Texturing realistic characters in Mudbox

Hi and welcome to my very first video tutorial here at Creative-Le Studios. This is part one of a series, that will cover my entire texturing process. Part one will cover the process I take when texturing a head model inside of Autodesk Mudbox. This is an intermediate to advanced level tutorial, I am assuming you know how to unwrap a model as well as import a mesh into Mudbox.

Throughout the process, I will utilize various programs such as Photoshop, Xnormal, and 3ds Max. I will also show how to create a normal map, ambient occlusion, and how to fix and correct errors that may occur.

The importance of good reference

One thing that is essential to my process is having tons of high-res photos, the reason being I will take these photos and piece them together to create a highly realistic looking model. Now, you may say that sounds easy but where and how can I acquire these types of high-res images? My favorite source and a number of the industry’s best use the website 3dsk. 3dsk however does require a fee to use their service; I will explain why it is more than worth it.

First off it is an investment, that’s right I will say it again it is an investment. You have the potential to make the money back you spent within a week just based off freelancing and side projects. The second reason, your competition is more than likely utilizing this resource, why handicap yourself? Another excuse I tend to hear is I don’t have money. So that means you don’t have money for video games, beer, etc either than right? In order to truly reach the level of mastery you must make sacrifices.

Texturing the head

All right so end of my rant. I’m just using the projection tool in Mudbox lining my images up accordingly and filling it in. Also I like to toggle flat lighting (left click and toggle the flat lighting switch on and off) to get a good view of the texture. I will create a 2048 texture map that will later be re-sized in Photoshop (to ensure it can meet the requirements of the game engine).

One important thing to note: I always apply a white material on my model before texturing, ensuring the most accurate results.

Without further ado here is the video enjoy!

Hoped you enjoyed the video. Please give us feedback below on the comments section; we love to hear from the community here at Creative-Le Studios! Make sure to check back for part 2!