26/10 10：00 – 13：00

ZBrush Basics and Maya Retopology

Action	Shortcut
Rotate view	Left-drag on empty canvas
Pan view	Alt + left-drag on empty canvas
Zoom view	Alt + left-drag, then release Alt while still dragging
Frame model	F
Show polygon wireframe	Shift + F
Open brush palette	B
Smooth	Hold Shift
Mask	Hold Ctrl
Invert brush effect	Hold Alt
Brush size	S
Brush intensity	U
Symmetry	X

DynaMesh

• Purpose: Rebuilds the mesh with evenly distributed polygons
• Use: Early-stage blocking and large shape changes
• Benefit: Reduces stretching after heavy sculpting
• Location: Tool > Geometry > DynaMesh
• Key setting: Resolution controls mesh density
• Update: Ctrl + drag on empty canvas to remesh

ZRemesher

• Purpose: Automatically generates cleaner, quad-based topology
• Use: Simplifying a sculpt and improving its edge flow
• Location: Tool > Geometry > ZRemesher
• Key setting: Target Polygons Count controls the approximate polygon count
• Limitation: Automatic results may still need manual cleanup, especially for animation

Retopology in Maya

• Purpose: Rebuilds a dense sculpt as a cleaner, lower-poly mesh
• Why it matters: Clean topology makes UV unwrapping, baking, rigging and animation easier
• Tools: Make Live and Quad Draw
• Good practice:
  • Use mostly quads
  • Keep polygons evenly distributed
  • Follow the form with edge loops
  • Add supporting loops around joints

29/10 17：00 – 21: 00

NUKE ROTO and TRACKER

02/11 10：00 – 13：00

Maya Modelling and Rigging Basics

Maya Fundamentals

• Learned the interface and core tools
• WER_move/rotate/scale
• Hide_H

Castle Wall Modelling

• Tools: Extrude, Bevel

Landscape

• Tool: Soft Selection_B
• Method: Edited vertices to create uneven terrain

Character Blockout

• Workflow: Cube → Subdivide → Extrude
• Approach: Overall form first, then details

Rigging

• Tool: Auto Rig
• Purpose: Tested model quality through rigging
• Note: The character must face forward

02/11 14：00 – 17：00

Water and Foliage Systems

Water System Setup

• Water plugins
• Water Body types: Ocean, Lake, River
• Water Zone: controls shared water properties
• Water Brush Manager: supports terrain carving

Water Adjustments

• Ocean: matched Zone Extent and Ocean Extents
• River: edited spline points, depth, width and velocity
• Waves: adjusted Gerstner Waves, Wave Attenuation Water Depth and Max Wave Height Offset
• Terrain: adjusted carving and blending with Curve Settings, Falloff Settings and Effects
• Shallow Water River: lightweight Niagara 2D fluid simulation

Water Material

• Material: Single Layer Water
• Workflow: copied material instances to the project folder and added the _local suffix
• Colour: Absorption, Scattering
• Detail: Caustics

Foliage Workflows

• Foliage Tools: manual painting with high artistic control
• Landscape Grass Type: automated, material-driven groundcover
• Procedural Foliage Spawner and Volume: large forests and biome transitions
• Procedural Vegetation: graph-based vegetation creation

Foliage Optimisation

• Culling: hides foliage that is out of view or too far away
• LOD: reduces detail with distance
• Console commands:
  • r.RayTracing.Culling 0
  • r.RayTracing.Geometry.InstancedStaticMeshes.Culling 0
  • foliage.ForceLOD 0
• Assets: low-poly for backgrounds, high-poly for hero shots
• Monitoring: checked performance with Show FPS and Show Stats