I only decided to create high polygon versions of objects that needed specific patterns or clothing that needed obvious folds such as the shirt and trousers as this would be hard to detail in Adobe Substance Painter. I decided not to sculpt in noise or other minor scratches on the other subtools that I would not end up baking because Substance Painter is capable of creating such an effect through height information and various other texture overlays which are provided in preset materials. When moving onto the baking stage, I had imported a high polygon version of each subtool that I made a high quality version of. I overlooked the sizing my project, and saw that the high polygon versions were not the same dimensions as my mesh, so I manually fit each one in Blender. Moving forward, I would make sure my meshes are the exact same dimensions by not manipulating the height when importing to Blender. After resizing the components, I moved back to Adobe Substance Painter and successfully baked all the needed meshes. There were slight artefacts that I did not know how to fix, but I decided that they were minor enough that they would not interfere with the fluidity of the whole project. However, looking back, I should have learned how to fix this issue, not only to enhance my skillset, but to make sure that I would also know how to fix future projects such an incident happens again.
TEXTURING
Since my system found it difficult to run constant 4K textures, I moved to 2k textures which had little to no difference when it came to appearance. The base metal materials from Adobe Substance Painter were not to my standard when it came to how I wanted my model to look. There was far too much shine and polish to them considering the nature of my character’s origins and occupation. Though I could have fine tuned the base textures and gotten a satisfactory product, I thought it would be more efficient to search for the materials online or find presents that suited the aesthetic I needed. I then managed to get access to suitable materials, such as various medieval inspired metals and cloth types. This ended up saving a lot of time and being very efficient as I could reuse all the materials in the weapons and future projects.
For the capelet of my character, I decided not to give it folds via sculpting before beginning to texture as I thought it would make it look more accurate when I put cloth simulation later. Looking back, this was not a good decision, as cloth simulation and further alterations to the cape will stretch polygons and alter the way the texture looks. I made sure to reuse the same colours and repeat materials throughout to make sure the model looked consistent throughout. Due to Adobe Substance Painter’s easy project reconfiguration, I was able to easily alter my model if I saw something wrong with the UV or was missing an object. For certain faulty UVs that I did not manage to tweak during the texture test, which I saw through stretches in quality, such as on the bottom of the greaves, I was able to easily alter and configure this and end up with a better result. The flow of Substance Painter’s design allowed me to go back and forth between programs with ease. Before I advanced further with the texturing, I decided to pursue making the hood. As I was unfamiliar with Marvelous Designer, and was informed that it would be useful to learn the program for my overall skillset and is an industry-used tool, I decided to use it to create the hood of my character.
I initially had a lot of trouble with Marvelous Designer due to my lack of experience but I eventually found that the interface and mechanics were very intuitive and realistic to the point where it was quite easy to adapt to how it worked. Eventually, I managed to export a hood that I liked.
I went back to Adobe Substance Painter 3D and applied textures to all the materials.
I changed the colour of the armour’s metal to fit more with the concept art I made, along with the colours that I had conceptualised for Primeval Ilythium, a metal-like material present in my narrative that is made of a primordial ocean deity’s body, making it appear that mild teal colour. The colour aligned with the oceanic theme, as well as made a unique appearance to the armour. I added the lighter trims by using layers and black masks, as this was present in the concept art. It translated well into 3D as I could see how much the contrast brought out the intricate patterns that I baked on and therefore was successful. By doing this, I achieved that tide-like effect that I had intended when I created the original design.
When it came to the gold trims on the hat and cape, I used alphas that I was also given access to, and utilised them in order to make a consistent pattern along the edge of the respective subtool. To give them height, I simply edited the material so that height was enabled, along with adjusting the height to the appropriate setting so that it achieved a more seamless and natural trimmed look. I found that this really elevated the gold which I did want to be clear as it was important to show his past status and glory.
It was more efficient to use alphas in order to get the desired ripped effect on certain clothed parts of my character, being the reason I made them a single plain, such as the hood and the cloth around the waist. Using the alpha blending shader mode in Adobe Substance Painter, and after looking up various videos, I learned how to make the fabric appear ripped and dishevelled- as I wanted to sell the fact that this character has been through combat. To pull off this effect, I followed a guide by Abe Leal 3D in the video ‘Painting Opacity Maps in Substance Painter’. I looked to multiple references of torn fabric in order to achieve the desired effect, and this turned out to be very useful, and made the project look more convincing.
When approaching the larger cape at the back of my character, I made sure it had two sides and was not a flat plane, as I did not want both sides of the cape to be similar. Though these cause complications, I compromised by checking if the appearance was consistent. I could not look for many references of burnt capes, so used the Soul of Cinder from Dark Souls III as a reference for what I wanted to achieve. As I couldn’t find burnt capes, I resorted to pictures of burnt cloth, which ended up helping me with the visuals of the effect. I also utilised emissives in order to get the appearance of glowing embers on the end of his cape, which ended up enhancing the design much more. I made an emblem for my character that conveyed his past affiliation, mixing a spear with a sun in a coherent composition. After some feedback and some testing on the character, I saw that the pattern was not clear enough, so I thickened some main aspects in order for it to stand out. I found that giving it height made it look more embroidered and regal, and with the tattered, burnt appearance, it gave the impression of a fallen, age old hero, which I was aiming for. I was also intending for this symbol to be the emblem for the soldiers who worked for the Kingdom of Sol.
I moved on to giving him the final assets in Blender, which, in hindsight, I should have added from the very start so that I would not need to model more. I did not intend for my character to have a face, as I wanted him to exude an elusive energy that would translate into his personality. To give this effect, I simply added a flat plane behind his mask that I would later intend to make black. I then added the planes for the glass on the lantern, and the feather that adorns his hat. I configured the project, easily adding the new meshes in. I found that I had to make new materials for them, which I quickly did before proceeding with finishing off my textures. To make the feather seem more full, I added an additional layer with more height to not make it look completely flat. Another thing I could have done, looking back, is using more planes to add those layers and make it look less flat.
For the lantern, I simply looked to Bloodborne’s lanterns and noticed that there was this fogged appearance to them that I wished to replicate. Along with this, I made sure to give the boots and greaves a more muddy, dirty look, as this character’s line of work and environment is mostly on wet grounds such as the coast and bodies of water, so I wanted to give the impression that the character is constantly walking within these environments.
Overall the texturing brought me many new insights, and I was able to learn many new skills as well as enhancing them, as I wanted to slowly gain more approved industry practices and integrate them into my own.