Introduction to Mudbox

For our VFX project I am required to create a small 1 minute video that will have some form of VFX included in it. For mine I am going to want to create a Velociraptor that can be animated in order to move on the screen, even if it is only a little bit. To be able to do this I need to become familiar with the software Autodesk: Mudbox.

Mudbox was originally called Skymatter, founded by former artists of Weta Digital, in New Zealand, where it was first produced to create the 2005 adaptation of King Kong. Mudbox is a computer-based 3D sculpting and painting tool in which you can create high quality products by digitally sculpting, texture painting and using displacement and normal map creations. On August the 6th, 2007, Autodesk took over it and renamed it Mudbox.

The use of Mudbox's user interface is a moveable 3D environment that can be manipulated with so much ease.  It has a moveable camera and uses a polygon mesh that can be manipulated with a variety of different tools. You are able to sculpt and mould the 3D model without making any permanent changes, which is the nice thing about this software, and then it can be moved and changed at will. This type of sculpting is fantastic and so much fun to see. With a various type of brushes you are able to achieve a 3D model that allows for design visualisation, non-destructive sculpting and high polygon counts.

A really nice touch to using this software is also being able to use this software alongside other 3D modelling programs such as 3DS Max and Autodesk Maya. By using these pieces of software, Maya especially, we are able to create basic models first and then add in the smaller details later on Mudbox, which is a lovely little detail, and we can then take it back into Maya to be able to animate it.

I'm really excited to start looking at Mudbox as I have been wanting to study this for a while. I think it is a fascinating piece of software that lefts you create such amazingly detailed models and characters for visual effects, as if you are skilled at using Maya as well, in which I am definitely getting better, you are able to enhance the detail so much further on Mudbox, making the models look correct and accurate.

Below are a few images of the amazing work from other people, that I found with a generic Google search, but it shows just how amazing you can get at using this software and how detailed models can actually become. It's truly inspiring work!