Game character modeling pipeline w Maya and ZBrush

Pool4Sky

Hi 3D professionals,

I'm new with the topic of game character design. I want to create fantasy game characters but I don't know is the best pipeline for creating such characters. I'm working with a Mac and I have such tools like Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter & Designer and Photoshop.

I think the pipeline could be:
- creating low poly model in Maya
- importing the low poly model to ZBrush
- sculpting high poly model in ZBrush
- export high poly model to Maya
- retopologize it in Maya
- unwrap UV in Maya
- creating normal maps with xNormal (but I don't know anything about occlusion and specular or other maps)
- creating texture in Substance Designer (but I don't know how?)

Then I guess I have to bake all of them in Maya or another tool?
Please can you give me the properly pipeline to creating a game character?
It would be very glad if you have links to video tutorials where I can learn these steps in detail.

Thank you very much.

Kind regards,

Danny

PyrZern

There are many ways to do things. Either you go from Maya -> ZBrush. Or ZBrush -> Maya is fine. In game studio; you probably go from Maya to ZBrush to sculpt, because you will likely be re-using the basemesh or something.

But eventually, you will have high-res sculpt in ZBrush, and UV'ed Lowpoly model.

You would bake AO just about the same way you would bake normal map.

I believe Youtube has what you need to get started. No, I don't really have any specific vids/tutorials. Google/Youtube is enough.


EDIT:  It also helps to tell us what you know and what you can do at the moment; so we know what/what not to tell you.

Pool4Sky

Thank you for your quick answer. But I need a completeness or a correction of the pipeline of character creation, that was listed in my first entry. I saw many different possibilities of a character creation at Youtube or at other Internet sites. But I didn't found a complete pipeline, who used the tools that I have.

nikola3d

Well, you can play as you like. It really sometimes depends on your company pipeline, or your prefers. I like to start from Dynamesh of Zsphere to get base mesh of my, let's say some creature, then I sculpt and push forms till the moment of being ready to sculpt extremly high res like pores, wrinkles, etc. Before that I do retopology and Uv's and then on that mesh I sculpt details. 

I find myself using alot more ZBrush lately because It speed up my workflow, instead just going ZBrush-Maya, Maya-ZBrush. Maya also comes to place in my workflow but usually on late parts like cleaning up, assembling, etc.
Basically, create model, retopologize it, Uv it, project from high to low poly, and then go for texturing and shading.

Conclussion. For personal work you can do what ever and however you like. Experiment! For professional you will be trained. Everyone in the world doing on their own way and how best suits for them. 
Hope I helped.

MisterSande

I found out that if you are working from reference and want "clear solid 3D planes" in your sculpt that it is best to start with "Primitive blockouts" in Zbrush or Maya and then dynamesh the whole thing. Mike Dafeo has some awesome techniques for this...

If you are sculpting from imagination or are designing then I would use either Z-spheres or go straight into dynamesh. Afterwards you can decimate the mesh, retopologize it,  then bring it back into Zbrush (or use Zremesher), Project details back and start sculpting again with proper edgeflow.