Autodesk MUDBOX 3D User manual

Overview

Create production-ready 3D digital artwork with

Autodesk®Mudbox™ digital sculpting and texture

painting software. Designed by professional artists

in the game, ﬁlm, television, and design industries,

Mudbox combines a highly intuitive user interface

with a powerful creative toolset of stencils and

brushes to help you create ultra-realistic 3D characters,

engaging environments, stylized props, and more.

With familiar workﬂows and terminology and a

streamlined, intuitive workspace, you can become

productive on your ﬁrst day with Mudbox—whether

you’re switching from an alternative solution, or new

to 3D sculpting and texture painting programs entirely.

Originally created in a real-world production

environment, and subsequently proven on many

demanding ﬁlm and games projects, Mudbox also

provides the depth and ﬂexibility to tackle complex

production challenges as they arise. With features

like a node-based architecture, and support for

n-gons, multiple UV tiles per texture, and custom

CgFX shaders, you can engineer creative solutions

to unique or unanticipated production problems.

Mudbox is available for Microsoft Windows®and

Apple Mac OS®X operating systems.

At its core, Mudbox is

extremely well built and

well thought out which

allows for the addition of

new tools that remain easy

to use, yet are extremely

powerful. With each new

release, Mudbox allows

me to focus more on the

art I’m creating instead of

the technical hurdles.

— Peter Zoppi

The shape of things to come

Autodesk Mudbox 3D digital sculpting and texture painting

software gives modelers and texture artists the freedom to

create production-ready 3D digital artwork without worrying

about the technical details.

Image courtesy of Peter Zoppi.

Image courtesy of Balazs Kiss. www.kissb.net.

Key Features

Best-in-Class Sculpting Toolset

Sculpt, design, and detail any organic or hard-surface

model and achieve smooth, accurate, and reﬁned results:

• Selectfromanextensiverangeofintelligently 

designed default brushes that replicate real-world

sculpting paradigms: Sculpt, Smooth, Grab, Pinch,

Flatten, Foamy, Spray, Repeat, Imprint, Wax,

Scrape, Fill, Knife, Smear, Bulge, Contrast, and Freeze.

• Createcustombrusheswithuser-denedfallocurves

 andimagestampsforaninniterangeofeects.

• Sculptbothsidesoftopologicallysymmetrical 

models simultaneously—even when they are in an

asymmetrical pose—with the powerful tangent

space mirroring functionality.

• Usestencilstoquicklyadddetail,andcurvesto 

precisely control brush movement. Brush textures

directly into your mesh in 3D, and add high-quality

detail by displacing your mesh with images.

• Modelusingreferenceimages,withmultiple 

cameras each with its own image plane.

• Acceleratedesign,sculpting,andapprovalphaseswith

powerful new tools for deforming and posing models.

• Sculptcomplexformsimmediatelyusingvector 

displacement maps as stamps and stencils.

High-Quality 3D Paint

Paint multiple layers for multiple texture channels

on multiple high-resolution objects:

• Applypaintdirectlyontohigh-resolution3D models

and see the results immediately.

• Applydetailpreciselywhererequired,regardless

of UV distortion or surface complexity. Paint in

true 3D space, in UV space in the 3D view, or with

screen-space projection.

• PaintDiuse,Specular,Gloss,Emissive,Bump, 

Normal, and Reﬂection maps directly on your model.

• SelectfromPaint,Erase,Clone,andDrybrushes,

and customize their shape with image stamps and

 adjustablefallocurves.

• Selectivelyeditandmanipulateexistingpaintand

photo-based layers with new image adjustment

brushes: Blur, Dodge, Burn, Contrast, Sponge,

Hue, Hue Shift, and Invert.

• Selectivelypaintreferenceimagesontothemodel

from a particular viewpoint.

• Controlhowpaintlayerscompositetogetherto 

create a ﬁnal image by selecting from one of the

new blend modes: Multiply, Screen, Add, or Overlay.

Flexible Layering System

Explorecreativeoptionsanditeratefreelytocreate,

compare, store, and blend multiple versions of your

paint and sculpting work using the ﬂexible,

nondestructive layering system:

• Selectivelyedit,erase,andblendlayers 

nondestructively, using paintable layer masks.

• Duplicate,merge,atten,andreorderlayers.

• Blendlayersusinginteractivemultipliersliders 

and layer masks.

• Mirrororipthedetailstoredinoneormorelayers.

Images courtesy of Kenichi Nishida.

Production-Ready Texture Baking

Create high-quality, accurate Normal, Displacement,

Vector Displacement, and Ambient Occlusion maps:

• ExtractmapsusinganewVectorDisplacement 

method to represent displacements that do not

simply follow the normal.

• Transferdatafromhighly-detailedsculptedsurfaces

or laser scans into the form required by ﬁlm and

game pipelines. Map data between multiple arbitrary

 objectswithdieringtopologies.

• Detailcanbebakedinto8-,16-,and32-bitmaps.

• Generatesmooth,high-qualitymapsusing 

extraction options that address issues related to

poly faceting by extracting between the limit

surfaces of the given meshes.

• Bakenormalmapsthatarecompatiblewith 

Autodesk®Maya®and Autodesk®3ds Max®software.

• Createambientocclusionmapsforextremely 

high-resolution models: bake the soft shadows

and details of a model out to an image which can

be re-used without expensive recalculations.

• Forcustomizedpipelines,developerscanwrite 

their own baking function within Mudbox.

On-Target Working Environment

Work in a high-ﬁdelity display environment that

closely resembles the ﬁnal rendered output to help

you identify problems early and create presentations

with maximum impact:

• Interactivelypaintandviewmultiplematerial 

channels (such as bump and reﬂection) in real time.

• Paintdirectlyontosculpteddetail.

• Immediatelyseehowyourmodelwilllookwith 

render-quality results directly in the viewport -

accurate 3D shadows, ambient occlusion, and a choice

of light types, including HDR image-based lighting.

• Usetrue3D cameras to view your model as it will

be seen by the audience, and optionally import

production cameras from Maya or 3ds Max.

• ImportskeletonsfromMayaor3ds Max to validate

and test your design.

• Customizethedisplaytomatchatargetplatform

with CG shaders and viewport ﬁlters.

• Previewandedityournormalmapsdirectlyon 

your model in the 3D View.

Image courtesy of Mashru Mishu.

Intuitive User Interface

Become productive in hours, rather than weeks,

with the easy-to-learn Mudbox user interface:

• Enjoyatoolsetdesignedforartistsbyartists, 

inspired by real-world tools.

• Feelateasefromdayonewithfamiliarworkows,

terminology, and hotkeys.

• AccelerateyourworkowthroughHoverPick 

functionality, hotkeys, and other tools.

• Easilyswitchbetweensculptingandpaintingtools

to develop shape and texture in tandem.

Image courtesy of Mashru Mishu.

Performance That Scales

Create incredible detail working directly with extremely

high-resolution meshes, without slowing down:

• Evaluateeventhedensestmodelsatfullresolution

while tumbling, using multiple real-time cameras

including true perspective and orthographic cameras.

• Keepthecreativityowingwhereotherapplications

become unusable, with brush performance that

scales with scene size.

Seamless Pipeline Integration

Mudbox integrates smoothly into your pipeline,

enabling you to leverage the strengths of industry-

leading 2D and 3D applications:

• ExchangedatawithMaya,3ds Max, and Autodesk®

Softimage®via Autodesk®FBX®technology; with

Maya 2011, data exchange is a single click.

• ImportandExportmeshesasOBJ,andtexturesas

 BMP,EXR,JPEG,PNG,TIF,andGIF(importonly).

• ExportpaintlayersandUVlayoutsasmulti-layer

PSD ﬁles; edit them in Adobe®Photoshop®and

then re-import.

Autodesk, Maya, 3ds Max, Softimage, FBX and Mudbox are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., and/or its subsidiaries and/or aliates in the USA and/or other countries.

Allotherbrandnames,productnames,ortrademarksbelongtotheirrespectiveholders.Autodeskreservestherighttoalterproductandservicesoerings,andspecicationsandpricingat

any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

©2010Autodesk,Inc.Allrightsreserved.BR0C1-000000-MZ23

• CreatesubdividedUVscompatiblewithPixar 

RenderMan®renderer with the UV Smoothing option.

• CustomizeandextendMudboxviatheC++API 

(Application Programming Interface).

In-Product Community

Get more out of your Mudbox experience with

online community resources accessible directly from

the Mudbox application:

• Selectfromhundredsofstamps,stencils,base 

meshes, and tutorials in the Mudbox Library, and

upload your own contributions.

• Uploadgalleryimagesandturntablestoshare 

your work and to receive valuable peer feedback

and ratings.

• GaininspirationfromtheworkoftalentedMudbox

artists, and vote for your favorites.

• Accumulatepointsasothersvoteonordownload

your contributions, and ascend the community

leader board for status, awards, and prizes.

www.autodesk.com/mudbox

Image courtesy of Jukka Tahtinen. Image courtesy of Dave Cardwell.

Uncharted 2: Among Thieves™.

Images courtesy of Naughty Dog, Inc.

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