Modeling and Rendering a Robot in Maya 2020

Explore Maya 2020 workflows for modeling and rendering a robot, as the Army announces that a flying disc has been found and is now in its possession.

Block out the body in Maya 2020 by starting with a sphere, using vertex mode and soft select to shape, then scale and rotate to form the torso and head.

Block out the robot's eyes by creating a sphere, positioning and rotating, duplicating and mirroring across the center to align both eyes, then refine placement.

Create the head light by modeling a cylinder, position it atop the head, and dome the top with round cap and subdivision caps for higher resolution.

Block out the shoulders by placing a cylinder, adjust the torso with soft select, and resize the body for fatter, wider proportions using scale and brush techniques in Maya 2020.

Block out the hip by adding and positioning a cylinder to define where the leg sticks out, rotate 90 degrees, and adjust forward placement while checking the reference image.

Create the mouth with the CV Curve Tool, project the curve onto the mesh from the side view, and adjust control vertices to shape it.

Model and refine the robot head in Maya 2020 using quad draw to block out and smooth quad topology, mirror halves, and test shading with a blend material.

Create the robot body in Maya 2020 using quad draw, painting quads, relaxing geometry, and mirroring across the center to produce clean, connected topology.

Reshape the back of the character using sculpt tool and scalpel to bulkier geometry with symmetry along the x axis, after combining the head and back into one shell.

Finish the eyes in Maya 2020 by adding depth to the eyelid, extruding edges, beveling edge loops, and smoothing the mesh, while aligning pivots and managing groups for correct mirroring.

Finish the head in Maya 2020 by isolating the head, extruding to add depth, beveling edge loops with a 0.3 fraction, and refining to a sharp, chiseled edge.

Finish the robot body in maya 2020 by beveling edges, extruding loops, aligning the pivot, mirroring geometry, refining details, and freezing history for a smooth, clean model.

In Maya 2020, add bolts to the robot head by rotating a bolt. Duplicate and position three bolts, set the resolution to 12, and group them.

Create the robot shoulder in Maya by straightening, extruding, and beveling geometry, then add depth with edge-loop refinements and a central eye-like reference sphere.

Model the robot shoulder in Maya 2020 using extrusion, extract, and bevel, plan displacement maps for the final render, and refine edges with snapping and smoothing.

Duplicate and mirror the piece along the z axis, extrude and bevel, clean up faces, then parent the left shoulder to a joint sphere and center the pivot for rotation.

Create a thin cylindrical arm in Maya 2020 from a reference image, adjust thickness, bevel edges, extrude loops, remove inner faces, and add detailing for a cohesive connector.

Refine the arm part 2 in Maya 2020 by thinning and rotating a cylinder, aligning vertices to the pivot, and duplicating a top cylindrical piece.

Craft the robot arm by shaping a cylinder, beveling edges for a taper, extruding for detail, and duplicating with a pivot to mirror on the other side, applying freeze transformations.

Create and center a new cylindrical arm piece in Maya 2020, rotate from the pivot to about 25 degrees, and push it to intersect the existing geometry.

Select faces, duplicate, extrude, and snap to the center to build the arm segment; then mirror in object mode, fix pivot and history, and merge central vertices to correct geometry.

Continue creating the arm in Maya by duplicating disk shapes, centering pivots, extruding faces, snapping and mirroring components, and refining loop alignment for the next video.

Create the arm in Maya by shaping a plane into a front mudguard-like part, extruding, beveling edges, merging symmetrical halves, bridging and refining depth for a clean robot arm component.

Refine the arm assembly in Maya 2020 by centering pivots, snapping to the middle, rotating to alignment, and isolating, combining, and grouping parts to complete the arm part 8.

Continue modeling the robot arm in Maya 2020 by adding a new plane, centering it, extruding edges, and refining vertices to shape the arm and preserve clean geometry.

Finish the arm by refining edge flow, beveling edges, duplicating geometry for a center piece, and extruding to shape a complete forearm before moving to the hand.

Block out the robotic hand in Maya 2020 from a sphere, shape it with soft selection, and duplicate cylinders to form the thumb and three fingers with holes.

Create a robotic hand in maya 2020 using quad draw, align and refine the geometry with a cylinder base, adjust resolution, snap vertices, and smooth edges for a clean model.

Refine hand topology in Maya 2020 by adjusting edge loops, creases, and extrusions, then bevel and sculpt two separate pieces, apply edit mesh, and clean up history.

Finish the hand in Maya 2020 by extruding finger holes and armholes, combining four pieces, refining depth and sharp corners, and preparing for fingers.

Learn to shape robot fingers in Maya by turning a cube into a four-sided sphere, refining topology with edge loops, and extruding, beveling, and mirroring for clean geometry.

Model and refine a finger in Maya by building a curve-based finger, extruding a circle along it, converting to sub-surface, merging geometry, and positioning duplicates for other fingers and thumbs.

Duplicate the low-poly finger and swap it into place, then match translation and rotation to align with the high-res mesh. Delete the unused mesh to complete the replacement.

Group the arms in Maya 2020, set left and right shoulder joints, and edit the parent so moving the joint moves the whole arm, with world mode adjustments for pose.

Finish the robot’s legs in Maya 2020 by shaping a cylinder into a leg, refining the knee, calf, and thigh for realism.

Finish the robot foot in Maya by shaping a cube, beveling edges, snapping center vertices, and mirroring across minus x for a balanced, rounded foot.

In Maya 2020, group character into left leg, right leg, body and head, eyes, and lamp bolt groups; nest them into a master character group, center pivot, and delete history.

Create UVs for the robot in Maya, unfold and layout UV shells to maximize texture space for the displacement map.

Create a displacement map in Photoshop from a uv snapshot by painting seams and bolts on grayscale layers, merging layers, softening with blur, and saving as a jpeg for Maya.

Delete history and remove unwanted faces to clean up the robot model, reducing geometry and rendering time before applying the displacement map.

Explore rendering a displacement map in Maya using Arnold: connect an image to the displacement shader, adjust subdivisions and height, render with a Skydome light, and transfer UV for symmetry.

Create a camera in Maya, size it correctly using the object display properties rather than scaling the camera itself, then compare the perspective view with camera one to finalize setup.

Set up the render settings in Maya and name the output. Choose 16- or 32-bit color, select single frame or animation range, use camera one, and set image size, overscan.

Explore how focal length affects distortion and perspective in Maya 2020 by comparing long lenses and wide-angle shots, adjusting camera angle, and locking the camera to keep the chosen position.

Apply materials and shaders to the character in Maya 2020, assign a displacement map to the shoulder, and quickly assign materials to the entire model using assign material selection.

Light a character in Maya 2020 using a skydome with Arnold, tune exposure and samples, remove the white background, and map a Canary Wharf sky texture for realistic reflections.

Enhance realism in Maya 2020 by adding ambient occlusion to the robot's materials with Arnold shading, linking occlusion to color, and increasing samples for the final render.

In Maya 2020, create a metallic robot surface by adjusting ambient color, metalness, and roughness, exploring chrome to matte finishes, and refining lighting via Skydome exposure for consistent reflections.

Learn how to create and customize eye materials in Maya 2020 using Arnold, including assigning a separate ambient inclusion and ambient occlusion, adjusting color, transmission, and roughness for realistic reflections.

Explore front and back lighting for a robot in Maya 2020 by using spotlights and directional lights, adjusting exposure, color temperature, and Arnold render settings to achieve realistic highlights.

Set up the final render by validating the camera, adjusting resolution and lighting, configuring displacement with Arnold, grouping lights, and rendering at 2k before finishing in Photoshop.

Open the image in Photoshop and match the Maya render with brightness, contrast, and levels; then adjust saturation, overlays, and sharpening on merged layers.

Apply photoshop final touches to robot renders by adding eye highlights on new layers, applying gaussian blur, and adjusting opacity, while creating an abstract background with the elliptical tool.