Have a Look at This Realistic Lion Model Made in Maya & ZBrush

Massimo Righi, a renowned 3D Creature Artist specializing in creating photorealistic models of real-life mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, and insects, impresses us yet again with one more lifelike beast set up in the digital realm.

Continuing the series of 3D felines, the creator unveiled a marvelous model of a lion, presenting the clay and the final render of the apex predator with a couple of impressive demos. As always, the artist utilized a combination of ZBrush and Maya to set up the model, with XGen having been used to groom the mane and Arnold for rendering. The showcased demos were made in collaboration with Sanjeev Dhama, responsible for rigging the creature, and Konstantinos Zacharakis, who animated the lion.

Earlier, Massimo also presented a realistic tiger portrait groomed with Yeti – a tool for creating fur, feathers, and procedural geometry:

Prior to that, the author showcased Black Cat – Walk Cycle, a lifelike animation sequence depicting an adorable cat walking directly into the camera:

As mentioned before, Massimo's works are not limited to cats. Back in October, the artist demonstrated a remarkable 3D crocodile model and even animated the eye of the reptile as part of an animation test:

You can check out more of Massimo's works by visiting the artist's ArtStation page and LinkedIn.

And if you want to learn more about the artist's workflow, we recommend checking out our interview with Massimo, where he walked us through the process of creating fur for a realistic 3D cat model and discussed the tools he used to make a cat look lifelike.

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