New 3D Creature Development Master Class by Avatar Artist

The Gnomon Workshop has released an eight DVD + book instructional box set by Alex Alvarez. This custom “class-in-a-box” set includes 25 hours of lecture, 66 HD 1080p video clips for live action integration, a 176 page full-color Pipeline Guide and six limited edition prints of artist and instructor Alex Alvarez’s work. Designed after Alvarez’s Creature Development course taught at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects in Hollywood, the content covered in the lectures and text book included is considered “intermediate level” and assumes that the student has a solid grasp of the fundamentals, from modeling and UV layout to rigging and animation. The goal is to enable students to realize what they are capable of and gain an understanding of the needs of production with an emphasis on speed and efficiency.

3D Creature Development is a creative process that evolves a design by taking advantage of modern 3D tools and techniques. This Master Class introduces the student to the entire pipeline, while exploring form, looks and behavior. Along the way we focus on the experience of working on a project where our work must regularly be presented to an art director or client, while also keeping in mind that the workflow should allow for an iterative approach. This requires an emphasis on speed and efficiency. Projects are never done, they are due. You can tweak things forever, but in the end your work just needs to satisfy the demands of the project, client or specific shot that the work is being made for. With this in mind, all of my techniques are based on a workflow that allows me to spend as little, or as much time, as I have been given. For this creature project, the deadline was one day for each of the seven stages of development: Design, Modeling and UV Layout, Digital Sculpting, Look-Development, Texturing and Shaders, Rigging and Posing, Animation and Live-Action Integration.

Regarding the level of technical detail, this Master Class thoroughly discusses and demonstrates every single step with over twenty-five hours of lecture. However, there are certain assumptions that have to be made in regards to the student’s technical knowledge of the tools being used. This is an intermediate level course.

This special edition box set is available to order from The Gnomon Workshop for $849.

More information over at the 3D Creature Development Master Class web page.

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