In this chapter, we will discuss character art workflow principles, terminology, and preparing for the tasks ahead. This chapter will cover some of the core fundamentals of character art such as modeling and setting up an efficient workflow and application setup for the software packages used in the following chapters. So, you will learn about Autodesk Maya, Pixologic Zbrush, and Adobe Photoshop.
3D character creation for games is a vast topic and we will cover some of the basic and typical workflows for creating believable characters for your games. The workflow covers a broad overview and takes into account the character creation methods for any high-end gaming systems. So, it's worth noting that depending on what game you are developing the character for, the workflow can be adjusted to suit the needs of the project. In this chapter, we will cover the following topics:
- Getting started with modeling
- Installing the CRYENGINE SDK
- Installing CryTools
- Modeling workflow overview
Before getting started with creating a character or any modeling, it's important to make sure that we have installed all the correct tools and applications. For game development, we use a series of industry-standard tools and here is a list of example software that we can use to make characters and assets. Ultimately, the tools are a personal preference as the techniques are transferable between each package.
|
Software |
Used for |
|---|---|
|
Autodesk Maya and Autodesk 3DS Max |
Lowpoly and/or highpoly modeling |
|
Autodesk Mudbox and Pixologic Zbrush |
Highpoly modeling and detailing |
|
Autodesk Mudbox, Pixologic Zbrush, and Adobe Photoshop |
Texturing |
In order for the CRYENGINE pipeline to work effectively, please make sure you have one of the recommended software packages installed. For the following chapters, we will use Autodesk Maya, Pixologic Zbrush, and Adobe Photoshop. As we will be using these applications, our focus will be on using these tools but all the techniques are applicable to any of the recommended applications.