Indie Game Making Best Character Creation Tools

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Learn about best character creation tools for indie game makers.

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Indie game makers can use Maya LT, Mudbox, or Sketchbook to create spectacular characters and realistic animations. Learn more about details for each.

 

Game development is becoming more and more accessible as a profession. With so many game engine and asset creation tools steering towards blueprint mapping, almost everyone can get started on making games from home. Large game companies still have the benefit of a larger workforce, but who’s to say that the best ideas can’t come from a talented artist or a passionate gamer with no affiliation with the giants in the industry?

Indie game makers have it easier than ever today. Apps such as Maya LT, Mudbox, and even Sketchbook allow everyone to create spectacular characters and realistic animations from home. Not only that but these apps put more emphasis on creation and design and less on actual programming skills. This shaves off precious time from asset creation and compiling, which can be used for actually fine-tuning a game.

There’s one more benefit of using any of these programs. An artist can make a name for himself by creating character models and putting them on sale in popular digital marketplaces. This can not only attract the attention of big studios but it may also serve as a nice revenue stream.

Maya LT and Mudbox, in particular, are hot commodities as both programs are well optimized to quickly compile and export working models for Unity and Unreal engines. What can start as a simple character sketch in Sketchbook can come alive in Maya LT and receive the final touches of realism in Mudbox.

Maya LT

Maya LT is a 3D tool aimed at indie game designers. It lets you create everything from loot crates to animated 3D models and interactive environments. Although the fine-tuning of details is better left for software such as Mudbox, you can’t start populating a game without creating or generating characters first.

Asset Creation Tools

A wide range of content creation tools are available in Maya LT. 3D mapping, UV texturing, 3D animation, DX11 shader effects, and more are put at your disposal. There is a heavy emphasis on character creation, asset creation, and environment creation.
Unlike past iterations, Maya LT is more optimized for the creative mind and requires less use of programming skills. MEL scripting is available for simple adjustments but the bulk of the work can be done entirely through blueprints.

Game Engine Compatibility

Maya LT assets can be exported to both Unity and Unreal with just two clicks. Familiarizing yourself with Maya LT is the way to go if you aspire to create highly detailed games and realistic assets like those seen in the Assassin’s Creed series.
The compatibility with Unreal is also great. While the Unreal Engine is free to use, it comes with a limited supply of premade assets and limited animation creation tools. This makes Maya LT one of the best creation tools you can use to bring life to your Unreal Engine projects.

Dropbox

The Dropbox asset sharing feature is most convenient for developing teams. It allows sharing of game assets on cloud servers so that everyone on the team can quickly access them and modify them accordingly.

Improved Responsiveness

The Viewport 2.0 sees a significantly higher response time in Maya LT. This shaves precious time off everyday projects by allowing developers to quickly switch between assets and tasks.

Rich Community

One of the biggest assets for Maya LT users is the developer community. There are thousands of guides that take you from designing stickmen to animating screen-size detailed dragons. You can browse both Autodesk-provided learning material as well as tons of written and video guides made by skilled independent game developers.

OS Support

Maya LT allows developers to start creating realistic landscapes and character animations on both Windows and macOS.

Mudbox

Mudbox is a very popular 3D texturing tool. It can import models made in Maya LT and work on the details without compromising animation integrity. It is also better-equipped for exporting production-ready assets to a game engine of your choice.

3D Sculpting

The advanced sculpting tool in Mudbox lets you add more detail to assets created in software such as Maya LT. The brush is highly customizable for size, strength, mirroring features, and more. The menu is highly intuitive and almost all settings can be adjusted by using shortcuts and hotkeys.

Texture Painting

Mudbox lets artists use Ptex and not worry about UV mapping. The controls of texture painting are simple enough although the process can be highly advanced. However, the standard layers method ensures that artists can quickly pick up the style of texturing used by Mudbox. There’s also the added bonus of being able to see your modifications live while you’re painting a model.

Automated Retopology

This feature allows artists to focus more on creation without worrying too much about the structure or topology of the character. It also speeds up the computing of the retopology process. This helps to drastically reduce the number of polygons and edge flows used for the final production-quality mesh.

Automated Symmetry Settings

The automated symmetry model generation tool allows developers to create a topologically symmetrical mesh that keeps asymmetrical details. It essentially speeds up the process of creating unique character models. It also works well when using unfinished scans to generate missing details on either side.

Game Engine Support

Mudbox allows you to export all your 3D content to whatever game engine you choose to. However, it has quick export options for Unity and Unreal. This makes the Maya LT to Mudbox to game engine export cycle that much faster.

Rich Community

Because Mudbox has been around for a few years, there are extensive guides for both beginners and experts in character design. Autodesk offers quite a few tutorials for everything from basic sculpting to advanced retopology parameter settings.
The community forums can fill in the blanks for you. There are hundreds of independent content creators and game developers that share tips and tricks on how to make the most out of your Mudbox endeavors.

OS Support

Mudbox supports Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems. The system requirements are also quite low by today’s standards, as all you need is a 64-bit multi-core processor and 8GB of RAM.

SketchBook

Unlike tools such as Maya LT or Mudbox, Autodesk’s Sketchbook lets you create new and unique content on any device. It also doesn’t limit you to the confines of your office as it offers you a mobile solution to create assets or draw whenever inspiration hits you.

Device Compatibility

Sketchbook works on smartphones and tablets just as well. The design of the UI makes the most out of every screen size so you don’t feel limited by resolution scaling.

Creation Tools

Sketchbook comes with markers, pencils, inks, and tons of brushes. Over 190 brushes can be used as provided to you or adjusted per your requirements. With these tools, you can work on both shapes and textures. You can also create layer blending models to get the most out of your quickest sketches.

Assisted Drawing

Maybe you’re not the most experienced artist or you just haven’t gotten the hang of using digital tools. No problems, the Predictive Stroke feature in Sketchbook can smooth lines and help correct certain shapes. There are also standard rulers and ellipse guides if you’re particular about getting precise lines every time.

Subscription

You won’t need the Enterprise subscription to use Sketchbook on multiple devices. Just one subscription is sufficient per user and you can use it on all your compatible devices. It just won’t work simultaneously.

Interface

Sketchbook is stripped down to the essentials. Because it has to be easy to use across multiple devices, the clutter is removed and only the important features are displayed on-screen.
The brush settings are also hidden. When you access the menu you can see a list of all the sliders you can adjust. There’s a nice dose of realism you can get with the brushes and their accompanying painting tools.
The toolbars are user intuitive and can also be customized to your liking. The top toolbar can be turned off if you choose to have all your important shortcuts on the bottom bar.
When you want to customize a tool, you only need to hold on it until a drop-down list of features appears. From there you can drag on to whichever setting fits your needs.

Rendering

Although the software looks simple on the surface, your drawings can be quite complex if you want it to be. Sure. you will need an up-to-date device for the most intricate of paintings but that doesn’t mean Sketchbook doesn’t offer enough rendering power.

 

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