Animation filmmaker and CG Artist Qing Sheng provides a walkthrough for creating a dandelion spreading its seeds blown by the wind, usig some sculpting in ZBrush and creating and animating the scene in Autodesk Maya.
how to create a dandelion using Zbrush, Maya and Nuke in this advanced tutorial
Qing Sheng notes that this is not a beginner’s tutorial, you need to have a basic understanding of how Maya works to follow along. Having said that, this is a great overview with some great tips and suggestions as the series goes on, covering ZBrush, GoZ tips, creating shaders and textures and using fur for the parasol of each seed, while the dandelion head is built and animated using particle instancing.
Qing Sheng is currently teaching on the Animation programmes at LASALLE College of the Arts, Singapore
As an interesting side note, dandelions produce seeds asexually by apomixis, so it can produce seeds without pollination, making each child genetically identical to its parent. The more you know.
