MAA
4435: Advanced 3d Modeling and Texturing The
Purpose of this course is to introduce advance concepts for modeling
and mapping through the combination of Maya, Photoshop and Zbrush.
Focusing on various pipelines, this course covers concepts such as diffuse mapping, displacement
mapping, normal mapping, Zspheres, Sculpting, and LODs. |
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For EVERY project submitted this quarter, you will be asked to use the NAMING CONVENTION Resource Guide (click on the image on the left of this text) for all of your files. Not using the guide will result in a deduction of points from your grade. |
Choose your current Week: |
My Grading Scale for each project- |
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Week 1: Learning the Zbrush Interface, Shadowbox, Brushes, and Transposing. | Project 1: Create a Fish using Shadowbox, Sculpt in Zbrush, Use the Transpose tool to create an entire School of fish.
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Week 2: Sculpting Hard Surface Objects, Planar Brushes, Noise, Projection Master, Normal and Displacement Maps, Creating Materials, andBaking Materials
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Project 2: Create your own tomstone using the hard surface features of Zbrush. Create a color map based on displacement crop and fills. Create a normal map. Render in Maya.
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Week 3: Introduction to Texture Projection Painting with Zapplink and Projection Poly-Painting with Spotlight | Project 3: You will be given the choice of taking two different directions on this project. Character Modelers will have the option to create a Portrait Head in Maya using THEIR OWN reference photos (NO WEB PHOTOS ALLOWED). Projection Painting techniques will be used to create the color texture, then inflating techniques will be used to sculpt from that photo. You will be allowed ONE 2048 Map for each channel on the head, and ONE 512 Map for each channel for the hair. DOWNLOAD THE RUBRIC FOR THIS PROJECT Environment Modelers will have a cooresponding option to create a "set" made from 7-10 objects with a poly limit of 8,000 tris. These objects will each be made ready with color, normal and specular maps for each asset. All projects must be rendered in Maya or exported to a game engine for screenshots. TWO 1024 Maps (or equivalent smaller) must be used for each channel for ALL PROPS COMBINED. Only one project track needs to be taken, but your track needs to be decided, with reference material ready by week 3... see below: For Both Projects you will be responsible for creating a detailed Spec Sheet. Character modelers will have to provide turns of the head from the photos they take. Enviornments will require photographs of every single element. This will be turned in as a .PDF file.
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Week 4: Inflating from Alphas, Tiling Textures, Tiling Alphas, Using Masks and Intermediate objects for Projection, Hard Surface Sculpting Techniques for Vehicles, Props and Architecture. | |
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Week 5: Displacement Mapping, Creating a Color Map from a Displacement Map | |
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Week 6: Midterm Critique | |
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Week 7: Sculpt First Workflow-- creating armatures, zsketching, skinning, retopologization | Project 4: Creature Sculpting. You will be asked to sculpt a creature, chimera, extinct or surviving animal, monster or alien, etc... using Zbrush. You will be given only 1 guideline for this project: a primary shape/pattern which will become the inspirational basis for the original design of your character. This motif must be incorporated into the “container shape” of your form, as well as secondary and tertiary characteristics, but should also blend naturally into the look of the creature. Examples will be discussed in class.
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Week 8: Sculpting techniques---continued retopo, skinning, sculpting | |
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Week 9: Normal map theory- applied to fixing normal map seams | |
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Week 10: Transpose Master and Subtool Master | |
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Week 11: Final Critique!!! | And here's the breakdown for the Final Grade: Fish: 12 points |
