Using the step by step method to give my model a rig simplifies the process by allowing me to avoid performing certain steps in the wrong order.

I added the MoCap footage which will be my object’s movement reference.

Selecting the MoCap rig by the hips is vital so that the whole rig is selected in order to select its Hierarchy

I reset the rig’s transformations.

To link my object to the rig, I created another character which was the rig and used it in the source of the object in order to asigen its individual pivots to that of the rig.

The default -sphere is considered a “tool” in Z brush

A feature this tool has is to extrude faces from is surface

I formed the shape of an arm by extruding my sphere twice.

I used the scale tool to give my flat arm some muscular definition.

I skined my sphere so i can sculpt on its polygons

Smoothing

I used the clay build up as my primary brush, my final product:

I started by using Z Brush’s troll pre-set and trimmed the upper body.

Final product

Final product

The arm model I started with.

I added bones and parented them to the model.

I opened the shape editor under the animation window.

The shape editor allows me to animate edges/faces/vertices to keyframe smaller features in my model.

The IK handles
act as a restraint for when I want specific parts of my mesh not to move.

The white area represents the vertices that are most effected by the joints whereas thew black represent the opposite.

I sculpted my creature using the troll model pre-set Z-Brush provides. I avoided modelling ears because I knew I was going to make them don a helmet later on.

I exported the model again, this time into Adobe Substance Painter 3D to give it a customized and more specific texture. This was very efficient because I had much more control over painting by hand instead of only selecting my mesh’s faces.

I modelled a helmet for my creature in Maya

The helmet’s UV map

The helmet’s texture done using Substance Painter

I modelled and textured an eye all within Maya using its native Arnold rendering system.

I used the IK handle tool in Maya’s rigging menu to manually place my creature’s bones so I can parent them to their designated body part. However, I noticed it can be tricky to place certain joints in the right area of the mesh because I was viewing it from a 3D perspective with multiple dimensions. To tackle this issue, I activated the live surface feature which allows Maya to detect where I am trying to place a bone and further help me fit it in the right area.

To assure myself that my model’s rig was fully synced in terms of movement to its mesh, I opened the weight-paint menu and did some minor adjustments because the rig was already well synced.

I wanted to animate the eyes separately from their parented head part of the mesh. To simplify the process, I created a costume attribute where I keyed a looking left to right movement for it so the eye’s movements are always fixed onto a slider control.

I skinned the mo-cap footage to a character rig to eventually parent it to my creature’s rig.