LEARNING PATH

Hardsurface Modeling

Discover the fundamental skills needed to model hard-surface objects, props, and vehicles, with this collection of nine workshops. The featured instructors have worked for studios including Wētā FX, Disney, Zoic, Bungie, and Riot Games, and the techniques in this series cover visual effects, animation, and real-time workflows. The classes utilize tools including Maya, ZBrush, 3ds Max, Blender, and Unreal Engine. Artists will learn how to work with concept art, reference, approach topology, UV Layout, HighPoly vs LowPoly, Normal Maps, Photogrammetry, and presentation for client review.

Intermediate to Advanced 38h 51min 9 Workshops

By 9 Instructors

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Creating a Hero Weapon for Games

Lead Weapon & Prop Artist Thomas Butters shares his next-gen workflow for creating production-ready weaponry. This 6h 40m workshop guides artists from reference gathering and blockout, through high- and low-poly modeling (Blender, ZBrush), UV unwrapping, baking textures, detailed texturing in Substance Painter, and final portfolio renders in Marmoset Toolbag. The techniques are accessible for all experience levels...

by Thomas Butters

Intermediate

6h 40m

10 Lessons

Lighting & Rendering Modeling Prop Design Texturing & Shading UV Layout

Blender

Substance Painter

Marmoset Toolbag

ZBrush

Modeling for Film & TV: Hard-Surface Vehicles

Senior Asset Artist Josh Docherty shares his professional workflow for creating high-resolution, production-quality hard-surface vehicles for film and TV without relying on scans. This 2h 52m workshop details using camera lineups, best practices for clean topology, UVs, naming conventions, and utilizing native Maya tools to deliver a robust asset ready for Texturing, Rigging, and Lighting using Redshift and Photoshop...

by Josh Docherty

Advanced

2h 52m

7 Lessons

Effects Animation Lighting & Rendering Look Development Modeling UV Layout

Redshift

Maya

Lightroom

Photoshop

Creating a Sci-Fi Pistol for Games

Associate Art Director Sean Marino shares his professional, production-ready workflow for modeling and texturing a sci-fi pistol for games. This 2h 22m workshop covers the full pipeline: blockout and mid-poly in Maya, high-poly sculpting in ZBrush, UVs, baking in Marmoset Toolbag, and final detailing in Substance Painter, providing the knowledge to create highly detailed weapons for first or third-person games...

by Sean Marino

Intermediate

2h 22m

8 Lessons

Digital Sculpting Lighting & Rendering Look Development Modeling Prop Design Texturing & Shading UV Layout

Maya

Substance Painter

Marmoset Toolbag

ZBrush

Vehicle Modeling for Production

Visual Development Artist James Schauf shares his workflow for modeling a Mad Max inspired hot rod in Maya. This workshop focuses on the importance of reference, creating a strong block-out, and advanced hard-surface modeling techniques with an emphasis on clean topology for production. It methodically walks through modeling details like tires, rims, body, and a turret, providing tips to increase speed and quality on any hard-surface project...

by James Schauf

Intermediate

8h 01m

19 Lessons

Look Development Modeling

Maya

Creating a Laser Sword for Games

Senior 3D Hard-Surface Artist Dylan Mellott shares his entire 3D game art pipeline for creating a professional-quality, game-ready weapon. This 2h 56m workshop covers model block-out and retopology in 3ds Max, sculpting in ZBrush, UV unwrapping (RizomUV), baking (Normals/AO) in Marmoset Toolbag 4, and final texturing in Substance Painter. It's intended to teach artists how to blend hard-surface poly modeling with organic sculpting...

by Dylan Mellott

Advanced

2h 56m

10 Lessons

Digital Sculpting Lighting & Rendering Look Development Modeling Texturing & Shading UV Layout

3ds Max

Substance Painter

Marmoset Toolbag

ZBrush

Creating a Photorealistic 3D Prop for Production

Senior 3D Generalist Babak Bina guides you through his complete modeling and shading workflow for creating a photorealistic, production-ready prop. This 3h 06m workshop covers hard-surface modeling in Maya, efficient UV layout, non-destructive procedural texturing in Mari using RGB masking and shared layers, and final look-dev, shading, and rendering using V-Ray in Maya. This industry-preferred workflow is suitable for artists of any skill level...

by Babak Bina

Intermediate

3h 06m

6 Lessons

Lighting & Rendering Look Development Modeling Texturing & Shading UV Layout

Mari

Maya

V-Ray

Creating Props for Games, Vol. 1

Senior Environment Artist Nick Reynolds examines each step of the modern process for creating assets for real-time game projects. This 7h 15m workshop begins with the fundamentals and walks through the creation of a sci-fi vehicle, covering high-poly to low-poly modeling, UVs, and baking Normal Maps for production using Maya, ZBrush, Substance Painter, Marmoset Toolbag, and xNormal...

by Nick Reynolds

Intermediate

7h 15m

13 Lessons

Game Engines Lighting & Rendering Modeling UV Layout

Marmoset Toolbag

xNormal

Unreal

Maya

ZBrush

Substance Painter

Sculpting with ZModeler

Character Artist Daniel Zeni teaches how to use ZBrush’s ZModeler brush to its full potential for creating proper hard-surface or organic topology. This 2h 03m workshop covers the basics of ZModeler, editing faces, vertices, and edges, creating necessary topology, and niche techniques like NanoMesh. It is intended for artists already comfortable sculpting in ZBrush who want to speed up their workflow and transition from traditional box modeling...

by Daniel Zeni

Intermediate

2h 03m

10 Lessons

Character Art Digital Sculpting Modeling

ZBrush

Complete Photogrammetry Workflow

If you’re looking for a complete step-by-step walkthrough of a professional photogrammetry process, look no further than this 3.5-hour workshop by Lead Digital Projects Engineer, Charleston Silverman...

by Charleston Silverman

Advanced

3h 36m

6 Lessons

Modeling Game Engines Photogrammetry

Unreal

Agisoft Metashape

Photoshop

Substance Painter

ZBrush

Reality Capture

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about the Learning Path.

Learning Paths have been organized to help both aspiring and professional artists, who are looking for training based on the fundamental categories of creative work in the visual effects, animation and games industries. Each Learning Path has been curated to contain a collection of workshops that guide artists through a series of topics relevant to that path, but they are not necessarily sequential. When appropriate, however, we have organized the workshops in a path to be in a logical order. All workshops are tagged with their level (beginner, intermediate, advanced) so that you can browse the path and choose a title that matches both the subject matter and level that you are looking for.

All Gnomon Workshop instructors are professional artists from the entertainment industry, who have worked with us to structure their time, experience and knowledge into practical and inspiring training. We believe that it is important to learn from masters of the craft, who have honed those skills via years of experience working in production, collaboratively with their peers. Through time and experience, artists develop not just their creative and technical ability, but also their communication skills. These become critical aspects to being an effective lead artist, supervisor or, in our case, instructor.

Whether you choose an Annual or a Monthly Subscription, your plan will give you unlimited access to all 26 Learning Paths, allowing you to learn at your own pace. Your subscription also gives you access to the entire catalog of 350+ workshops, with new comprehensive workshops added every month.

While many workshops include Project Files, these are at the instructors’ discretion. You will find details of any project files provided on each workshop page, along with the software/tools required to tackle the workshop. If you have any questions, you can contact us via our Live Chat or email the team at support@thegnomonworkshop.com.

Unlock Unlimited Access

Over 350 Workshops. 250+ Instructors.
Concept Art, Visual Effects, Games and much more.
New Workshops released every month.
Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Levels

A team working on computers in an office setting.

Level up your Team

If you're an artist at a Studio, School, College, or University, we have Team License options available for every scenario. Join top studios and schools including Blizzard, Riot Games, Disney, Gnomon, LCAD, Digipen, London Met and many more.

Hardsurface Modeling

Creating a Hero Weapon for Games

Modeling for Film & TV: Hard-Surface Vehicles

Creating a Sci-Fi Pistol for Games

Vehicle Modeling for Production

Creating a Laser Sword for Games

Creating a Photorealistic 3D Prop for Production

Creating Props for Games, Vol. 1

Sculpting with ZModeler

Complete Photogrammetry Workflow

Unlock Unlimited Access

Join thousands of artists from around the world, who are developing their skills with The Gnomon Workshop.

Learn at your own pace with 24/7 access Monthly or Annual plans available

Level up your Team