Character Creation for Games Vol. 2: Production Workflow

Learn retopology tools to create a low-poly mesh that conforms to a high-poly sphere, using extend, swift loop, step build, cut and bridge tools, and conform and relax brushes.

Import character meshes into 3ds Max, set real world size with metric units, and scale to six feet before exporting baking assets (body, braids, knee armors) for Unreal Engine.

Create essential loops to shape clean topology for a 10,000–15,000 tris low-poly character, detailing chest, arms, hips, and legs with symmetry and topology tools.

Create essential face loops for eye, nasal ridge, nasal labial folds, and lips to enable expressive deformations, using step build, extend, and bridge tools for UV islands prep.

Retopologize a character by building polygons with the step build tool to establish a symmetrical topology, then use symmetry, reset xform, and snap to the grid to align edge loops.

Learn to retopologize a facial mesh by connecting loops, bridging edges, and welding vertices using swift loops and editable poly tools to shape clean quad topology.

Perform retopology on the ear and back of the head by aligning low-poly with high-poly meshes using conform and relax tools, then bridge and weld edges to clean facial topology.

Master torso and neck retopology by blending freeform and editable poly tools to create clean, well-connected polygons, weld vertices, add loops, and validate low- and high-poly meshes.

Learn retopology techniques for arms from scratch, building clean topology, creating edge loops, bridging edges, and refining vertices to establish a circle or loop around the arm and deltoid topology.

Explore retopology for hands, building clean edge loops around fingers and thumb with cut, bridge, and extrude to shape knuckles and webbing for animation-ready silhouette.

Create a low-poly belt by shaping a thick top surface to preserve the silhouette around the panther emblem, bridging edges, and using freeform tools; rely on normal maps for details.

Master retopology of the legs by crafting clean edge loops and bridges, aligning low and high resolution meshes, while building a disciplined practice regimen and planning with a notebook.

Retopologize the shoes by filling gaps and bridging edges from the center to ensure equal polygons, then extrude, weld, and check for gaps or inside faces.

Retopology knee armor by building a new plane, conforming it to the armor, adding loops, and converting to editable poly for a clean low-poly/high-poly workflow.

Master retopology for braids by building a low-poly shell over a high-poly base. Use bridge, swift loops, and the conform brush to shape and refine geometry.

Create low-poly eyes by modeling two spheres for the cornea and the white part with iris, reduce segments to 14, extrude to form bulges, and use instance copies for symmetry.

Create and refine character teeth and tongue using ZBrush techniques—masking, poly groups, thickness, extrude, and position adjustments—prepare for baking with decimation master, and transfer to 3ds Max for final sculpting.

Create a low-poly tongue and teeth, export the selected items for baking into the real-world size folder, and ensure size-matched meshes are ready for baking in substance painter.

Master smoothing and geometry cleanup for character creation, fixing polygons with more than four sides and triangles, and building hard edge armor and belt areas with smoothing groups and thickness.

Learn how to unwrap a low-poly model in 3ds Max, create a proper UV layout with seams and islands, and bake textures using 2048 templates in Photoshop.

Practice unwrap workflow on a fire hydrant model by creating UV shells, placing seams, and using unwrap VW, belt map, and reset peel to unfold cylinders and bodies.

Unwrap the character’s body first using UVW with symmetry for mirrored shells, then armor and features. Align edge loops to the grid, project with planes, test tiling with checker texture.

Isolate the belt and lower body, mark seams on hard edges, and create separate uv shells to bake textures cleanly. Prepare for symmetry and stitching in the next video.

Unwrap the body sides, collapse the uvw, then mirror, stitch edges, and use quick pill to separate parts so textures vary on the torso, face, belt, arms, and legs.

Unwraps the character parts: braids, tongue, teeth, eyes, and armor by collapsing unwraps, welding vertices, and setting seams to prepare a unified uv layout.

Organize uv maps by packing character meshes inside uv editor to maximize space during unwrapping. Scale and arrange face, braids, panther emblem, armor, belt, eyes to preserve detail without overlap.

Create eyelash geometry using planes, extruding edge selections, and applying a separate material. Unwrap, mirror, and place lashes with the body, preparing for texture alpha and shading.

Check for errors before exporting your character by fixing polygons with more than four sides, welding overlapping vertices from symmetry, and unwrapping, ensuring clean geometry for substance.

Group and rename all low-poly meshes using the character_lp convention, then create matching high-poly counterparts with character_hp for accurate baking in substance.

learn to create an I.D. map and I.T. map for a character, assign IDs for metal, skin, leather, hair, and eyes, then render a 2048x2048 texture for substance painter.

Bake game-ready textures in Substance Painter by generating normal, ambient occlusion, curvature, position, and thickness maps from a high-poly to a low-poly character, with 2048 resolution for Unreal Engine.

Master skin texturing workflows for games by building and layering base color, roughness, metallic, normal, and ambient occlusion maps, then use masks and smart materials to reveal realistic skin.

Enhance subsurface scattering by adding a scattering channel, enabling it in texture set and display settings, and adjusting shader parameters and scale to achieve waxy skin effects.

Add pores and moles to the base skin using a skin simple material and masks to reveal surface details; create wetness by duplicating the layer and painting roughness non-destructively.

Import a transparent tattoo texture, prep in Photoshop to remove the white background, then project the tattoo onto the character in Substance Painter, adjusting opacity and blending.

Add wounds, scratches, and bruises to a fighter character using smart materials, masks, and layered painting to create depth, color variation, and realism.

Apply metal and leather textures to a character, adjust masks and edge details, and fine-tune colors, roughness, and noise in Substance Painter using generators for a realistic finish.

Color the character’s hair and braids with a base color, then add dirt brush details on layers, adjust shade and shine to reveal normal map details, and add facial hair.

Adjust hair color and details for a low-poly game character by painting base and darker tones with a brush, enhancing braids for textures and final rendering in Marmoset and Unreal.

Organize character layers by grouping facial hair and details, then create a transparent cornea with a PBR opacity channel and project an iris texture onto the sclera using Photoshop.

Create a layer to paint eye veins around the visible square, using a pinkish red color and small brush, then blur and refine the inner-eye crinkle for a clearer render.

Create eyelashes by generating an alpha map from a UV template in 3ds Max, refine in Photoshop, and apply in Substance with alpha blending for subtle, correctly revealed lashes.

Hide the face mesh and paint the teeth and gums on a dedicated layer with symmetry, adjust the base color and opacity, and bake normals to reveal details in renders.

Create a tongue asset for a game character by applying a smart material, masking with color selection, adjusting base color and roughness, and fixing texture artifacts.

Learn to fix seams and artifacts on character models by masking normal maps and ambient occlusion with layers, symmetry, and precise painting.

Fix metal bleeding on a character's skin with the clone tool, blend seams on a new layer, and export textures for Marmoset Toolbag and Unreal Engine.

Export textures from the character in Marmoset Tool Bag and prepare maps for Unreal Engine, using PBR metal rough with albedo, normal, roughness, metallic, and height.

Set up a character in Unreal Engine for mobile preview by importing geometry and textures and configuring a material with base color, normal, occlusion, roughness, and metallic maps.

pose and finalize a character using ZBrush and the Z plugin to combine subtools, then export an FBX low-poly version to Marmoset Toolbag with materials.

Use the Marmoset Tool Bag turntable to showcase your character from the front, back, and inside views, adjust spin and loop, and render a 1920x1080 HDR 264 video.

Create a photo realistic cinematic render of your character by importing the model, unifying materials, applying base color, normal, roughness, metallic, and opacity maps, and adjusting camera and environment.