3D Creature Development Master Class
with Alex Alvarez
Ideation and Design - Lecture Intro
Description
3D Creature Development is a creative process that evolves a design by taking advantage of modern 3D tools and techniques. This Master Class introduces the student to the entire pipeline, while exploring form, looks and behavior. Along the way we focus on the experience of working on a project where our work must regularly be presented to an art director or client, while also keeping in mind that the workflow should allow for an iterative approach. This requires an emphasis on speed and efficiency. Projects are never done, they are due. You can tweak things forever, but in the end your work just needs to satisfy the demands of the project, client or specific shot that the work is being made for. With this in mind, all of my techniques are based on a workflow that allows me to spend as little, or as much time, as I have been given. For this creature project, the deadline was one day for each of the seven stages of development: Design, Modeling and UV Layout, Digital Sculpting, Look-Development, Texturing and Shaders, Rigging and Posing, Animation and Live-Action Integration. Regarding the level of technical details we go into for each stage of development, this Master Class thoroughly discusses and demonstrates every single step with over twenty-five hours of lecture. However, there are certain assumptions that have to be made in regards to the student's technical knowledge of the tools being used. This is an intermediate level course.
Duration: 1500 minutes
Format: SD 1024x768
Alex Alvarez
Founder / Director The Gnomon Workshop and Gnomon School of Visual Effects
Alex is founder and director of The Gnomon Workshop and of the Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood. Having dedicated the last decade to educating students and professional artists around the world, Alex has helped change the face of computer graphics and design education. He has been published in industry magazines, websites and books – plus he has taught courses at several major trade conferences. Alex is president of the Los Angeles Maya Users Group and sits on the Advisory Boards for Highend3D.com and CGsociety. He continues to work on personal and professional projects, recently as a creature development artist on the James Cameron film Avatar. Prior to Gnomon, Alex worked for Alias|Wavefront as a consultant and trainer for studios in the Los Angeles area. Alex is an alumnus of the Art Center College of Design and the University of Pennsylvania.
