Monday, August 10th, 2020 Posted by Jim Thacker

Watch Gnomon’s masterclass on creating a fantasy creature


The Gnomon Workshop has released Creating a Fantasy Creature, a complete guide to taking a CG creature from sketch to final render, recorded by Avengers and Guardians of the Galaxy artist Babak Bina.

The workshop includes timelapse recordings from the entire process, and showcases industry-standard workflows for creating 3D creatures.

A complete guide to sculpting, texturing, shading, lighting and rendering CG creatures
Over the course of just under five hours of video training, Bina translates a concept sketch based on a macro photograph of a silkworm into a fully realised CG creature.

He begins by roughing out the 3D model in ZBrush, making all further design decisions within the digital sculpting software: a process discussed during the workshop.

Bina also reveals his favourite ZBrush tools for dividing up models and streamlining workflow, and explores how to paint the model using the software’s Polypaint system.

The resulting rough texture maps are exported to dedicated 3D painting software Mari to refine them further. Bina also discusses the other maps required for shading work, and how they are generated.

In the final section of the workshop, Bina imports the painted creature into Maya and sets up a lighting environment for it, discussing how lighting can enhance the sculpted details of 3D models.

Bina also shares his shading network for the creature, and a simple workflow for CG fur, before rendering out the final images using V-Ray for Maya.

About the artist
Babak Bina has worked as a 3D generalist and character artist for VFX facilities including DNEG, Method Studios and Scanline VFX. His credits include Avengers: Infinity War and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.

He also mentors students at Vancouver’s Think Tank Training Centre, and recently co-directed multi-award-winning short film The Seahorse Trainer.

Pricing and availability
Creating a Fantasy Creature is available via an online subscription to The Gnomon Workshop, giving you access to over 300 tutorials. Subscriptions cost $49/month or $490/year. Free trials are available.

Read more about Creating a Fantasy Creature on The Gnomon Workshop’s website


Full disclosure: CG Channel is owned by Gnomon.