Hard Surface Program: New Live Mentorship Announced

The Art Heroes team released a step-by-step live mentorship on creating a hard surface creature in Blender, mentored by an experienced Artist and Owner of Gugen Studio inc., Max Puliero.  

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Classes will be held live and available for replay, alongside fortnightly Q&A sessions with Instructor Max Puliero. Max Puliero is sculpting professionally for 15+ years and is also a founder of Gugen Studio Inc. in Tokyo, Japan, working with major companies such as Konami and Square Enix. Max works on some of the most successful Japanese game franchises such as the Metal Gear series and Dark Souls 3.

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The new program aims to teach intermediate artists step-by-step methodology for creating Hard Surface Creatures in Blender over 10 weeks. The program teaches Max’s professional approach to Hard Surface Modeling, covering and explaining all the tools he uses, whilst giving a brief introduction to Blender and its most valuable add-ons. You’ll be taught how to keep a close eye on production problems, such as organizing the workflow, using the right tools for the right purposes, and delivering the final asset to the client passing through Blender, Maya, or Unreal Engine. There will also be some emphasis on other platforms such as Substance 3D Designer and Marvelous Designer for minor aspects. 

The course highlights: 

  • An introduction to some functionality concepts of Blender.
  • Blockout. Sculpt tools in Blender combined with some boolean workflow and Grease Pencil
  • Shapes and functionality analysis. You'll see how mechanical articulations can affect the final design
  • Design HS models in Blender from scratch. You'll see when and how to retopologize or reconstruct the block-out geometry
  • High-poly. You'll take a look at how the asset browser can be used to create and store redundant assets. Work with negative spaces, and add grids, pipes, and cables to add some depth to the model. Then you'll set up EEVEE and create some basic material to start to visualize the model better
  • Finish the high-poly. An introduction to the cloth modifier for hard-surface projects. Creation of decals and other maps to be used during the texturing
  • Getting ready for production. Analyze the difference between real-time and pre-rendered models. Optimize the geometry for a modern AAA game production
  • LookDev. UV and Bake, a depth look at how to avoid common mistakes and a bit of theory about PBR. Paint the model in Blender and Substance 3D Painter
  • Final polishing and data delivery. You'll learn how to export the model properly to Maya and Unreal Engine 5 and how to set up a flexible material in Unreal Engine 5

The mentorship will start on the 19th of October, and before the program, you may join a series of free Hard Surface Workshops run over three days from the 11th to the 13th of October, meet Max Puliero, and learn more about the new Hard Surface Program. The workshops are designed for Character Artists, Hard Surface Modelers, CG Generalists, and 3D Artists beginning their journey. 

Day 1: Concepting a mechanical creature 

  • Starting from an empty canvas, build your hard surface creature
  • Ideation and working with inspiration/mood boards
  • Building a solid foundation for your project

Day 2: Functionality in hard surface characters

  • Ensure your model is compatible with real-life
  • Functional mechanics of joints and connectors
  • Most common design mistakes

Day 3: Detailing your creature

  • Adding details to your model
  • Adding complexity
  • Working on the overall appeal

You may learn more about the course here and here. Also, don't forget to join our Reddit page and our Telegram channel, and follow us on Instagram and Twitter, where we share breakdowns, the latest news, awesome artwork, and more.

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