Check Out This Maya Rig Made for a 3D Recreation of Ocarina of Time's Link

3D Character Rigger and Animation Artist Jesus Isidor Cardenas has showcased his incredible new project that is sure to delight the fans of the Zelda series: a production-ready rig set up for a 3D recreation of Link as seen in the 1998 The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Made in collaboration with Character Artist Cristal Gutierrez, the author of the Link model in question, the rig draws significant inspiration from Nintendo's original games, especially in terms of facial expressions and body poses. According to the project description, the setup was accomplished using Autodesk tools, with rigging done in Maya and rendering in Arnold.

The model was first unveiled by Cristal nine months ago. It was sculpted and posed in ZBrush, textured in Substance 3D Painter, and rendered with Arnold. Additionally, UVLayout was used to handle the UV tasks, while XGen was employed to create Link's hairstyle. Attached below are some of the original renders shared by the artist:

Check out more of Jesus' projects here and Cristal's over here. Also, don't forget to join our 80 Level Talent platform and our new Discord server, follow us on Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, Telegram, TikTok, and Threads, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artworks, and more.