本视频教程是由Gnomon机构出品的Maya与ZBrush游戏环境建模与雕刻艺术视频教程，The Gnomon Workshop Environment Modeling and Sculpting for Game Production with Nate Stephens，时长：5小时41分，大小：3.5 GB，MP4高清视频格式，附工程源文件，教程使用软件：Maya, ZBrush, Photoshop，作者：Nate Stephens，共15个章节，语言：英语。
Autodesk Maya是美国Autodesk公司出品的世界顶级的三维动画软件，应用对象是专业的影视广告，角色动画，电影特技等。Maya功能完善，工作灵活，易学易用，制作效率极高，渲染真实感极强，是电影级别的高端制作软件。Maya声名显赫，是制作者梦寐以求的制作工具，掌握了Maya，会极大的提高制作效率和品质，调节出仿真的角色动画，渲染出电影一般的真实效果，向世界顶级动画师迈进。Maya 集成了Alias、Wavefront 最先进的动画及数字效果技术。它不仅包括一般三维和视觉效果制作的功能，而且还与最先进的建模、数字化布料模拟、毛发渲染、运动匹配技术相结合。Maya 可在Windows NT与 SGI IRIX 操作系统上运行。在目前市场上用来进行数字和三维制作的工具中，Maya 是首选解决方案。
Maya参与制作的电影有：法国国宝级艺术家Jean Giraud，他原创的影片有《第五元素》、《异形》、《星战》等，并参与制作了《沙丘魔堡》、《深渊》等经典科幻电影；导演Glenn Chaika，著名动画片导演，曾在迪斯尼担任《小美人鱼》的动画师，并执导《拇指仙童历险记》、《花木兰II》等影片；模型监制Wayne Kennedy是曾参与过《隐形人》、《星球大战》、《龙卷风》、《黑衣人》、《木乃伊》的模型师；动画监制Bob Koch和Kelvin Lee是担任《 玩具总动员》、《精灵鼠小弟》等影片的资深动画师；特效指导Manny Wong曾担任《后天》的特效总监，并参与制作了《狂莽之灾I》、《星河战舰》、《巨蟒》、《魔女游戏》等影片。
GNOMON教程，每每给我们于激情与期待！让我们在CG设计路上不再独行！让我们共同期待！让我们共同期待与业界CG顶尖设计师的面对面！少玩多花些时间多学习学习，让我们的商业作品与众不同！Gnomon的教程向来以其前沿的技术和清晰的视频质量而受到广大用户的青睐。
The Gnomon Workshop Environment Modeling and Sculpting for Game Production with Nate Stephens
In this lecture, Environment Artist Nate Stephens will demonstrate how to model and sculpt assets to be assembled into a 3D environment. Starting with reference photography, Nate locks in on a concept for his environment before blocking in his scene layout in Maya and building reference objects that will be further refined and detailed in ZBrush. He then imports the various assets into ZBrush for detail sculpting using GoZ where he Polygroups the different pieces and defines the crease levels of the different parts of the model. Next, Nate begins roughing in his sculpt using Dynamesh in ZBrush. He begins by sculpting in some of the larger feature details before adding the higher frequency surface noise to the meshes. Returning to Maya, he generates low-resolution polygonal models of some detail pieces for his environment before taking these pieces into ZBrush to generate some high resolution details on top of the low resolution geometry. He adds further detail and refinement to the meshes using a variety of tools including trim dynamic brushes, masking by noise and then, using the Insert Multi Mesh (IMM) tool, he drops high resolution meshes onto his low res tools with simple brush strokes, creating the look of an ancient stone block wall. For smaller, repeating features in his scene, Nate demonstrates how to construct these assets in a tileable fashion in ZBrush. Finally, he moves onto designing architectural features to the columns in his scene using standard sculpt and symmetry tools before duplicating these features around his column to test for scale and prep the feature for further refinement later. He then adds more features to the columns before adding fine surface detail to the features and the columns as a whole. Once the hi-resolution sculpts are complete, Nate spends time doing some re-topology before baking normal maps and ambient occlusion maps using xNormal. To finish things off, he uses the real-time features in Marmoset Toolbag to assemble a quick scene. This enables him to fully visualize the assets by assembling the low resolution assets with the extracted normal and ambient occlusion maps with Marmoset’s real-time materials and image based lighting. Although this lecture is focused primarily on sculpting environment details for game art, it is also very accessible to film artists, concept artists, students or anyone interested in learning how to generate believable environment and architectural details for use in a 3D environment.
