Cinematic Face Texturing: From ZBrush to Arnold

Level: Intermediate

5 hours

Painter, Maya, ZBrush

Released: 2023

Industry Ready Face Texturing

Learn how to texture a character bust from scratch in Substance Painter! Learn the full workflow from the first brush stroke to the final tweaks of the skin shader. By the end of this course, you’ll be able to texture your own characters, using simple and powerful techniques.

WHAT'S INCLUDED

Covering the Full Texturing Process

We start by moving your ZBrush model into Substance Painter with the perfect export settings. From there, you’ll learn skin detailing using tileables and Warp Projections.

You’ll learn to use Smart Masks to skyrocket your texturing speed and build rich color maps one layer at a time. Finally, we’ll create the roughness map to give your character that cinematic, realistic look.

Skin Shading Made Simple

In Arnold, we'll create a professional SSS skin shader, teaching you a workflow that is simple, clean, and easy to master. This is where your character truly comes together and starts to feel realistic.

Professional and Tested Texturing Workflow

You'll learn a holistic way of texturing, covering both texturing in Painter as well as skin shading in Arnold. This is a fast and industry-proven way of working, giving you a solid framework for all your future characters.

Texturing Made Easy

Learn How to Texture Skin

Learn skin texturing without the struggle. We’ve turned a complex process into a simple, step-by-step workflow that delivers professional results. Follow our battle-tested techniques to build lifelike maps and take the guesswork out of skin forever.

DETAILS

What You'll Learn

  • Exporting models from ZBrush and importing them into Substance Painter
  • Setting up Smart Masks for an efficient workflow
  • Using Warp Projection in Substance Painter for quickly adding pores
  • Using custom alphas to add skin details
  • Building a color map step by step
  • Making a roughness map
  • Making a SSS amount map
  • Exporting maps from Substance Painter
  • Exporting displacement maps from ZBrush
  • Skin shading in Arnold
  • How to use a tested and simple texturing workflow

What You Get

  • 19 Video Tutorials Available for Streaming
  • All scene files (Maya, ZBrush, Painter)
  • 10 Page Help PDF
  • Character model by Niyazi Selimoglu
  • 1 low-res version of the full face alpha from FlippedNormals Face Kit
  • 3 low-res versions of alphas from FlippedNormals Skin Kit
  • 1 low-res version of an eye from FlippedNormals Eye Kit

Requirements

Substance 3D Painter - Any version that supports Warp Projection

Maya 2022 or more recent

Skill Level

Perfect for 3D artists with an intermediate understanding of Substance Painter and Maya and who are interested in taking their character texturing to the next level!

Your Instructor

Your instructor, Henning Sanden, brings 20 years of elite 3D experience to the table. With a film resume featuring Venom, Alien Covenant, and Batman v Superman, Henning has spent years at the highest level as a professional texture artist. This series skips the theory and delivers the exact, battle-tested techniques he uses to create assets for the big screen.

Course Contents

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Workflow and Foundation of Texturing 2 videos · 25m

  1. 1 Texturing Workflow Explained 9:37
  2. 2 Modeling Is Texturing 15:58

Project Setup and Smart Masks 2 videos · 27m

  1. 3 Mesh Prep 8:44
  2. 4 Smart Masks 18:35

Creating the Pores and Skin Details 5 videos · 1h 5m

  1. 5 Pores Projection 33:34
  2. 6 Pores Tileable 11:21
  3. 7 Horn Displacement 5:51
  4. 8 Pore Fixes 4:24
  5. 9 Displacement Balance 10:39

Creating the Color and Roughness Maps 3 videos · 1h 0m

  1. 10 Color Base 32:19
  2. 11 Horns Base 22:19
  3. 12 Roughness Base 5:52

Color Breakup and Bone Base 2 videos · 31m

  1. 13 Color Breakup 25:17
  2. 14 Bone Base 6:15

Skin Shading and Map Updates 5 videos · 1h 29m

  1. 15 Maya Scene Setup 17:14
  2. 16 Skin Shading 23:58
  3. 17 SSS Amount 19:30
  4. 18 Map Updates 18:58
  5. 19 Eye Kit Setup 9:52

Industry Experience You Can Trust

From blockbuster films to AAA games, our instructors have contributed to some of the industry’s most recognized projects.