Fundamental Animation Principles with Erik A. CastilloIn this intermediate-level workshop, following on fromIntroduction to Maya for Animators, Erik Castillo explores the core principles that bring animated characters to life. Using Maya, Erik focuses on understanding and applying fundamental animation concepts like squash and stretch, anticipation, timing, balance, and follow-through to create realistic and expressive movements.Designed for those familiar with Maya, this workshop aims to help animators elevate their understanding of how body mechanics affect a characters movement and overall performance. Through practical, hands-on exercises, artists will explore the process of creating believable actions such as lifting objects, standing, walking cycles, and more.The workshop includes an analysis of famous animation sequences to see how professionals tackle complex body mechanics. By the end, students will clearly grasp how to make characters move naturally and with intent, using the principles discussed to refine and polish their animation sequences.Whether youre looking to solidify your fundamentals or gain new insight into body mechanics, this workshop offers the essential building blocks to improve your animation skills and deepen your understanding of character movement in CG.The demonstrations in the workshop utilizeProRigs.WATCH NOW

Workflow Tips & Tricks using Maya, Redshift & Photoshop with Josh DochertyIf you want to push your models to the industry gold standard, this workshop will show you how professional modelers working in film and TV create world-class production-quality vehicles.When modeling assets in the visual effects industry, artists are often supplied with scans or photogrammetry of the subject to retopologize and match the references. However, there are frequently times when this isnt the case, and in those instances, its essential to know what to do and how to tackle these scenarios working from limited references only which is expected of every modeler working on complex shows and often under very quick turnarounds.In this 3-hour workshop, Josh Docherty takes you through the process of modeling a high-resolution vehicle without a scan, relying on the use of camera lineups and using his tips, tricks, and industry knowledge to create the same high-quality, pipeline-ready asset in a limited amount of time.This tutorial teaches how to create a clean, robust model for downstream use by other departments, including Texturing/Lookdev, Rigging, Animation, FX, and Lighting. Different departments often have many requirements and needs that modelers are responsible for ensuring are considered and fulfilled to the best of their abilities. This helps the entire pipeline perform efficiently for all things model-related.Josh demonstrates many of the best practices and actions artists can take to ensure assets function at their best, using native Maya tools to achieve the same results at home all while adhering to the same rules as the largest pipelines in the industry. This workshop is best suited for junior-level modelers and above.The references used for this workshop are fromBring a Trailer, and the HDRI featured is fromPolyHaven. Josh uses PureRef, Maya, Arnold, Redshift (optional), Lightroom & Photoshop as his tools of choice, though the techniques demonstrated can be applied to other software.WATCH NOW

Photoshop, Fusion, Maya & Substance Painter Workflow with Kris TurveyIn this 3-hour workshop, concept artist Kris Turvey demonstrates his complete workflow for designing and modeling a sci-fi prop for production. Beginning with his mind-mapping process to generate ideas, he explains how to develop concepts quickly with quick sketching in Photoshop. He then demonstrates how simple techniques using the Airbrush and Selection tools can take your ideas to a more advanced presentation stage.Moving on from Photoshop, Kris takes a selected design into Fusion, showcasing the various parametric 3D modeling techniques he uses to create fabrication-ready 3D models. To complete the workflow, he then demonstrates how to take your final Fusion model into Substance Painter to apply materials and generate final presentation renders efficiently.Throughout the workshop, Kris shares an in-depth look at his key design principles for designing objects that quickly and effectively communicate their functionality to an audience. By the end of the tutorial, artists will have developed a sound understanding of the professional techniques needed to underpin strong designs and will understand how to develop a solid pipeline for future concept design projects.Kriss final Fusion file is included as a downloadable project file with this workshop.WATCH NOW

The Creative Spirit of the WorkWhere aesthetics and real-world decision-making meet is where vehicle concept design thrives and brings into view a creation.UK-based vehicle concept designer Chris Beatty has been working in the industry for 25 years and, as such, has brought significant experience to bear on his tutorial for The Gnomon Workshop.Our conversation begins with Chris reflecting on his creative practice and professional profile, explaining that he works predominantly around Vehicle styling and a lot of work around motorsport. Thats always been my passion. Im a designer and a 3D artist, so there are two elements to that: One is the design itself, which led me to The Gnomon Workshop. In my work, I get involved with companies like Indycar in America and design for the Indy500. For my work with Indycar, I was responsible for steering the aesthetic of that vehicle and that was really about repurposing an old car, giving it a new body and making it look more grand.0:00 /0:24Chris Beatty's 'Race Vehicle Concept Design' Workshop shows his complete Blender, Photoshop, Illustrator & After Effects workflow. Creating a Gnomon Workshop TutorialIn his recent collaboration with The Gnomon Workshop, delivering a race vehicle concept-design tutorial, Chris recalls: My involvement came out of nowhere. Dan Hale at Gnomon Workshop reached out to me and said, Ive seen your stuff on social media, and with the work youve done on the racing side of things, we want to do a workshop on vehicle design. What can we come up with for that? And so, we talked about various ideas. First, we looked at doing a racing car and then decided on doing a flying vehicle. The Gnomon Workshop wanted a road-going thing, so we came up with the idea of a race bike and what we could do to make that more unique. The idea was that it would be canopied, that it would work with gyros, and that it would have some Tron-like wheels. That element of uniqueness would differentiate it from what was out there on the track in reality. We wanted something from 20 years ahead.Exploring Creative IterationsChris is keen to emphasize that the creative process and its demands, opportunities, and iterations were at the heart of his tutorial for The Gnomon Workshop. I was given a blank sheet of paper to develop the design and take students through my process, warts and all. There are some screw-ups in there, and I talk about what was wrong with them and how wed either do them again in the future or how wed fix them. I really wanted to give the students that view on it. My session for The Gnomon Workshop was effectively live and was focused on me trying to figure out what this thing was going to look like. For instance, we did the frame in one session, but it just didnt look good enough so I cut and I just said, Ive done a new frame. Heres what Ive done. I explained that a key part of the design process is making mistakes, improving on them, and progressing; its not about having a perfect run-through to the end it just doesnt work like that. I wanted to engage the students in a mindset where its okay to experiment and not get it right the first time.0:00 /0:05Watch how Chris Beatty designed this futuristic-yet-realistic machine in his 'Race Vehicle Concept Design' Workshop available now at thegnomonworkshop.com.Chris further discusses how his tutorial for The Gnomon Workshop was about embracing revisions to a piece of work to find its best version. Chris says, I come back to some of the stuff thats available online: I get the impression that its very linear: Its very much a start to finish with no mistakes approach. I wanted the takeaway from my class to be that in the real world, thats not how it works. Something will throw a spanner in the works, so you have to innovate to overcome that rather than prescribe something. I didnt want to go into software specifics as I wanted it to be more about the process. When you look at software specifics, youre narrowing down who can get anything from this. Ill be using Blender, and someone else will use Maya, for example. It was more about This is my process of how I create and how I get to this end result, and its not always pretty the whole way through. It doesnt have to be. It doesnt have to be about amazing presentation-renders at different stages. Its about getting from here to here with the minimal amount of kerfuffle, but there will always be bits in there that you have to untie and untangle. I talk a lot about what the client will bring back to you in terms of their feedback and criticism and how to steer that. Its a team effort and a collaboration. Chris BeattyEngaging with FeedbackIn discussing his career and its day-to-day requirements and how that relates to his Gnomon Workshop tutorial Chris notes how he wanted the session to acknowledge the importance of feedback in a creative collaboration: I talk a lot about what the client will bring back to you in terms of their feedback and criticism and how to steer that. Its a team effort and a collaboration. With The Gnomon Workshop tutorial, I had to provide that assessment of where it was going and in the conclusion to my session, I said that it had made me look at where I could improve. Because you dont often record yourself and commentate over the top of it and analyze what youre doing, it was fascinating to do that with The Gnomon Workshop. This is the first tutorial Ive ever done, so for me, it was a learning experience. If people like it, maybe theres scope to do more.'Velocity' concept design by Chris Beatty showing the canopy removed.Theory & Practice in Motion: Learning from TeachingChris turns his observations to the creative scope that his Gnomon Workshop tutorial offered him, explaining that: When I did the project for The Gnomon Workshop, it gave me a bit more free rein than I normally would have on this sort of thing: I could inject a little bit of sci-fi into it, and that was interesting because Im usually working with something thats already in existence in terms of the engineering side of it. Usually, its already been worked out, and everything has to fit on this chassis, that wheelbase, or whatever it happens to be. The Gnomon Workshop was good fun from that standpoint, and I tried to bring some real-world experience into that tutorial in terms of the way that the bike was made up. It had a chassis that would probably work, but an engineer would probably look at it and ask, What the hell are you doing ? But, from a laymans standpoint, it was a feasible frame. You then get to that point where youve worked out the volume, and what Ill tend to do is bring it into drawing software and just draw over the top of it and draw in the little details and see what is going to work and what isnt going to work. Ill then pull them into 3D and model them in detail because you can render a rough form and smooth it off. Its a bit rough and ready, but, again, you can put stuff in front of a client and say, Is this what youre thinking? without taking it too far and committing too early on.Striking a balance between whats practically feasible and what the imagination suggests is a fundamental dynamic in Chriss work, and he observes that I tend to take a less-is-more approach to what Im doing and not to overcomplicate or over-style things. Youve got to get that underlying form right before you put anything else on it. You look at any classic car design: its simple.'Velocity' vehicle design render by Chris Beatty.Everything that I design especially a racing car or a sci-fi project, like the bike project for my Gnomon Workshop tutorial has got to be a balance of elegance and aggression. Chris BeattyReality & FantasyWhile work in vehicle concept design is Chriss professional focus, he notes that he has long been interested in movies, explaining that: The movie side has always intrigued me. Ive always been a bit of a Star Wars nut. When Ive got some downtime, and I do a project just for myself, with a learning element to it, the main part of that was very much about the lived-in, weathered, Star Wars aesthetic.Chriss observation then brings him full circle, and he reconnects his aesthetic notes with his Gnomon Workshop tutorial: Whenever youre designing anything, youve got to design it so it could actually work or function; even if its sci-fi like making the bike work for The Gnomon Workshop.Vehicle concept designs by Chris Beatty.Chris brings our conversation to a close by restating his fundamental creative aspiration: Everything that I design especially a racing car or a sci-fi project, like the bike project for my Gnomon Workshop tutorial has got to be a balance of elegance and aggression.From left to right: John Norton, Andrea Toso, Chris Beatty (designer), Will Power (driver), Pat Wildermann, with the Wills Borg-Warner Trophy Pictured at the Indy500 2018.Chris Beatty's 'Race Vehicle Concept Design' Workshop is streaming now at thegnomonworkshop.com.

Efficient Techniques using Maya & ZBrush with Joo VictorLearn how to build a complete character for animation with clean topology. Being a modeler in the animation industry puts you in a flexible position but also demands a lot of you, both artistically and technically. In this 2-hour workshop by Joo Victor, who has contributed to movies including Pixars Inside Out 2, he demonstrates the technical side of character modeling for animation, including the very important topological solutions needed to ensure clean models that correctly deform when animated.This comprehensive workshop begins with the basics and works through to more advanced techniques using Maya and ZBrush. For Joo, topological tasks are like challenging games; artists need to create unique solutions for different characters to create meshes that are as efficient as possible. The work done by modelers is critical for the success of characters as they move through the animation pipeline to be used by various departments. Joo not only discusses the important topology concepts that professional modeling teams consider when preparing meshes for other departments in a studio environment but also provides professional tips and tricks for you to take with you into your personal and studio projects alike.WATCH NOW

Grooming Techniques for Film VFX with Sohrab EsfehaniDiscover the entire process of creating a fantasy creature groom in Houdini for film-quality visual effects, with professional techniques and insights from Sohrab Esfehani. Youll begin with the fundamental principles of grooming and learn the importance of gathering and analyzing reference materials to ensure your groom is both creative and grounded in reality. From there, youll move on to creating a solid template to build the groom upon, ensuring that your scene is structured in a way that makes sense for a production environment.Sohrab explains how to manage your Houdini workflow efficiently, allowing you to create a groom with a wide variety of details, from fine strands of hair to more complex patterns and textures that bring the creature to life. He will also share the same workflows and techniques that he has personally used on several blockbuster films, providing you with an insiders perspective into the process of making a realistic, hero-level Hollywood VFX creature.By completing this workshop, you'll have a sound understanding of the knowledge and skills needed to apply these techniques to any creature or project.WATCH NOW

ZBrush, Maya, Marvelous Designer, Substance 3D Painter & Marmoset Toolbag Workflow with Colleen LarsonLeveraging all of the skills learned throughout her career, Colleen Larson, a Senior Character Artist at Naughty Dog, takes you through her entire process of bringing a character to life in 3D. The workflow showcased is a modified version of the game art pipeline she follows daily in her professional role.This workshop is intended for anyone who would like to gain a holistic view of how a character is created from initial ideation and reference gathering through to the final render. Foundational knowledge of ZBrush, Maya, Substance Painter, and Marmoset Toolbag is recommended, but this workshop will provide a brief overview of each software used for those interested.Throughout this 3-hour tutorial, Colleen shares her approach to preparing for a 3D character project, demonstrates head and likeness sculpting in ZBrush, instructs how to create realistic clothing using Marvelous Designer, shows how to create impressive hair using XGen, and explains how to texture the character using Substance Painter. She then walks through the process of rendering the bust in Marmoset Toolbag to create the final images and videos to showcase in a portfolio.In addition to sharing her professional techniques, Colleen discusses her philosophies for staying creative throughout the process. If you are passionate about character art and want to know how to push it to the next level, or simply curious and want to learn more about how its done, this tutorial will provide essential insights to help you level up your 3D characters.The3D Scan Store Free Base Meshand the3D Scan Store HD Male Head 23are utilized in this workshop. A .txt file containing links to the other resources that Colleen found helpful with her project is also provided as a project file.WATCH NOW

Prop Design using Photoshop, Blender, Octane & ZBrush with Olivier DubardMaster the art of prop design and create a Sorrow End Sword with Lead Concept Artist, Olivier Dubard. This 1.5-hour workshop unlocks the secrets of Oliviers workflow and provides a deep dive into his creative process behind designing visually stunning and story-driven fantasy props for the entertainment industry.Olivier has worked on several major franchises, and is experienced in concepting for both film and games. This detailed guide aims to help artists through every step of the design and illustration process, from crafting a compelling backstory for the prop to translating it into unique visual elements. You'll learn the complete process, from how to create striking thumbnails, refine your designs, sculpt in 3D using ZBrush, through to professionally rendering your prop using Octane Render.Whether youre an established concept artist or an aspiring industry professional in film or games, this workshop will help you to enhance your skills and elevate your portfolio using practical insights and techniques used by industry professionals.WATCH NOW

Blender & Photoshop Techniques with Isaac Yeram KimLearn simple yet powerful techniques to help you create high-quality concept art using Blender and Photoshop. Sucker Punch Productions Concept Artist Isaac Yeram Kim aims to equip artists of all skill levels with efficient methods that will help encourage the exploration of new ways to keep art-making fun.Over the last 8 years, Isaac has narrowed down his workflow to only the tools that are absolutely essential to his craft. His chosen software and add-ons can be easily picked up with a slight learning curve, so in this 2-hour tutorial, Isaac shares his process for making a cinematic image from start to finish and discusses what he believes are the most efficient techniques applicable for each step of the process.The primary software used in this tutorial are Blender and Photoshop. Isaac details how he likes to keep his creative process experimental and enjoyable without getting lost in software menus. Using some of the most basic features in Blender, such as the Grease Pencil, he begins by blocking out and planning the image. From there, effective Blender add-ons, like Scatter and One Click Damage, are introduced and demonstrated with easy-to-learn techniques to help you immediately implement the methods into your creative practice.The final stage of the workshop focuses on refining in Photoshop. Isaac shares his thoughts on photobashing and how to ensure the image quality remains consistent as new details are added. He instructs how to adjust the base 3D render and demonstrates his digital painting workflow, as well as how to tackle color grading to bring the image to finished quality. His final Photoshop working file and Blender files are provided as a helpful resource for subscribers.WATCH NOW

With over 20 years of experience working in illustration and animation, Amy Ash has repeatedly shown herself to be at the forefront of the industry. Having spent five years at art college working in natural media, Amy realized in her final years that she needed to pivot to working digitally. This led her to learn 3D modeling before gaining more knowledge and skills as time and project demands allowed.Amy's big jump came when she decided to focus on character modeling, which eventually took her to Axis Studios. There, she led the character team on projects, including the Love, Death + Robots episode The Tall Grass for Netflix. She has additionally worked for Passion Pictures and Aardman Studios and for four years as an animator for children's TV.This year, Amy joined The Gnomon Workshop as an instructor with her comprehensive workshop, Character Asset Creation for Cinematics: Volume 1. Her detailed insights and practical demonstrations provide a clear and concise guide to crafting high-quality assets for cinematics.In this interview, we catch up with Amy to learn more about her career so far, find out exactly what its like to work as the Head of Characters at a busy animation studio, and discover her opinions on AI. Read on to find out more.The Artful Dodger speed sculpt by The Gnomon Workshop Instructor, Amy AshThe Gnomon Workshop: You've worked in advertising, television, and game cinematics. Which has been your favorite industry to date?Amy Ash: I love game cinematics and adult animation like Love, Death + Robots. Game cinematics allow us to create such an incredible range of characters in so many different styles, so there are constantly new challenges and opportunities to push creativity and quality. I absolutely love that variety where you can be working on a hyperreal science-fiction trailer for two months, then spend the next three developing and executing a look for a stylized fantasy project.It's difficult to get bored in such an industry, although it obviously comes with a fair bit of pressure, with the next deadline never too far away. As a gamer myself, theres just the simple fact that Im often a huge fan of the IPs and studios we are working with. The creativity in games and animation often astounds me. I love seeing the result of a great team coming together to dream up new worlds, and being a part of that in any way is a huge thrill for me.Even when the aim is just to create a cool-looking character for a portfolio piece, the best artists will be imagining who that character is, how they interact with the world, and what impact the world they live in has had on them. Amy AshClicker ZBrush speed sculpt by The Gnomon Workshop Instructor, Amy AshTGW: When creating and posing a portrait image of a character, what things are you considering to make sure the character's personality shines through?AA: Story is always the most important element of any character. You need to understand who you are sculpting and then make decisions based on that. Even when the aim is just to create a cool-looking character for a portfolio piece, the best artists will be imagining who that character is, how they interact with the world, and what impact the world they live in has had on them.In cinematics, we work in neutral A poses and rarely pose characters, so the challenge becomes investing personality into a character that has no expression or performance attached to them. Here again, though, we need to let the story drive the decisions we make across the characters. I talk about this quite a bit in my Gnomon Workshop tutorial.When working on concept sculpts, there is the opportunity to give the character a lot more life through the pose and the expression, but its still all about the story. The pose of a warrior going into battle is going to be very different from one in the midst of the fight and different again as they are leaving the battlefield. You need to consider the emotions and motivations of the character at that moment and layer that on top of who the character is, their body type, and how they might move as a result of all of those things.With portraits alone, there is a level of subtlety involved. Facial expressions can be very similar, yet they communicate very different emotions, so a level of research is needed. You should start any project with reference collection, and expressions are no different. Imperfection and asymmetry are also hugely important, as faces are a lot wonkier than you might think, and I find the stage where I can start bringing that into a face is when the character really starts to come alive.Theres a real buzz from being involved in something like Love, Death + Robots. When each series comes out, all the artists are sharing their work online, and leaving comments on each other's posts, and it feels like you are part of this small but global community full of immense talent. Amy AshTGW: Out of all the projects you've worked on over the years, which has been your favorite?AA: The episode we did for season two of Love, Death + Robots, The Tall Grass, is one that has specific importance for me. It wasnt an easy project to work on as we had a lot to figure out in a short amount of time but it was very important for my own personal growth, and its also one of the projects that resonates with people the most. Often, when Im at industry events, its the one that everyone wants to talk about, so its helped me meet a lot of people that I otherwise might not have.On that project, we had a small team, a tight deadline, and a fairly open brief. We not only had to figure out how it would look but also how we could creatively and technically execute that over ten minutes of animation. It called on so many of my existing skills, including character modeling, but also my training in natural media illustration. Considering we were so few, I feel like we achieved quite a lot before the wider production team came on board and shot work started. I think the skills I learned on that project have helped me numerous times since.On top of all of that, theres a real buzz from being involved in something like Love, Death + Robots. When each series comes out, all the artists are sharing their work online, and leaving comments on each other's posts, and it feels like you are part of this small but global community full of immense talent. It was nice to work on a project that felt like a celebration of adult animation.Ephraim Winslow ZBrush sculpt by The Gnomon Workshop Instructor, Amy AshTGW: Aardman is much loved for being the creator of Wallace and Gromit. What role did you play at Aardman?AA: I was at Aardman for a couple of months as a character modeler and I was just happy to soak up the experience of being there at a company Ive admired for so long. Its a wonderful studio full of great people; the atmosphere is lovely there, and Bristol is an incredible city. I have nothing but very happy memories of my brief time there.TGW: Give us a flavor of a typical working day when you worked as Head of Characters at Axis Animation.AA: The answer here is that there was no typical day! I learned quite quickly that I needed to be prepared for anything and be able to pivot quickly from one topic to another. There were a lot of meetings, for sure, but also a lot of incredible moments.Generally, the day could be any combination of planning for upcoming projects, helping solve problems on existing ones, supporting the artists in the character team, and looking for new artists when we needed to scale up.Generally, Id start my day by looking over my calendar and trying to organize my time, answering urgent messages or emails, and then jumping into morning meetings. Id have regular calls with the crew coordinators to go over resource requests from projects, and plan out how we might crew future projects.From there, if I were on a project directly, Id jump into a call with the artists, make sure they were all happy and on track, and give any quick feedback or direction needed. If any artists needed extra help or support, wed have a quick one-on-one call, and then wed have Creative Dailies with the project core team, where Id present the work the team had done to the CG Supervisor and Art Director.In the afternoons, I might get some time to do some feedback paintovers, in-between regular one-on-one calls with artists and any calls with production that might be required. On the occasions when I could get into some modeling work, it would usually be in the afternoon; however, it was usually the second half of the day when more unexpected things might crop up that would need my attention.One thing that made my life a lot easier at Axis was the group I managed. It felt like we were always working together as a team towards a common goal, and they always stepped up and took ownership of issues, looking for solutions and helping each other. An amazing group of artists who were a pleasure to work with!I found myself spending more time in ZBrush, to the point now where all of my modeling work starts there, and Maya has become a smaller part of that process. Amy AshAlodia character model created for The Gnomon WorkshopTGW: Out of all the software you've used over the years, which has transformed your work and workflow the most?AA: Without a doubt, it's ZBrush. Now and then, a program comes along that creates a shift in the industry and enables huge leaps in what can be achieved, and ZBrush was exactly that. Before then, we were so bound to polygons and a workflow that, by its nature, was limiting.Then, ZBrush came along, and we could suddenly sculpt directly into the shapes. Suddenly, we started seeing all these incredible high-definition models appearing, and a whole new community grew. It opened modeling up to a lot of people and expanded the range of things we could create within a given time.Over the years, its become a bigger and bigger part of my process. In the early days, when ZBrush wasnt so good at creating new models, Id use it just to detail meshes Id created in 3ds Max or Maya, but as Pixologic kept adding more features, I found myself spending more time in ZBrush, to the point now where all of my modeling work starts there, and Maya has become a smaller part of that process. Its rare for a program to come along and so radically change the way you work I think only Substance Painter is comparable for the impact its had on asset creation.Building a character asset or any creative endeavor involves thousands of decisions, both big and small, from a team of people. A good artist has already made a lot of these decisions by the time an asset reaches review, and if they receive changes or feedback, they will know a lot more about how to execute those changes. All that decision-making is built on years of specialized experience and knowledge, and removing that will only lower standards. Amy Ash TGW: Do you see AI playing any role in your workflow either now or in the future?AA: It will do, Im sure, but what I want to see is ethical AI tools built for artists that automate tasks that take time away from the more creative parts of the work. What seems to be the goal right now is generative AI that bypasses and replaces the artist altogether while using our work to do so.For example, Id love a tool that quickly and accurately does the UV Unwrap and layout for a character so I can spend more time sculpting and trying to push the asset creatively or something that gives us better quality assurance checks or scene debugging. As long as its created ethically without stealing peoples work, I think most artists would be on board with those tools. To be honest, weve been learning new tools constantly for years, and its only recently that every new thing that comes out is branded as AI, whether it truly merits that definition or not.The thing that concerns me the most is that I feel standards are being lowered to meet the output in a rush to claim that the tech is ready to take over. I think we are in danger of a huge amount of skill and knowledge being put aside in the name of efficiency and profit, and its at least partially based on a somewhat misguided notion that decision-making lies solely at the top of the chain, or among a chosen few.In reality, building a character asset or any creative endeavour involves thousands of decisions, both big and small, from a team of people. A good artist has already made a lot of these decisions by the time an asset reaches review, and if they receive changes or feedback, they will know a lot more in how to execute those changes. All of that decision-making is built on years of specialized experience and knowledge, and removing that is only going to lower standards.Wasteland Wanderer ZBrush speed sculpt by The Gnomon Workshop Instructor, Amy AshTGW: After so many years of character creation and animation, how do you continue to stay fresh and inspired?AA: Its the people I work with and the things we can create together that keep me inspired. For me, theres no greater feeling than working with a team of amazing artists and creating something better than any one of us alone could do. Everyone has their own passions and interests and its one of those industries where you really can bring those into your work, and its wonderful to see people doing that.Additionally, I just really love creating characters and the whole process behind it. I love seeing other artists' work and feeling inspired to learn a new workflow. Theres also a bit of healthy competition when you see some modeling work someone has done, and you dont know how youd do it yourself. I love seeing the decisions people have made, the way theyve treated certain elements, and the little touches of an artists personality that shine through in their work.Going back to AI, I think this is why a lot of the push towards generative AI leaves me feeling a bit numb inside. Removing the teams and the process from the work takes away so much of what I love about my job.Ready to learn how Amy Ash creates incredible characters for cinematics? Get started with Volume 1 of her workshop today!

Animating Characters Using Master Control with Kevin NguyenOne of the best things you can do to improve your animation workflow in Maya is to learn how to animate with the Master Control. While the Master Control is generally used for the placement of 3D characters, it can also be used to make the animation process a lot simpler providing that you use it correctly.This method taught in this 4-hour workshop by Senior Animator Kevin Nguyen can be implemented by animators of all levels, and can be used in both personal projects or professional production shots. It eliminates a lot of the technical hurdles in posing when animating a shot that requires a lot of movements, especially very complex character mechanics.Kevins method will not only simplify the process of animation in Maya, but should ultimately save the animator a lot of time, which is a precious commodity in production. This workshop will help animators to work more freely and focus more on the artistic side of the animation process, rather than being held back by the technical side. This workshop also offers useful workflow tips and tricks to help improve the overall efficiency of any existing animation workflow.This workshop utilizes thePeinto Anim Rig by Kiel Figgins.WATCH NOW

Maya, Wrap & ZBrush Character Creation Workflow with Pat ImrieLearn how to create digi doubles for VFX production quickly and efficiently without sacrificing on quality using an industry-standard workflow. This 3-hour workshop by Pat Imrie is aimed at beginners without any experience creating a digital double, though the information included will also be helpful for seasoned professionals looking to expand their knowledge and update their workflow.Pats goal with this workshop is to replicate as closely as possible what it would be like to work on a digi double task in a studio setting. Using scan data fromClear Angle Studios, a supplier of scan data for the film and TV industries, the workshop kicks off with a lesson about how to prepare the scan data in order to maximize how it can be used to create an asset at multiple levels of detail. He then explains in detail how to use Wrap byFaceformto match the base mesh to the scan data before exploring various techniques that can be used for quickly replicating the clothing using Maya and ZBrush.Additionally, Pat walks through how to build a basic-pose rig to help repose the asset and looks at how to project and test texture maps to ensure the asset is properly prepared to pass on to other departments.By completing this workshop, you will have gained a better understanding of the workflows used to create high-quality digi doubles and what their place is within a production pipeline.The base mesh topology that Pat created specifically for this workshop is included as a Project File in .OBJ and .FBX formatsWATCH NOW

FACS Pipeline using Lightroom, Metashape, Wrap, Maya, ZBrush & Photoshop with Adam SpringBlendshapes and photogrammetry data are two very important elements when creating realistic human facial rigs in 3D. Instructor Adam Spring, Facial Modeler at Blur Studio, covers all the essential aspects of capturing FACS scans and processing the data into isolated blendshapes. He then looks at how these blendshapes can be used within a FACS based facial rig.In this tutorial, you will explore how to capture scanned facial expressions and process that data into isolated blendshapes. You will learn how these facial shapes can be used to create a FACS-based facial rig, and will take a look at integrating expression texture maps into a facial rig, which will be dynamically driven by the isolated facial shapes.Adam begins by covering how to capture and process multiple FACS scans with a single camera. For this exercise, he uses a DSLR and processes the data in Agisoft Metashape. The focus then shifts to wrapping and cleaning up the scan data before moving onto the final stage of the workshop: Creating a Blendshape Rig & Dynamic Shader in Maya. During this chapter he focuses on how to integrate the FACS scans into a facial rig, by isolating different areas of the scans in ZBrush to create multiple blendshapes that can then be imported into Maya. He then demonstrates the fundamentals of blendshape rigging and explores a simple approach to linking dynamically driven skin textures to achieve even more realism.This workshop aims to teach all the necessary skills you need to create FACS-based blendshapes that can be used in any facial rig for either a games or visual effects pipeline.WATCH NOW

A Complete Guide to Learning ZBrush with Madeleine Scott-SpencerWhether youre an absolute beginner or an intermediate ZBrush user, this workshop will guide you through 19 comprehensive hours of demonstration to help you master ZBrush 2024. No previous 3D experience is required to complete this workshop, and you can expect to finish the tutorial with a strong intermediate grasp of ZBrush as a sculpting, modeling, and texturing tool.Madeleine Scott-Spencer, Head of Department Assets and Art Department at Cinesite, draws from her experiences using ZBrush in film pipelines such asThe Hobbit Trilogy, Pacific Rim 2andThe Witcherseries to share methods she uses every day in the professional VFX sphere. Topics covered include sculpting, modeling hard-surface props, creating cloth and costume elements, texturing with projections, hand-painting creature skins, posing figures, and rendering using multiple methods in ZBrush.Many tools and techniques are explored over 46 chapters, providing a comprehensive foundation in the wide array of ZBrushs multifaceted toolset. The workshop is complemented by many helpful downloadable files to allow you to follow along with the examples at home.This detailed workshop opens with a quickstart sculpting tutorial where Maddie lays the groundwork for basic navigation and sculpting by blocking a Goblin bust using Dynamesh. Throughout subsequent chapters, she revisits this creature to create a full-body creature sculpt with fine details, including wrinkles and pores.Throughout the chapters, youll examine not only how to sculpt in ZBrush but also how to use the tools to create realistic, nuanced, and compelling anatomical forms. It is always important to Maddie, as a ZBrush teacher of 19 years, to communicate not only the basics of the tools but also how to begin using them to bring your visions to life in the most compelling ways.WATCH NOW

Light & Composite a Shot Using Maya, Katana, Arnold & Nuke with Graham CunninghamIn this comprehensive workshop by Graham Cunningham, you will be taken through the entire process of lighting and compositing a cinematic shot using Maya, Katana, Arnold, and Nuke. This is an advanced course that builds on theIntroduction to Katana workshop by Taeyoung Kim.This 4-hour workshop begins with setting up OCIO for ACEScg, importing and preparing assets in Maya and Arnold, creating a layout and shot camera, managing your .tx files and color spaces, and details how to convert materials to MaterialX, and export everything to Arnold USD.Next, in Katana, youll discover how to update the shot template, create some new macros, prepare Interactive render filters, and set up AOVs for multi-channel EXR output. Youll see how to import your USD assets, optimize your scene, go through the lighting setup, and create and modify HDRI light textures (in a quick excursion to Nuke).From there, the workflow proceeds to the creation of render passes, how to manage visibility and sampling, and render image sequences to disk using Katana batch commands. As the last step, Graham jumps into Nuke, where he shows how to assemble the render passes, split out light AOVs, adjust light colors and intensities. Youll also explore how to add atmosphere using volume/fog renders and WorldP data, how to add fog FX using stock footage on 3D cards, as well as how to use cryptomattes to fine-tune results, add glow, lensflare, film grain, and apply a final color grade.Upon completing this workshop, you will have a thorough understanding of what it takes to be a lighting compositing artist. Although project files and plugins are not provided, a list of the assets used are provided with this workshop.Grahams scene was built using theTokyo Back Alley Kit from Big Medium Small. After assembling the scene in Nuke, Graham then utilizes animatedLingering Fog assets from Action VFXto build up the atmosphere.WATCH NOW