Introduction

This is a high-quality African buffalo character, including the model, textures, hair, rigging, and animation. The hair is created in XGen interactive with enough details, and all materials are built with Arnold renderer for realistically replicating the appearance and texture of a real mellivora. The rigging is created with reference to real bones, making the animation in line with natural movements. The project provides a complete rigging setup along with 4 realistic animations. This character was created at real-world scale using Maya 2024, suitable for film, animation, and high-precision character presentation scenarios.

Features

Model Details: The model consists of the body, canthuses, pupils, sclerae, lacrimal glands, lenses, teeth, and tongue.
Textures and Materials: There are 23 .tx files which support Arnold, all in 4K resolution for best quality and details. The materials of the character and the hair are rendered with Arnold renderer to present realistic effects. There are 2 UV sets of the body, which support single quadrant or multiple quadrants.
XGen hair: XGen interactive is used for presenting the details of the hair faster, and all maps of density and modifier masks for hair layering are included externally, all masks are in 1K resolution.

Meshes

Tooth_U: Vertices: 2,040, Polygons: 2,016
Canthus01_L: Vertices: 60, Polygons: 58
Canthus02_L: Vertices: 60, Polygons: 58
Pupil_L: Vertices: 546, Polygons: 576
Lens_L: Vertices: 114, Polygons: 112
Lens_R: Vertices: 114, Polygons: 112
Pupil_R: Vertices: 546, Polygons: 576
Canthus02_R: Vertices: 60, Polygons: 58
Canthus01_R: Vertices: 60, Polygons: 58
Sclera_L: Vertices: 546, Polygons: 576
LacrimalGland_R: Vertices: 60, Polygons: 58
LacrimalGland_L: Vertices: 60, Polygons: 58
Tooth_D: Vertices: 2,776, Polygons: 2,736
Sclera_R: Vertices: 546, Polygons: 576
Tongue: Vertices: 150, Polygons: 148
Body: Vertices: 20,432, Polygons: 20,424

Total: Vertices: 28,170, Polygons: 28,200

Animations

Unlooped eating animation at 30 fps, frame range 1-213
Loopable running animation at 30 fps, frame range 1-103
Loopable walking animation at 30 fps, frame range 1-193

Rigging

With detailed controllers, it's easier to create postures and animations, the features are as follows:

CTR_crv_MASTER – Root controller of the character.
Customizable attributes:
DEF_jnt_Vis – Controls visibility of the skinned bones.
MCH_jnt_Vis – Controls visibility of the auxiliary (mechanical) bones.
Mesh_Type – Controls the display mode of the model.

CTR_crv_gravity – Body controller (excluding the feet).
Customizable attribute:
RotateOrder – Controls the rotation order.

CTR_crv_head – Head controller.
Customizable attributes:
Head_Follow_Target – Controls the followed target for the head.
RotateOrder – Controls the rotation order.
Sec_control_Vis – Controls visibility of secondary controllers.

CTR_crv_IK_spine_B – Rear spine controller.
Customizable attribute:
RotateOrder – Controls the rotation order.

CTR_crv_IK_spine_F – Front spine controller.
Customizable attribute:
RotateOrder – Controls the rotation order.

CTR_crv_L/R_B_leg_attr – Leg attribute controller.
Customizable attributes:
Foot_Eversion – Controls foot eversion.
Foot_Inversion – Controls foot inversion.
Foot_Pivot – Controls foot pivoting.
Heel_Raise – Controls heel raising.
IK_FK – Switches between IK and FK.
IK_Stretch – Controls IK stretch.
PoleVector_Follow – Controls pole vector following.
RotateOrder – Controls rotation order.
Stretch_Control_Vis – Controls visibility of secondary stretch controllers.
Toes_Raise – Controls toe raising.
Toes_Spread – Controls toe abduction and adduction.

CTR_crv_L/R_F_arm_attr – Arm attribute controller.
Customizable attributes:
Foot_Eversion – Controls foot eversion.
Foot_Inversion – Controls foot inversion.
Foot_Pivot – Controls foot pivoting.
Heel_Raise – Controls heel raising.
IK_FK – Switches between IK and FK.
IK_Stretch – Controls IK stretch.
PoleVector_Follow – Controls pole vector following.
RotateOrder – Controls rotation order.
Stretch_Control_Vis – Controls visibility of secondary stretch controllers.
Toes_Raise – Controls toe raising.
Toes_Spread – Controls toe abduction and adduction.

CTR_crv_neck_attr – Neck attribute controller.
Customizable attributes:
Follow_Target – Controls followed target.
IK_FK – Switches between IK and FK.
IK_Neck_D_Follow – Controls the followed target for the IK neck base.
IK_Stretch – Controls IK stretch.
Neck_D_FallOff – Controls the falloff of the IK neck root following.
Stretch_Control_Vis – Controls visibility of secondary stretch controllers.

CTR_crv_spine_attr – Spine attribute controller.
Customizable attributes:
IK_FK – Switches between IK and FK.
IK_Stretch – Controls IK stretch.
Stretch_Control_Vis – Controls visibility of secondary stretch controllers.

CTR_crv_L/R_eye_blink_expr – Eye blink controller.
CTR_crv_L/R_lip_corner_expr – Lip corner controller.
CTR_crv_L/R_nasal_breathing_expr – Nasal breathing controller.
CTR_crv_L/R_philtrum_cheek_out_expr – Philtrum and cheek bulging controller.
CTR_crv_L/R_sniff_expr – Sniff controller.
CTR_crv_L/R_U_lip_center_expr – Upper lip side-center controller.

Additionally, the face and body include many auxiliary controllers and more features.

Specifications

File format: Saved as .mb files by default. It can be saved as .ma files if necessary.
Version supported: Created with Maya 2024. Maya 2024 or above is recommended for compatibility.

Caveats

The XGen hair in this character has been converted to interactive grooming for fast loading and efficient rendering. Although the original guides are not included, you can customize the hair by adding XGen modifiers as needed. All XGen hair in the scene is set up with Arnold materials, ready for rendering.
In the animated project file, the tail hair systems have dynamics enabled by default. You can freely adjust the dynamic parameters as needed. By default, the hair dynamics are evaluated within the scene, but you also have the option to export external caches for use if preferred.
By default, Arnold uses GPU as the render device, and the sampling setting is suitable for medium quality output, as is shown in the preview image of the character. If you need a fine-tuned image, you can modify Arnold settings to your hardware limit.
The animation scene comes with Arnold lighting, which can be modified if required.
Except for the above, the character can be rendered directly.