3D Character Design Process: Complete Guide

3D character design is one of the most crucial aspects of the game player experience so that they can resonate with the game and build emotions. 

 

A 3D game does not have to focus only on the realistic game environment and game props. But they also have to make characters look realistic. For creating a high quality 3D character design, you must have strong knowledge, practical skills, and understanding of the process. 

 

In this blog, we will walk through the process of 3D character design along with tools and software that can help you develop it. 

 

Five Steps of the 3D Character Design Process 

 

The process of creating 3D character design involves concept art, modeling, rigging, texturing, and animation. Let’s discuss them in detail. 

 

Concept Art 

 

To create the model, the first step is to do conceptualization, in which the artists create the representations of the character. It tells about how it would look like, its variations, posture, clothing, appearance, and style. 

 

It requires sharp creative skills so that you can understand the client’s requirements only through descriptive features. 

 

Once the characters’ colors, contours, and shapes are designed, it is sent for approval so that the process can be started. 

 

3D Character Modeling

 

Once you have the blueprint of the character, i.e., conceptualization, you can start creating a three-dimensional character that gives a realistic look. In this process, sculpting and shaping three-dimensional items to produce realistic or stylized characters with depth and dimension. 

 

Here is a modeling process of one of our characters:

 

 

Character modelers utilize specialized tools to manipulate vertices, edges, and polygons to create the character's anatomy, features, and expressions. The objective is to build visually appealing and anatomically realistic models that can be animated and brought to life in the digital environment.

 

To add more to it, 3D character modeling is divided into a number of processes that give the character a desired look. Let’s take a look at them:

 

 

 

In the modeling process, game artists make sure that they can achieve high efficiency with low poly models. However, in the areas where intricate details are needed, such as hands or faces, game modelers and character designers try to make it high resolution. 

 

Texturing 

 

Many game artists prefer to add textures before rigging and skinning. In this phase, game artists work closely on the character to give it volume and a realistic look by applying textures, colors, and surface details to the 3D model of a character in computer graphics. 

 

The textures are applied to the character to bring a realistic look using colors and surface details. 

 

 

Textures are the bitmaps applied to the unpainted surface of the character to give it color, volume, and illusion of relief. 

 

Types of Texturing 

 

In order to apply texture to 3D characters, there are two main types of texturing done:

 

1. Relief Texturing 

2. MIP Mapping 

 

Relief texturing adds depth and detail to surfaces, creating a tactile appearance for realism, commonly used in character models, environments, and objects to enhance visual appeal. It is a 3D technology with varieties like bump mapping, normal mapping, and parallax occlusion mapping. It can also be used according to the requirements in the 3D character design process. 

 

MIP mapping optimizes texture quality and performance by using pre-filtered texture maps at different resolutions based on distance.

 

The main goal of texturing is to simulate the visual properties, add effects of light and reflection, and bring out the most realistic details. 

 

When the texturing is finished, the model is also considered completed. However, if you want to animate the model, character rigging and skinning must be done, as discussed below. 

 

Tools for Character Texturing

 

The most common tools for 3D character texturing include Substance Painter, Substance Designer, and 3D Coat. 

 

Character Rigging and Skinning 

 

Character rigging is done to give a skeleton to the 3D character so that they can gain the ability to move. We can say that the character's rig is a virtual skeleton with main points that integrate body structure and create a realistic interaction for movements. 

 

 

Making the character rig as realistic as possible takes approximately 20 to 100 bones. The more the bones are, the more it gets difficult to manually manipulate the angles, textures, etc. Therefore, you might need some tools to help you pull off a realistic rig for the 3D character design process. 

 

Skinning comes after character rigging, a 3D animation technique where a skeletal structure, known as a rig, deforms a character model's skin. This deformation allows the character to move realistically during animation. 

 

Each vertex of the character's mesh is influenced by one or more bones, with weights determining the extent of influence. Skinning is crucial for animating characters smoothly and is achieved using software tools like rigging systems in Blender or Maya.

 

Here is the character's final look after all the steps in the 3D character design process are completed. 

 

 

Animation 

 

Once all the processes of rigging and skinning are done, animation comes to the surface in which movements are created by manipulating the rig controls. It is a display of the static  images that give minor details about the movement of the character. 

 

Animators utilize keyframes to establish postures and define the character's movements throughout time. This method brings the figure to life, allowing it to move, show emotions, and interact with its surroundings. Animators can also improve the animation by altering timing, spacing, and easing to generate a more natural and convincing motion.

 

Hire 3D Character Designer 

 

Create realistic 3D characters for your game that engage your players by building emotions with them. From conceptualization to the creation of characters, our character designers bring your ideas to life, delivering captivating characters for games, animations, marketing campaigns, and more.

 

Get in touch with us today!