Tuesday, February 4th, 2025 Posted by Jim Thacker

Tutorials: Creating a Character for Games – Vol. 1 and Vol. 2


The Gnomon Workshop has released Creating a Character for Games, a two-part tutorial covering the process of sculpting a AAA-quality game character, recorded by Omid Moradi.

Volume 1 covers sculpting the character’s body and face, and creating 3D clothing, and provides over four and a half hours of video training.

Volume 2 covers the process of transforming the final ZBrush sculpt into a textured, game-ready character, and provides over seven and a half hours of video training.

Both parts cover ZBrush, Maya and Marvelous Designer, while Volume 2 also covers Substance 3D Painter, Marmoset Toolbag and Photoshop.

Master industry-standard workflows for sculpting AAA game characters
In the workshop, which is aimed at mid-level and senior character artists, Moradi sets out industry-standard practices for sculpting a 3D character suitable for use in a videogame.

The tutorials explore how to break down complex designs into smaller, manageable parts, and how to prioritize each part of the pipeline successfully.

Volume 1: sculpting the face and body, and blocking out clothing
In Volume 1, Moradi demonstrates how to sculpt the character’s face and body from scratch, and how to block out the character’s costume efficiently to prepare for future work.

He also explores how to create realistic materials, including fabric, leather and material, and how to sculpt folds and details on the clothing and armor.


Volume 2: converting the ZBrush sculpt into a textured, game-ready asset
Volume 2 demonstrates how to retopologize the ZBrush sculpt to create a game-resolution asset, including how to unwrap UVs, bake maps, and texture the model.

Moradi sets out in detail how to texture common materials and set up shaders to render characters effectively for final presentation.

Uses stock assets from 3D Scan Store and Texturing XYZ
The workshop uses a commercial 3D scan of a male human body from 3D Scan Store for the character’s hands and feet, and commercial textures from Texturing XYZ for the face.

About the artist
Omid Moradi is a Lead Character and Creature Artist with over 15 years of experience in the videogame, cinematics and movie industries.

Franchises he has worked on include Diablo, Halo, Batman, Transformers, Gears of War, Magic: The Gathering, Hellblade II, Dead Island, Valorant and The Wheel of Time.

Pricing and availability
Creating a Character for Games is available via a subscription to The Gnomon Workshop, which provides access to over 300 tutorials.

Subscriptions cost $57/month or $519/year. Free trials are available.

Read more about Creating a Character for Games: Vol. 1

Read more about Creating a Character for Games: Vol. 1


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