Creating a Production Ready Character in Blender
In this series of Blender tutorials, we'll look at how to create a character following an animation pipeline as if we were in a team production. Software required: Blender 2.73.
What you'll learn
In this series of Blender tutorials, we'll look at how to create a character following an animation pipeline as if we were in a team production. We'll first start by creating a puppet-based on a concept and then rig it for animation. Then we'll create our character model using a mix poly extrude and box model techniques. We'll then create facial expressions using shapekeys and bone drivers. We'll also rig the character by combining two rigging techniques as well as enhancing deformations with shapekeys, drivers, and muscle bones. We'll also create and model dynamic elements such as cloth, fur, and hair to further aid the animation process. Finally, we'll create all the textures, materials, and nodes for cycles rendering. By the end of this Blender training, you'll have acquired knowledge on how to create your own characters following a team production process. Software required: Blender 2.73.
Table of contents
- Discussing What a 3D Animation Pipeline Is 9m
- Setting up Blender for Our Project 9m
- Loading in Reference Images 7m
- Building the Dummy Head 10m
- Constructing the Dummy Body 10m
- Forming the Dummy Neck & Arms 9m
- Building the Dummy Hands 10m
- Constructing the Dummy Legs & Feet 9m
- Blocking the Dummy Feet & Toes 8m
- Creating the Basic Armature Rig 10m
- Binding the Dummy to Armature Rig 11m
- Creating IK's for the Armature Rig 10m
- Building IK Switches for the Armature Rig 11m
- Constructing Custom Bone Shapes 10m
- Continuing Custom Bone Shapes 10m
- Finishing the Custom Bone Shapes 11m
- Locking and Limiting Bone Transformations 10m
- Linking the Dummy Rig 6m
- Creating a Pose Library 7m
- Building Model for Eyeballs 10m
- Deforming the Eyeballs and Model the Eyelids 9m
- Continuing the Eyelids and Start on Nose and Brows 10m
- Constructing the Mouth and Cheeks 10m
- Building the Jaw, Ears, and Head 10m
- Refining the Head and Creating the Neck 11m
- Creating Nostrils and Inner Mouth 9m
- Forming the Uvula and Tongue 9m
- Constructing the Teeth 10m
- Working on the Fingers 10m
- Building the Hands 11m
- Creating the Arms 10m
- Forming Deltoids and Chest 10m
- Sculpting the Shoulders, Back, and the Ribcage 11m
- Detailing the Toes and Feet 10m
- Continuing with the Heel, Nails, and Legs 9m
- Connecting the Legs to the Body 11m
- Cleaning up the Model 9m
- Sculpting the Body Details 10m
- Finishing the Body Details 10m
- Sculpting Facial Details 9m
- Getting the Face Ready for Facial Expressions 10m
- Creating Skapekeys for the Eyelids 10m
- Finishing the Eyelid Shapekeys 11m
- Creating Shapekeys for the Eyebrows 8m
- Opening the Mouth with Shapekeys 9m
- Creating Smile, Sad, and Snarl Shapekeys 11m
- Applying Mouth Tilts Shapekeys 10m
- Continuing Mouth Shapekeys 10m
- Finishing the Shapekeys 9m
- Creating a Cage Deformer 10m
- Continuing the Cage Deformer 10m
- Finishing the Cage Deformer 8m
- Binding the Cage Deformer 11m
- Continuing to Bind 11m
- Rigging the Jaw 10m
- Adding Rig for Head and Neck 12m
- Rigging the Uvula, Nose, Ears, and Tongue 11m
- Creating Facial Control Bones 11m
- Continuing Creating Drivers 5m
- Finishing Drivers for the Shapekeys 12m
- Creating Custom Bone Shapes for Facial Controls 11m
- Adding the Facial Rig 10m
- Linking to the Animated File 6m
- Creating Muscle Bones 11m
- Fixing Thigh Deformations 9m
- Adjusting Arm Deformations 12m
- Binding the Fingers 11m
- Fixing Fingers Deformations 10m
- Binding Thumb and Hand 11m
- Adjusting Wrist Deformations 10m
- Fixing Overall Arms Deformations 5m
- Rigging the Toes 10m
- Adjusting Toes Deformations 11m
- Fixing the Leg Deformations 11m
- Adjusting Neck Deformations 10m
- Tweaking the Eyes and Chest 10m
- Adding Iris Controls 10m
- Creating the Cloth 11m
- Linking and Testing Cloth 10m
- Binding the Cloth to the Cage 9m
- Adding Hair and Fur 11m
- Creating Body Hair 11m
- Finishing Body Hair 8m
- Creating the Beard 11m
- Finalizing the Hair 12m
- Creating Hair Weights and Calculating Dynamics 12m
- Constructing UV Unwraps 11m
- Painting the Cloth 9m
- Continuing Painting 12m
- Sculpting Major Body Details 10m
- Finishing Major Body Details 9m
- Painting Hair Variation and Skin Texture 10m
- Finishing Skin Texture 9m
- Unwrapping the Iris 8m
- Setting up for Cycles Rendering 11m
- Continuing Cycles Materials 11m
- Fixing Dynamics 11m
- Finalizing Our Dynamics and Renders 13m
- Recap and Final Result Showcase 7m