Today we are happy to release the first ‘day’ of a new multi-part tutorial series by Cgtuts+ regular Ivan Krushkov. This in-depth series focuses on the creation of an exterior scene in Maya. In day 1 we’ll start the project off by modeling our environment from the ground up, exploring the many different modeling tools and techniques Maya has to offer!

In this Maya tutorial, we'll cover methods for adding topology to our new or pre-existing model to make creating mouth shapes and expressions feasible. For anyone focusing on animation, having a character to work with is important. In a previous course, we went through the process of building a basic character that we could use to practice our animation.

In this series of lessons, we will be taking an introductory look at using the 3D capabilities of Photoshop CS4 to create textures for our 3D characters. Using Photoshop CS4 Extended, we now have the ability to paint textures directly onto our 3D mesh, allowing us to significantly streamline the texturing process.

This project based course takes on the challenge of a snowy landscape. Snowy visuals in animation are quite complex and can be a challenge to the most experienced TD. The organic shape, depth and sparkles of snow are all difficult features. Together in a single scene they can be maddening. Paolo Copponi has taken on this challenge. Paolo will model in maya, shade in VRay, and compose in nuke. Every stage of this complex scene is covered in detail.

In this 3ds Max 2013 tutorial we'll cover a wide range of topics in order to get you quickly up to speed using 3ds Max 2013. You will be able to learn from several of the instructors here at Digital-Tutors as we go through many of the major parts of the software.
We will start out by exploring the user interface and finding our way around 3ds Max. Then we will start to create our own custom model, a VTOL aircraft, using a number of powerful modeling tools. We will apply materials and textures and then take it through the process of rigging and animation. We will finish up by adding particle effects to the scene and rendering out a nice result.

In this Maya tutorial we will use animation and dynamics techniques to create a combat scene.
Throughout the lessons we will take a straight-ahead approach to animating a fight scene between three characters, using some basic techniques for establishing timing and camera angles before getting to work. Along the way, we will utilize the spontaneity the straight-ahead method allows in order to experiment with different narrative and choreographical choices for our scene.

In this series of 3ds Max tutorials, we will discuss the concepts, techniques, and tools involved in modeling props, environments, and sets.
When building computer generated models for games, film, or broadcast, believable environments, props, and sets are a vital component. The environment sets the stage for the story to play out and can be comprised of hundreds of assets organized into multiple set pieces. Props and environment models are more forgiving regarding their topology because they rarely need to deform. They do present their own challenges however. In this course we will talk about some of those specific challenges environment modelers will face as they start out.

In this Maya tutorial, we learn the why's and how's of standardizing control rigs within Maya.
We'll start by first understanding why it's important to standardize rigs, looking at a few different scenarios that involve rigging and animation. We'll then learn how to approach organizing our scenes in a very artist-friendly way.

When building 3d models for games, film, or other applications, a high level of detail is often required. In order to achieve this detailed look, it's not always feasible to use more traditional 3d modeling methods- moving points or adding edge-loops. In addition, meshes that are actually that detailed would be unusable because of their high polygon count. To get a detailed looking model while maintaining a workable poly count, a 3d sculpting application like ZBrush or Mudbox can be used. In this course we will talk about the process of taking a low-resolution base mesh into a sculpting application for further detailing. For our example we will be using ZBrush.

In this Maya tutorial, we will learn how to create fire and smoke with Maya 3D Fluids - Fire and Smoke. To make our effect more powerful and realistic we will first understand the science behind these complex fluids and then separately create them in Maya. After this, we will advance to understanding the behavior of fire with smoke and then blend them in Maya.