Ymirak – Dragon
A production-grade dragon asset sculpted to hero-shot quality. Fully rigged with IK/FK controls, muscle simulation, and ragdoll dynamics. Available as a native Maya or Blender package, each built for high-end VFX pipelines from the ground up.
Cinematic Sequence
A full cinematic sequence produced using Ymirak in a live VFX pipeline. Environment, FX, lighting, sound design, and compositing were all created by the artist team showcased below, demonstrating the dragon's real-world production quality.
Packages
Three tiers for every production stage, from a lean base asset all the way to the full bundle with anatomy reference, animation caches, and advanced ragdoll dynamics. Both Maya and Blender are available at each tier.
Lite
Clean base asset with preview textures and a fully rigged character, everything you need to get into production fast.
- High quality model
- Preview textures (1 UDIM · 8K)
- Fully rigged character (Maya or Blender)
- Realistic shader (Arnold / Cycles)
Full
Everything in Lite plus the complete production texture suite: 24 UDIMs, 8K displacement, ISO masks, and a texturing-friendly UV layout for Mari or Substance.
- Everything in Lite
- High quality textures (24 UDIM · 4K)
- High quality displacement (24 UDIM · 8K)
- Multiple ISO masks (body region IDs)
- Texturing UV layout (52 UDIM · mirrored)
- Multiple texture masks (patterns, breakups)
Pro
The complete bundle. Adds anatomy reference, a flight-cycle animation cache, Maya FK/IK animation rig, and advanced ragdoll dynamics.
- Everything in Full
- Anatomy model (skeleton + muscles)
- Alembic animation (flight-cycle cache)
- Maya animation: flight-cycle FK/IK
- Advanced ragdoll setup (Maya)
Add-ons (sold separately)
Upgrades a Lite package with the full 24-UDIM texture set, ISO masks, and 8K displacement maps. Identical to the texture content in Full/Pro.
Adds the Alembic flight-cycle cache. Pipeline-agnostic: import into any rig or scene and play without additional setup.
Built for Production
Every surface of Ymirak is sculpted and shaded to hold up under the closest camera. Here's what's under the hood.
Sculpting
Subdivision mesh from ~600K base polys up to 600M+ subdivisions. Hard-surface armor plates, micro-scale detail across the full body with no repetition.
Texturing
24 UDIMs · 4K color, roughness, SSS color/scale/weight, coat weight/roughness, bump, and emit. 24 UDIMs of 8K displacement maps. All painted in Mari.
Shading
Fully procedural, physically-based shader network. Native Arnold setup for Maya; native Cycles setup for Blender. Drops into any lighting rig and renders immediately.
Body Poses
Front View
Side View
Back View
Head Close-up
Pose A – Front
Pose A – Wings
Pose C – Wings
Full Body – Tail View
Close-Up Details
Head Detail
Dorsal Armor
Legs & Claws
Spine Detail
Anatomy Reference
Skeleton – Front
Skeleton – Side
Head – A-Pose Front
Head – A-Pose Side
Rigging
Both the Maya and Blender versions come with a complete animation rig built for production use. The showroom turntable and flight-cycle below were made entirely with the provided rig and textures, no post-processing on the creature itself.
Maya Rig
- Full-body IK/FK switching
- Detailed facial rig with jaw and lip controls
- Advanced ragdoll dynamics (Pro)
Blender Rig
- Full-body IK/FK switching
- Detailed facial rig with jaw and lip controls
- Native .blend, no plugins required
Maya Rig Demonstration
Advanced Ragdoll Dynamics (Maya - Pro Package)
The Pro Maya package includes a full physics-based ragdoll setup on top of the animation rig. Drop Ymirak into any scene and run simulation passes with believable creature weight, momentum, and secondary motion, ideal for destruction sequences, heavy impacts, or procedural body dynamics. The tutorials below walk through the setup and a practical example.
Ragdoll Overview
Example: Belly Scratch
Maya Rig Setup Tutorial
360° Turntable
Two complete turntable passes rendered at up to 4K resolution. The first shows the clean body geometry in neutral lighting, perfect for evaluating proportions and surface detail. The second features the full fire-breath animation cycle.
Technical Specifications
bump, coat_bump, coat_rough, coat_weight, color, disp, emit, rough, sss_color, sss_scale, sss_weight.ma, .blend, .exrUV Layout & Texturing
Ymirak ships with three dedicated UV sets designed to support every stage of a VFX texturing pipeline, from fast lookdev to final delivery.
Preview UV Set (1 UDIM · 8K)
A single consolidated tile optimised for viewport performance and quick lookdev iterations. Load the full preview shader without touching the 24-UDIM render maps.
Render UV Set (24 UDIM · 4K / 8K)
The primary set for final renders. Non-overlapping UDIMs covering the entire surface with full 4K color, roughness, SSS, coat, and emit maps, plus 8K displacement for subdivision close-ups.
Layout UV Set (52 UDIM · Mirrored)
Spaciously unpacked and mirrored for texture painting in Mari, Substance 3D Painter, or any UDIM-aware DCC. Clean, well-separated islands with consistent texel density across all limbs and surface regions.
Texture Customization
The Full and Pro packages include a complete set of ISO body-region masks painted in Mari. Each mask isolates a distinct surface area of the creature (scales, wings, horns, claws, underbelly), giving lighters and lookdev artists per-region control over color, roughness, SSS weight, and coat parameters without touching the base maps.
Texture Masks
Pattern, breakup, and variation masks are included alongside the ISO masks. Plug them into any mask-driven layering system in Arnold or Cycles to drive procedural shader variation, dirt distribution, or selective color grading across the surface.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between the Maya and Blender versions?
Both versions contain the same high-resolution geometry, 24-UDIM textures, and full animation rig, built natively for their respective software. The Maya version ships as a .ma scene with a full Arnold shader network and Maya-native IK/FK rig. The Blender version ships as a .blend file with a Blender-native IK/FK rig and Cycles shader setup. Neither is a port of the other; both are first-class pipelines.
What is the difference between Lite, Full, and Pro?
Lite includes the high-quality model, a preview texture set (1 UDIM · 8K), and a fully rigged character with a realistic shader. Full adds the complete production texture suite: 24 UDIM · 4K maps, 8K displacement, ISO body-region masks, pattern and breakup masks, and the mirrored layout UV set for painting. Pro includes everything in Full plus the anatomy reference model (skeleton and muscles), an Alembic flight-cycle cache, Maya FK/IK animation, and advanced ragdoll dynamics (Maya only).
Does the Blender version include ragdoll dynamics?
Ragdoll dynamics are currently only available in the Maya Pro package, where they are built on the Maya simulation system. The Blender rig is otherwise equivalent in terms of IK/FK controls, facial rig, and muscle simulation.
How are the UV sets organised?
There are three UV sets. The Preview set uses a single 8K UDIM for fast viewport and lookdev work. The Render set uses 24 UDIMs at 4K (8K for displacement) for final-image quality across all texture maps. The Layout set uses 52 UDIMs in a mirrored, spaciously-packed arrangement intended for texture painting in Mari or Substance 3D Painter. All three sets are non-overlapping and production-clean.
Can I upgrade from Lite to Full later?
Yes. The Addon Textures pack can be purchased separately and plugs directly into the Lite rig. It includes the full 24-UDIM texture set, ISO masks, 8K displacement, and all additional mask layers. This gives you the same texture depth as the Full or Pro package without repurchasing the rig.
What file formats are included?
The Maya version includes .ma scene files. The Blender version includes .blend files. Textures are delivered as .exr (linear) and .tif. Displacement maps are 8K .exr. The Alembic animation cache (Pro) is provided as .abc. All textures are named and organized per UDIM tile.
Collaboration
Anderson Pinto
Freelance rigging artists / creature TD
With over 13 years in visual effects, Anderson specializes in rigging and muscle simulation, solving complex production challenges with strong technical expertise.
Anderson’s Instagram →Nina Fischer
Freelance 3D animator
Vancouver-based 3D VFX animator specializing in creature work and character performances. With experience at studios like Trixter and Framestore, she has contributed to major franchises including the MCU and HBO's House of the Dragon.
Nina’s LinkedIn →Work from Artists
See what artists around the world are creating with Ymirak in their own projects.
Get Ymirak
Two first-class pipelines, built natively in Maya and Blender. Choose the one that fits your studio.
Maya
- Full-body IK/FK rig with facial controls
- Advanced ragdoll dynamics (Pro tier)
- 24-UDIM Arnold shader: renders out of the box
Blender
- Full-body IK/FK rig with facial controls
- 24-UDIM Cycles shader: renders out of the box
- No plugins required, 100% native Blender