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Maya & Substance Painter: 3D Game Art AAA Pipeline
Rating: 4.4 out of 5(54 ratings)
602 students

Maya & Substance Painter: 3D Game Art AAA Pipeline

Master 3D modeling in Maya, texturing in Substance 3D Painter, and portfolio rendering in Marmoset Toolbag 4 for games
Created byShoaib Mohammed
Last updated 10/2026
English
English [Auto],

What you'll learn

  • Master Maya: Confidently build AAA game models.
  • Texturing Mastery: Craft pro-grade textures with Substance 3D Painter.
  • Render Like a Pro: Breathe life into models with Marmoset Toolbag 4
  • Job-Ready Portfolio: Showcase your skills & land your dream game art job.

Course content

1 section • 38 lectures • 20h 3m total length
  • Introduction to Autodesk Maya – Setting Up for 3D Game Modeling17:49

    Learn the basics of Autodesk Maya, from installing the student version to navigating the user interface, selecting and transforming polygon objects, and mastering the modeling workspace.

  • Modeling Basics in Maya – Creating a Pokeball (Beginner Project)42:17

    Learns modeling basics in Maya by building a Pokeball from a sphere and cylinder, using Pure Ref for reference, booleans, multi-cut, symmetry, merge vertices, and extrude with center pivot.

  • Finishing the Pokeball – Fundamentals of 3D Modeling18:33

    Isolate objects in Maya to finish a Pokeball, bake high-poly details onto a low-poly model, and bevel with edge loops, plus pivoted mirroring and switching Lambert to Blinn for reflections.

  • Blocking a Game Asset in Maya – Oil Barrel Example19:40

    Master the blocking stage in Maya by building a simple oil barrel as a game asset, learning form establishment, efficient workflow, iteration, collaboration, and planning for subsequent high-poly detailing.

  • Creating a High-Poly Game Asset – Oil Barrel High-Poly Workflow18:02

    Create a high-poly barrel in maya, a model with many polygons, detailing the cap and body with bevels and edge loops for accurate baking.

  • Creating a Low-Poly Game Asset – Oil Barrel Low-Poly Workflow38:05

    Learn to convert a high poly barrel to a low poly game asset in Maya. Clean up groups, subdivide, collapse edges, and merge vertices while preserving silhouette and shading.

  • UV Unwrapping Game Assets – Oil Barrel UV Workflow39:44

    Learn how to unwrap UVs for a low-poly oil barrel in Maya, including creating UV shells, unfolding, stitching, laying out UVs, checking texel density, and preparing textures for Substance Painter.

  • Introduction to Adobe Substance 3D Painter for Game Texturing16:52

    Learn the basics of Adobe Substance 3D Painter by texturing a barrel, baking normal and ambient occlusion maps, and mastering texture sets, masks, and 2k–4k resolution workflows.

  • Starting Texture Painting in Substance Painter – Oil Barrel Example13:10

    Learn to texture a steel barrel in Substance Painter by applying a steel base, layering orange and blue paints with precise masks, and optimizing hdr environment maps for accurate reflections.

  • Adding Surface Detail & Small Features to Game Assets21:37

    Detail a painted oil barrel by creating roughness variations with masks, applying grunge and dirt maps, and adding scratches in Substance Painter.

  • Creating Dents, Logos & Decals for realistic 3D Game Assets18:01

    Create dents with a dents fill layer using a crystal texture, adjusting height, balance, and contrast; apply the logo on the orange stripe with UV chunk fill masking.

  • Adding Oil Spill & Rust Effects in Substance Painter21:46

    Create oil drips and rusting effects on game assets by mastering masking, alphas, height maps, and texture painting in Maya and Substance.

  • Rendering and Post-Processing Game Assets with Photoshop39:27

    Render game-ready assets by smoothing edges in Maya, exporting FBX, texturing in Substance Painter, importing into Marmoset Toolbag, and postprocessing in Photoshop with wireframes and color adjustments.

  • Starting the Hero Asset Project – Reference & Blockout in Maya29:40

    In module three, block a vintage payphone by importing a reference image, setting up the Maya project, and matching a 60 cm height with cubes, bevels, and extrudes.

  • Blocking Game Assets in Maya – Payphone Part 131:37

    Block a payphone handpiece in Maya using cylinders, a handle, and mirrored symmetry. Practice extruding, beveling, bridging, and edit edge flow while applying Blinn and Lambert materials for clean shading.

  • Blocking Game Assets in Maya – Payphone Part 246:20

    Block the payphone handpiece by refining edge flow, mirroring halves, extruding and beveling details, wiring the lever, and adding hinges and rivets to achieve clean edge flow.

  • Blocking Game Assets in Maya – Payphone Part 329:31

    Block a payphone by shaping a wire with epi curves, extruding faces, and refining edge flow for a clean low-poly game asset.

  • Finalizing the Blockout – Payphone Game Prop26:55

    Model the payphone block in Maya by tracing the key reference, creating keys and holes, adding a hinge, optimizing topology, applying Blinn material, and prepping for the high-poly stage.

  • High-Poly Game Asset Modeling – Payphone Part 126:08

    Learn high-poly payphone modeling in Maya, mastering edge workflows, bevels, booleans, and hard-edged detailing to create a game-ready metal and rubber payphone asset.

  • High-Poly Game Asset Modeling – Payphone Part 222:57

    Advance the payphone high-poly model in Maya by beveling edges, adding edge loops, merging vertices, and mirroring parts, while fixing shading issues.

  • Finalizing High-Poly Game Model – Payphone Project31:51

    Clean and finalize the payphone highpoly by ungrouping, deleting history, and referencing the design; apply bevels, edge flow, and mirroring for hard edges in the low poly prep.

  • Low-Poly Game Asset Modeling – Payphone Part 135:02

    Learn payphone low-poly modeling workflow in Maya: from refining high-poly to creating a low-poly block, exporting as FBX, importing, aligning with reference, and reducing tris while preserving detail.

  • Low-Poly Game Asset Modeling – Payphone Part 237:16

    Finish the payphone lowpoly by deleting and merging edges, adjusting soft and hard edges, then mirror, set pivot, and prepare for UVs and texturing.

  • Finalizing Low-Poly Game Asset – Payphone Project40:40

    Finalize the payphone low-poly model by cleaning up unnecessary edges, merging vertices, mirroring in minus y, applying soft smoothing, and reducing triangles while preserving curvature for game-ready assets.

  • UV Unwrapping Game Assets – Payphone Part 133:33

    Explore UV unwrapping in Maya, from checker maps to seamless UV shells, stitching, unfolding, and packing techniques for complex models, with practical steps to correct and organize UV maps.

  • UV Unwrapping Game Assets – Payphone Part 238:07

    Master UV unwrapping for a payphone model in Maya by centering pivots, mirroring on the Y axis, creating UV shells, stitching, unfolding, and automatic layout for texel density.

  • UV Unwrapping Game Assets – Payphone Part 335:35

    Master payphone uv unwrapping in Maya by cutting, stitching, unfolding, orienting, and optimizing uv shells, then layout and pack to 4k texel density with proper padding.

  • Baking Maps & Preparing Textures in Substance Painter – Payphone Part 150:10

    Explore UV packing and baking a payphone asset, create low and high poly workflows, bake normal and curvature maps in Substance Painter, and texture with PBR metallic roughness.

  • Texturing Game Assets in Substance Painter – Payphone Part 216:59

    Break up texture tiling on a payphone model with a tiling breakup layer and tri-planar projection, then build black plastic and striped height textures.

  • Texturing Game Assets in Substance Painter – Payphone Part 334:41

    Apply ambient occlusion and curvature maps in Substance Painter to bake and compare mesh maps, then refine payphone textures with roughness breakup, wear, and chrome and black metal details.

  • Texturing Game Assets in Substance Painter – Payphone Part 431:05

    Texture the payphone handpiece with black, apply weathering, roughness tweaks, and a grunge-based texture to create contrast and realism.

  • Texturing Game Assets in Substance Painter – Payphone Part 51:14:37

    Improve payphone texturing in Maya and Substance by layering dust, scratches, and dirtiness. Apply masks, grunge maps, tri-planar projection, and selective hand painting to create a realistic worn metal surface.

  • Stencil Painting & Detailing in Substance Painter – Payphone Part 635:36

    Learn to texture a payphone asset with stencil painting in Substance 3D painter, using alpha masks for numbers, UV setup, and height, base color, and roughness adjustments.

  • Finalizing Payphone Textures – Complete Game Prop32:02

    Texture the payphone asset using stickers, fonts, and a coin-slot label, employing stencil painting and projection to place text and ads, and set up an environment for presentation.

  • Creating Background Elements for a Game Environment31:48

    Create a complete payphone environment in Maya through module three by modeling the wall, stand, shutter, and cables, refining UV mapping, scale, and presentation.

  • Texturing Background Assets for Game Environments38:14

    Create textures for background elements by setting a 4096 map size, applying separate materials for the background and phone, baking textures in Substance Painter, and exporting as fbx.

  • Adjustments & Workflow Updates – Project Continuation33:12

    The instructor tests a Marmoset Toolbag 4 render, diagnoses lighting and shading issues, then refines UV unwrapping, texture setup, and material tweaks to achieve a granite wall with brick textures.

  • Rendering Game Assets in Marmoset Toolbag 4 – Final Project34:34

    Render game assets in Marmoset Toolbag 4 by importing FBX assets, creating and applying textures, enabling ray tracing, and arranging multiple cameras with HDR lighting for polished renders.

Requirements

  • 3D From Scratch: Build stunning game models with NO prior experience!
  • Substance Savvy: Master texturing & bring your models to life!
  • Marmoset Magic: Learn pro rendering & showcase your creations!
  • Game Art Guru: Build a portfolio & land your dream game art job!

Description

Master the complete AAA 3D game art pipeline from scratch. In this comprehensive, project-based course, you will learn professional 3D modeling in Autodesk Maya, advanced PBR texturing in Adobe Substance 3D Painter, and high-fidelity rendering in Marmoset Toolbag 4.


Designed for beginners and intermediate artists, this course walks you step-by-step through creating production-ready 3D game assets. You will move from foundational blockout to low-poly optimization, UV unwrapping, high-poly baking, realistic texture painting, and final portfolio presentation.


What You Will Master:

• Autodesk Maya: Hard-surface modeling, topology optimization, and game-ready UV mapping.

• Substance 3D Painter: High-to-low poly normal baking, PBR material layering, mask generators, and smart materials.

• Marmoset Toolbag 4: Lighting setups, ray tracing, camera composition, and portfolio-ready renders.

• Game Art Industry Standards: Mesh budgets, draw calls, texel density, and real-time engine asset export.


Whether your goal is to build an impressive portfolio for AAA game studios or produce freelance-ready 3D models for Unreal Engine and Unity, this training provides the technical workflows, efficiency shortcuts, and industry-grade quality standards needed to excel in professional game development.


By the end of this course, you will have built an industry-standard game environment asset to showcase on ArtStation and land freelance or studio game art roles. Enroll today and level up your 3D skills.

Who this course is for:

  • A complete beginner: No prior experience with 3D art or game development is required. We'll build your skills from the ground up, starting with the absolute fundamentals. Passionate about games: Do you dream of creating the stunning visuals you see in your favorite titles? This program equips you with the tools and knowledge to make that dream a reality. Looking for a career change: Are you ready to turn your passion into a profession? This mentorship program provides the stepping stone you need to enter the exciting world of game art. Someone who learns best with guidance: This program offers personalized mentorship, ensuring you have the support you need to overcome challenges and master new skills. Creative and eager to learn: Do you have a strong eye for detail and a desire to express yourself visually? This program allows you to unleash your creativity and bring your ideas to life in a 3D environment. Even if you have no prior experience, this mentorship program will equip you with the essential skills and knowledge to embark on your journey as a game artist.