01

low poly modeling

Character Production Chapter 01 Low Poly Modeling

Chapter 01 Low Poly
Modeling

Setting up Image Planes

Now, using the Crop tool and its transform

The edge extrusion method is possibly the

controls, extend the image size to the right so

Software used: Maya

easiest way to block out the basic shape of a

you can fit a side image in it. Place the side

human head, and for that we will rely on a pair

image to the right of the front image and scale,

of reference images that we are going to load as

rotate and move it until you align all the facial

Hello my name is Anto Juricic and I am a CG

image planes. I have provided you with a side

features with the guidelines matching the front

artist specializing in the creation of believable

and front image of this character as a download

image. Dont worry if some parts dont line up

CG characters. In this series of tutorials I am

with this tutorial so you can use the images to

100% perfectly; its probable because of the lens

going to walk you through the numerous tasks

follow the tutorial (Fig.01).

distortion of images.

an old man. As a core application I have chosen

You can use any reference image you like as

If your models head is slightly tilted to one side

Autodesks Maya and I will use it for the majority

long as they come from the same person and

you can use the front on view to adjust and

of tasks in this tutorial.

show a front and side view. Lets first spend a

correct the image. With this done remove the

few minutes preparing the images so they align

guidelines and crop the images again, removing

Although Maya is a powerful tool by itself and

perfectly once we load them into the Maya. Load

the space around the images. Also create two

capable of both geometry sculpting and texture

the front image into Photoshop and pull down a

separate files, one for the front and one for the

painting, it is capable of creating better results

few guides to mark the position of the eyebrows,

side view, and save the files.

when used in conjunction with applications like

center of the eye, nose tip and bottom, upper lip,

Photoshop and ZBrush, which are going to be

center of the mouth, bottom lip, tip of the chin

Now go into Maya. In the menu select a new

our major texture creation tools. With that said

and bottom of the chin. Also place a guideline

image plane and press Load Image. Select your

lets move on to the first step.

along the center of the face.

previously prepared front image. Repeat the

Basic Modeling

involved in creating a highly realistic render of

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Chapter 01

Chapter 01 Low Poly Modeling Character Production

same process with the side view. Image planes,

responsible for thickness so you are left with

the center of the nose bridge. Align this from

by default, are created at the origin of the

just a plane circle. Select the boundary loop

the side view too. Now select the border edges,

scene and crossing each other. To get image

from this circle and extrude it outwards. Delete

except ones at the center, and extrude them

planes away from the center and make some

the inside so you have a ring shape. Also make

once again to circle the cheek and eyebrow.

space you will need to adjust the attributes for

sure that you have your normals facing the

the image plane. Select the front image plane

right direction. Now roughly align the vertices,

This is a good time to duplicate this piece of

from the perspective view, go to the Attribute

following the front and side reference images, to

geometry to the other side of the face. Select

Editor and pick the Image Plane1 tab. Search

trace out the shape of the eye. These first few

the geometry and go to Edit > Duplicate Special

for the Placement Extras options and center

steps are illustrated in Fig.02.

and in the Scale option type - 1.000 to X axis

only.

the parameter. Set the third number box, which

represents the Z position, to 40. Repeat the

Now select the outer border edge once again

same process for the side image plane and type

and repeat the extruding process, shaping it

Move the duplicate to the other side of the face.

in 40 in the first box for the X axis offset.

roughly to mark out the shape of an eye socket.

Cut the bridge of the nose vertically by inserting

Make sure you align the newly created geometry

an edge loop. Dont forget to always realign

from the side view as well as the front view.

the new geometry from the side view. Now lets

Now we have our preparation done its time

Select the two edges that separate the upper

block out a nose shape by extruding down the

to lay out some polygons, so lets start with a

and lower eye lid, and extrude them towards

nose bridge to the base of the nose (Fig.03).

Poly Modeling
temporary eyeball. You can find all your poly
editing tools in the Edit Mesh menu, and you
can add those you use most to your custom
shelf by selecting a tool while holding the Shift
and Ctrl keys.
Create a polygonal sphere and adjust it to match
the position of the eyes from your image planes
(both front and side). From the front view create
a cylinder with 12 sides, which is slightly bigger
than the eyeball, then place it in front of the eye.
We will use this cylinder to shape the first row
of polygons for the eyelids. Delete the polygons

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Chapter 01

Character Production Chapter 01 Low Poly Modeling

Make seven extrusions along the nose and then
one more for the nostril. Select the second,
third and forth edge from the noses bridge and
extrude them towards the edge of the nostril.
Insert three edge loops vertically to the new
geometry and adjust it using the front and side
view as a reference. Dont be afraid to go to
the perspective view from time to time to check
your progress in 3D and maybe make some
adjustments. Select the last edge from the
base of the nose and last edge from the nostril,
and bridge them to close the shape. Select six
edges starting from base of the nose all the way
around the nostril and extrude them out. Merge
the last vertex with the corresponding vertex on
the nostril, as illustrated in Fig.04.
Split the edge at the center of the long polygon
that bridges the nostril and nose base, and
reshape it to a circular opening. Bridge the
polygons to fill the gap between the nose tip and
the mask shape.
Select the nostrils opening edges, extrude
them a few times and translate them upwards to

to define the mouth line. To finish the basic

edges to the nasolabial fold using the front and

shape the inside of the nose. With this complete

mouth shape, extrude the inside loop to form

side references. Bridge the two faces from the

lets move on to the mouth.

the mouths thickness. Split the long polygon

laugh line to the nostril, as illustrated in the last

that bridges the mouth and nose by adding two

step of Fig.05.

Extrude two lines from the base of the nose to

edges, and extrude one more circle around the

the mouth, then make ten extrusions circling the

mouth. Now extrude two edges at the corner

From the base of the mouth make five

mouth. Split the newly created ring by inserting

of the mouth toward the cheek. Split these two

extrusions to outline the chin, and bridge the

a edge loop at the center. Add one more loop

faces twice near the mouths corner. Align these

laugh line with chin, as illustrated in Fig.06.

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Chapter 01

Chapter 01 Low Poly Modeling Character Production

Cut along the polygon three times and fill in the

chin extrusion. Select five edges from the top

afraid to reposition some parts of the geometry

gap. Add two edges to cut along the laugh line

of the mask and extrude them twice to form a

at any time, and add or remove some of it if you

polygon, and fill the gap by bridging the mouth

forehead shape (Fig.07).

feel its necessary. Make additional splits to the

cheek geometry to match the edges of the jaw

and the base of the nose.

Split the long temporal poly and bridge it to

geometry. Fill the gap between the cheek and

Bridge the two polygons from the nostril to

the forehead. Continue extruding the forehead

jaw by bridging between faces. Use the same

the corresponding polygons on the eye mask.

all around the head, all the way to the neck.

technique to fill in the rest of the gaps, as shown

Extrude two edges from the side of the mask

Reshape the new geometry to form a smooth

in Fig.08.

to create a temporal area. Do the same for the

shape. Insert another edge loop to the cheek

cheek and add a few extrusions from the cheek

geometry right behind the laugh line and

Also connect the remaining opened faces,

to the neck. Add one more edge to the cheek

connect the cheek to the eye geometry. Do the

as illustrated in Fig.09. Select an open face

polys and connect it to the last polygon from the

same to connect the cheek and chin. Dont be

from the back of the neck and make enough

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Chapter 01

Character Production Chapter 01 Low Poly Modeling

extrusion to match the jaw line and fill the gap.

Select the open loop on the neck and extrude
down as many times as necessary to ensure
equal distribution of geometry. Also make sure
you delete the history from time to time.
Now go to vertex mode and press B on the
keyboard to adjust the falloff radius, which is
going to help us do some proportional editing.
Go to perspective view and have some fun with
this tool until you are happy with your model. I
hope you have enjoyed this tutorial; see you in
the next chapter where we will be adding some
detailed facial features. Check out Fig.10 for my
result after some proportional editing.

Anto Juricic
Web: http://anto-toni.cgsociety.org/gallery/
Email: monty.band@gmail.com

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Chapter 01

02
modeling the features

Character Production Chapter 02 Modeling the Features

Chapter 02 Modeling
the Features
Software used: Maya
Hello! In the last chapter we used some very
simple techniques to block out the main form
of our character and establish a well organized
edge loop structure. The method I demonstrated
in the previous chapter will enable us to
continue adding more geometry, which will add
some details to specific facial features.
Perhaps the most important part of a face are
the eyes and the area around them. We are
so used to seeing peoples eyes that making
believable CG eyes is not an easy task. So lets
continue with that area.
The eyeball itself will consist of two parts: the
inner one with a slightly concave iris area and
a slightly bigger outer one with a bulge over the
iris beneath it.
As a starting point you can use the sphere that
we created at the beginning of the first chapter
or create a new one from the front view. Make it
slightly bigger than the eye socket opening and
try to center it using a front image plane.
to cover the inner part. Select all concave

any given time. Hide the eyeball to make some

A default poly sphere comes with 20 triangles

polygons and this time scale them up on the Z

room for the next few steps.

at the pole, which makes an unwanted pinch

axis to make a bulge. Also use Move Transform

on the geometry. To get rid of these problems,

to get the bulge back into place.

select every other edge radiating from the pole

and delete them.

Select the border loop of the eye opening and

extrude the selection inwards to make the eyelid

Select the inner area and add the outer

thickness. Scale down the last selection slightly

geometry to the selection, then press P on the

to make an easier angle transition between the

Now instead of 20 triangles you have 10 quads

keyboard to make a parent connection. The last

eyelid shelf and the rest of the geometry.

that will render much more smoothly.

few steps are illustrated in Fig.01.

Next extrude the opening edges once more

and scale outwards to make geometry that

Select those ten faces and grow the selection

Lets continue by shaping the eyelids and area

will penetrate the eyeball and prevent us from

twice, use the Scale Transform tool to scale

around the eye. When we have the eyeball in

having any gaps between the head and the

down selections on the Z axis to make it slightly

place we need to reposition the geometry of the

eyeball.

concave. Move it back into place on the Z axis.

eye opening to conform to a spherical eye. Dont

Add one more edge loop at the edge of the iris

expect to make it a perfect fit at this point since

Select and delete three faces at the inner corner

to straighten the edge.

there is more geometry to be added. Also, if

of the eyelid to make a place for the tear duct.

necessary, rescale the eyeball. It is a good habit

Bridge the open edges left over from the

To make the outer eye geometry, duplicate the

to arrange objects in separate display layers so

deletion and, using the Cut tool, cut in a shape

one you just created and scale it up just enough

you can easily hide and unhide any object at

as demonstrated in Fig.02.

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Chapter 02

Chapter 02 Modeling the Features Character Production

Now its a good time to add some more
geometry to both rings and the loop surrounding
the eye.
Lets start with cutting the rows radiating from
the eye. To add a complete edge loop all the
way, use the Insert Edge Loop tool. Newly
created edges are marked in Fig.03.
New edges are added linearly and need to
be repositioned to smooth out the surface.
To evade tedious vertex pulling and pushing,
the best strategy would be to use the Sculpt
Geometry tool.
Use the Pull brush with Auto Smooth checked
and the Smooth Strength set to 3. Set the
intensity down and swipe gently over a new
geometry.
Now we should add a few loops circling the
eye. Added loops are also illustrated in Fig.03.
Repeat the same geometry sculpting process
to smooth this area. Add more loops using
the same technique to even out the overall
shape out most of the facial features and fix the

Once we attach the ear to the head model we

proportions. Patience is your best route when

will become completely ready for final tweaking

Now things are getting more complicated and

it comes to this task and it can often take a fair

and proportioning. So lets continue with the ear.

at this point you should have more than enough

amount of time to reach proportions that youre

geometry to shape out all the major features of

satisfied with. Dont forget that you can always

You can hide all objects at this time and leave

the face.

come back to the proportioning at any time, so

only the image planes visible. You can use the

its not a big deal if you dont get it right the first

same image plane as you used for the head, or

time.

if you like you can make a new one with an ear

geometry density.

At this point I am using the Move tool with Soft

image of your own choice.

Selection and the Sculpt Geometry tool to

Later in the process, if you think your mesh
is too dense, feel free to optimize it as you

Modeling the ear is all about laying out correct

like, but first make sure every edge is serving

topology that will follow the major ear shapes.

its purpose, and contributes to the form and

The ear is a complex shape and to better

construction of the mesh.

understand the shape I strongly recommend you

learn the Latin names of the ear features.

Fig.04 illustrates my result on the same mesh

after pulling and pushing the geometry, and

Use the Create Polygon tool from the Mesh

some mesh sculpting inside Maya.

menu to create a single quad polygon, place

it at the start of the ear lobe and extrude it all

Before we continue with more detailing its

important to have all of the head features

the same process for the inner part, which is

complete.

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along the helix, as illustrated in Fig.05. Repeat

called the antihelix. Do your best to match the

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Chapter 02

Character Production Chapter 02 Modeling the Features

number of polygons to the helix and the edge

You will find that the two objects do not match

placement. Try not to add too many polygons at

in terms of topology and edge placement, and

the beginning; keep it as simple as possible.

you might reduce some of the edges from the

back of the head or add some to the ear before

Select all the polygons and extrude them

merging an ear to the head. Start from the part

twice; on the second time extrude with a

facing towards the front by selecting close-

slight offset. Now delete the polygons marked

matching edges and bridging between them.

with red arrows from both shapes and all the

This way all non-matching edges will stay at the

polygons from the back, and then bridge the

back of the ear, which is unlikely to be visible.

corresponding edges. Also add one more edge

Do your best to keep the polygons four-sided.

loop to slice the inner shape. For the last few

steps, check Fig.05.

After some tweaking, Ive got the result

illustrated in Fig.08.

Select the loop in the ear hole and extrude it a

few times to shape that area. Using the same

After successfully attaching the ear to the head

technique, extrude the outer edge border to

lets move on to finalizing the rest of the mesh.

shape the back of the ear.

Grab the edge loop at the border of the mouth,

opening and extrude it as many times as

Now use the same strategy as we did for the

necessary to create a mouth bag. At this point

face, reshape the existing geometry by using

duplicate the eye mesh to the other side of

Soft Selection with the Move tool and Sculpt

the head and, if you like, make a few more

Geometry tools (Fig.06 07).

extrusions to the base of the neck. You will most

certainly find more edge loops than you need so

Now unhide the head geometry, select the

feel free to optimize the mesh as you like. You

edge loop on the opening and extrude it twice

can use the mesh I provided with this tutorial to

to prepare the head for connecting with the ear.

compare your result with mine. Lighter geometry

Select Average Vertices from the Mesh menu to

will be much easier to unwrap and prepare for

smooth out the newly created shape. Place the

texturing, which is going to be our next step.

Until the next tutorial, happy verts and polys!

with Move Transform to reshape the opening on

When you have all your geometry in place, once

Anto Juricic

the head to fit the ear better. Combine the two

again use the Sculpt Geometry tool and Soft

Web: http://anto-toni.cgsociety.org/gallery/

objects into one mesh.

Selection to evaluate the shape and proportions.

Email: monty.band@gmail.com

ear in position and start to use Soft Selection

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Chapter 02

03
unwrapping

Character Production Chapter 03 Unwrapping

Chapter 03 Unwrapping
Software used: Maya
In the last two tutorials we have covered the
creation of a head model, using some simple
modeling techniques in Maya. So the next step
is to prepare the model for texturing.
The most common way is UV mapping, so
before we start I will try to describe what UV
mapping is. UV mapping or unwrapping is a way
of representing a model in 2D space, so it can
be used as coordinates that will correspond to
the 3D version of the model.
In other words its a model unfolded and

There are a few rules that need to be followed

seams will show as discontinued texture edges,

flattened onto 2D space. The simplest way to

during this process. To unfold any model, we

so the best approach is a good balance of both.

understand this concept is to imagine a simple

have to make cuts, or rather seams, in order to

paper box you want to unfold and flatten onto

produce less distortion on the flattened model.

Its also important to say that UV space is 1:1

a desktop (Fig.01). The same concept can be

More seams can often lead to less distortion,

square ratio and in order to maximize texture

applied to geometry of almost any complexity.

but the downside to that approach is that those

space, its important to keep UV chunks or

islands packed tightly and fitted in that range.
Standard UV space ranges from 0-1 in a U
direction and 0-1 in a V direction, and its often
referred to as 0-1 space (Fig.02).
Every UV piece has to have its own space;
no overlapping is allowed, except two or more
pieces that are identical and destined to use
same texture.
In that space, U refers to horizontal coordinates
and V refers to vertical coordinates. In the same
way 3D is described by X, Y and Z.
With that being said, lets move on to
unwrapping the head we previously
modeled. The fact that we have built a model
symmetrically will pay off through every step of
creation, especially the process of laying out
UVs. Therefore we dont need a symmetrical
side of the head, and the first step is to delete it.
Once we have completed the UVs for one half of
the head, we will mirror it over to the other side.

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Chapter 03

Chapter 03 Unwrapping Character Production

Along with geometry, UVs will be copied too and
all thats left is to mirror the UVs and to stitch the
two UV shells together.
The second part of the plan is to separate some
parts in UV space, like the ears and the mouth
bag and unfold them separately. Keep in mind
that models in UV space can be in as many
pieces as necessary.
Lets start with the ear. Select the polygons of
the ear (Fig.03). The selected polygons are
mostly facing planar to the side view and we will
use planar projection as a starting point for this
part.
Go to the Create UVs menu and select Planar
mapping to make an initial projection. To
preview how your texture will be applied to these
coordinates, lets apply a checker texture to this
part.
Make a simple blinn material and connect
checker texture to color. Also, in a 2D placement
node, make it repeat five times. You can select
unwrapped faces directly from the UV Editor and
apply the material to the selection.
As you can see, the squares on the checker are
a bit stretched because initial planar projection
has made the projection plane perfectly square.

To make the cut, go to the Polygons menu in

You can also move vertices in UV space

To fix this, select UVs from the UV Editor and

the UV Editor and choose the Cut UV Edges

one by one and help those two algorithms to

rescale it by simultaneously watching over a

option. The ear UVs are now separated into two

better understand what you are up to. After

texture in a 3D view, until you make the checker

shells and to move the ear canal out of the way,

unwrapping that part, rescale the shell to

texture on the ear almost perfectly square.

select one polygon from that shell and press

approximately the same texture space as the

Select Shell, then Convert Selection to UVs.

ear shell. In order to do so correctly, use 3D

Planar projection has done a pretty good job,

Now you can move the separated piece to the

View to match the checker size on both shells.

except for a few areas that are overlapping or

side (Fig.04).

facing away from the projection, so the texture is

stretched. So lets deal with those issues.

Now lets concentrate on the ear, which is the

With the ear canal shell selected, go to the

much more complicated part. In order to use the

Tools menu and then select the Smooth UV

Unfold and Relax technique correctly, we need

First lets detach the ear canal and move it out

tool. From there you will be presented with two

to make some unfolding by simply moving some

of the way. In the UV Editor, select one edge

on-screen menus, one called Unfold and the

vertices into the UV Editor. So lets start with

inside the ear canal and from the Select menu

other called Relax. Both of these are smoothing

that parts that are most obviously overlapping,

press Convert Selection to UV Edge Loop. From

options. My strategy is to apply Unfold, then

such as the outer edge of the shell. To select

now on the Select menu will be used frequently,

Relax, in small increments until I get rid of all the

the shell border, select one of the outer vertices

so detach it to make it a floating menu.

overlapping.

and press Select Shell Border.

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Chapter 03

Character Production Chapter 03 Unwrapping

Deselect the inner border, since we will
concentrate on the outer edges of the shell first.
To move selected points out of the way, we will
use the UV Smudge tool, which is essentially a
move brush with a nice falloff. Once you move
these points to their own UV space, grow the
selection once (Shift >) and repeat the same
process again.
Now lets deal with the rest of the overlapping
vertices by selecting them in small groups and
relaxing. Make sure to constantly monitor the
behavior of the checker projection in 3D view, to
prevent any major texture distortions (Fig.05).
Since the ear is complicated in both topology
and shape, making perfect distortion free
coordinates is close to impossible and texture
stretching is tolerable on this part, since most

Apply planar projection also on this part as a

part of the model. To easily select the remaining

of its look in final rendering will come from its

starting point and apply a checker material also.

part, go to the UV Editor and select all the

shape and sub surface scattering shading.

Select UV Shell and apply the Unfold option all

unwrapped pieces, then go to Edit and choose

the way to the maximum. Use the UV Smudge

Invert Selection. With this area selected, go to

Once unwrapped, select both parts and move

tool to deal with any overlapping remaining

the Create UVs menu and select Cylindrical

them out of the way to make room for the

(Fig.06).

Mapping.

mouths interior and make sure that no polygons

Repeat the same process for the geometry

Since the shape of the head closely resembles

are selected that are visible from the outside.

inside the nose and move the unwrapped parts

a cylindrical shape, this is the best starting

That way we will prevent any visible seams.

out of the way. Now we are left with the main

projection we can get.

next piece. Now select all the polygons of the

Here comes a tricky part. Because we have

deleted half of the head its no longer fully
cylindrical, but half of it. This issue can be easily
fixed by rotating and moving projection in 3D
view by using a projection gizmo (Fig.07).
Here is where the checker texture will be most
valuable because we will constantly refer to
it in a 3D view, while correcting distortion and
overlapping in the UV Editor.
Apply the checker texture to the whole model
and resize the checker size by setting up more
repetitions in a 2D texture placement node.
Between 30 and 50 repetitions would be a
good number of repetitions. Resize all the other
unwrapped parts to roughly match the checker
size with the head.

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Chapter 03

Chapter 03 Unwrapping Character Production

If you have done everything right by now your

time on it. Just select the top vertices and apply

checker projection should look like this (Fig.08).

Unfold smoothing.

As you can see there is some obvious stretching

of texture in some places, so lets deal with

The next problematic area is the mouth, where

those major issues first.

we have some overlapping. The best approach

to this area is to move the points one by one,

Stretching in general occurs at places where

since there are few of them.

the size of the polygons in the UV Editor doesnt

match the size of the same polygons in 3D view.

Here is what I came up with after applying the

Our job is to make those differences as invisible

last few steps (Fig.09).

and as minor as possible.

Using a similar approach, relax the areas on the
Lets correct the most obvious part at the

nose and eyes too. Detach the inner part of the

neck. Use the UV Smudge tool to space out

eyelid, as its not going to be visible and it will be

overlapping vertices as much as possible, then

easier to unwrap the eye without that part. Try to

select points in small groups of up to 10, and

maintain the shape of the eye in the UV Editor;

apply Unfold and Relax smoothing alternately.

it will be much easier to draw in 2D when you

Repeat the process for all of the neck area until

have them similarly shaped in both 2D and 3D.

you remove most of the distortion. After that

select all points in the neck area, except ones at

After completing UVs for half of the head, its

the border, and repeat unwrapping and relaxing.

time to mirror all this work to the other side.

Go to the Mesh menu and select options for

Similar to the neck area, the top of the head

Before mirroring, align all the points at the

mirroring the geometry. Make sure that the

will also have significant distortion, but since its

middle of the head in the UV Editor, so they are

Merge with the Original option is unchecked and

not going to be visible at all, dont spend much

aligned vertically.

Apply.

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Chapter 03

Character Production Chapter 03 Unwrapping

Select the vertices at the middle of the head and
go to the Edit Mesh menu. From there select
the Merge Vertices option and set Threshold to
0.0010 and hit Apply.
Now you have the whole head unwrapped and
both of the sides are using the same UV space,
which means that the texture applied to the one
side will also be applied on the other side, but
it will be mirrored. That can be good in some
situations, like in game models, but for this
purpose we will make both of the sides use their
unique UV space (Fig.10).
Using a 3D view, select one polygon from the
mirrored side and in the UV Editor go to Select
Shell. With the mirrored shell selected, choose

Move and Saw UV Edges to stitch the two

The last step is to arrange all the shells to fit in

Flip from the Polygons menu in the UV Editor

parts together (Fig.11). Also make sure to flip

0-1 space nice and tightly.

and finally, from the Select menu, use Convert

the shells for the ears, mouth interior and rest

Selection To UVs. Now you have selected only

of the pieces. Stitching both sides together will

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial and Ill see you

UVs for the mirrored side and you can move that

produce some stretching at the line where both

next time.

shell left to match the other side.

shells for the head are welded.

Select edges at the center of the head in the

Before packing all the parts into 0-1 space,

Web: http://anto-toni.cgsociety.org/gallery/

UV Editor, and from the Polygons menu use

invest some more time in relaxing those areas.

Email: monty.band@gmail.com

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page 19

Anto Juricic

Chapter 03

04
texturing and shaders

Character Production Chapter 04 Texturing and Shaders

Chapter 04 Texturing
and Shaders

Make a new ZBrush document with a size of

wrinkles and folds. Now would be a good time to

1024 x 1024.

study the references you gathered earlier.

In ZBrush 3D meshes you will find a simple

Loading images in Spotlight is the easiest way

In the last tutorial we made all the necessary

polygonal plain. Drop it on to the canvas and

to use references side by side with the model.

preparations for texturing, by unwrapping the

press Make Polymesh 3D, then subdivide the

All you need to do is load the image using the

model so that we have clean and readable UV

plane six or seven times to ensure theyll be

Texture menu and press Add To Spotlight.

coordinates. That way we can be sure all the

enough mesh density to receive pore details.

Spotlight is very easy to use and all the options

Software used: Maya, ZBrush

details we draw in to texture will wrap around

the model properly.

will be self-explanatory. Lastly, go to the brush

From the Brush palette choose Standard brush.

settings and under the Samples tab, turn off

Change the stroke to spray, and pick alpha 47.

Spotlight Projection.

conduct a good search for reference images.

Frame the model to fill in the canvas. You can

Now its time to load the object file exported

You can start with the well-known www.3d.sk

frame in any spot on the plane or the entire

from Maya. Go to the Tools menu and import it,

reference site or just browse Google for some

plane, its up to you. Press Alt and swipe the

then drop it onto the canvas and press T.

faces that you like. Sites like www.facity.com

whole visible area of the plane with this brush to

can provide you with hundreds of useful face

make it look really noisy (Fig.01).

The best way to start any texturing project is to

images from all around the world. To use these

In order to start adding details, we have to

subdivide the model a few times to get a denser

references easily, compose a collage of your

Now go to the ZBrush Lightbox menu and from

mesh. The dividing process tends to smooth

favorite images in one file.

the brushes folder, scroll right to the Smooth

the mesh significantly and to prevent losing any

brushes where you will find the Smooth Peaks

mesh volume you must store a morph target

There are many ways to achieve believable

brush. Use the Smooth Peaks brush and swipe

before adding divisions. After achieving the

surface details, but the most intuitive way for

all over the noisy area once again. The surface

wanted level of divisions, press Switch in the

me is by sculpting surface details in ZBrush.

that you achieve this way should look a lot like

morph target tab to regain the original volume.

Although we have finished modeling, shaping

orange peel or cheek skin.

and even UV mapping, its never too late to

The next task is to emphasize the shapes you

review your model once again, so feel free to do

In the Alpha menu, choose Grab Doc and save

already modeled in the mesh and add new

so if you think it needs any improvements.

the captured alpha as a PSD file. The saved

shapes like skin fold and wrinkles. I like to use

alpha image stores depth information and once

the ClayBuildup brush with alpha 48, and for

I could share with you some standard ZBrush

loaded to the Standard brush with a rectangular

fine wrinkles I use the same brush with the

brushes I use on a daily basis, but lets see how

stroke, it will be valuable in detailing the skin.

LazyMouse option.

few steps I will describe how you can make a

Before applying all these high frequency details,

The best advice I can give you at this stage

realistic skin pore brush, so lets jump to ZBrush.

lets concentrate on some larger forms, like

is to be patient and dont rush to the highest

you can make one all by yourself. In the next

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Chapter 04

Chapter 04 Texturing and Shaders Character Production

subdivision level, as long as your current level

has enough resolution to describe your strokes.
Also keep your eyes on the references. You
dont have to invent new skin folds or wrinkle
patterns nature has done it for you. All you
have to do is to copy what you see. Observation
is the key.
Fig.02 illustrates my result after half an hour of
doodling with the ClayBuildup brush on the third
subdivision.
As you can see there are not any major changes
to the volume of the model and all added details
are a thin layer on the surface. The wrinkles
you add at this stage will guide you through
the rest of the process, so step up to the next
subdivision and continue defining those details.
Dont neglect any part of your model and make
sure all your details are at the same stage of
development on all areas of the model. You
should have enough resolution at this time to
start cutting in wrinkles and the best brush for
that task is the Dam_Standard brush, an brush

step up one division. The subdividing mesh will

advice I can give you is to stay cool and dont

that pushes and pinches geometry at the same

most certainly wash out some of the lines, so

rush for the multimillion polygon count too soon.

time. Fig.03 illustrates detail cuts achieved with

you will have to go over all the mesh and define

the Dam_Standard brush.

those details once again, by using the same

Now its time to use that skin pores alpha we

techniques as before.

prepared at the beginning of this tutorial and

All of these details so far are on the fourth

set up a pore brush. Select the Standard brush

subdivision and since I feel like the mesh

As you can see by now, sculpting details is all

from the Brush palette and change the Stroke

resolution does not support any finer details, I

about layering through subdivision and the best

to DragRect. Go to the Alpha palette and import

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Character Production Chapter 04 Texturing and Shaders

the earlier prepared alpha. In the Alpha Modify
menu change RF (Radial Fade) from 0 to 15
and the pore brush is ready. As a last step,
change the Smooth brush to Smooth Peaks.
You can start adding pores at the fifth
subdivision level, with subtle Z Intensity (about
10) and cover your entire model. Dragging the
pore brush on the surface will give you direct
control over the location and size of pores. You
can also use it with Alt pressed to achieve the
opposite effect. If you feel like youve overdone
it on some areas, use the Smooth Peaks brush.
Fig.04 shows my result on the fifth subdivision.
For the final detail, divide the geometry once
more to get a final, sixth level of subdivision
with approx 3-4 million polygons. You can go for
an even higher poly count if you have enough
RAM, but since the final goal is to project all
these details on 4096 x 4096 Displacement and
Normal map textures, I am sure those extra
add more variety by adding individual pores

you can come back, adjust the layer opacity

in some places. Its a good idea to keep these

and generate a new Displacement or Normal

Proceed with adding skin pores on level six,

details on a layer in ZBrush, so if you at any

map. Keep in mind that once rendered with the

using same technique as before. You can even

point feel like your surface is looking too rough,

subsurface scattering shader, most of the high

details will not show up on a 4K texture.

frequency details will get washed out, so dont

be afraid to make those details a bit stronger
than you perceive them, by looking at some
photos of faces.
Fig.05 illustrates the final detail level on the
sixth subdivision.
Finally its time to transfer all of this hard work
into a Displacement and Normal map. We will
use both maps as a guide for texture painting in
Photoshop and we will also extract some details
out of both maps and use them in a mixture with
other color layers.
To generate a Displacement map, first you have
to go to the first subdivision level. The next step
is to choose the image size under the UV Map
tab the 4096 preset should be enough for this
tutorial.

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Chapter 04

Chapter 04 Texturing and Shaders Character Production

Go to the Displacement map tab and apply

menu > Other > High Pass. Set the High Pass

menu and under Brush Tip Shape, choose a

the following settings: Adaptive, Smooth UV,

radius to 10 pixels.

5 pixels dot and adjust Spacing to 50%. Next

check the Shape Dynamics and set the following

and DPSubPix 2. Press Create Displacement

and once its created press Clone Disp and

Change the blending mode for the displacement

parameters: Size Jitter to 100%, Minimum

save it from the Alpha menu as a TIF file. The

layer to Linear Light. Now we have darkened

Diameter to 10%, Angle and Roundness Jitter to

generated map will be vertically flipped and you

cavities and have also laid down the road map

100% and Minimum Roundness to 50%.

can flip it right away from the Alpha menu or in

for the rest of the texture. To make this layer

Photoshop.

blend more naturally with the skin, use Curves

Now move to the Scatter options and set Scatter

adjustment and change the parameters on the

to 1000%, Count to 2 and Count Jitter to 50%.

red channel only, as illustrated in Fig.06.

Once again its time to pull out some of those

Go to the Normal map tab and create normals

gathered references and start spraying some

with the following settings: Tangent, Adaptive,

Smooth UV and SNormals. Export the Normal

Lets add some fine details we are going to

map in a similar way as the Displacement.

variation over the skin.

extract from the Normal map. Open the Normal

map as a separate file, go to Channels and

I like to start with the red color and spray it all

Generating maps with these settings can take

select the green channel only. Press Ctrl + A to

over the place, and later concentrate one more

some time to render, so it can be a great time to

select all the pixels from that channel and copy

pass on the areas like the cheeks and nose.

take a break.

them. Now go to the texture file and paste to a

Repeat the same process with a white color

new layer. Lets repeat the same process with

on a separate layer. After adding some white

Before you export the geometry too, you can

the High Pass, but this time set the radius to 2

pigmentation, open a new layer and do the

use the Move brush to break up the symmetry

pixels.

same with a blue color, but more subtle and on

localized areas like under the eye area, nose

or make some facial expressions.

Overlay this layer in Soft Light blending mode.

and cheeks.

Now lets move to Photoshop to draw a Color

This will be a base for a color texture, so before

map. Open a new document, with a size of 4096

moving on to other layers, group these layers

After you finish all these color variations you can

x 4096 pixels. I usually start with a big chunk of

together.

flatten the noise layers and apply a Gaussian

skin taken from a photographic reference. On

Here is a quick setup method for making a

Blur with 0,3 px radius to make it look more

top of that, add the Displacement map. With

spray color brush for adding skin variation and

softened. See Fig.07 for a small patch of the

the displacement layer selected go to the Filter

blemishes. Press F5 to get to the Brush Setup

skin texture achieved this way.

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Chapter 04

Character Production Chapter 04 Texturing and Shaders

At this point its a good idea to check the texture

on the model, so go to Maya, load the model
and assign a Blinn material to it. Load the Blinn
material with the PSD color texture and Normal
map to have a better representation of your
texture in Mayas viewport. Fig.08 shows how
your model and texture should look in the Maya
viewport.
Keep on coloring the texture with more color
variations, skin blemishes and spots. Once you
are satisfied with the result, add a color balance

Go to your Shading Group Attributes of the

model and drop the same displacement in the

on top so you can control the overall skin tone.

V-Ray material applied to the model and

Displacement Mat. slot of this material. V-Ray

connect the displacement node to Displacement

Fast SSS2 is really easy to set up and it has

Now we have all the necessary assets for

Mat. Load the Displacement map you earlier

already prepared presets for a few different

setting up realistic skin shading in Maya using

exported from ZBrush. In the File attributes of

subsurface models like skin, milk, marble and

the V-Ray render and its powerful SS2 shader.

the loaded map, set Filter Type to Off to avoid

so on. For our purpose the skin preset will work

any image processing and loss of details. Now

perfectly and the first thing you should do is set

First we have to make some lighting, properly

go to the Color Balance, set the Alpha Offset to

the Prepass rate to 1 and load the Color map to

set up the Displacement map, make a new

-0, 5 and check Alpha is Luminance.

Sub-surface Color.

ZBrush and apply a V-Ray material. Lets set up

Now you can make a test render. The reason I

You can also plug in a grayscale map to control

a three-point lighting scheme by adding three

am doing this with a V-Ray material instead of a

the specular reflection and glossiness. You

V-Ray lights: one key, one fill and one back

SS2 material is because subsurface scattering

can also use the V-Ray Texture Input Gamma

light. Use the V-Ray rectangular light and place

tends to soften details, so it would be hard to

attribute. For an in-depth look at the material

them as shown in Fig.09. To see an almost

make the right decision on the displacement

parameters, refer to Fig.11.

instant effect of your lighting, use the V-Ray RT

strength. If you feel like you should have a

engine.

stronger displacement, amp the Alpha Gain

That would be all for this tutorial and I hope you

number and make sure that Alpha Offset is

have enjoyed it.

Maya scene, load a base model exported from

To set up a displacement for the mesh, select

always negative half of that number. See Fig.10

the object, go to the Attribute Editor and from

for my result after applying displacement.

Anto Juricic
Web: http://anto-toni.cgsociety.org/gallery/

the V-Ray menu use the Subdivision option. The

first thing you will notice if you make a render at

Now, when we have a proper displacement

this time is that the model renders smoothly.

Email: monty.band@gmail.com

setup, lets apply the Fast SSS2 shader to the

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Chapter 04

05
hair and clothing

Character Production Chapter 05 Hair and Clothing

Chapter 05 Hair and
Clothing
Software used: Maya, ZBrush
In this fifth tutorial, we will look at some poly
modeling techniques, very similar to ones we
have used to block out the basic head shape,
but this time well model some cloth for our
character.
lets start with a simple polygonal cube, roughly

to reshape the model until it looks similar to

After that, to finally complete all the assets for

shaped to the volume of the characters torso,

what is shown in Fig.02.

this work, well add some hairs to the characters

as illustrated in Fig.01.

head using a few different techniques such as

Paint Effects and Maya Fur.

If you like to use a more intuitive way for

Split each face by adding a vertical and

reshaping, I strongly recommend that you

horizontal edge loop to one of the faces, and

download the Diamant Modeling plugin by the

Lets start with blocking out a basic shape for

delete the top and bottom faces. Select the

very talented Richard Scott Diamant. Besides a

the shirt.

open edge loop on top and extrude to form a

handful of amazing features, you will find a grab

loop of faces around the neck. With this basic

brush similar to one you can use in Mudbox.

As opposed to the edge extrusion method we

shape blocked out its time to add some more

used on the head, now well use box modeling.

geometry. Go to the Mesh menu and choose the

Delete six faces next to the shoulder area to

Instead of gradually building up a volume box,

Smooth option to divide the geometry once and

prepare some room for adding a sleeve. Add

modeling usually starts with the volume. So

smooth the shape. After that use Soft Selection

one more edge loop between the shoulder and

collar area. Select the sleeves opening loops
and make one extrusion. Use the Average
Vertices function from the Mesh menu to
smooth the newly created geometry. Again, use
Soft Select transform to reshape the geometry.
At this point you can duplicate this part of the
geometry and save it as a starting point mesh
for the vest, which well concentrate on after
the shirt. The last few steps are illustrated in a
Fig.03.

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Chapter 05

Chapter 05 Hair and Clothing Character Production

Add a loop around the collar and the middle of
the shirt, as illustrated in Fig.04, and extrude the
sleeve from the opening that we prepared for it
earlier. Mirror the geometry to the other side and
weld the vertices on the back of the shirt. Use
the Soft Selection transform to overlap one side
of the shirt over the other.
Next select all the faces and use the Extrude
function to add a thickness to the shirt. Then
delete all the inside faces that are not going to
be visible.
Now lets prepare the geometry for the collar.
Select the loops on the faces surrounding the
neck area and duplicate the faces. See Fig.04
for a step-by-step illustration.
Select the edge loop from the upper side of
the new geometry and extrude once out on
the X and Z axis. Reposition the extruded
edges to roughly shape out the collar shape.
Add a couple more edge loops to even out the
geometry distribution and reshape the geometry
to the final collar shape.
When we have a basic shirt shape modeled, it
is time to add some detail to the cloth seams.
Before going into detailing, add edge loops
to the collar and shirt edges to strengthen
the edges, then add appropriate loops in the
shoulders to add seams, as shown in Fig.05.
Now when we have got all the geometry in place
its pretty easy to fine-tune the overall shape and
add more details.
After unwrapping this model I have separated
the sleeves from the shirt to get a more
pronounced seam. To make the shirt look more
natural, add a few more divisions to the mesh
with the Smooth function from the Mesh menu,
and use Mayas sculpting tools to add a few
wrinkles. You can see my final shirt in Fig.06.
To start with the vest, lets get back to the basic
shirt model and reshape it to roughly the shape

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Chapter 05

Character Production Chapter 05 Hair and Clothing

of the vest with the V opening. Note the marked

polygons in Fig.07, which are important for
adding seams to the vest.
If you have successfully finished the shirt
part you wont have any trouble with the vest,
because its pretty much the same in terms
of modeling techniques. After blocking out a
basic shape, add thickness to the geometry
and delete all the unnecessary faces. Add edge
loops at the seams and open areas to sharpen
up the details.
Dont forget to unwrap the model before moving
on to the sculpting, where you will add some
looseness to the model to make it look more
natural, as Ive done in Fig.08.
Finally, we reach the last piece of the clothes
the cap. This part will be straightforward
because of its very simple shape. To start
with, make a simple box and apply the Smooth
function to add two more subdivisions. With this
method you will get a poly sphere and you need
to delete the bottom half. After that place the
newly created cap shape on the models head
and reshape it to fit properly. These few steps
are illustrated in Fig.09.
After adding a few loops and reshaping to a final
shape, Ive come up with the result shown in
Fig.10.

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Chapter 05

Chapter 05 Hair and Clothing Character Production

In the second part of this tutorial, we will
concentrate on making facial hair using several
different techniques available in Maya and
V-Ray. Lets start with Paint Effects, which well
use to make the brows and hair. Paint Effects
is a very powerful system that will enable us, in
this case, to grow geometry instances on top of
the polygonal surface and much more.
We will start with the brows. You can choose
Paint Effects either from the Shelf menu or from
the Rendering sub-menu > Paint Effects. Select
your head mesh and from the Paint Effects
menu, choose Make Paintable. Now all strokes
that we apply to the mesh will be snapped on
the surface. Choose Get Brush from the Paint
Effects menu, and from the Hairs folder choose
EyeBrowBlack preset.
This preset will serve as a good starting point,
so make a stroke in the shape of the brow on
the surface to generate the eyebrow. As you can
see from this first stroke, the brow doesnt look
like something that would fit the size and type of
our character so lets do some tuning.
Go to the attributes of the created stroke called
eyeBrowBlack1 and lets start with the Scale
attribute. Ive found that a scale of 4, 5 works
fine for me as a starting point. Now move down
to the Tubes menu and under the Creation
options adjust Tubes Per Step to control the
number of hairs generated on the stroke. I have
set mine to 0, 7, which is quite a small number
of hairs, but it will get much denser and more
natural once I apply multiple strokes. The next
parameter is Segments, which controls the
number of segments along each hair. The more
segments you have, the more sensitive the hair
will get to displacement and deformations, which
well address later.
The next one is the hair length. Default values
are looking fine to me in this case, but you can
play with those to get any desired results. This
is the same with the Tube Width 1 and 2, which
stands for the root and the tip width. Values of

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Chapter 05

Character Production Chapter 05 Hair and Clothing

0.004 and 0.003 work fine for me. Now lets play

each stroke you make. You can use the same

address is the Displacement menu, where Ill

with some displacement.

brush to make some hairs in the nostrils and ear

play with some noise and wiggle options. Note

hole. Every stroke has its own material and to

that since the hair is now much longer, you will

There are quite a few options there, but I would

use V-Ray materials you have to convert those

also need to increase the number of segments.

like to keep it as simple as possible so I will

strokes to polygons from the Modify > Convert

only use the bend parameter for the sake of

menu. Now you can apply different V-Ray

Once you are satisfied with your settings, dont

this tutorial. Feel free to experiment and maybe

materials to each stroke. Later on we will deal

forget to save out the preset. Youre now ready

youll get more interesting results.

with the shading of hairs. You can see my result

to lay down a couple of strokes to populate the

in Fig.11.

hair area, as I did in Fig.12. You can use the

I have set Bend to - 0.500 and Bend Bias to

same approach to generate hairs for the beard.

-0.300. It would be a good idea to save this

We will use the same technique for the hair, but

preset at this time, so go to Presets in the

this time we will use a brow preset as a starting

That would be all for this tutorial, I hope you

Attribute Editor and save the brush preset. To

point. First change the brush with the parameter

found it useful and enjoyed it. In the next and

apply this setting to every stroke you are going

to a higher value, because it will be much easier

final tutorial we will polish the whole scene and

to make, choose Get Setting from Selected

to generate hair with the wide stroke. I set my

try some different lighting techniques.

Stroke from the Paint Effects menu.

value to 0.500. After that move down to the

Creation menu and adjust the hair length. I am

Now you are ready to make some brows, you

going for a more bushy hair style, so Ill set mine

can delete that starting point stroke and apply

to 1 for the max and 0.500 for the min length.

Anto Juricic

several new ones to make it look really natural.

Ill also add a few more Tubes per step; a value

Web: http://anto-toni.cgsociety.org/gallery/

You can also adjust all settings individually to

of 5.000 works fine for me. The last thing Ill

Email: monty.band@gmail.com

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Chapter 05

06
rendering and lighting

Character Production Chapter 06 Rendering and Lighting

Chapter 06 Rendering
and Lighting
Software used: Maya, ZBrush

materials. Once I am satisfied with the result,

strongly encourage you to try a few other HDRis

I will make it more interesting with different

as well.

materials and textures.

At the top of the lights attributes you will find a

In this sixth and final chapter of the series, we

Load all the assets you made so far for this

small box named Sample, which will show you

will put together everything weve done so far

scene and assign a new V-Ray material to

the approximation of the lights color intensity

in a nice and realistic render. Unfortunately we

all objects. Leave the material on its default

and you can use it for setting up the initial

didnt have room to cover every single step in

settings and name it something like test

intensity for this light.

the process, but the things I chose to leave

material. This would be a great opportunity for

out are more or less self-explanatory, like the

you to use the V-Ray RT render, which will give

Once you load such an image into the dome

texturing of the clothes and modeling eyelashes.

you almost instant feedback.

light, Maya will automatically create an image

placement node, where you can make some

Once you explore the downloadable content

from this tutorial any missing parts will fit in to

For the easiest setup and most realistic result

additional settings, such as rotating a light or

place. So without further a do, lets move on to

Ive decided to use IBL (image based lighting).

choosing a type of mapping.

the assembling of the final scene.

V-Ray can utilize IBL in a couple of different

ways, but the easiest to set up is a dome light,

A Rotation setting of 126.00 units and Intensity

Instead of recreating the image you can see at

which is an infinite big light that surrounds

of 0.800 works fine for me and you can see my

the beginning of every tutorial, this time I will use

everything in your scene. The default dome light

first render with this setup in Fig.01.

the actual scene to describe the rendering and

is white in color, which is a great way for adding

lighting process.

ambient light to your renders. Instead of a clean

To gain more control of your lighting, you can

white light we will color the light with a HDR

experiment further with the light probe dynamic

The good thing is that the content that you

image. The effect of using light in this way will

range by shifting settings like Alpha Offset and

can download with this tutorial will give you an

result in very realistic environment lighting.

Alpha Gain. In Fig.01 an Alpha Offset of 0,500

gave me the best result. Image-based lighting

identical result to my final image. You can use

it to follow this tutorial or as a scene preset for

From the Create menu choose Lights and

does not have to stand all by itself; you can

your own character. You will find some slight

create a V_Ray_Dome_light. Under the light

always add some additional lights to better

differences in the scene assets, but that will not

shape attributes scroll down to Texture menu

frame your character.

affect the course of this tutorial.

and upload a HDR image. For this example Im

using the kitchen_probe HDR image, which I

In Fig.02 you can see another example of the

Over years of work, Ive found that the strategy

downloaded for free from www.pauldebevec.

image-based lighting; this time Ive used an

that works best for me is to start with lighting a

com/Probes/. You will find there are many other

image probe called campus probe, which is an

gray-shaded model, because its much easier

examples of so-called light probes that also

image of an outdoor scene with a little bit of low

to read shape without all different colors and

work well with this or any other scene, and I

sunlight and a yellowish color tint on the side.

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Chapter 06

Chapter 06 Rendering and Lighting Character Production

As you can see you can get some really
interesting results with image-based lighting and
change complete scene lighting with one file.
Since dome light emits from all sides around
your model, it almost looks like the scene has
been lit with global illumination techniques,
adding a great sense of realism to the render.
Another good way of lighting your scene is with
another type of light, such as V-Ray rect. lights.
For the next example I will construct a basic
studio lighting setup, arranged with four V-Ray
rectangular lights. I will have two key lights (one
for each side of the face, placed on the left and
right), one fill light in front to lighten up dark
areas and a rim light for the back to give the
character some outline for better framing.
You can see the placement and colors of the
lights illustrated in Fig.03.
Just by tweaking the intensity you can get a few
different and interesting results, as shown in
Fig.04. Another good idea would be to parent
all light to a locator placed at the center of the
scene. By rotating a locator on a Y axis you will
be able to rotate the whole light rig around the
model.
Now, when you have your favorite light setup
blocked, its time to turn our attention to
materials. Since we have already covered skin
material shading in one of the previous chapters,
lets say a couple of words about shading the
clothes.
All of the cloth pieces have some sort of
repeating pattern and naturally those patterns
are placed from seam to seam. To achieve
that kind of look with a small repeating pattern,
its essential to model cloth with the topology
following those seams.
simple rules, its quite easy to do the surface

You can see how a few simple seamless

Another important step in the process is to make

details by repeating a weaving pattern across

patterns repeated across the whole vest work in

cuts in the UV shells along the seams. Once you

the whole mesh without actual additional texture

Fig.05. The same process can also be applied

have constructed the clothes following those

painting.

to the cap.

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Chapter 06

Character Production Chapter 06 Rendering and Lighting

Further cloth realism is achieved with the

To set up the V-Ray fur, select the object you

addition of some surface hairs. To make this

wish to grow fur from and go to Create > V-Ray

process as simple as possible I will work with

and Add VrayFur to your selection. You will

Maya Fur, which comes with some presets that

instantly get feedback of the created fur in the

can be used as a starting point. After making

viewport and can quickly set up a desired look.

a few changes to the selected preset, I render

Note that V-Ray fur will inherit material from

hairs with the Maya software renderer on a

its base surface. If you want to have V-Ray

cloth model with a black surface shader. Maya

fur with different materials you can copy the

Fur renders extremely fast with the software

object, assign it to the other material and turn

render, and after less than three minutes I have

off the objects visibility in the shape node

a fur pass to composite over a beautiful render

object display. Fig.07 illustrates the detailed cap

eyes. There are a couple of important things

(Fig.06).

surface with V-Ray fur.

worth mentioning when it comes to eye creation.

An eye model can be constructed out of many

You can also experiment with V-Ray fur, which

Another important part of achieving a realistic

parts if you are going for an anatomically correct

is also great and very easy to set up.

CG model is the creation of the characters

model, but the easiest way would be to use two

models, one for the outer transparent layer with
the cornea and another for the layer with the iris
and sclera. These separated models are shown
in Fig.08.
The inner part should be shaded with
subsurface scattering and the outer part with a
fully transparent material with the index of the
refraction set to 1.3 or more.
After assembling everything together, the last
thing to do is to set up a render resolution and
sampling.

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page 35

Chapter 06

Chapter 06 Rendering and Lighting Character Production

Note that more image resolution requires less

If you are rendering big resolution stills, like

Also using the same color correction

precise image sampling. V-Ray offers us three

3000 px or above, you can probably get away

adjustments for both the character and the

types of image sampling: Fixed, Adaptive

with default V-Ray settings, but I would definitely

background will help you to marry the two

Subdivision and Adaptive DMC. Image sampling

recommend using a DMC for those who are

elements together better.

could be a whole tutorial in itself, so lets skip

looking for more details and have enough

the complicated stuff and cut to the basics.

rendering power.

I hope you have enjoyed these tutorials and that

you will find them useful for your future realistic

I often use the Adaptive DMC method because

If you encounter a long rendering hang, make

it works best with the small details, like hairs or

sure to increase the Dynamic Memory limit to

skin pores, which are important for achieving

portrait creations. Thanks for reading!

more than its default 500 MB.

a realistic image. If you are using low samples

you will have probably lost many fine details you

If you are looking for some more control over

sculpted in your models face, so you have to

your renderings, make sure to explore V-Rays

use fixed or low adaptive subdivision; only for

Render Elements, which will provide you with

testing or if you are rendering a big resolution.

the ability to render different passes like Diffuse,

Reflections, SSS and so on.

If you are going for a 1080 px video render or

similar resolutions I would definitely recommend

After you render all the necessary passes you

DMC with minimum 1 and maximum 6 samples.

still have some room for improvement in postprocessing. One of the most obvious additions

You can see a couple of frames captured from

in post-processing is a background and its

the turntable video in Fig.09 10.

very important to match the background with

the lighting. If you have used an image to light

Threshold parameter also plays a big role in

your character, then you could use the same

image sampling and you will get more precision

image as the back plate to perfectly match the

and less noise with a lower threshold.

background with the lighting mood.

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page 36

Chapter 06

Anto Juricic
Web: http://anto-toni.cgsociety.org/gallery/
Email: monty.band@gmail.com

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