In the following workshop, Michal Zsigmund provides a comprehensive pipeline for hard surface texturing and lookdev. His approach; from UV layout in Maya, through texture baking and painting in Mari, to final lookdev in Gaffer, demonstrates professional practices for managing large-scale texture projects efficiently. As the lessons progress, Michal shows detailed step-by-step processes for each piece of software in the pipeline.

Duration: 6m 35s

In this first lesson, the Maya-to-Mari workflow is introduced, establishing an efficient pipeline for baking high-quality maps using subdivision levels and the Bakery system. Key practices include maintaining organization with proper export formats (Alembic), baking to channels rather than paint nodes, and leveraging Mari’s grouping and teleport systems to manage complex node graphs.

Duration: 30m 52s

In this lesson, Michal showcases Mari's smart mask system to create a professional, procedural texturing workflow. Michal shows how these smart materials can offer significantly more flexibility and control compared to other texturing tools like Substance Painter. Utilizing both procedural texture generation and manual painting, along with proper baking practices, artists can efficiently texture high-complexity assets while maintaining quality and performance.

Duration: 30m 11s

In this lesson, Michal presents an organized approach to texture creation and application in Mari. By maintaining separate material groups, using broadcasters for efficient updates, and consistently baking completed work, he achieves complex, layered textures, while keeping the scene manageable. Michal’s consideration of proper color space handling, strategic use of masks, and thoughtful layering of subtle details results in production-ready textures suitable for hero assets.

Duration: 24m 42s

In this lesson, Michal continues to break down his texturing methodology, mainly focusing on building complex, realistic surfaces through subtle layering. He demonstrates how restraint and structure lead to more convincing results, by letting individual effects sit at 10-30% opacity and working in organized groups. His workflow serves as an excellent example of how professional texture artists plan out their projects with artistic sensibility in mind.

Duration: 27m 5s

In this lesson, Michal establishes his rough texture while considering the best ways to achieve precision and flexibility in his workflow. Rather than aiming for a perfect final result in Mari, the approach focuses on creating well-structured, properly ranged texture layers that can be fine-tuned during lookdev. This layered technique provides maximum artistic control for hero assets while maintaining technical correctness for physically-based rendering.

Duration: 48m 57s

In this lesson, Michal covers bump map creation using similar layering principles from the last lesson. The key to creating these maps is in maintaining a neutral base bump (0.5 gray) and building additional detail through separate, controllable layers that can be adjusted during lookdev. By organizing outputs into multi-channel textures and maintaining a procedural workflow with bake points, Michal retains maximum flexibility for iteration while creating high-resolution textures.

Duration: 39m 24s

In this last lesson, Michal explains the fundamentals of Gaffer, a powerful, cost-effective alternative to commercial lighting and lookdev tools like Katana, offering professional-grade capabilities for free, with only render engine licensing costs. For beginners, he strongly recommends starting with the official Gaffer Bot tutorial scene to build foundational knowledge, then developing your own workflow through experimentation on personal projects.

Duration: 44m 1s