A LEVEL ONE COURSE

10 WEEKS • LIVE ONLINE • INSTRUCTOR-LEAD • SKILL-FOCUSED

Character Creation For Games

Create A Game-Ready Character, From Start To Finish

ENROLLMENT OPEN • CLASS STARTS WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 15TH

Classes Meet Every Wednesday @ 11:30AM Pacific

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Learn The Fundamentals Of Creating And Sculpting A Real-Time Character In 3D.

Class Overview

Learn how to apply practical workflows to create a game-ready character, from start to finish, with one of the Industry’s leading artists, Ackeem Durrant. Ackeem has been sculpting and modeling characters for games for more than 4 years and currently works as a Character Artist at Bulkhead Interactive.

Ackeem will teach you the workflows for character creation and will guide you through all stages. You will learn all the steps in the pipeline and understand how to prepare your character for final presentation.

This course on Character Creation For Games will consist of ten modules of pre-recorded lessons and live Q&A sessions every week. You’ll learn core modeling workflows and be part of a community of artists working to achieve next level quality in their work.

Skill Level: Intermediate
Course Format: Standard
Duration: 10 Weeks + Lifetime Access
Lecture Type: Pre-Recorded & Live
Assignments: Deadlines each week
Feedback: Live, Weekly Q&A

What You’ll Learn

The course will go through the full process of modeling and sculpting Characters for Games, starting with collecting references, blocking in and sculpting the character, moving into retopology and UVs, then texturing and presenting. The emphasis throughout the course will be on addressing the nuances of forms, structures, workflow and presentation.

By the end of the course, students will have produced a portfolio-ready character. They should also have gained knowledge on how to troubleshoot new problems or tasks.

By The End Of The Course

You’ll:

Have developed a fluency in the various stages of the PBR workflow.
Know how to create dynamic poses for your character.
Have mastered the pipeline for 3D character creation.
Have created your own game-ready character.

Blocking Out The Character & Clothes

Picking A Concept & Gathering Reference
Reduce decision making; Spell out the concept; Set expectations
Organization
File structure
Proportions
Silhouette; Relationships; Style

You will:

Block out your Character
Block out the Costume & Accessories

Refining The Face, Body & Clothes

Face Anatomy
Planes of the face; Skeletal landmarks; Muscles
Techniques For Clothes Creation
Maya; ZBrush; Marvelous Designer

You Will:

Refine the Secondary Forms of your Face
Sculpt or Simulate your final Clothes Base

Clothes Detailing

Sculpting Folds
Hand sculpting damage; Directionality; Tension
Details
Alphas; Reusable meshes
Creating Custom Brushes

You Will:

Sculpt the Detail and Damage on your Clothes
Add smaller items to your Clothes, like Buckles and Patterning

Skin Detailing

Wrinkles & Pores
Tertiary details; Micro details; ZBrush layers
Imperfections
Asymmetry; Scars
Creating Custom Brushes

You Will:

Sculpt your Tertiary Details
Use the Brush you’ve created or the Texturing XYZ Alphas to do micro details

Creating Our Game Ready Mesh

Pipeline
Workflow; Organization
Topology
Theory; Workflow
UV
Texture sets; Workflow

You Will:

Retopologize your Mesh
UV your Character and Define Texture Sets
Do Test Bakes

Texturing The Skin & Eye Creation

Look Development
Working with lighting and textures; Lighting setups; Workflow
Material Definition
Readability; Frequency; Breakup

You Will:

Create your Eye
Block out your Base Diffuse and Alter your Textures in Substance
Begin testing your Textures in Marmoset Toolbag

Texturing The Clothes

Look Development
Working with lighting and textures; Using references; Workflow
Material Definition
Readability; Frequency; Breakup

You Will:

Get your Base Materials done for every item of Clothing
Author each Material based on Reference
Continue Texturing your Character and Testing in Marmoset

Hair Creation

Xgen
Analyzing reference; Workflow; Iteration
Card Placement
Workflow; Layering; Organization
Material Creation
Marmoset testing; Creating textures in Photoshop

You Will:

Begin placing your Hair Cards
Test the Cards in Marmoset
Continue Texturing your Character and Testing in Marmoset

Lighting, Posing & Exploration

Reference
Analyzing reference; Faking lighting; Mood
Posing in ZBrush
Workflow; Organization
Exploration
Test ideas quickly; Testing elements in mash

You Will:

Bring all of your Elements into Marmoset
Pose your Character
Continue Hair

Finishing & Presenting Our Character

Lighting
Lighting for mood; Cheating; Post effects

You Will:

Finalize your Lighting
Export Renders and Analyze them to begin Final Polish
Use Photoshop to Test Fixes before Implementing

Ackeem Durrant

Originally born in Jamaica, Ackeem Durrant is a 3D Character Artist who’s worked with studios all around the world freelancing and recently left Microsoft Rare to work with Bulkhead Interactive in the UK on their new project.

He’s been self taught in 3D from age 16 and was working professionally in TV, advertising and teaching before jumping to games.

In his own words, “The thing that attracted me to 3D art was the fact that you never need to stop growing, there’s always new software packages to learn, new techniques to master and new pipelines to try”.