Game Art Institute Character Creation For Games with Adam Skutt Updated Sept 2016
Info:
Curriculum
Assignment #1
Heroic male, age 25 – 40 for example. (topic of character can be discussed, must be humanoid)
Create a hero worthy character from the chest up. This character should be in the realm of characterized
realism. Think Marv, from Sin City. Learn to make choices that help sell the characters personality and
purpose.
For the first project I will go over gathering reference material, establishing a concept/plan of action and
high poly modeling techniques in Zbrush Maya.
Week 1 Demonstrate head sculpting techniques: primary, secondary and tertiary details
Week 2 critique and more demo for high poly clothing and costume elements creation.
Week 3 final critique of high poly model
Assignment #2
Creating a low poly mesh for next gen assets.
Week 4: Using Maya I will demonstrate and discuss optimal topology flow for realistic facial deformations for in game and cinematic characters. Several different topology approaches will be discussed and the pros/cons behind each. Furthermore, students will be shown how to approach topology for clothing, with and without, wrinkle maps and to lessen texture distortion from deformation.
Assignment #3
Creating optimized uvs
Week 5: We will start by creating uvs for the head, and discussing pros and cons of shared uvs within a production pipeline. Later in the lesson I will demonstrate my approach to laying out proper uvs for clothing and costume and elements, and share uv tips and tricks I’ve learned throughout my career.
Assignment #4
Texturing painting and material setup
Week 6: I will go over and demonstrate several methods for painting the head, and then expand on my preferred technique using Mudbox, substance painter and photoshop.
Week 7: Finalize texture creation for heads, and continue on with costume and clothing elements.
Week 8: Review of final textures. Begin discussion of material setup within marmoset and the dreaded video game hair cards. (we will discuss hair card techniques, although the final look depends highly on what game engine and tech is being used.)
Assignment #5
The goal of this assignment is to produce the best possible presentation of the realtime model you have created during this course. We will discuss lighting and composition, material and texture tweaking and low poly adjustments to really nail final silhouette.