Mudbox 2013 Cookbook

Mudbox 2013 Cookbook

Overview of this book

"Mudbox 2013 Cookbook" covers a variety of techniques that can be used to bring your imagination to life. You will be able to create detailed characters and environments like the ones found in games, movies, and on television. Each recipe is one more building block towards digitally sculpting your ideas into reality. "Mudbox 2013 Cookbook" is written in recipes so that you can refer back to it whenever you seek help. The advanced techniques described in this book cover the whole spectrum of Mudbox's capabilities. With this book you will learn the foundational techniques in using Mudbox as well as more advanced ones "Mudbox 2013 Cookbook" will guide the reader step by step through the process of creating brushes, sculpting, 3d painting, lighting assets, extracting normal maps, and many other techniques. If a recipe is too advanced for you then you can visit the suggested recipes listed at the end of the recipe to learn supporting techniques. Supporting images are used for readers who understand things more visually. Each recipe is rated for difficulty so that you can find techniques that line up with your skill level. Once you complete the beginner and intermediate recipes you will be able to move on to the more advanced recipes.

Mudbox 2013 Cookbook

Credits

About the Authors

About the Reviewer

www.PacktPub.com

Preface

Free Chapter

Ready? Set...

Introduction

Installing Mudbox 2013 documentation

Setting up hotkeys

Increasing the resolution on your model

Bookmarking the camera view

Downloading and enabling stamps, stencils, and base meshes from the Internet

Adding and adjusting your image planes

Sculpting on different subdivision levels effectively

Recording a movie while you work in Mudbox

Setting up colors and other preferences

Setting up your Wacom tablet

Working in expert mode

Heads Up

Introduction

Revealing the wireframe for edge location

Setting up a basic three point lighting scheme

Organizing your tabs for smoother navigation

Locking down the camera for reference matching

Creating a stone tile by adjusting brush properties

Using the object list to manage multiple objects

Setting up layers for easily adjusting sculpt details

Setting up stamps, stencils, and image planes using image browser

Broad Strokes

Introduction

Creating a concrete damage brush

Customizing your brush and adding it to your tool tab

Creating your own Imprint brush for adding presculpted details

Using the Freeze brush to get hard edges and isolate your sculpting

Using the Fill brush for detailing corners and crevices

Matching a reference silhouette using the Grab tool

Fine Tooth Comb

Introduction

Creating a zipper using a custom stamp

Creating a custom stencil from a stone wall carving

Creating a rock wall that tiles seamlessly in all directions

Tricks for painting with stencils

Tricks for painting with stamps

Adding a stencil or stamp to your toolbox

Creating a custom rock stamp

Get In and Get Out

Introduction

Flattening to UV space

Deleting the highest level of resolution on your model

Blocking out a rough Mayan pyramid using a displacement map

Importing, exporting, and working with multiple objects within Mudbox 2013

Creating a terrain

Shine On

Introduction

Creating a Blinn material

Using a simple Blinn material

Using Lit Sphere to mimic other materials

Creating a gold bar

Creating a glass sculpture

Time to Paint

Introduction

Painting a rock texture using projections

Painting out seams on a rock using the Clone brush

Painting a rock Specular map

Painting a rock Bump map

Adding text to a cape using Flatten UV mode

Adding dirt to a cape using a layer as a mask

Ready for My Closeup

Introduction

Creating a light

Creating a three-point lighting preset

Lighting an indoor scene with a simple light setup

Enhancing your scene with viewport filters

Creating a rock normal map with a normal map filter

Creating a turntable

One Step Forward

Introduction

Posing a lamp cord by adding joints to your mesh

Posing multiple objects at the same time

Adjusting joint pivots and painting weights

Creating a human rig by importing joints

Get Baked

Introduction

Extracting sculpt information as a normal map

Extracting an ambient occlusion map

Adding grunge inside crevices using the Dry Brush

Extracting and using a vector displacement map for sculpting

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Extracting and using a vector displacement map for sculpting

This recipe will go over how to create a vector displacement map so that you can use it to sculpt with complex stamps. This feature is unique to Mudbox and takes the idea of a displacement map one step further by allowing crevices and overhangs to be captured by the extracted texture map. Vector displacement technology is a very recent development and presents some unique methods to add to your workflow as an artist.

Getting ready

The first thing you are going to need is a sculpt that you would like to turn into a vector displacement stamp, or stencil. If you do not have your own details sculpted you can use the Vector Displacement Sculpt.mud file to follow along with the recipe more closely. The following screenshot shows what this sculpt looks like:

Keep in mind that if you create your own details, they should be done on a flat plane for this exercise.

How to do it...

Now that you have your sculpt ready to go, we can start the extraction...

Mudbox 2013 Cookbook

Mudbox 2013 Cookbook

Overview of this book

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Current Title:

Mudbox 2013 Cookbook

Extracting and using a vector displacement map for sculpting

Getting ready

How to do it...