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.

Throughout these lessons we will look at the steps required to create concept art of a male and female transforming robot.
We will start by using Photoshop to create a sketch of our character. Along the way we will use photographs and paint over techniques to help us detail our designs. By the end of this tutorial you will have a solid understanding of the workflows used to create a male and female robot from one design.

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.

In this series of tutorials, we will learn about some of the pitfalls that After Effects users run into as they work through lots of different types of projects.

We'll begin this process by learning about what composition is and how we can use various types of composition to direct the viewer's eye through a drawing, painting, photograph or sculpture based off of how we position and arrange visual elements. From there, I'll be walking you through a series of lessons focusing on some key compositions types. In each lesson we'll examine several works of art by famous artists throughout history to see how they employed various types of composition to engage the viewer.

In this tutorial we will learn how to quickly create a highly finished Mech soldier. Throughout these lessons we will learn how to make silhouettes, and clean shapes that you will then bash in to the silhouette of your choosing. Photoshop will be the program of choice during this tutorial. By the end, you will have a solid understanding of the workflow that is required to create a highly finished 2D Mech robot quickly.

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.

We'll begin this course by discussing the importance of choosing an appropriate photo for our fantasy character. From there we'll conduct a visualization exercise by creating a sketch based on our photo that will provide us with a visual reference. Following this, we'll work through a series of lessons manipulating prominent facial features of the person in our photo. Along the way we'll add photographic elements and textures to enhance the visual appeal of our concept. To conclude, we'll finish by adding some final visual touchups and elements to really make our fantasy character concept pop.

In this Maya animation tutorial we will learn about the intuitive and fun animation tools of Maya. We'll learn everything from how to set up animation preferences and create key frames, to learning how animation can be modified from Maya's Timeline and Graph Editor.
We'll learn how to animate objects along a path, how to work non-linearly and non-destructively with the help of the Trax Editor and animation layers. We'll learn how to animate with constraints and even cover helpful tips on how to improve your productivity.