Tutorials and Assets
The Making of 'Jester'
Multi-Chapter Tutorial
This 'making of' demonstration and lecture began with the decision to take a personal sketch, develop it in 3D and produce a lifesize print. This would require the development of high-resolution detail and textures that could hold up to a 4000x6000 pixel render, effectively making Jester a film-res character. Using Maya, UVlayout, Zbrush, Bodypaint and Photoshop, 'Jester' was created in 60 hours. Observe and listen as Alex shares his workflow, thought process and techniques.
Level: Intermediate/Advanced.
A working knowledge of Maya/ Zbrush/ Bodypaint/ Photoshop is required. While literally every step is shown and explained, it is not realistic to have this lecture also be an 'Intro to Photoshop' or an 'Intro to Zbrush', or else it would go on forever. I therefore assume that the student has seen the Gnomon intro lectures available on DVD or here at Gnomonology.
Link to high-res version of 'Jester'.
http://www.alexalvarez.com/images/3dartwork/Jester_3k.jpg
Introduction
A quick overview of what we're going to be talking about in this 'making of' lecture. The total duration of this tutorial is eighteen hours, as I chose to record the entire process. The lecture includes a combination of timelapse and realtime footage, so that you do not miss a single step in the creation of 'Jester'.
| Duration: 10min | Size: 20.96mb | Cost: FREE |
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Chapter One: Base Mesh, part 1
Beginning with a 2D sketch, the image is brought into Maya as a side view image plane. Without front or top views, Alex has to extrapolate the design into three dimensions as he creates the base mesh geometry. With the intention of sculpting the details in Zbrush, the requirements of the base mesh surfaces is twofold. First, they must follow the flow of the design lines to minimize the amount of subdivisions they will require in Zbrush and later on at render time. Second, they will hold the UV information for texturing.
| Duration: 65min | Size: 380.94mb | Cost: $8.00 |
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Chapter Two: Base Mesh, part 2
Continuing with the base mesh construction, we complete the character and organize the separate meshes in preparation of UVlayout.
| Duration: 66min | Size: 593.08mb | Cost: $8.00 |
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Chapter Three: UV Layout, part 1
Once the base mesh is complete, each surface must have its UVs unwrapped and laid out with a couple things in mind. First, the UVs should be unwrapped so that they are 'readable' when viewed in 2D. This allows for intuitive texturing in Photoshop. Second, the UV shells must maximize the use of UV space. While it is possible to layout UVS in Maya, I prefer to export each object to Headus UVlayout, a simple yet amazing application. Maya is then used to organize the UV shells. If you are unfamiliar with UVlayout, I highly recommend checking it out at http://www.headus.com. In my opinion the best program out there for UVs.
| Duration: 74min | Size: 380.91mb | Cost: $8.00 |
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Chapter Four: UV Layout, part 2
In part two, we finish the unwrapping for the character, then import the objects back into Maya and prepare them for export to Zbrush. This process involves prepping/combining the objects so that symmetry sculpting is possible, while organizing the UVs in a way that Zbrush will support.
| Duration: 40min | Size: 227.60mb | Cost: $8.00 |
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Chapter Five: Composition / Lighting
Before going to Zbrush, I choose to take a little time experimenting with possible composition and lighting options for Jester. Using Maya and the base mesh, I block out some quick options for the background while trying out different lighting schemes. This is done in order to see if I find a solution that would direct the amount of detail I need to create in Zbrush. I later go through this process again, in chapter eighteen, when I arrive at the final lighting and environment.
| Duration: 27min | Size: 126.19mb | Cost: $8.00 |
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Chapter Six: Sculpting in Zbrush, part 1
With roughly 30 components, each piece of Jester is imported into Zbrush for the creation of a single Ztool with multiple subtools. Sculpting then begins using a variety of brushes, alphas and tools. Part one includes the work done on all the hard surface head components, as well as the anatomical torso sculpting.
| Duration: 68min | Size: 146.95mb | Cost: $8.00 |
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Chapter Seven: Sculpting in Zbrush, part 2
In part two, sculpting continues, now working on the corset, corset inserts, hands, boots, wrist guards, elbow guards, forearm and kickstand.
| Duration: 72min | Size: 163.61mb | Cost: $8.00 |
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Chapter Eight: Sculpting in Zbrush, part 3
Sculpting continues, now working on the legs, hands and various boot components. Once sculpting is complete, we are ready to export Jester back to Maya. For each subtool we determine the best resolution to export, based on the silhouette, then export both OBJ's and normal maps using Zmapper.
| Duration: 63min | Size: 143.39mb | Cost: $8.00 |
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Chapter Nine: Maya Shader Set-up
The separate meshes (obj's) and normal maps are imported into Maya. Shaders are created for all of Jester's components and the normal maps are assigned. We get Jester to the point that he renders in Maya looking as he did in Zbrush, using normal maps exclusively (no displacements). Shader settings are blocked out in order to indicate the different types of materials.
| Duration: 35min | Size: 105.33mb | Cost: $8.00 |
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Chapter Ten: Photoshop Color Study
Taking a Maya render of Jester into Photoshop, I quickly create a couple directions for how Jester could look in regards to lighting, color and material. This is a fun step that motivates me to begin the process of texturing. The Maya render provides me with form, shadow and value variation across surfaces, but straight out of Maya it is boring. In Photoshop I create overlay and multiply layers, using painting, gradients, textures and HSV/Levels adjustments to arrive at potential color palettes.
| Duration: 20min | Size: 37.99mb | Cost: $6.00 |
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Chapter Eleven: Bodypaint / Maya Set-up
This chapter is a useful demonstration of how to take a multi-component object, such as Jester's boot, from Maya to Bodypaint and back. The various materials and textures are created in Bodypaint and exported to Jester's Maya project, for a back and forth workflow between Photoshop, Maya and occasionally Bodypaint. While an exchange plug-in exists between Maya and Bodypaint, I never use it. It is usually a version behind Maya, and with Photoshop such a big part of the equation, I prefer my workflow.
| Duration: 25min | Size: 59.42mb | Cost: $6.00 |
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Chapter Twelve: Texturing, part 1
Texturing Jester's many pieces involves a constant back and forth process between Photoshop and Maya, as the individual component maps were designed and tweaked. Each object has its own customized color, bump and specular maps, so that while I create the textures, I am also building and designing the shader networks. In part one we texture most of the boot. As you will see, the techniques employed for Jester primarily involve the use of photographs and scans from my texture library. These textures are warped, liquified, color corrected and blended to fit the UV layouts for each object. Using photographs ensures a photo-real result.
| Duration: 63min | Size: 187.42mb | Cost: $8.00 |
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Chapter Thirteen: Texturing, part 2
The boots are completed as well as the legs/pants. The initial sketch in projected onto the leg geometry as a guide for texturing in Photoshop. Scans of canvas, straps and pockets are combined for the final texture. The staples along the pant legs are modeled and positioned in Maya, then exported to Zbrush. The pant seams and staple holes are sculpted in Zbrush, and a new base mesh plus normal map is exported to Maya.
| Duration: 73min | Size: 285.04mb | Cost: $8.00 |
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Chapter Fourteen: Texturing, part 3
The Elbow Guard, Wrist Guard, Forearm, Lights and Kickstand are all textured. Maya, Zbrush, Photoshop, Crazybump (for cavity maps) and Bodypaint are used. The lights involve the creation of Maya point lights, shader translucency, softshadows and ramp based color remapping. Crazy bump is available at www.crazybump.com.
| Duration: 90min | Size: 379.35mb | Cost: $9.00 |
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Chapter Fifteen: Texturing, part 4
In chapter fifteen we texture the hands and the corset. The hands were initially going to be skin, but once I got to texturing I decided that Jester should be wearing gloves. Using leather scans, as well as some dirt and grime maps, the glove is textured in Photoshop and the shaders tweaked in Maya. The corset was an involved process, due to the various materials I chose to incorporate on the surface. Each component of the corset PSD had to have its color, bump and spec maps individually tweaked to work with a single shader.
| Duration: 79min | Size: 304.63mb | Cost: $8.00 |
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Chapter Sixteen: Texturing, part 5
In chapter sixteen, we texture and develop the shaders for the faceplate, headpiece, rope and eyes. The faceplate uses a layered shader with a fresnel effect to simulate a metallic surface with a clear coat. The headpiece components are textured using images of metal, canvas and dirt/grime. The eyes, although not visibile in the final render, are modeled and textured. The rope is also textured, and a UV technique is demonstrated that allows a tileable texture to be repeated without stretching, even though the rope mesh divisions are unevenly spaced.
| Duration: 74min | Size: 411.20mb | Cost: $8.00 |
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Chapter Seventeen: Texturing, part 6
This chapter is devoted primarily to the torso. I begin by creating a skin shader and showing how to link it to multiple surfaces (torso, face, back of head) by layering textures and offsetting UVs. The SSS settings are blocked out and a Photoshop paintover is created as a guide for texturing and further SSS tweaks. Zbrush polypainting is used to create the base texture. Photoshop and Bodypaint are used for the rest.
| Duration: 83min | Size: 309.23mb | Cost: $8.00 |
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Chapter Eighteen: The Environment
Jester, 'the character', is virtually finished. What I now need to develop is the lighting and an appropriate setting for him... in order to have Jester 'the image'. I first show how to manage textures, so that our lighting tests render quickly. I then begin by trying out different lighting styles using both HDR and direct lighting. Settling on direct lighting, I model and texture a simple set consisting of a floor, wall and hatch. The lighting is then finalized using a combination of spot, directional and area lights.
| Duration: 81min | Size: 335.55mb | Cost: $8.00 |
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Chapter Nineteen: The End is Near
Time to wrap things up with Jester. I begin by taking a little time to create a skeleton and quick rig, in order to see if I like him posed. While I end up not choosing to use it, it does help me realize that there should be some sort of prop. I create a couple of metal toy balls to put on the floor, and then begin assembling the final Photoshop composition. Some smoke is added behind him to help define his silhouette. At this point I am actually happy enough with the image to call it done and prepare it for print. While it is difficult to ever consider an image finished, I have to let go, take what I have learned from the making of Jester, and move onto the next project. :)
| Duration: 60min | Size: 224.06mb | Cost: $8.00 |
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