Toolkit 2 - Mudbox Tutorials (Chapters 11 to 13)

Chapter 11 - Posing and Deforming

Part 1 - Joints

Adding joints to a model in Mudbox is quite simple as the software works out where to put the joint in the middle of geometry you select.

Joint added to the base of the left ear, this creates a weight (highlighted in green).

Weights can then be modified with a brush. Much like the normal paint and scult brushes, the weight brush can also be smoothed and inverted.

It is also possible to add multiple joints in a row, to allow for more control over certain portions of the model.

Part 2 - Posing

Once you've placed in the joints and the weights are painted correctly, you can begin to manipulate the joints.

Here you can see that the left ear has been scaled up and the right ear has been twisted, using only the pose tool. This technically makes the pose tool good for modelling as well.

It is also possible to save poses to the pose window. This allows you to create multiple poses that one can click through that update in the preview. You can also modify and update any existing poses from this menu.

Chapter 12 - Rendering

Part 1 - Lighting

This is the default directional light unhidden.

Here's the full Gremlin model without shadows.

Here's with shadows.

And here's with higher resolution shadows.

Added a new light.

Added image based light, which I also moved around with the 'L' hotkey, once I figured out how to actually do that.

Part 2 - Viewport Filters

Making sure that the head material settings are all good for rendering.

Same with the helmet.

Moving over to the viewport filters. Here's the ambient occlusion filter with only AO turned on.

Cavity map with only AO turned on.

Ambient Occlusion and Cavity Map filters with only AO turned off.

Tonemapper added.

Depth of Field added.

Part 3 - Rendering

Save Image Menu

Exported Image

Create Turnaround Menu

Record Movie menu. This is used to record modelling and texture etc.

Chapter 13 - Exporting

Part 1 - Exporting Models

This part explains all the various file types that you can export models as.

The tutorial also explains how you can send a model straight to Maya.

Part 2 - Exporting Textures

By right clicking on a paint layer, at the bottom you'll notice multiple ways to export.

Export Selected: Exports only the layers you have selected

Export Group Merged: Exports the entire group merged into one file

Export Channel Merged: Exports the entire channel merged into one file

Export Channel to PSD: Exports the channel to Photoshop

The tutorial then goes back over how to create texture maps.

And lastly the tutorial gives a tour of the 'Export All Paint Layers' menu.

Conclusion