This 'making of' demonstration and lecture began with the decision to create a new still image and record the entire process. Using Maya, UVlayout, Zbrush and Photoshop, 'Smile' was created in eight hours over the course of a couple evenings. Observe and listen as Alex shares his workflow, thought process and techniques.


Chapter One: Base Mesh and UV Layout
In Chapter one, a personal sketch is chosen to develop into a 3D image. It is then imported into Maya and a methodology for aligning the 3D camera to the image is discussed. A simple base mesh is tweaked and edited to work with the design, then exported to Headus UVlayout. With the base mesh complete, it is ready to be sent to Zbrush for sculpting. Duration: 80min. Size: 365.25mb Cost: $15.00

Chapter Two: Sculpting in Zbrush
In Chapter two, the simple base mesh is transformed into a design sculpt. With a combination of real-time and timelapse footage, the sculpting session is thoroughly discussed. Starting with an initial lay-in of the musculature, forms are developed and detailed using the Claytube and Rake macro brushes. Tweaking and Masking also play an important role. Duration: 50min. Size: 171.69mb Cost: $12.00

Chapter Three: Lighting and Shaders
In Chapter three, the Zsculpt is exported to Maya with cavity and displacement maps for lighting, shading and rendering. The first half of the demo is in real-time, consisting of the light-rig set-up and design using IPR. We then transition to 2x timelapse, explaining the set-up of our layered Mental Ray skin shader, while exploring possible styles for our final rendering. note: I would recommend watching the 'Skin Shading in Mental Ray' tutorial if you are new to subsurface scattering in Mental Ray. Duration: 90min. Size: 183.14mb Cost: $15.00

Chapter Four: 2D Paintover, 8k Maps, Final Comp
In Chapter four, Photoshop is used to explore possible looks for the final image. Once the desired result is achieved, the size of the texture maps, 3D render and Photoshop comp are increased to a printable resolution (3000 x 4000 pixels). 8k cavity and 32-bit 8k displacement maps are generated in Zbrush3 using poly-painting and the Multi-Displacement Exporter. The chalk rail (with particle instanced fragments) is added in Maya, rendered, and the final Photoshop comp is put together. Duration: 80min Size: 215.31mb Cost: $15.00