Full 3D GAME ASSET workflow ( Maya / ZBrush / Substance Painter )

[@MHTutorials3D]

Did you create an asset based on this video ? Please post a link below to show it off !

[@Okuchaaaaaaaan]

hello i have a question after you add the texture to the model in substance painter at the end of the video, do you just export via Substance Painter and then import it to unreal engine 4? it would be cool if you could make a video for the process after substance painter thank you~

[@Yassine_Laatiri]

hi when i imported my model to substance then baked the textures my noise wasn't there why?

[@atkaygee]

@@Yassine_Laatiri You need to hit the button "apply to mesh" in the Surface menu in ZBrush to make it "stick". Then, reexport the high poly from ZBrush and then follow the steps to bake this back over the low poly in Painter

[@tarangmakwana3146]

@@atkaygee I am still not able to bake because the main part of my mesh is not getting baked only for some reason

[@shannasportelli]

I was crying all morning cause I was so frustrated to not understand the workflow from ZBrush to SP. In 20 minutes I finally understood it all. Thank you so much!

[@MHTutorials3D]

You are very, very welcome, now show me that smile !

[@shannasportelli]

@@MHTutorials3D :))))))))

[@CaroliArt]

Same :'3

[@hardiksemlani5255]

​@MHTutorials3D Make a workflow maya , zbrush , substance painter and photoshop tutorial of game character and creature for beginners

[@semirukiya5308]

So many useful informations (basic ones too) in such a short tutorial. That's just great! You definitely know how to make a good tutorial.

[@MHTutorials3D]

Thank you

[@semirukiya5308]

By the way, does the same goes for buildings? I mean, I've seen games in the past made like this: Model of a building, where it has few different materials used on. Which means there's for example 1 for window, 1 for doors, 1 for wall and so on. In case You've presented, it would mean all those different parts would become one so it means I would have to create an atlas. Is it better than to use separate materials? But then it would cause more work to do since every model would use its unique material, which means I rather wouldn't be able to use the same material for several different objects, right?

[@MHTutorials3D]

I typically create ( and save ) building elements with their maps ( textures, normal maps etc ) such as doors, windows etc

[@semirukiya5308]

I see, so that's just what I was thinking about too.

[@semirukiya5308]

And by the way, I'm having a problem with Dynamesh and Zremesher when it comes to wall with window. Well it actually removes the window after the whole operation. Let me show You what I mean: i.imgur.com/zyEAz3K.png -> Here after Zremesher You can see that corners of window are kinda smoothed (I had to use at least 10 target poly counts to not smooth it more than this) i.imgur.com/lUcnQ4B.png -> And here I've used Dynamesh set to 128 resolution. How can I avoid such smoothing effects?

[@meltface1]

Maybe on the next video bring it all back into maya for a render? That seems to be the hardest part of this workflow but none of these tutorials show it.

[@sayedsanjan4707]

yes , and im struggling with it 😪

[@jazenism]

Mike this is such a great tutorial. There are so many videos online that appear to complicate this process, but you strip it all down and present it in a really simple way! Thank you very much and keep up the good work!

[@superiorphi5778]

you save lives Mike, one video at a time!

[@lilitbeglarian7942]

Thank you so much- it's great to have someone show exactly when to use dynamesh/zremesher/etc

[@MHTutorials3D]

You are very welcome

[@TheMuseLuci]

Love the way you teach btw. its not too fast, but its to the point, and very clear.

[@techlife2168]

You are a gift from god my friend. Ive been following you video for almost 2 years now:) i have won a game jam in our country and you are one of the reason..now i am enchancing my skills and i am so glad because you have this kind of tutorial

[@MHTutorials3D]

That is so cool. Congratulations !

[@doghunter717]

Short and sweet. You gave a good brief over view of how this process kind of works with out going super in depth. Great video, you earned a sub from me !

[@MHTutorials3D]

Thank you !

[@WHITE-bz3jq]

World's most simple tutorials thank you....

[@danharbor1752]

skip to 11:36 after the uv unwrapping part if ur working on a custom model those bits are just him adding detail to his high polly im following this differently i made highpolly then made a low polly from it

[@spjet82]

I would love to know how you asemble it in maya on a low poly mesh with normals texture and how to export that to a game engine or other production like rendering in maya! Great work on the videos its quick and to the point

[@MHTutorials3D]

Thank you

[@witchykristen1840]

Thank you so much for this tutorial! Finally i can understand the proper workflow. Plus you helped saving my final project so thank youuu!

[@MHTutorials3D]

You are very welcome Krsietn. More like these coming, make sure you don't miss them ;-) ( Subbing is appreciated )

[@witchykristen1840]

@@MHTutorials3D I do have one question though, if i have a project with multiple models in it, when i export it into zbrush from maya and split groups, how can i still take the "highpoly/lowpoly" approach? because in your video the grave and ground were combined and so you had a copy with the low and high, so i'm just thinking how do i handle the same approach with multiple subtools. Thanks in advance!

[@haii9737]

ok i've been searching so loong time until i find this tutorial

[@michaelarbygames]

nice tutorial! i actually made virtually the same tutorial, but for 3DS Max instead of Maya. Now, learning maya, I made good use of this one :) Tombstones really are the perfect asset for this type of full workflow tutorial.

[@terryrhuebottom]

Hey, Mike loved the tutorial. I'm still really new to ZBrush and seeing you use the noise feature gave me one heck of a Flash of inspiration. Things I've been trying to do to simulate surface texture just got much easier. Thank you so very much.

[@MHTutorials3D]

You are very welcome Terry !

[@ryansmith539]

you forgot to mention to press 'apply to mesh' when adding noise in zbrush

[@MHTutorials3D]

I did forget to mention that, you are right. Sorry

[@blamb888]

This literally just made my night. Thank you guys!

[@waberoid]

You made it look so easy!

[@theweeking8425]

mike, thankyou i was struggling on high n low baking, i was using 3ds max for caging and baking. Overally it was time consuming, didn't knw substance had baking too. It saved my time

[@pawpotsRS]

Mike thank you, this is really direct to point which could help me with my diorama, just in time!

[@MHTutorials3D]

Good :-)

[@hsan.1951]

Thankx for the tutorial Mike. I wish you taught us how to set everything up back into Maya though.

[@ZephrusPrime]

You should learn to use ZModeler inside ZBrush. You could have easily made the low poly with it. Also with ZRemesher you could have Remeshed it a few more time to get better topo. Holding down Alt while pushing ZRemesher will give you a different algorithm and you could have turned down adaptive size to around 15 to get better quads. Hitting the half tab will decrease your polys 50 % as well. If you used ZModeler you could have had the exact edge flow you wanted while being able to have clean subdivisions for sculpting. Using Dynamesh for your details sculpt will have its limits as the polys are filled with Ngons. Dynamesh is more useful for the overall block out, shapes and forms. You will want cleaner topology to sculpt and use alphas etc.

[@MHTutorials3D]

Thanks for sharing

[@rohitvitthalpawar2927]

Its very usefull tutorial for quick understanding of 3d modelling texturing workflow , thank you sir!

[@silvaazarian4296]

Thank you for another great tutorial . This one made me smile , it took me a few years back when I first started learning Zbrush , i was sculpting with the MOUSE , it's horrible .

[@aamirhamja07]

Love your all tutorials.

[@visheshl]

Can you do a tutorial about exporting the final asset and maps from substance painter and importing it in unity or unreal engine?

[@ThunderingMilwaukee]

Thank you for a great video!

[@buildsoc1215]

Thank you so freakin much my dude 👍😀 keep it up!!! Wanted to see an actual workflow and you mah man did a great job right there 👍 thanks a lot!!!

[@noelbit9371]

This is great! I hope you'll make more videows like this!!!

[@MHTutorials3D]

I will

[@tomhikon]

Thank you SO much for this 👍

[@sharvaribhoi7105]

Thank you,very informative tutorial.

[@danharbor1752]

for this tutortial im following it with a sphere and just spotlight projecting detail to see if i can retain awesome spotlight texturing to low poly

[@saunterfilms]

Man, you are the Best! Thank you!

[@rainbowgunny1]

you just saved my life

[@MHTutorials3D]

You are welcome :-)

[@FuranTenshiFK]

4:20 But what if the base mesh is a character that needs to be animated? Should you retop anyway or it is better to leave the animation-ready topology with which you imported it in ZBrush?

[@akshatupadhyay825]

One thing i really didn't get there is " Low poly mesh was given UV info as it was unwrapped, Onto the higher poly mesh we just did details with no UV info?" Please make me understand if i am distracted here a little! Another thing i really love your channel as i get cut to the chase knowledge. Keep up the good work dear.

[@MHTutorials3D]

Yes, the low poly model is the only one UVed

[@akshatupadhyay825]

Thanks very much mike! i was waiting for your reply and u helped me in time now there is no more confusion left, i actually did uv in maya then imported mesh in zbrush made highpoly and exported it without making it a "Polymesh 3d" and it wasnt projecting any detail in substance painter. But the moment i did polymesh3d and did the same thing it did take the details but not fully, it gave me an idea that i am at some error, now i think i need to Zremesh the lowpoly as u did after importing the lowpoly from maya!!! i guess i need to remesh so that it wont give stretches at places while projecting. I will run a test and get back to you along with my results. Thanks mike Thanks a lot.

[@lakmal1st]

Thanks lot.. this will save some time all the time...

[@faizcurious7407]

really nice and helpfull tutorial but mike how to import into maya with sculpting effect and texture paint ? how ? plz guide me into that 🙏☺💐

[@MinecraftNmusic]

is it possible if you could make a maya mudbox substance workflow video?

[@ksta1996]

Great tutorial! WIth more complex objects will you UV map in same way? I thought that due to model in Zbrush it's better to UV map all in Maya beforehand.

[@bernard18thomas]

Solid Gold.

[@ZhengYuanz]

After texturing it on substance painter.. i bring it to maya and applied it..the normal map seems to be have problem with the object edges. why is that happening?

[@hsan.1951]

Hpw come my Zbrush doesn't export the high poly geometry? has anything been changed since this tutorial?

[@escultormariopitanguy]

Excellent video. Congrats!

[@MHTutorials3D]

Thanks Mario

[@kidehoward93]

can you do a video on the potential uses of super shapes in Maya 2018?

[@Dr.smileclinic]

thanks Mike..really useful. you are good teacher..

[@MHTutorials3D]

धन्यवाद

[@albarex834]

Thanks a lot. Great and only video explaining that.

[@martindiavolo1635]

Nice tutorial I just missing the last step to bring it all back to maya.

[@MHTutorials3D]

That is a different tutorial, coming soon :-)

[@sudharsanuthayasuriyan2717]

The noise I added is not appearing in substance painter. only the alpha texture is appearing

[@semmert]

when you do the surface noise, make sure you apply it. Idk what version of zbrush he's using, but in mine, I have to hit OK (like he did), then "apply to mesh". Apply to mesh is found on the right side in the surface noise menu you're using.

[@semmert]

this comment was from a year ago.. lol. But maybe it'll still help you

[@lgstudios6898]

Question about baking high poly into low poly. UVs were done in ZBrush, After applying textures in Substance Painter and exporting into Maya do you hit the smooth button on the low poly mesh or is there another process done in Maya before adding the textures done in SP?

[@Kinkoyaburi]

Thank you a lot for this tutorial it was very useful!

[@MHTutorials3D]

Very welcome

[@evilone10]

Won't you agree if Substance painter had the option to choose a navigation template from another 3D software to navigate (just like Rizom UV has)?

[@SpecGuruTV]

when I baked my HP to my LP the noise texture is gone in substance painter. how can I fix this?

[@Praudas]

thank you!

[@crimzouz5175]

hi dude, I'm about to make my first zbrush model (i already know maya but i never really explored zbrush before). I've talk to people who told me to make my model in zbrush and then go back to maya for the retopology. Is your way to do better ? (i'd like to not go back to maya because i hate retopology)

[@whatif539]

Great video ❤❤❤❤

[@devangnagar9]

my model is done in substance painter, but i want to this model render in maya so how to substance model import in maya with texture please help me.

[@relationshipquotes2337]

You can export it out as a OBJ which then come import it in Maya

[@semmert]

you already have the low poly model (you imported it in to substance painter). So when you export your texture maps from substance, you use the node editor in whatever renderer you're using to apply them to their specific places (normal, roughness, albedo, etc.), and apply that shader to the low poly version.

[@xxAsad]

great video straight to point awsome

[@MHTutorials3D]

Thank you

[@MHTutorials3D]

Thank you

[@OmegaPerson-33]

Why did you zremesh the lowpoly? How do you export the individual maps from substance painter? How do you import back into Maya to you know...actually finish the pipeline? Thanks for answering some questions but this video is weak.

[@WinkBaufield]

Hi, Mike. Is there any hope of you doing a series similar to this newly anointed ZBrush one, yet focused on the Maya/Mudbox pipeline? The educational version of Mudbox can be downloaded at no cost, after all, whereas ZBrush appears to be accessible only in paid versions.

[@MHTutorials3D]

I did a few Mudbox videos but 95% of the digital sculpting community uses ZBrush and I get requests all the time

[@WinkBaufield]

Thanks for the response, Mike. It sounds as though Mudbox isn't a viable ZBrush alternative, unfortunately. I suppose I'll now flip a coin to decide which kidney I'll sell on the black market to afford all the software I'd like to own.

[@MHTutorials3D]

I know, I know... But the reality is that ZBrush is the industry standard when it comes to digital sculpting. I have fought it too for a long time....

[@zerion3887]

Hi, I was happy to find your tuto. But ive got problem with the normal and ambient occlusion ... idk where does it come from

[@kirandev]

is it black? :)

[@bearbones7913]

How do I export multiple displacement maps?

[@relationshipquotes2337]

I followed step by step and after baking the high poly version onto the low poly. Everything works i can see the Alpha and the brush sculpting around the edges BUT my noise is not their. :( any help?

[@atkaygee]

You need to hit the button "apply to mesh" in the Surface menu in ZBrush to make it "stick". Then, reexport the high poly from ZBrush and then follow the steps to bake this back over the low poly in Painter

[@eriktmoody6236]

@@atkaygee My noise works, but there are quite a few smooth flat spots...

[@paukator]

Noob question, does it matter when I UV the mesh? Like if I UV it before I duplicate it? Because for some reason every time I do unwrap all after I've duplicated it, it takes forever to unwrap or crashes, even though there's only 484 active points.

[@sanithmc9638]

Sir did same thing but it show some error and normal map is completely black

[@handsomesquidward151]

why would you leave out the rendering step?

[@aakashdimri9903]

Sir but how to export this in Maya and render with Arnold 5 plz make a tutorial on that btw tx

[@trav3d131]

just go to file-export textures. Choose aistandard 5 in the drop down menu and click export. Then plug all the textures into the arnold material. Make sure to select raw as your image format when you select file. and also alpha luminancy on roughness and metalic

[@aakashdimri9903]

travis reid k I will try that Thanks for the help

[@flexcg675]

thank you!!!

[@artdempsey846]

Great video Mike. Is it possible to do this with several high to low meshes in substance painter. I have a project that has several sub tools and I was hoping to bake my HIGH to low meshes on numerous texture sets. Does this make sense? And do you think this workflow makes sense or should I combine all my meshes in Maya and create one fbx/obj in zbrush? is it better to have separated meshes for better UV and detail?

[@aesthetic9557]

Thank you Mike

[@MHTutorials3D]

Very welcome

[@bavi_x]

Sir how to uv cut zbursh please reply

[@och70]

Mike, why don't you create shelf buttons for things like deleting history & freezing transformations?

[@MHTutorials3D]

Because if new users see buttons on the shelf they don't have, they will get confused. I always try to keep everything as default as possible

[@ryansmith539]

The noise from Zbrush doesnt appear in the normal in substance, Any ideas why?

[@saint-jiub]

@Shoop da Whoop Thanks for this. I appreciate it.

[@jalalkamel2807]

hi mike i have question is a bit confusing me when i try to build big house or cabin for games that contain many geomtry in it should i always group them or combine them as one piece inside maya or its fine to let them separated objects

[@hugovega608]

Thanks Mike nice tutorial! ... I have a problem when trying to use TrimDynamic (7:23). I try to apply to the object and nothing happens. If I use any other brush it works fine. thanks!

[@efarys1918]

Hey I know this video is almost a year old but perhaps someone will be helpful enough to solve my issue. So for some reason after I bake high poly mesh into the low poly one substance painter completely ignores the Noise that I added in Zbrush. Everything else is at the place but noise is absolutely being ignored by SP. Anyone know why this happens?

[@MHTutorials3D]

Yes, I know exactly why that happens. You need to hit the button "apply to mesh" in the Surface menu in ZBrush to make it "stick"

[@efarys1918]

@@MHTutorials3D Yes it worked! Thank you so much! I can't believe I missed this step!

[@josejesussanchez3637]

Very great tutoriaal! I have a question!

[@MHTutorials3D]

Sure, what is it ?

[@jelli4586]

Muchísimas gracias!!!

[@MHTutorials3D]

De nada

[@elitekitten4054]

Thanks for this great Tutorials..keep up the good work...

[@MHTutorials3D]

Thanks Game Cube

[@kdarts2791]

very nice tut sir hank you :)

[@MHTutorials3D]

Thank you

[@pinokio514]

Hi, Mike. I have the question. Why when you hided all the subtools (6:14) in the viewport I see the model? p.s. sorry for bad English, my native language is Russian. Thanks for tutorial! -- update: maybe it's ghost and it requirements refresh of viewport?

[@MHTutorials3D]

There are 2 models in the same place. One is high resolution and the other low resolution. I hid one to see the other

[@pinokio514]

Mike, no =) You are hid LP and while don't show HP there are a model in viewport. See from 6:12.

[@GuestOfGregoryHouse]

Is this more for hard surface models? Or can this workflow be used for making organic characters too?

[@ricardoiglesias388]

Is there any problem if I UV in Maya/3DSMAX? Or i really need to use UVmaster in Zbrush? Because i see a lot of people doing the high poly in Zbrush, then undo the subdivision level (in geometry) to get the lowpoly, UV and save. For me, i create the low poly in 3dsmax, i'm afraid to do that and UV there (3dsmax) and in the Zbrush my high poly become a lot of deformed and i get issues on substance later...

[@radar536]

why we need edit AND "make a polymesh 3D"? I thought that when we can "edit" it is because it is already a pm3D....by the way, very professional vids and tuts. Congratulations.

[@semmert]

you have to make it a polymesh 3D. It is not a polymesh 3D at the beginning. If you bring out a cube in zbrush, you can adjust the parameters like poly counts in specific axis, etc. But once you "make polymesh 3D", those parameters are set, and the model is ready to be sculpted. So it's my understanding that even meshes you import must be "set" with polymesh3D before you sculpt.

[@YesYouThere]

Hey Mike great video I just can't seem to get the Noise to appear on my model when I bake it in Substance painter. All the other Dents I've sculpted in appear but the noise never does, any Ideas?

[@MHTutorials3D]

Did you hit "apply to mesh" in Zbrush ?

[@YesYouThere]

That worked yeah thanks Mike!

[@oliverteng8625]

hi, im using maya 2017 newbie. i use '2' and '3' in my shapes to make it look good and smooth. when I import it to zbrush it goes back to the polygons instead of the smooth one. i even use the dynamesh you mentioned in the video. same with maya to substance painter. how can i fix this?

[@3to1media]

Pressing two or three in Maya is just giving you a preview of what the object will look like when a smoothing is applied it's not actually deforming the object or adding subdivision levels you have to actually smooth it in Maya

[@-SANDMAN-]

I noticed you converted the imported obj to Polymesh 3D. I thought you only had to do this with primitives. Have I been doing it wrong all this time? Do all imported obj's have to be converted to polymesh 3D?

[@3to1media]

No

[@신현수-t5k]

I like your videos! Could you tell me why baked high poly to low? I'm beginner :)

[@MHTutorials3D]

Clementine, that is to add detail to the low poly model without increasing the face count of the low poly model

[@신현수-t5k]

Ah ha! I got it now. thank sir :D

[@alexc7857]

So you wouldn't have to bake the details from zbrush onto the original maya mesh for it to be compatable with a games engine? What about if you had a chatacter that you added a skin texture to? Sorry im a little new to this

[@MHTutorials3D]

Same process

[@charlesrobertson1860]

So with this kind of workflow you domt have to do retopolgy? I guess substance painter does it for you basically when it bakes the textures on the LP model?

[@MHTutorials3D]

Retopo is typically used to clean up low poly or create it. In this case, assuming your LP is clean, no retopo needed

[@charlesrobertson1860]

@@MHTutorials3D that's good information, thanks! Also, I'm on a budget could I use blender for low poly creation and then sculpt within blender as well and just pay for substance painter and get similar results?

[@MHTutorials3D]

@@charlesrobertson1860 Sure. But why not texture in Blender too ?

[@charlesrobertson1860]

@@MHTutorials3D because substance painters material library I guess? And also substance painters ability to bake the high poly to the low poly. Unless blender can do that as well, I was unaware of that if so

[@MHTutorials3D]

@@charlesrobertson1860 Blender can

[@abhinavsrivastava6018]

When i bake textures from susbtance and try to apply them in maya then i dont get bumps clearly can you please explain that :) but my render in susbtance painter is accurate :) Thanks :)

[@1i1monster]

thanks

[@mrandrewpettit]

Can the final substance asset then be imported into maya to be rendered with arnold

[@semmert]

Yes. import the lowpoly model in to maya and apply the texture maps (normal, roughness, albedo, etc.) to the shader material.

[@Maraik89]

i really love ur videos man is there a chance u make a video about maya /zbrush / maya again with uv maps thanks in advance

[@MHTutorials3D]

I am planning on doing so

[@Maraik89]

Mike Hermes great thank u

[@norabp6988]

Hello, nice tutorial, it helped me a lot! I have one question: what if I make UV mapping in Maya and want to use it also in zbrush and SP? Because when I export my object from Maya to Zbrush it seems that the UVs are gone :/ any solution? Should I always make the unwrap in zbrush? Thanks in advance!

[@MHTutorials3D]

I would unwrap in ZBrush and correct in Maya

[@norabp6988]

Oh nice, thanks!

[@AnnkurKumar]

10:12, gor tgat yoj havd to create bump, displace& drpth map in photoshop !! Isn't it.

[@phoenix2gaming346]

YUP

[@dariadora5417]

Thanks for your tutorial, really cool! I have a questtion, while baking texture in Substance, My Normal Map and AO are applying only for plane, but stone is staying without texture, could you help me, please?

[@semmert]

Make sure you hit "apply to mesh" after you do the noise tool and hit ok. He skipped over that step.

[@RenanRanciaro30]

I have a textured character I created in zbrush. How can I do retopology in Maya and use the polypaint I created in zbrush?

[@MHTutorials3D]

I always texture in Substance Painter so I really would not know. You can join my Facebook group as I am sure folks will be able to help you. Here is a link : facebook.com/groups/294359217578724/

[@Montigorable]

Thank you for the tutorial. I have one question, why did you decide to create UV in zbrush instead of maya? Is that just a matter of taste?

[@MHTutorials3D]

Yes

[@semmert]

Use maya or blender, etc., if you need to cut the model up in to specific UV layouts. Zbrush, as far as I can tell, doesn't give you any real control over it.