Katana Project - Learning Substance Painter

WallStaringCat

Hello all! This time around I'm doing my best to learn some new software (Substance Painter, Maya and Max) so I've chosen a simple sword project to learn the basics.

Here's what I have so far!

I used a ton of samurai sword and fittings references all found here - http://www.toukenhataya.jp/goods/sword/sword.html 

1: Made a low-poly sketch in Modo (my primary software) to judge what comparable tools I would need to find in the other two programs. I decided to keep the Maya version to use for sculpting.


2: Went between Zbrush and Maya to make the wrap for the handle and all the fittings.


3: Baked normals through Marmoset and started texturing! 



Would love to know what you all think! I couldn't figure out how to get smart masks to work though. Do you need to bake out Height, AO, Curvature, or any other additional maps to get those masks working? I've been following a couple tutorials but still haven't gotten comfortable in the program yet so I'm sure I'm just not configuring my settings properly or something. I only baked normals out of Marmoset before texturing. 

Next up I'll model a saya, and sword stand to complete the asset. Will post updates as they come!

WallStaringCat

Making progress on the saya now. Also trying to learn 3DS Max along with Maya. Maybe it's just me, but I was shocked to see how different each program is. I didn't have a hard time transitioning from Modo to Maya, but Max is kicking my butt right now. 

My biggest problem was Max crashing when I tried to export an FBX of my model. I found a workaround by exporting as an OBJ instead, then opening it in Modo, and then exporting that out as an FBX, but I could never figure out what was causing the crashes in the first place.

Any Max users run into this issue before, or possibly know what could have caused it? Using the 2017 version here.
  
Anyway, here are some more progress pics!






Still learning the basics in Substance Painter 2. I still have a lot to learn, but I'm happy with the results I've been able to get out of just a couple days of playing around.



Will need go into Photoshop later and put some alpha masking on the polycards at the ends of the sageo cord. Anyway, here's what I have so far!



Next up I'll be making a sword stand, a base, and then one final polish pass on all the textures. 

I hope you guys like how it's coming along. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated!

WallStaringCat

Didn't really like the blue sageo cord that much so I settled on green instead.

Also started working on the stand and base in Modo to save time. 





The stand and base are high poly right now. I'll optimize the topology later.

WallStaringCat

Calling this one finished! Marmoset viewer available on Artstation - https://www.artstation.com/artwork/ZXzA1

PeteJViney

This looks really nice. I feel like this would have been a great project for learning Substance Painter, as well as the modelling programs! Only feed back I have is about the wrap on the handle. I feel like there may need to be a bit more AO between the wrap and the handle underneath, just to give it a little more depth? Other than that, its a fantastic prop

Asura

This looks great. I do agree with Pete that there could be a smidge more AO but thats kinda personal preference for me. Other than that this is clean and solid

WallStaringCat

@PeteJViney @Asura

Thank you so much for the feedback! And I agree about the handle wrap and AO. I feel like I may have relied on the bakes too much at times and didn't spend as much time as I should have making more manual tweaks to it.