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Training Highlights
Stylized Rendering with Brushstrokes
Geometry Nodes from Scratch
Procedural Shading Fundamentals
Stylized Character Workflow

Training types
Course Documentation Production Lesson Workshop

Training categories
Animation Geometry Nodes Lighting Rendering Rigging Shading
Film Highlights
Wing It!
2023
Charge
2022
Sprite Fright
2021
Spring
2019
Project Highlights
Project DogWalk
Interactive
Gold
Showcase
BCON24 Identity
Showcase
Fighting with Grease Pencil
Article
Course
Stylized Character Workflow
Intro
  1. 01

    Introduction

    Free
  2. 02

    Introduction Update

    Free
1: Head Sculpting
  1. 01

    Defining Goals

    Free
  2. 02

    Research

  3. 03

    Blender Setup

  4. 04

    Sculpting a Primitive Head Shape

  5. 05

    Sculpting a complete Planar Head

  6. 06

    Smoothing the Planar Head

  7. 07

    Stylising the Head Sculpt

  8. 08

    Timelapse: Sculpting Rain's Head

    Free
  9. 09

    Timelapse: Vertex Painting

  10. 10

    Timelapse: Sculpting Hair

  11. 11

    Timelapse: Head Design Variations

  12. 12

    Timelapse: Finishing Rain's Head Design

2: Body & Outfit Sculpting
  1. 01

    Creating a Primitive Body

    Free
  2. 02

    Sculpting the Planar Torso

  3. 03

    Sculpting the Planar Arms & Legs

  4. 04

    Sculpting the Planar Hands & Feet

  5. 05

    Smoothing & Stylising the Body

  6. 06

    Creating Clothing Basemeshes

  7. 07

    Update: Optimal Clothing Basemesh

  8. 08

    Modelling additional Basemeshes

  9. 09

    Stretching vs Compression

  10. 10

    Sculpting Wrinkles & Folds

  11. 11

    Polishing the Surfaces

  12. 12

    Finishing the additional Elements

  13. 13

    Timelapse: Sculpting Rains Body

  14. 14

    Timelapse: Rains Autumn Outfit

  15. 15

    Timelapse: Adjusting Proportions and the Outfit

  16. 16

    Timelapse: Rains Summer Outfit

    Free
  17. 17

    Timelapse: Sculpting Rains final Outfit

3: Expression Testing
  1. 01

    Fast & rough Retopology for the Head

  2. 02

    Modelling the inner Head & transferring Details

  3. 03

    Adding the teeth, gums & tongue

  4. 04

    Basic Expression Shapekeys

    Free
  5. 05

    Sculpting an Expression

  6. 06

    Breakdown: Expression Guide Part 1

    Free
  7. 07

    Breakdown: Expression Guide Part 2

  8. 08

    Breakdown: Design Adjustments

  9. 09

    Breakdown: Adding extra Appeal

4: Clean Retopology
  1. 01

    Retopology Introduction

  2. 02

    Creating & Guiding Topology

  3. 03

    Planning the Facial Retopology

    Free
  4. 04

    Retopology Setup

  5. 05

    Facial Retopology - Edge Flow & Articulation

  6. 06

    Update: Strategic 2-Poles

  7. 07

    Facial Retopology - Patches & Poles

  8. 08

    Facial Retopology - Creases & Tweaking

  9. 09

    Timelapse: Head Retopology

  10. 10

    Timelapse: Body Retopology

    Free
  11. 11

    Timelapse: Inner Body & Transfering Volume

  12. 12

    Timelapse: Head Objects & Tweaking

  13. 13

    Timelapse: Hair Retopology

  14. 14

    Timelapse: Shirt & Pants Retopology Pt.1

  15. 15

    Timelapse: Shirt & Pants Retopology Pt.2

  16. 16

    Timelapse: Shoe modeling & additional Tweaking

  17. 17

    Timelapse: Scarf Retopology & Finishing Touches

5: Bonus Chapter: Snow
  1. 01

    Timelapse: Sculpting Snow's Head

    Free
  2. 02

    Timelapse: Sculpting Snow's Body

  3. 03

    Timelapse: Polishing Snow

  4. 04

    Timelapse: Sculpting Snow's Outfit

  5. 05

    Timelapse: Remeshing & Adjusting Snow

  6. 06

    Timelapse: Snow's Expression Tests

  7. 07

    Timelapse: Posing Snow

  8. Live: Face Retopology Free
  9. Live: Head Retopology Free
  10. Live: Hair Retopology Free
  11. Live: Upper Body Retopology Free
  12. Live: Body Retopology Free
  13. Live: Retopo tweaks & outfit Free
  14. Live: Outfit Retopology Free
  15. Live: Retopology Finale Free
  16. Live: Body UV Mapping Free
  17. Live: Outfit UV Mapping Free
  18. Live: UV Mapping Finale Free
  19. Live: Base Colors & Preparations Free
  20. Live: Tiles & Procedural Detail Free
  21. Live: Height Map Painting Free
  22. Live: Detail Extraction & Stitches Free
  23. Live: Textures & Procedural Eyes Free
  24. Live: Procedural Skin & Hair Anisotropy Free
  25. Live: Turntable & Hair Textures Free
  26. Live: Baking & Final Renders Free
Bonus Videos
  1. 01

    Youtube Version: Stylized Character Workflow in Blender 2.81

    Free
  2. 02

    Snow Character Creation Recap

    Free
  3. 03

    Sculpting Fundamentals

    Free
  4. 05

    Preventing/Fixing Boolean Errors

Cheat Sheets
  1. Topology Guides - Killing/Directing Loops
  2. Topology Guides - Poles & Edge Flow Free
  3. Topology Guides - Stretching & Pinching
  4. Topology Guides - Hiding Stretching
  5. Topology Guides - Strategic 2-Poles
  6. Topology Guides - Hard-Modeling Creases
  7. Facial Topology - Edge Flow
  8. Facial Topology - Landmarks
  9. Facial Topology - Articulation Free
  10. Facial Topology - Patches & Poles
  11. Facial Topology - Creases
  12. Facial Topology - Deformations
  13. Retopology Setup Free
  14. Body Topology - Seperate Limbs
  15. Body Topology - Joint Loops
  16. Body Topology - Finishing Touches
Course Lesson .blend files
  1. File 1: Head Sculpting Lessons
  2. File 2: Body Sculpting Lessons
  3. File 3: Topology Examples
  4. File 4: Facial Topology & Planning
Final Renders
  1. Rain - Final Render Free
  2. Rain - Turnaround Free
  3. Rain - Turnaround (Clay) Free
  4. Rain - Turnaround (Wire) Free
  5. 05

    Rain - Turntables

    Free
  6. Snow - Final Render Free
  7. Snow - Turnaround Free
  8. Snow - Turnaround (Clay) Free
  9. Snow - Turnaround (Wire) Free
  10. 10

    Snow - Turntables

    Free
  11. Rain & Snow - Final Render Free
Rain - Character Development
  1. 1 - Head Exploration Free
  2. 1 - Head Polish Free
  3. 2 - Body Iterations Free
  4. 2 - Outfit Variations Free
  5. 05

    3 - Expression Tests

    Free
  6. 4 - Retopology Free
  7. 4 - UV unwrapping Free
  8. 08

    5 - Turntable Renders

    Free
  9. 6 - Pose Exploration Free
  10. 10

    6 - Pose Polishing

    Free
Rain .blend files
  1. Rain - File 1: Head Sculpting
  2. Rain - File 2: Body & Outfit Sculpting
  3. Rain - File 3: Expression Tests
  4. Rain - File 4: Retopology & UV mapping
  5. Rain - File 5: Shading & Texturing
  6. Rain - File 6: Posing
  7. Rain - File 7: Lighting & Composition
Snow .blend files
  1. Snow - File 1: Concept
  2. Snow - File 2: Sculpting
  3. Snow - File 3: Testing
  4. Snow - File 4: Retopology
  5. Snow - File 5: UVs & Shading
  6. Snow - File 6: Rendering & Compositing
Snow - Character Development
  1. 1 - Concept Drawings Free
  2. 2 - Head Sculpting Free
  3. 3 - Full Body Sculpting Free
  4. 4 - Outfit Sculpting Free
  5. 05

    5 - Expression Tests

    Free
  6. 6 - Pose test Free
  7. 7 - Retopo (Face) Free
  8. 08

    8 - Retopo (Head)

    Free
  9. 09

    9 - Hair Retopology

    Free
  10. 10

    10 - Body Retopology

    Free
  11. 11

    11 - Outfit Retopology

    Free
  12. 12

    12 - Turntable Tests

    Free
More Resources
  1. Base Meshes Free
  2. Matcap: Default with Specular Free
  3. Matcap: Gradient Free
  4. Matcap: Ghost Free
Addons
  1. Screencast Keys Free
  2. Magic UV Free

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Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar Author
License CC-BY
Report Problem
4: Clean Retopology

Retopology Introduction

In this video I'll give a brief introduction & overview to the overall chapter, the main aspects of film asset topology & what makes a "good" retopology and more.

Other links:
  • Rain - File 4: Retopology & UV mapping: The file that includes the original retopology of Rain.
  • More Non-Manifold Examples: A website on the types of non-manifold geometry and how to fix them
General Links
  • Short version of the creation of Rain
  • Recap video of the creation of Snow
  • Rain .blend files
  • Snow .blend files
  • Course Resources

Join to leave a comment.

15 comments
Varga Mihaly
Varga Mihaly
July 21st, 2021

Do you have a tutorial how to bake the character?

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
July 22nd, 2021

@Varga Mihaly Not yet. Likely that would be part of any shading and texturing tutorials once I add them.

Varga Mihaly
Varga Mihaly
July 26th, 2021

@Julien Kaspar I'm waiting for it. I didn't find anything good on youtube.

theogillot2
theogillot2
May 28th, 2021

Hi, thank you for those great lessons but I just have a question. I'm actually looking for character creation for a game and, for me it doesn't look so different than what you show us until the retopology, so can you explain a little more how to do it for a game character please ?

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
May 28th, 2021

@theogillot2 Sorry but this course is much about film topology. For games there are some significant differences like that the mesh won't be subdivided (so it needs to work well without smoothing), it needs to be triangulated (for better baking and more predictable normals) and even more optimisation on the side of UV maps and textures. This deserves its own tutorial series tbh.

calmels.gaelle
calmels.gaelle
March 21st, 2020

Hey there! I am still following the class but I think I am gonna do a simpler project for the retopology part haha. The other one will stay a sculpt for now.

Thank you for the clean concepts. The class is really easy to understand.

Do you know if you will do a full-body retopo class by the way? I searched online but people keep contradicting each other most of the time. I find it hard to know whom to follow.

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
March 21st, 2020

*@calmels.gaelle* Thanks a lot! ^^
Next week the size of chapter 4 will double in size since I will publish all the commentated timelapse videos from the character Rain.
This will be a full look at my 22 hour process on retopologizing the head, body, hair, clothes and additional objects and finishing touches.
I will go over it faster than in the lessons but I will mostly rely on the same theory & practices and show how to use them on other areas of the retopology.

Everybody does retopology a bit differently and it also depends on the engine, medium & art-style.
You can already download and have a closer look at the file of the result from the retopology timelapses.
I think the retopology for Rain ended up as a bit too dense but looking at the edge flow and colored patches can be very helpful :)

calmels.gaelle
calmels.gaelle
March 21st, 2020

*@Julien Kaspar* Thank you!

I am looking forward to next week :) I really need to see the separate areas more than anything.

pop.loreee
pop.loreee
March 10th, 2020

Thank u very much. In the first Chapter, u had drawn the whole body using Vertex Painting. I have a question.. As soon as I had done the retopology, do I have to make the UV MAP and redo the skin shade or is it the same?

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
March 10th, 2020

*@pop.loreee* I did reuse the vertex colors after the retopology but I also made UV maps. Since you can freely mix many color inputs for the texturing, I mixed them with vertex colros for base colors, textures for extra definition and procedural textures for more random detail.

So you won't have to redo everything if you don't want to.

pop.loreee
pop.loreee
March 10th, 2020

*@Julien Kaspar* Thx. God bless u

Gemma María Rull
Gemma María Rull
March 7th, 2020

Thanks Julien. I say that it is as relaxing as knitting crochet, at least to me.. :)

djadmadu93
djadmadu93
March 7th, 2020

Hi, Thank you for those high quality lessons! can I ask you if this is the last part?

Julien Kaspar
Julien Kaspar
March 7th, 2020

*@djadmadu93* The other chapter have been removed for now since it's not clear when they will be finished. Since I'm working on current film projects as well, I don't have much time for the course so each following chapter will be released when they are ready. Around 4 additional chapters are still planned for the future.

djadmadu93
djadmadu93
March 7th, 2020

*@Julien Kaspar* Thanks a lot i've learnt a lot from your tutorial that's what managed to do thanks to your lessons! https://media.giphy.com/media/QXUKd1KLxAgmiqcclY/giphy.gif

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