Modelling & Rigging a Cartoon Parrot in Maya: Part 3

Final product image — What You'll Be Creating

1. Exporting Body and Leg Mesh in OBJ Format

Step 1

In this part of the tutorial, I’ll demonstrate sculpting and painting in ZBrush. Open the saved parrot file in Maya. The parrot has been already unwrapped in the last part of the tutorial.

Step 2

With the body mesh selected, go to Window > Setting/Preferences > Plug-in Manager to open the Plug-in Manager window.

Step 3

In the Plug-in Manager window, turn on Loaded and Auto Load options of objExport.mll and click the Close button.

Step 4

With the same parrot body mesh selected, click the File > Export Selection option box.

Step 5

In the Export Selection Options box, set the File type as OBJ export and then click on Export Selection button.

Step 6

In the Export Selection window, set the file name as Body.obj and then click on Export Selection button.

Step 7

In the same way, select the leg mesh and then click on File > Export Selection option box.

Step 8

Give the file a name as Leg.obj and then click on Export Selection button.

File Name as LegObj — File Name as Leg.Obj

2. Importing .Obj in ZBrush

Step 1

Open ZBrush.

Step 2

Click on Import button in the Tool palette to import the obj files.

Step 3

In the Import 3D Mesh window, select the Body.obj file and then click on Open button.

Step 4

After importing the body mesh, you can see it as an icon in the Tool panel. Then select Sub Tool panel to see the body mesh in the viewport.

Step 5

With the body mesh selected in the Sub Tool, click on Append button.

Step 6

Next, select the body mesh again in the 3D Meshes panel as shown in the following image.

Step 7

Following the same procedure, open and append the Leg.obj file also.

Step 8

At the time of importing the leg mesh, a dialogue box appears. Click on Quad and Triangles button to import it.

Step 9

In this way, I have appended the body and the leg meshes.

Appending The Leg and body — Appending The Leg and Body

Step 10

Drag and draw the body and the leg meshes in the view port.

3. Sculpting and Editing Body Mesh

Step 1

To edit the mesh, either press T key or click on the Edit button on the standard panel.

After this, you can see the red brush stroke in the viewport.

Step 2

Before starting sculpting, select the body mesh in the Sub Tool panel to highlight the body for sculpting detail.

Step 3

For starting the sculpting, you need to mirror in X axis. So, first press X button for symmetry or mirror effect.

Step 4

With the body mesh selected, go to Morph Target panel and then click on StoreMT button.

Step 5

For the detailed sculpting, you need to increase the subdivisions. So, open Geometry panel and then click on Divide button.

Step 6

Now, right click in the viewport to open the Brush Setting panel to adjust Draw Size, Focal Shift and Intensity.

Step 7

You can also set Draw Size, Focal Shift and Intensity parameters in the status button bar.

Step 8

For adding more details, we need to increase the subdivision more. So, click on Divide button to increase the subdivision level.

Step 9

Now click on Standard brush and then select Move brush in the brush panel.

Step 10

To add more details, increase the sub division level four times.

Step 11

For detailed sculpting, you need to isolate the head area. So, with Shift-Ctrl keys pressed, select only head area.

Step 12

Click on Stroke button and then select Freehand stroke as shown in the following image.

Step 13

Click on Alfa map button and select the default Alfa 58 map.

Sstart sculpting the parrot’s beak as shown in the following image. You can adjust the brush stroke value as per your need.

4. Applying Materials

Step 1

Now it’s time to apply the material. Click on Material button and then select Basic Material to apply on the selected body mesh.

Step 2

After selecting the Basic Material, click on M (Material) button to turn it on in the status buttons bar.

Step 3

Turn on M (Material) button and click on Color menu on the main menu bar and then click on FillObject button.

Step 4

Press Shift-Ctrl keys again to isolate the head area.

5. Painting the Beak Mesh

Step 1

To paint on the beak mesh, first select the standard brush and then select free hand stroke, alfa1 map and dark black color. Turn on Rgb button and turn off Zadd button on the status button bar.

Paint the beak mesh with the black shade as shown in the following image.

6. Painting the Belly Area

Step 1

To paint the front belly area, just follow the previous steps but with the yellow colour for the painting.

Step 2

Keep painting the front part with the yellow color.

7. Painting the Back Area

Step 1

To paint the back area, select the blue color with Alfa 58 map.

Step 2

Keep painting the whole back area with the blue color.

8. Painting the Eye Lid

Step 1

I have painted the eye lid area as per the need of my parrot cartoon character.

Step 2

For the detailed eye lid painting, I have used the light pink color and painted it like spray.

9. Painting the Leg Mesh

Step 1

It’s time to paint the leg mesh. So, first select the leg part in Sub Tool panel.

Step 2

Then click on Base Material, turn on M button again and then click on Color menu on the main menu bar and then select Fillobject button in the color panel.

Step 3

Increase the subdivisions of the leg mesh. So, press the Divide button 6 times in the Geometry panel.

Step 4

For painting on the nails, first select Standard brush, then Free hand stroke with Alfa 58 map and then select dark black color. Before starting the painting, turn on Rgb button and turn off Zadd button on the status button bar.

Step 5

Following the same way, paint the complete leg mesh in different colors as shown in the following image.

Step 6

You need to devote some time to paint in detail, as I did.

10. Sculpting the Leg Mesh

Step 1

After painting the leg mesh, select the Drag stroke with Alfa 25 map and turn on Zadd button and start sculpting and painting.

Step 2

Continue doing sculpting and painting properly and then it should be looking like the following image.

I have sculpted the bottom part of the claw also and painted with pink shade.

Step 3

It’s your choice as to how you sculpt and paint your mesh. Be creative in your approach.

Conclusion

In this tutorial I have demonstrated the sculpting and the painting on the various body parts of the parrot. In the next part of the tutorial I’ll show you how to export the texture maps and apply them in Maya.