
create characters from scratch in Maya with a properly set up workspace and reference images, building a base character with clean edge flow for the full character pipeline.
Learn how to access Autodesk Maya, including student free three-year licenses, free 30-day trials, or full licenses, plus essential setup tips like system requirements and a three-button mouse.
Learn to properly set up your Maya Projects folder to keep everything organized. Create image planes and import your reference images.
Block out the arms by shaping edge flow from the chest over the shoulder, extruding the arm, and adding armpit edge loops for a clean transition in Maya base mesh.
Block out the torso and legs in Maya by starting with a centered cube, adding center lines, and refining with edge loops, extrusions, and symmetric edits.
Block out the head in Maya by circling edge loops to round shapes, extruding and scaling to form the neck and volume of the face, and refining with edge loops.
Add the thumb with careful extrusions, refine vertices for proper slope, then extrude fingers and correct the mirror by aligning the center line and welding halves to ensure symmetry.
Learn to craft proper facial edge flow in Maya by creating and adjusting edge loops around the eyes, nose, and mouth with extrusion and scaling on a low-poly base mesh.
Explore techniques for adding breasts to a Maya base mesh, avoiding pinches by maintaining smooth edge flow, using symmetry, extruding, averaging vertices, and mirroring before final cleanup.
Creating a Character Base Mesh - Maya Tutorial
[1hr 24min] Project Files Included
This course is designed to teach you how to build a character from scratch. Learn step-by-step how to create a polygon base character mesh suitable for games or film. You will be provided reference images for your image planes so you can follow along step by step. Learn how to properly prep your scene, set up image planes, and import your reference images. Create proper edge flow that will make the model suitable for the rest of the character pipeline. This tutorial assumes you have a basic understanding of the Maya Interface.
Files Provided:
Reference Images (Front and Side)
10 Maya Project Files that are the completed example for each lesson
Video Tutorials:
Lesson 1: [9:58] Setting up your Scene
Lesson 2: [9:34] Blocking out the Torso and Legs
Lesson 3: [10:14] Blocking out the Arms
Lesson 4: [7:54] Blocking out the Head
Lesson 5: [12:57] Blocking out the Hands
Lesson 6: [6:24] Adding Thumbs and Mirroring Model
Lesson 7: [7:56] Creating Proper Facial Edge Flow
Lesson 8: [3:52] Blocking out the Ear
Lesson 9: [4:41] Edits using Soft Select
Lesson 10: [11:13] Adding the Breasts
Software Used in Videos:
Maya 2018 (Maya 2018 or newer is recommended)
This is part of the Creating Female Character Series:
The series is designed to show the workflow from Modeling to Animation but any part can be viewed as a stand alone lesson. Each lesson can be purchased individually. You will be provided the proper starting files to follow along.