Once I had Mugs’ design finalized, he was ready to model in Maya.  Using image planes for my model reference, I was able to shape my character to look exactly like my design.  I started with a low poly version, and used this as my base for everything.  At this stage if was easiest to lay out the UV’s.    I’m not using ptex just yet as some applications I may be using are not ptex friendly.  I do love the idea of not having to fuss with UV’s but I’m a bit old school in that area at the moment.  I added a collar with a buckle, similar to the one my dog had.  After some tweaks and a smoothing pass, Mugs was ready to go into Mudbox for some sculpting.     In Mudbox, I tried my best to sculpt out muscle groups and shapes according to canine anatomy.  Since Mugs is heavily characterized, and I still want him to be cartoony, this was a delicate exercise.  At the end I felt I had accomplished a nice balance of believable muscles, but still feeling toon like.  I also painted some color as his base texture in Mudbox.    Exporting maps from […]