So getting very close to the end of the term and my beloved orc druid is shaping up well! There's still plenty to do, but figured I'd drop a few more look dev images to show progress. Been working on hair for the most part, and have her key body hair areas worked out, with most of my focus being on her head and dreads this last week. Hair is a tedious process (at least in Maya Xgen...which makes me want to try it Blender!) and the more complicated the hair style the more layers and more styling passes it needs. So with that said, I still need to build out and bulk up the under layer of dreads on the back of her head, then do a layer of transitional hair around the nape of her neck, temples and forehead to create a nice natural hairline. Still need to add her overall body fuzz and eyelashes as well! But that's not all! I'll need to go back and finalize her textures and skin (right now it's just the basic diffuse maps and metal/rough/normal), painting or generating a more lifelike roughness map (t-zone, areas of her body that are shinier and more matte based of natural oil distributions of her skin). I'll also need to finish up her water line for her eyes, complete all of her costume elements (final detail sculpts, then high-to-low bakes and texturing), and then rig her for animation! Phew! If anything, this gives you an idea of just how complex and involved developing a 3D character for a videogame or film can be! Entire teams of artists are likely responsible for some of your favorite game or film characters (art director, lead character artist, a couple senior artists who likely focus entirely on hair/fur/groom and costuming as well as paint and texture, not to mention people for rigging and integration)! I did this myself...so it'll likely take a bit to complete (and it's still nowhere near the quality of someone like JHill or others who are considered the best in the biz)! In any event, it's all really for demonstration to my students as they develop their own characters in class. Each week a step along the standard 3D character production pipeline. Next week we'll be setting them up in Unreal Engine 5.
