Product: Gnomon Workshop Releases Character DVDs

The Gnomon Workshop announced the release of two new DVDs by Character Modeler Ian Joyner, featuring over eleven hours of information covering a myriad techniques for creating life-like characters. Using 3ds Max, BodyPaint, Photoshop and ZBrush, Ian discusses his workflow for modeling, detailing, texturing and posing a male character outfitted with clothing and props. While Max plays a key role in the development of the character, virtually all the methods utilized apply to any leading 3D application such as Maya or XSI. In the first DVD, “Character Modeling for Production: Character Modeling Techniques with Ian Joyner”, Ian shows the tools and techniques he uses to quickly create a full character model in 3ds Max, leading you through the basic character production pipeline used at Blur Studio. He takes you through the process of building clean geometry using Max's built-in toolset as well as using the PolyBoost plugin. Ian shows how to easily enhance objects with ZBrush, and how to quickly find the form and detail of your character. From there he demonstrates how to bring the geometry back into Max to make it animation friendly by retopologizing. After the model is finished, Ian covers how to set up hair using Hair FX as well as how to set up lights, cameras and a simple rig using Biped to pose and render the character. Finally, using Adobe Photoshop, Ian discusses how to present the character in a professional manner. In the second DVD, “Character Texturing for Production: Materials and Texturing Techniques with Ian Joyner”, Ian textures and completes the game cinematic character he modeled in Character Modeling for Production. In this lecture, he shows different techniques to UV map objects of various complexities quickly and efficiently using 3ds Max's UV tools and DeepUV. Ian covers both hand-painted and image-based methods to create textures for the character. From there he uses various ZBrush plugins to both block-in and finalize textures and he uses BodyPaint to fix seams and to begin new textures. Ian demonstrates a variety of other techniques incorporated in the Max>ZBrush>BodyPaint pipeline and shows you how to enhance the hair created in his first DVD, and take it to a more finalized level. Finally, Ian shows how you can reuse your rigs from character to character using Biped, and how to use Adobe Photoshop to add an extra level of professionalism to your final models before submitting them to a client. Ian Joyner has been a Character Modeler at Blur Studios for over two years. In that time, he has worked on everything from feature films, ride films and critically acclaimed video game cinematics. Before coming to Blur, Ian freelanced for various companies. He has also worked as a beta tester for a variety of high profile software packages including ZBrush and Clay3D. Recently, Ian helped Softimage Special Projects launch the Face Robot software. In his free time he entered and won one of the original CGNetworks Challenges. Ian's work can be seen in many game titles including X-Men Legends 2, Brothers in Arms, Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, Warhammer Age of Reckoning and Rise of Legends.