Hello 
I’m just wondering if anybody here can point me in the direction of tutorials dealing with making arcticulated action figures? Obviously sculpting in zbrush and then the process of making joints etc thereafter? Any information would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
There are a few zbrush books on making characters, such as for games or animations. Also lots
of tutorials on the internet if you search them.
If you want your figures to move (animate) either for a game or scene etc. Then you will need software for rigging and skinning.
This is the part alot of people struggle with. It isn’t so much a case of building he bones (joints) as this is easy and plenty of
tutorials on that if you look. Its more to do with the skinning (weight painting usually). A little tip if you don’t know: Go onto
Autodesk’s website and look at the student section. Most of their software is free for learning. i.e. Max and maya etc. Their
animation software can rig and skin a character and you don’t have to spend money while you learn. Also Blender is free
which you can look at. If you are new to this you won’t be rigging characters just yet as it may take some time to learn to make them as you like (don’t know if you are new, just guessing because of the date you joined). The good news is skinning by weight painting is a little like sculpting (only a little). You add and substract and smooth to create the formation that you want when a joint is bent. If you bend a joint then add paint you will raise and lower on the part that you have painted. You will then smooth it out to create it just as you like. You will know what I mean by this once you start to do it. The bad news is that I have never seen a good tutorial on this and it takes alot of time and patience to learn it on your own as weight painting tends to slow your computer and can be a little tricky depending on the software. Topology is also important for animating characters. It does make a difference to how well your model will deform. blendercookies.com has some good tutorials on this and is worth taking a look at. You realise the importance of good topology when you pose your figures and is not something that is obvious when you make them.
Just search the internet and learn as much as you can I’m sure you will get going with it.
Hey Lokilo,
Thanks for the long and detailed reply! I should have made it clearer though, I’m actually looking information on using zbrush to produce actual physical articulated action figures (toys), do you know of any tutorials with regards to that process? Thanks again!
I highly recommend Tim Bruckner’s “PopCulture Shock”.
http://popsculpturebook.blogspot.com/
Although the book is about analog sculpting the core principles are applicable to zbrush sculpting in many regards.
Also Adam Ross has a more generalized tutorial for 3d output:
http://www.3dtotal.com/index_tutorial_detailed.php?id=289
Lastly, Jeff Feligno has a set of tuts as well:
http://www.3dtotal.com/tutorial/zbrush/sculpting_character_video/character_sculpting_video_01.php
I think this one can be found at pixologic’s site as well but I couldn’t find them. Hopefully this will be enough to get ya going!
Thats brilliant wayniac, thanks
I actually ordered the book yesterday, I’m looking forward to it Thanks a lot for the tutorials, I’ll check them out now. Thanks again!
Also, go to http://www.d3d.it/resources/toys/. This is Danko’s site. He has numerous tutorial videos. Just join his site (free) and you can view, or download his videos. Great site of a great artist.
Now that looks like exactly what I’m after, thanks Carver
FOr figure posing and animation software on a budget I reccomend Carrara. It have weight map painting and a nice set of animation tools and a good physics render engine. Carrara also have a GoZ plugin for Zbrush. All for a great price, with a lite version or pro version.