Substance Painter & Maya Course: Low Poly Character Making

Learn retopology basics to build animation-ready topology for low-poly characters in Maya, using the quad tool to draw quads, extend edges, and smooth surfaces while avoiding triangles.

Master eye retopology for a low-poly character by building symmetrical loops, inner and outer circles, and applying three-to-one simplification for clean, watertight geometry.

Master retopology of the mouth in a low-poly character, building mouth and nostril loops with orbicularis oris, using multicut and bevel, with symmetry and incremental saves.

Explore ear retopology in a low-poly character workflow by building edge loops and using quads and triangles, while planning UV stitching for a clean silhouette in game or cinematic.

Master head retopology by building clean edge loops, a central neck grid, and strategic triangles; organize topology for easy future rigging and shirt integration in a low poly character.

Master neck piece retopology by building clean edge flow, managing borders, and preserving silhouette through symmetry decisions, while avoiding gaps that could cause normal map artifacts.

Master shoulder retopology for low-poly characters in Maya, using a 12‑sided cylinder, conform to surface, build clean edge loops, and ensure smooth deformation with symmetrical topology.

Master chest retopology by preserving silhouette, projecting details into normal maps, and using clean stitching and symmetrical mirroring; learn four-square circle construction and polygon optimization for low-poly characters.

Learn retopology of chest details by stitching new elements into existing topology, preserving the center line and using strategic triangles and floaters to maintain clean edge flow for low-poly characters.

Master the retopology of the arms for a watertight low-poly character, building clean edge loops, stitching where needed, and planning UV seams to project details onto normal maps.

Explore retopology of fingers for a low-poly character, building boxy finger segments with proper divisions and spacing to preserve deformation, weights, and clean silhouettes.

Project the hand topology onto the arm and merge the low-poly meshes. Reduce from 34 edges to 12 using a three-to-one technique to preserve knuckles and volume, then mirror.

Retopology of the feet uses even quad-based topology and edge loops to enable bending at ankles and toes, preserving symmetry for a clean normal map, low-poly workflow.

Learn retopology of the legs for a low-poly character by following a straight loop pattern, inserting curvature details, and using strategic triangulation to preserve silhouette and armor integrity.

Master retopology of the upper legs for a low poly character by building a cylinder-based edge flow, and keep the outer border clean in Maya and Seabridge.

Fix the pants on a low-poly character by refining topology, adding wrinkles, and testing bending with pivot, soft selection, and symmetry to ensure a watertight mesh and clean silhouette.

Master knee pad retopology for a low-poly character by rebuilding with a clean edge‑loop border, leveraging the redeposit workflow and mirroring for crisp silhouettes.

Retopologize the elbow armor to create clean, sharp low-poly geometry using auto remesh and manual edge work. Use symmetry and careful projection to avoid texture artifacts and preserve the silhouette.

optimize fur retopology by removing unnecessary geometry, minimizing overlap, and avoiding wasted space to prepare a clean, animation-ready low-poly mesh with texture considerations.

Learn retopology of the shoulder armor for a low poly character, focusing on symmetry and silhouette while using triangles and quads to support baking textures.

Refine the shoulder armor through retopology, sharpening borders and hair strands for a crisp silhouette and reliable projection in a low-poly Maya workflow.

Resculpt the lion shoulder prop, sharpening edges with controlled subdivision and lazy mouse strokes, then decimate to low-poly and bake curvature map textures for texturing in Substance Painter and Maya.

Master manual retopology of a sword blade by reducing triangles through deleting unnecessary lines, preserving silhouette, and mirroring with a bounding box for a game-optimized low-poly model.

Retopologize the sword handle with a conform technique to match its curved profile. Use 12‑sided cylinders, cut lines at points, and symmetry to optimize triangles for a low‑poly look.

Learn a symmetric retopology workflow for a lion head, building clean edge loops from the brow to the cheek, balancing triangles and quads to optimize low-poly silhouette for game-ready characters.

Learn retopology techniques to create a clean low-poly belt that mirrors high-poly detail, using symmetry, proper quad-to-triangle flow, and careful topology to ensure clean normal maps and bakes.

Block and shape low-poly hair in Maya by creating curved strands, extruding along curves with taper, and layering multiple strands to form a believable scalp-free hairstyle.

Master low-poly hair modeling in Maya by shaping a cohesive hair block, controlling topology and thickness, duplicating and mirroring strands, and preparing for texturing and rendering in module three.

Organize your character by renaming every object to a consistent naming convention, group high and low poly parts, and decimate to bake details into the low poly.

Learn to create clean UV maps for a low poly Maya character by cleaning history, renaming groups, applying planer mapping with camera-based projection, and using unfold to pack islands.

Learn practical uv mapping for low poly characters in Maya using cuts, seams, and unfolding to create clean shells, verify with checker textures, and optimize history for Substance Painter workflow.

Unfold and lay out the low-poly character's uv maps, refining corners and edges on the metal, lion, and hair pieces using splits, merges, and layout checks.

Align uv layout by standardizing shells to 4k texture map with padding and optimized texel density. Export as FBX for baking in Substance Painter, with previews in Marmoset Toolbag.

Explore Substance Painter basics, learning the PBR metalness-roughness workflow, color, metallic, roughness and height maps, as well as layered masking, generators, and HDR environment maps for realistic textures.

Learn to bake detailed texture maps from a low-poly paladin in Substance Painter and Maya, using 2k maps, match by name, and project normal, ambient occlusion, curvature, and thickness.

Learn to build a low-poly paladin with layered masks in Substance Painter, painting skin, cloth, hair, leather, and armor using black masks, fill tools, symmetry, and UV-aware masking.

Texture leather in Substance Painter by detailing gloves and sword handle with masks, folders, and generators; sample color, blend stitching, wear, and edge damage for a worn, integrated look.

Explore metals texturing for a low-poly character in substance painter, adjusting gold hues, rust, edgeware, and cloud field layers to create natural metal surfaces.

Explore cloth texturing in Substance Painter by masking leather, using UV alignment to paint selectively, and layering with dirt and light generators to create realistic shading and color variation.

Texture fur and hair for a low-poly character using Substance Painter and Maya, building layered color, dirt, shadows, and highlights with generators, masks, and filters.

Use the crown method to color skin with red, blue, and yellow layers. Master fake and real subsurface scattering with thickness maps, masks, and shader tweaks.

Finish the skin texture by adding beard, eyebrows, and subtle variance with roughness, ambient occlusion, and curvature-based masking. Export textures for Arnold standard in Maya for the next module.

Model the eye as two separate objects in a clean scene to add refraction and depth. Prepare UVs using a UV snapshot for textures, painting in Photoshop at 512x512.

Master eye texturing for a low-poly character in Maya and Substance Painter, selecting glow-free textures, applying eye color, roughness, and normal maps, plus transparent sclera effects.

Explore building a dynamic light setup for a low-poly character in Arnold, combining a main area light, HDR baselines, rim lighting, and cinematic three-point lighting for depth and mood.

Master render setup in Maya by importing a paladin model, applying Arnold standard surface materials with base color textures, and lighting with an hdri skydome, plus gpu rendering.

Learn to set up materials in Maya with Arnold, including base color, roughness, normal maps, and alpha luminance, plus HDR lighting, reflection, and subsurface scattering masks for skin and eyes.

Rig a low poly character quickly in Maya using a minimal bone chain for posing, combining materials, and preparing for posting, with emphasis on fingers and local rotation axes.

In quick rig part 02, bind a low-poly Maya character with geodesic voxel binding, set max influences to three, and refine weights with paint tools for a dynamic pose.

Add missing props to a character by modeling skirts and a chain, unwrap UV maps, texture in Substance Painter with smart materials, and export textures for Arnold rendering in Maya.

Model a braided rope for a low-poly Maya character by creating a link, duplicating, bending with curves, and extruding along a curve, then apply a gold Arnold material.

Explore camera effects and render workflows in Maya, adjusting HDR exposure, fog atmosphere, and cinematic lights for a clean, cinematic look, including 120-frame camera pans and Arnold adaptive sampling.

Create final renders by stacking renderers in a scene across five camera frames, exporting tiff sequences and using Creative Commons licensed pillars from Thingiverse to frame the character for post-production.

Post production in Photoshop enhances renders with color correction, exposure, and color balance using adjustment layers. Add textures, overlays, and a signature for a polished, consistent look.

Explore a comprehensive low-poly character workflow in Maya and Substance Painter, covering topology, UVs, decimation, texturing, lighting, and post-production, with career guidance on portfolio diversification and community feedback on ArtStation.