Introduction

This is a high-quality domestic duck character, with a project that includes the model, textures, feather cards, fur, rigging, and animations. All feathers are arranged based on real-life references, with wing feathers created using XGen for a realistic feather structure, while body feathers are made using geometry cards. The character’s materials are rendered with realistic effects using the Arnold renderer. The rig features individual controllers for each feather, allowing precise control, along with a pre-configured wing-folding controller to ensure natural and realistic animation. The project includes a fully rigged scene and five realistic animations. This character was created using the latest version of Maya 2025, with the model scaled to real-world proportions.

Model Details: The domestic duck model consists of the body, legs, pupils, lacrimal glands, sclera, eyelids, tongue, multiple feather shafts, and multiple feather planes.
Textures and Materials: The project includes 17 texture maps, all converted to .TX image files for Arnold support. Multiple 4K resolution textures are used to ensure the highest level of detail and quality. The character materials and feather materials are rendered with realistic effects using the Arnold renderer. 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

DomesticDuck_Body Vertices: 10,562 Polygons: 10,540
DomesticDuck_Leg Vertices: 6,598 Polygons: 6,582
DomesticDuck_Sclera_L Vertices: 274 Polygons: 272
DomesticDuck_Sclera_R Vertices: 274 Polygons: 272
DomesticDuck_Pupil_L Vertices: 1,330 Polygons: 1,328
DomesticDuck_Pupil_R Vertices: 1,330 Polygons: 1,328
DomesticDuck_Tears_L Vertices: 72 Polygons: 56
DomesticDuck_Tears_R Vertices: 72 Polygons: 56
DomesticDuck_Eyelid_L Vertices: 129 Polygons: 120
DomesticDuck_Eyelid_R Vertices: 129 Polygons: 120
DomesticDuck_Tongue Vertices: 6,578 Polygons: 6,576
DomesticDuck_BodyFeather Total Vertices: 684,060 Polygons: 505,152
DomesticDuck_ShoulderFeather Total Vertices: 1,040,172 Polygons: 854,862
DomesticDuck_Stem Total Vertices: 1,567,540 Polygons: 1,578,820

Total: Vertices: 1,751,580 Polygons: 1,387,264

Animations

No

Rigging

The rig features highly refined controllers, making posing and animation more convenient. The functions are as follows:
CTR_crv_MASTER – Controls the entire rig.
CTR_crv_gravity – Controls the movement of the entire body (excluding the feet).
CTR_crv_neck_attr – Neck attribute controller with custom attributes:
"IK_FK" – Switches between IK and FK for the neck.
"IK_Stretch" – Limits IK stretching of the neck.
"Follow_Target" – Controls whether the neck follows the root rotation.
"Stretch_Control_Vis" – Toggles the visibility of the secondary stretch controllers.
"Sec_Control_Vis" – Toggles the visibility of the secondary controllers.
CTR_crv_head – Head controller with custom attributes:
"Head_Follow_Target" – Determines whether the head follows the neck movement.
"Rotate_Order" – Sets the rotation order of the head controller.
"Sec_Control_Vis" – Toggles the visibility of secondary facial stretch controllers.
CTR_crv_L/R_wing_fold – Wing folding controller.
CTR_crv_L/R_wing_attr – Wing attribute controller with custom attributes:
"Wing_Follow" – Controls whether the wings follow the body's movement.
"Feathers_Follow" – Controls whether feathers follow the wing movement.
"Feathers_A_Ctr_Vis" – Toggles the visibility of the primary controllers for shoulder feathers.
"Feathers_B_Ctr_Vis" – Toggles the visibility of the primary controllers for Feather Layer B.
"Feathers_C_Ctr_Vis" – Toggles the visibility of the primary controllers for Feather Layer C.
"Feathers_D_Ctr_Vis" – Toggles the visibility of the primary controllers for Feather Layer D.
"Feathers_E_Ctr_Vis" – Toggles the visibility of the primary controllers for Feather Layer E.
"Wing_Sec_Ctr_Vis" – Toggles the visibility of the secondary wing controllers.
"Feathers_A_Sec_Ctr_Vis" – Toggles the visibility of the secondary controllers for Feather Layer A.
"Feathers_B_Sec_Ctr_Vis" – Toggles the visibility of the secondary controllers for Feather Layer B.
"Feathers_C_Sec_Ctr_Vis" – Toggles the visibility of the secondary controllers for Feather Layer C.
"Feathers_D_Sec_Ctr_Vis" – Toggles the visibility of the secondary controllers for Feather Layer D.
"Feathers_E_Sec_Ctr_Vis" – Toggles the visibility of the secondary controllers for Feather Layer E.
CTR_crv_L/R_Feat_rot_O/M/I – Controls the overall rotation of the wing feathers.
CTR_crv_L/R_wing_FeaT_O/M/I_curl – Controls the overall curl of the wing feathers.
CTR_crv_L/R_leg_attr – Leg attribute controller with custom attributes:
"IK_FK" – Switches between IK and FK for the legs.
"IK_Stretch" – Limits IK stretching.
"Pole_Vector_Follow" – Determines whether the pole vector follows foot movement.
"Stretch_Control_Vis" – Toggles the visibility of secondary stretch controllers.
"Rotate_Order" – Sets the rotation order for the foot controller.
"Heel_Raise" – Controls heel raising.
"Toes_Raise" – Controls toe raising.
"Foot_eversion" – Controls outward rotation of the foot.
"Foot_Inversion" – Controls inward rotation of the foot.
"Foot_Pivot" – Controls foot pivoting.
"Toes_Spread" – Controls toe spread.
"Toes_Curl" – Controls toe curling.
Additionally, the rig includes individual controllers for each layer of wing and tail feathers, along with other fine-detail controllers.

Specifications

File format: Saved as .mb files by default. It can be saved as .ma files if necessary.
Version supported: Created with Maya 2025.3. Maya 2025 or above is recommended for compatibility.

Caveats

A large number of realistic feather structures have been created using XGen in the scene. If the project runs slowly, you can hide the "Hair" folder and enable it only during rendering.
The XGen hair in this Maya character asset has been converted to interactive grooming, offering 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.
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.