Hi everyone,
Today I want to share the second installment in Óscar Fernández’s alien creature series — this one covers how he equipped three alien characters (an insectoid, a crustacean, and an amphibian) for production using CC5, ZBrush, Substance Painter, Marvelous Designer, and iClone. It tackles three concrete production challenges: linking a weapon to the hand, attaching rigid vs. conforming armor pieces, and setting up cloth physics on a worn pilgrim cape.
Who’s behind this?
Óscar Fernández is a freelance digital sculptor from Spain, specializing in creating figures for 3D printing. With deep expertise in ZBrush, he is known for crafting highly expressive characters that capture both personality and motion. His work stands out through meticulous attention to facial expression, muscle definition, and dynamic posing, giving each sculpt a strong sense of tension and storytelling power.
What’s the workflow about?
- Set proportions on the HD Neutral Base and send to ZBrush via CC5 GoZ Plus
- Sculpt alien anatomy and collapse extra fingers with TrimDynamic in ZBrush (rig stays intact)
- UV-unwrap accessories in RizomUV and texture armor, weapons, and cape in Substance Painter
- Attach rigid pieces (weapon, shoulder pads) via CC5 Pick Parent, conforming pieces (chest, boots) via Transfer Skin Weights
- Run real-time cape physics in CC5 with a hand-painted physics weight map
- For cinematic shots, simulate the cape offline in Marvelous Designer and bring it back as Alembic into iClone
Take a look at the full case study here — well worth the read: Character Creator 5 to ZBrush Accessories, Armor, and Cloth Physics Workflow: Equipping Alien Characters for Production - Reallusion Magazine