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This "making of" demonstration and lecture began with the decision to create a new still image and record the entire process. Using Maya, UVlayout, ZBrush and Photoshop, "Smile" was created in ten hours over the course of a couple evenings. Observe and listen as Alex shares his workflow, thought process and techniques, covering everything from creating a base mesh and laying out UVs to creating a final comp in Photoshop.

The Organic Modeling titles cover the entire process of modeling a multi patch head with Maya. Using a 200 surface head as an example, we go over all of the steps involved in its creation. O.M.1 focuses on the construction of the detail surfaces such as the eyes, nose, mouth, ears and horns. We discuss how to cleanly sculpt the masses of the head using a variety of tools while focusing on technique and workflow.

In this series, Alex Jaeger demonstrates his process for designing a futuristic military vehicle based on descriptions from a science fiction screenplay. In this second volume, with an emphasis on the production pipeline, he shows how to break down a three-quarter view of a vehicle design into orthographic views for a 3D modeler, and then demonstrates the process for rendering that three-quarter view into a final presentation piece in Adobe Photoshop®. Alex begins with the side orthographic view, showing you exactly how to correctly measure and position each element from your design. He leads you through his workflow to then create top, front, and back views, as well as alternates for "on-road" and "off-road" modes. Throughout the orthographic demo, Alex focuses on keeping the design accurate, well organized and easy for a 3D modeler to "read". He then moves on to rendering the three-quarter view in Photoshop, adding details to the line drawing and finishing with color, lighting, graphics, photo-textures, scale cues and atmosphere to present the vehicle in its world and bring the final design to life.

3D Creature Development is a creative process that evolves a design by taking advantage of modern 3D tools and techniques. This Master Class introduces the student to the entire pipeline, while exploring form, looks and behavior. Along the way we focus on the experience of working on a project where our work must regularly be presented to an art director or client, while also keeping in mind that the workflow should allow for an iterative approach. This requires an emphasis on speed and efficiency. Projects are never done, they are due. You can tweak things forever, but in the end your work just needs to satisfy the demands of the project, client or specific shot that the work is being made for. With this in mind, all of my techniques are based on a workflow that allows me to spend as little, or as much time, as I have been given. For this creature project, the deadline was one day for each of the seven stages of development: Design, Modeling and UV Layout, Digital Sculpting, Look-Development, Texturing and Shaders, Rigging and Posing, Animation and Live-Action Integration.