Following up our previous Vehicle Training Series, Jonathan has begun production on our next big series! This time around he is tackling low poly character creation for game environments. With a little help from Tim Von Rueden on the concept, logistical support from Wes, and game industry consultation from Chan Sarinyamas.
Pre-orders have ended.. you may purchase this series below.
Visit the dedicated training page for further information.
This series sets out to provide a complete walk-through of the entire game character production pipeline. In other words, we are covering high poly sculpting, low poly modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, normal mapping, rigging, animating, and even exporting a playable character to Unity 3D.
- Highpoly Sculpting
- Lowpoly Modeling
- UV Unwrapping
- Normal Mapping
- Texturing with Blender and GIMP
- Lowpoly Character Rigging
- Animation
- Exporting to Unity 3D
Concept art by a Tim Von Rueden
Pre-orders have ended.. you may purchase this series below.
cool! I think you should also give a lil thought about low price editions for country’s like india, bagladesh,nepal,etc
so that your training series are accesible for us too 
He has a point.
I agree too. Many PC games sell at a lower price in India (GTA4 – $10, Portal2 – $16 etc). Many books from reputed publishers are also available in Low Price Editions (LPE) in the Indian subcontinent (India, Bangladesh, Nepal etc) which are considerably cheaper than the American/British editions. A lower price for such countries would be awesome.
We would love to offer prices relative to the users economy, but unfortunately we simply don’t have the infrastructure in place to do that. We will do what we can to get things like that in place for the future, though.
-Jonathan
Excuse my ignorance, but why do those countries need special treatment?
My economics is really weak but maybe its coz these countries are lower cost economies as compared USA,etc. For example: I live in a city in India, study in most-expensive school in my city but still my school’s fee (also considering its XII class=highest fee) is near 32$ :p
Most expensive book I ever had costed me 17$. 32$ maybe ok to some people mostly who are living in major city’s like delhi,mumbai,banglore,etc but for most of the states it isnt.
Because the average annual income of people in India is less than $1000 and the average for Americans is more than $45,000. Just a little bit of a gap.
It’s not special treatment, it’s devising market appropriate pricing. It’s rather naive to think that one price fits all is the best strategy for a world with so many radically different economies and cultures. We all share one global web but that doesn’t mean we’re identical in every way.
I think it is necessary … people should be able to pay somewhat realtive to their income.
In Kenya, for example, there were 3 different (inofficial) market-prices for western, eastern and african people – it worked somehow
It would be nice if there was a way to offer this sites products at low costs if necessary, without giving people, who can afford normal pricing, the possibility to exploit it.
It’s a little to do with Microeconomics i.e. Price discrimination (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Price_discrimination). By keeping a single price you are losing all the customers who can’t afford it. So, you’re leaving “Money on the table”. By lowering the price point for some customers, the manufacturer gets more money and the customers also benefit.
Of course, it does create an arbitrage opportunity by buying low and selling high in different regions. But since there is no DRM for the product in any case, I believe the good folks at Blendercookie do trust that we will all pay for what we use and don’t download/copy illegally from others/torrents, this shouldn’t be a problem.
Might be a little tricky for Blendercookie to implement a special price depending on the country IP because it can be sidestepped by using a Proxy IP from that country. But assuming the Blender community is fairly honest, leaving a few stragglers, this also shouldn’t be too much of a problem.
Another alternative would be to lower the price for everyone to increase the number of customers. This way, the benefit to the manufacturer and customers is increased. 10 customers buying at $32 will yield $320. If you can get more than 20 customers by lowering the price to $16, you get more profit.
Apologies for the impromptu lesson in economics. To be honest, $32 is a bit steep for me as well, which is why I’m lobbying for a lower price
.
it’s not really a special tratment: let me try to explain. lets say we have a look at the amount of money you own in hours of work you have to do to get that amount.
Maybe I have a job in America in a mall and get 8$ for each hour of work. then a 40$ product would be equal to 5 hours of work.
in india the intire economie is weaker that means lower prices, and I would get probably for the same job about 2$ each hour. then to buy the same product of 40$ I would have to work for 20 hours while I do the same work! so what would be fair is to not ask a price according to money, but in hours of work. so that means you would say:
Oké if someone with a job in america has to work 5 hours to get the money to buy this, lets equal the price for India in hours of work so lets someone form india that worked 5 hours doing the SAME job has 10$ then lets adjust the price for that aria to 10$.
I hope this explaines it a bit.
“people should be able to pay somewhat realtive to their income.”
Well I live in America and I have no job so can I buy this for 5 US dollars:) Just jokin
Looks good
Though something about that concept art seems out of proportion?
maybe it’s just me
It’s meant to be stylized, I’m sure. Because video games.
I’m a bit of an artist myself so I can tell you that it is stylized. One glance at the work screems talent. I think he would have noticed that the arms are large
of course it’s stylized, but it does look like crap. those arms are faaaaar to long and just don’t fit to the concept (imo).
Thanks for the feedback! Unfortunately it’s impossible to please everyone; regardless I hope everyone finds the training worthwhile and helpful.
-Jonathan
Lol I must have been so tired when I wrote that
good work guys!
It is stylized quite well, however the fact that the legs are smaller rather than the usual arms being bigger caught me a bit off-balance
For those who don’t want stylized I imagine you can just scale up the legs haha
Yeah, It’s not like you need to make the character that is in the tutorials, It could work for any character you make, realistic proportions or non.
This is looking really good, Jonathan! I am not a huge fan of the concept art, but I am extremely excited about the skills that will be taught. I will definitely be pre-ordering.
I JUST PREORDER!!!! SO EXCITED LOL!!!….. and it does look out of proportion but i think thats how they ment it cause its for a game. i like it…. a lot! lol
NICE!!!!!
This is excellent! This is the exact type of training I’ve been hoping for.
Also, looking at the character, it seems like there are some valuable things to be learned from it. One thing I’m particularly interested in is the gear. Will the helmet and/or the bandoleer be removable in and/or out of Unity?
As I said in my Facebook from the Concrete Barrier, I would happily open my wallet for a thorough game character training series, and so I have. Pre-ordered and anxiously waiting for the release.
just preordered, this is exactly what i have been wanting to learn and deffinitly my weak points so it will be great to knuckle down and learn
Pre-ordered… waiting
I’ve died and gone to Blender heaven.
With the texturing explanation ? Yeaaah ! OK, I will buy it. Texturing is very important. You can’t stay always like a beginner and only do modeling. The texturing is a very important part !!!!! That’s a good news, this training series !
Yay, just what I’ve been waiting for.
Preordered! I was waiting for this one and I am sure it will be great. Go Jonathan go
Any chance of a competition that isn’t a comment competition to win a copy of this? (because comment comps are just based on luck and I don’t like comps like that, plus you need to run a different type of comp every once in a while
)
I would definitely be up for a design challenge,and with a prize like this your bound to get a decent number of entries. (give it a shot!)
This is a great idea! I love looking through the DMW wips on gameartisians. It would be wonderful to have a similar contest on BlenderCookie.nnI can understand that holding a contest to win tutorials may sound a little backwards but this sort of thing happens with the Gnomon Workshop Dvds and such all of the time. nnThis is something I’m definitely interested in..especially if I can win it
.
Wow, this looks awesome, and that is one helluva cool concept drawing.
Preordered !
instant order – done
There seems to be a strange resemblance to Jonathan himself… ever see the photo of him standing on the stairs? He looks to have a small build, with tattoos down his left arm…
No offense Jonathan, of course
Thick skin must be a requirement, when your picture is online and you have 7000 fans
Will it include mesh/polygonal hair texturing? That would be great.
That is the plan! You will also see alpha-mapped texturing for the feathers.
-Jonathan
How long (roughly) will it be possible to pre-order?
I too would like to know a general date to preorder by. I am interested in this but I have a rule that I try not to buy anything without thinking about it for at least a week.
Looks awesome though. I have been hoping for this kind of thing for a long while.
Sure thing and definitely can understand that. Our pre-orders in the past have usually run until about a week or two until final release. With our final release slated mid to late Sept. Hope this helps and appreciate the comments and interest!
Count on me. I like the full course!
The use of sculpting in this video looks great! Besides helping people make game models, this will establish good practices and help people optimize geometry in general for any type of scenes where they need to keep viewport performance high and render times/ram usage low.
I can’t wait to learn more about sculpting and normal maps for making light weight characters and assets. This is why I keep buying Blender cookie stuff!
Keep up the great work. I’ll keep supporting you!
You really can’t please everyone. haha. Look at how out-of-proportion video game characters are now. Look at Gears of War or Darksiders. Anyway, as soon as I get my debit card up and running, I’ll be buying this with my birthday money.
Is the final color image the final rendered version straight out of Blender. Is it a re-touched image? I am interested in texturing in the same fashion (digital painting look, like David Revoy’s work or Meet Buck). If your tutorial can show me how to produce a rendered movie like this, I will certainly purchase the tutorial.
Do you mean this one? http://bcwp.cgcookie.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/ss_05.jpg
If so, it is a slightly re-touched render from Blender. I believe Wes just lowered the saturation and played with the contrast.
-Jonathan
I was referring to the colored, textured image here: http://bcwp.cgcookie.netdna-cdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/character_02.jpg.
Thanks,
Todd
No, it isn’t Blender but concept art by Tim Von Rueden.
Hm, in the last image Brachoradialis and Extensor carpi radialis longus muscles looks too bumpy. Where i can see more pictures with this character to ensure that my guess is right?
I’m not sure, but I think this is a bit stylized because it’s low-poly (mostly for video games).
I agree, that character is stylized. I even heard a rule, that says “if you stuck with arms – make them bigger, so they are look like stylized and not like mistake”. But now I’m talking about muscle position, not proportion. Again i’m not sure because it’s hard to see in this particular render. That’s why I asked for more images of this char.
PS Sorry, my english isn’t good
Wow, you are just spurting out training like a machine
I’m not sure if it’s intentional or not but this is perfectly complementing the Ninja Character Creation tutorials by Lee Salvemini.
He handles the creation of a realistic high-poly character for animating movies and you will cover creating a stylized low-poly character for animating in games and the most important part is that it is two different artist’s view of the (relatively) same subject so you will gain almost double the knowledge
I just pre-ordered it and opened a can of beer to celebrate the good deal
Any change that besides exporting to Unity, exporting to UDK could be considered? Since these are the two widespread used engines…
I have pre-orded it. Look forward to learn the rigging,animation andhow to put it all into Unity. So I just can’t wait
I pre-orded it. But I see a little problem in my submission. I used a temporary virtual credit card that expires in August. What is the best solution to get around this? Cancel submission and make a new in beginning of September, or you charge me in August.
Hi Rui,
The payment is processed at the time of ordering and so no worries if the card expires. The transaction has already gone through.
Thanks for the support! Let me know if I can clarify anything else.
-Jonathan
Thanks and good work!
Preordering this weekend
Can’t wait, keep up the good work Jonathan Williamson
Holy crap, this is EXACTLY what I need. Right down to exporting to Unity!
Thank you so much for making this! Definitely gonna preorder.
Awesome. I just pre-ordered. I got the 2010 series, the new book, an annual citizen’s membership, and now this. I still have to get the vehicle modeling series, but keep up the good work. I also appreciate that you maintain modest prices, unlike a few other 3D tutorial sites that are rather pricey. I do have a request though. At some point, I would love to see a WWII fighter modeled like a P51 or Corsair. This would also be a good one for a game.
So awesome and thank you for the incredible support! A fighter plane would be sexy…
With a draw like that with those anatomic proportions… I´m not really sure to pay for those tutorials…
Is there a particular problem with the proportions that would cause issues for you in the educational value? Or strictly personal preference?
Regardless, appreciate the feedback.
-Jonathan
meh…….
I’m curious why Unity was chosen over UDK? Unreal’s shading system is very flexible, you can achieve fantastic results, and it is much more representative of the current state of realtime graphics. Unity is definitely starting to look better, but that isn’t really the focus of the engine (whereas this training series seems to be specifically geared towards high quality art over production art). Another option might be Marmoset if you want to get less into engine specific features, but still have a gorgeous result.
We chose Unity for this one because the editor is cross-platform and more accessible for people. That being said, we definitely plan to cover UDK in future tutorials.
-Jonathan
I’ve heard the blender>UDK pipeline still needs some work when dealing with skeletal mesh. It’s not impossible though, I have heard of people doing it and a tutorial covering the whole process would be awesome. If not a whole tutorial, perhaps a module to this training series for piping to UDK would be awesome too.
preordered ofc
cant wait for this one
Wow, all of the complaints about the proportions are outrageous…First of all it’s an awesome Character design, the more astute among us will notice the beak like helmet, which would really be complimented by a longer “wingspan” and thinner overall body structure. Second, there is a comprehensive list of all of the training we are receiving here: “high poly sculpting, low poly modeling, UV unwrapping, texturing, normal mapping, rigging, animating, and even exporting a playable character to Unity 3D.” If you read it again, you’ll notice anatomy 101 is not covered, leaving plenty of room for artistic license.
I’d also like to see a udk export tutorial, mainly just because I haven’t tried Unity yet, but UDK hasn’t put much work into being blender friendly. I’m pretty stoked about this one. Unlimited potential for the price of a good steak.
-Devon
I literally cheered when I read this comment, Devon. The “bird” aspect was one of the exact things we talked about when designing the character. The goal here really was to focus on a stylized character. Going for a stylized one gives us lots of great opportunity to focus on the low poly silhouette, features, etc without getting caught up in anatomy 101. For anatomy 101 check out the Female Body series that is in progress: http://www.blendercookie.com/?s=female+body
You can also count a UDK tutorial before too much longer.
-Jonathan
Wow!!! You da best
Do u think u can release it sooner than September?
Unfortunately not since I’m getting married and going on a honeymoon, my time is a little more constrained
-Jonathan
Congratulations!!!!
Maybe u can postpone ur wedding
…just joking
Heh, I think my lady would have a thing or two to say about that…!
-Jonathan
im pretty sure the blender community would marry you if it was released early, quiet tempting eh? just think of the heram you would achieve, im sure that there would be a few females in the mix lol, i kid but congrats and i hope you have a wonderful wedding
Sounds so good !!
Preorder done
I think it would be a great idea to also show something on low poly hair. I see that your wonderfull character will not show much hair but it is one subject that is hard to find. Over trial and error I have made some nice low poly hair but it may help many if you throw this in. As always, great work!
In lieu of a tutorial, here’s a good resource: http://wiki.polycount.com/HairTechnique?action=show&redirect=Hair+Techniques
The main thing you want to avoid is intersecting geometry (except with black hair), or you’ll have some z-fighting with the planes, which is really gross. So build the hair in planar layers off of the head (similar to how cheap wigs are manufactured), and be sure none of them touch each other. Helmet hair is pretty hard to avoid without fancy rendering techniques, and even contemporary titles like Mass Effect 2 have serious issues with hair.
Hmm… the number of Richard’s seems to have risen. (I think we’re at three now).
Anyway, pre-ordered a copy.
Always happy to support BlenderCookie.
hi there jonathan,
well, im portuguese
my country was considered JUNK by the fuc**** rating companys,
maybe you should offer us those tutorials (kiding, the tuts worth that money)
hugs from portugal,
big fan
i would love to have this book but for now cannot afford it. and there is no pice reduction for those that live in the US that arent in that $45,000/year block. ill ask for it for my birthday from my wife, and jonathan i hope that you find the happiness that my wife has brought me over the past 6 years.
i do wish that there was a bit on dealing between blender and poser and daz3d here it seems to be the last component missing
but jonathan i truely wish you and youre fiancee the best as that i know you give no less than that to the site and if she has issues with you tell her i say just grab the “junk” to get attention
Pre-ordered… waiting
can’t wait…
Hey Jonathan, I gotta say great job on the product. It really does look like it will cover all the bases of a character creation pipeline for game development. Please pass my compliments on to Tom for this awesome design, it is a really smart piece as Devon has said above, and has the potential to be in so many different types of games because of this. I also have to commend you on your ability to create these training resources, as your always very thorough in your process and explanations, which I have found really reinforces good habits for me as an artist and continually consolidates my knowledge of blender.nnThanks!
Hello,
Do you ship globaly ? I live in france and I would like to pre-order the DVD.
By the way, the training looks great !
Thanks.
We sure do! We ship to Europe consistently.
-Jonathan
I’ve receveid my salary of July : then -> pre-ordered !
;o)
Because I’ve learned a lot with the vehicle series…
Much appreciated!
-Jonathan
Jonathan, can you do more(or at least do from time to time) free tutorials…actually you trainings looks fantastic, but in my case something that cost 1$ is impossible to get…no one (including me) said : you should stop making this kind of things…but you have always to think about poor people, and make for them free tutorials..some thing else : i’m wondring why this summer there is not that much of activity like the last one, and where hell david goes(no just johnny blender isn’t enought but at least it’s free)…
excuse me and my english but i have always the idea to say these words each time i see new trainings from you..
Hi there,
Correct me if I’m mistaken, but I’ve been releasing free tutorials on a fairly regular basis. Is there a particular subject you are needing covered that I might be able to help with?
David should also be back for another tutorial soon!
-Jonathan
I’m looking forward to this series. Please consider a follow-on series to include the character in a game (i.e. a game engine tutorial)
@Jcasko:
There are a lot of tutorial series on youtube about Unity.
Thank god for this!
Character Modeling and texturing was the weak point in all the blender comunity and comercial tutorials and learning material. I`ve been working on a game for about two years now and i get stuck in the character, because i couldnt achive what i was actually looking for!
Going to buy this! this is amazing!
Thanks
Hi,
I pre-order it… awesome work man!!… estimated finish to download it???
Regards and thx for your page.
Estimated completion time is late September. I hope you like it!
-Jonathan
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for this!!! We are currently making a game using Blender and Unity and the current pipeline for taking a character or any model from Blender to Unity has been hazy. I’ll be curious to see how you work the pipeline (given that material settings don’t transfer to Unity, except for diffuse color).
Loving the book by the way Jonathan!!! I have to say that your tutorials are the main reason I’ve become proficient in Blender in a matter of 7 months (that and a serious lack of sleep hehe). You keep putting these great training series out and I’ll keep buying them.
Thanks for the support David! It is very appreciated and I’m thrilled to hear you’re enjoying the book.
Good luck!
-Jonathan
Hello Jonathan. I’m very interested in this, I preordered the digital copy and was wondering where it will be available to download when it is finished?
Also, This is exactly what I needed. Are you gonna cover clothing like capes and such?
Hi there,
A download link will be sent to your email when it is released. And no, I won’t be covering anything to do with capes in this series. That is almost a series of it’s own!
-Jonathan
Ordered! I think the high poly sculpting will be immensely useful for a noob like myself! Thanks for this Jonathan.
I preordered this awesome training series too. (because this character is really cool
)
Good to hear!
-Jonathan
this looks amazing! i love the helmet! how much? i cant find the price.
also, thanx 4 the inpiration!
32USD the Preorder.
I know this isn’t a actual reference image, just an artitic sketch, but how do you make the reference images for modelling tutorials? A tutorial on how to do this would be great, as without the knowledge you are constrained to reference material on the web. please respond!
Hey, Jonathan, I’ve got another question.
Will you be doing more game related tutorials in the future? Like modeling something different, like an environment or some creature?
Yeah that would be great. The CHaracter Development book helped a lot in my project.
Also Can I ask if this is a book or video tutorial?
Happy to hear we have low-poly tut along with GIMP usage. Already pre-ordered this one!.
Pre-ordered. Can’t wait. Keep up the good work
how long will it take to torrent it?
Yea. Might as well pool some money together and torrent this. It’ll be better that way.
Just pre ordered cant wait and threw in the 1$ for citizen now for some fun
preordered
I was wondering will this tutorial be free on vimeo (like one with game character) ?
Jonathon,
Just pre-ordered and received my reciept. Now for the hard part…the waiting for the download link! lol
Been debating with myself ever since this one was announced. Didn’t like the character very much at first, but he kind of “grows” on you after awhile. After looking at all the different training being offered in this package; decided today to go ahead and get it. Besides, having bought all of the other training (and your book) you guys have offered I figured I couldn’t go wrong with this one too…you haven’t steered me wrong yet.
Happy Blendering & keep the tutorials coming,
OldMan44
I’ve ordered my copy last week, even though I’m a bit short on money right now… DOESN’T MATTER! MY ART SKILLS AREN’T GONNA TEACH THEMSELVES! Actually they do… sometimes… DOESN’T MATTER! I still want this. Mostly because of the texturing, rigging/animation and exporting bits. Although I’m interested in the high-to-low poly workflow too, since I usually do it the other way around.
Anyway! Cheers to you, Jonathan, and to the whole crew at cg/blender cookie!
When should we be expecting this one?
sweet, ordered just in time to save some $ and further support this great site
Much appreciated! Thank you
-Jonathan
Hi Jonathan.
I am reading that this training will be available around mid to late September, is this still goes or you delayed the release date? When the last chance to pre-order?
Hi Deen,
I’m working as fast as I can to get the series done, it’s possible to see a late September release still but more likely it will be mid October, though. We will announce when Pre-orders are ending soon so you’ll have plenty of warning to get your pre-order in
-Jonathan
Also preordered recently. Good to know the updated estimate for the release date. Take your time Jonathan, I’d prefer getting more polished product on mid October than a hurried one at the end of September.
-jamov-
Jonathan,
Thanks for the update. I 2nd what Jamov said. Take your time and get it right, like you usually do. We can wait a little longer for the good quality product you consistently produce.
September is already about to be finished, when is this product coming out?
Hi Niels,
We sent out an update to all pre-orders recently stating that we’ve pushed our estimated release date back a few weeks to give a bit more time to polish off the series and make it our best yet. We are shooting for mid-October right now.
Cheers,
-Jonathan
Will this covered most of the things that 2010 training series have to provide ?
Any idea on a release date yet? The series looks awesome and I would really like to get my hands on it.
Hopefully mid October! I have been locking myself in the recording room for several hours a day this whole past week. If it weren’t for my cold at the moment I’d likely be close to done…
-Jonathan
Sounds good. I hope that you get to feeling better.
Oh man, does that mean that I have to listen to you coughing and spitting through the training? :O
Just kidding! Get well.
DJS
Ha thankfully no! I am on a recording hiatus until this cold passes…
-Jonathan
I asked a question above, but the rest of my post was long, so it was probably overlooked (I ain’t even mad).
Will the helmet and bandoleer be removable in or out of unity?
The Helmet will not but the bandoleer will be able to be removed. If you wanted to make a removable helmet then you would just need to model the entire face. This series will cover modeling the eyes and bridge of the nose, everything that is seen through the helmet.
-Jonathan
So… I’m dying here. It’s Oct 12. Do you have a predicted release date? I’m like a little kid waiting for the next animated film, just sooo excited!
Hi Gabriel,
We are looking at a tentative October 24-26th release for all pre-orders! I am in crunch time right now to get the series finalized and in your hands; which I am very excited about
-Jonathan
have mine downloaded now, all I can say is WOW, far more than I ever expected for the price. One thing though, I have not seen the bone ponytail holders shown in the last pic here yet which is a lot of the reason I bought the series, please tell me I am missing something and which file I can find it in
Neither have I seen it, but I want that pony-tail spine thingy, I don’t wanna whine, but it was kinda important for me when deciding wheter to buy or not to buy the series O:
Can someone confirm/deny it’s in the series?