Chapter 1. Creating Organic 3D Characters

Character designs by Carla Merrell

Bringing digital 3d characters to life in an animation involves many steps. Each step involves artists with a variety of interests and talents. Most people who consider a career working in digital 3D production usually first want to be animators, because that is the glamorous position associated with creating character animations. They do not often consider the many other career paths available to them. As this industry matures, animators are getting work more because of their talent as performers than because of their software knowledge. Just like not everyone has the talent to be a successful actor, not everyone has the talent to be a successful animator. If you find you are not cut out to be the next Tom Hanks, what is an aspiring 3D character artist to do?

Not to worry, plenty of other kinds of jobs which pay well and require many different talents are absolutely essential in the 3D character animation process. For instance, the job of a storyboard artist requires the drawing talent to produce inspiring designs and story sketches. The job of a character modeler requires the sculpting talent to create the skin and clothes of the character; and the job of a texture artist requires the painting talent to make the skin and clothes look believable. In addition, the character setup artist must have the talent to create logical and user-friendly character controls for the animator. The lighting technical director must have the talent to create the proper mood for each scene. The special effects artists must have the talent to be able to re-create natural effects such as water, wind, and fire; and the compositor must have the talent to put all the elements together so that they all fit as a whole. This book prepares you for the career options of two of these roles, namely that of a character modeler and character setup artist. In the process, you learn the basic skills necessary to create an animation-ready 3D character in Maya. To begin, this chapter introduces you to what is involved in working as a character modeler and setup artist through interviews with industry professionals. To get you started in the process, you also are shown preproduction design steps that make creating your character model in Maya easier.