Quick workflow overview for a learner.

Orestis_K · Jul 2016

Hello polycount.

I am new to the 3D arts and i aspire to work on games and animation. Currently learning Zbrush.

Having access to Zbrush, Maya, Mudbox, 3dsMax and Motion Builder, can some one propose a workflow to sculpt, texture and rig a character/vehicle/asset?

I am not asking for an in-depth analysis here, just a quick and dirty rundown so i can focus my learning there.

Thanks in advance.

Bek · Jul 2016

That's a pretty ambitious list; character art requires strong knowledge of anatomy, while vehicles generally benefit from a mechanical inclination — while they're not mutually exclusive it's not exactly common for the one artist to do both at a high standard. It's safe to say you will need to specialise eventually (once you know what you're most passionate about — for now just experiment). Adding rigging on top of that is another thing. Since you're starting out, focus on one area at a time and see how far you get.

Doing a hard-surface asset with those tools would look something like this:

Blockout - get proportions correct, figure out what exactly is needed, plan these things out before getting bogged down in detail. (3dsmax/maya)
Highpoly - make the pieces in detail. For the most part this would be done in 3ds/maya, but if there are more organic/damaged parts Zbrush might come into play as well)
Lowpoly + UV's - converting your blockout or highpoly to the in-game mesh (3ds/maya). This would also be time to rig / consider what parts need to animate, and in what ways.
Baking details from highpoly to the low - any maps required, normal, AO, colourID, curvature... (can be in 3ds/maya or external packages like xNormal, handplane baker, Substance...)
Texturing - This is mostly personal preference. Photoshop, substance, krita, whatever. Different tools have different pros and cons. You could also polypaint in zbrush, which is more common for character/organic work, but that's by no means a complete texturing solution.

Orestis_K · Jul 2016

Hey, thanks for the reply. I do have some knowledge on anatomy so i am more comfortable with organic stuff (characters mostly). I would like to go into mehanical/hard surface though, so i will give this workflow a go, cheers.

Quick workflow overview for a learner.

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