3D Modeling for Games: Create AAA Assets in Maya & Substance

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.