Creating Efficient Digital Doubles for VFX

Maya, Wrap & ZBrush Character Creation Workflow with Pat Imrie

Learn how to create digi doubles for VFX production quickly and efficiently without sacrificing on quality using an industry-standard workflow. This 3-hour workshop by Pat Imrie is aimed at beginners without any experience creating a digital double, though the information included will also be helpful for seasoned professionals looking to expand their knowledge and update their workflow. 

Pat’s goal with this workshop is to replicate as closely as possible what it would be like to work on a digi double task in a studio setting. Using scan data from Clear Angle Studios, a supplier of scan data for the film and TV industries, the workshop kicks off with a lesson about how to prepare the scan data in order to maximize how it can be used to create an asset at multiple levels of detail. He then explains in detail how to use Wrap by Faceformto match the base mesh to the scan data before exploring various techniques that can be used for quickly replicating the clothing using Maya and ZBrush. 

Additionally, Pat walks through how to build a basic-pose rig to help repose the asset and looks at how to project and test texture maps to ensure the asset is properly prepared to pass on to other departments. 

By completing this workshop, you will have gained a better understanding of the workflows used to create high-quality digi doubles and what their place is within a production pipeline. 

The base mesh topology that Pat created specifically for this workshop is included as a Project File in .OBJ and .FBX formats