bake maps
6. Rigging

You can find tutorials for each step in respective software's website or Digital Tutors.

lpanic

Thanks SuperFanky. I was looking for something like that. And pipelines are also cool to know how it look up to date.

But rigging should be done in Maya or 3ds max? Because i've heard that Maya is easier and more powerfull? Should i learn the rigging workflow on Maya then?

I will get to work then and hopefully I can post some work soon

SuperFranky

lpanic wrote: »

Thanks SuperFanky. I was looking for something like that. And pipelines are also cool to know how it look up to date.

But rigging should be done in Maya or 3ds max? Because i've heard that Maya is easier and more powerfull? Should i learn the rigging workflow on Maya then?

I will get to work then and hopefully I can post some work soon

I dunno anything about rigging, but Maya is a software of choice of nearly every animation studio there is...

Btw if you're gonna make characters for Dota, I belive that you won't need any rigging skills, you'll just have to make sure you do everything by official guidelines

lpanic

I have a question about Zbrush, I am following tutorial "Sculpting a Female Assassin in ZBrush"

Now we both have same zsphere model but when he is pressing "A" key to see it. He's model is much more smoother than mine.
Screen:


Anyone could tell me where I can change it?

Thanks.

//solved

Adaptive skin setting at tools tollbar xP