Alo, wasn't active here, but here's the progress so far.

Updated storyboard-

Shot4-

Working mostly on shot 4 now. Figuring out workflows in Nanite and Blender.

test surface mask

test blend mask

shader tests

Lastest screengrab

Gif progress so far- 

Youtube -https://youtu.be/-mlVTfCAZfg

Geometry nodes-

Started getting into Blender's Geometry nodes. I will very likely use it for most of the environment. The plan is to create separate cobbles with the cobble generator. Then, they are used in the cobble path gen as instanced objects.
Cobble generator-

Youtube -
Node setup. Using mesh booleans that spits out the intersected mesh between noised cube and sub'd cube. You can control the bevel thickness and the edge chipping noise strength.


Cobble path-
Curve-based controls. It uses cobbles created above. Each line can be controlled for now, but maybe I will reduce the exposed controls later.

Youtube -https://youtu.be/OsBKKtFue9Y
base graph that is reused for each mesh line/cobble line. Can control rotation, scale, transforms, and overall shape distortion with this.


Later randomized vertex colors can be assigned to get the selection control like color ID. This can be used in ZBrush or Painter.

Thanks a ton for the feedback, both of you - I really appreciate you taking the time. I will respond to each of your points separately below:

Really appreciate the thoughtful sculpting advice! You’re absolutely right about pushing the secondary forms. After reading your feedback, I went back and deepened the wrinkles, especially around the eyes. It’s already giving the skin a more convincing aged feel.

I also started breaking symmetry more intentionally, mainly around the eyes for now, where I shifted the height slightly and tweaked the shapes a bit. It’s made the face feel less stiff and more lifelike. I will definitely apply this more broadly, especially around the mouth and chin like you suggested. The tip about using the move brush to alter features around is a great call- I will try that next!

Thanks again for the insight. Looking forward to seeing your sculpt too!

 

Thanks so much for the paintover - super helpful, even with limited time!

Your notes about mass loss in older faces really clicked with me. I hadn’t paid enough attention to the temple and forehead areas, so I reduced the volume there to reflect that bone and fat loss more accurately. And the point about the upper jaw/bone structure receding is something I definitely overlooked- really appreciate that reminder.

The idea of soft tissue hanging off bony landmarks like the cheekbones and brow is also really insightful. I think I smoothed over some of those transitions too much, so I will go back in and refine that tension. I’ve already started softening the eyelids too, to tone down that wide awake look and bring in a bit more tiredness and age.

Thanks again- your quick breakdown was super valuable!

Current progress with the sculpt (still refining it) :

Oh I see - yeah mapping gradients is excellent too, lots of fun tricks there as well especially for metals and organics.

Towerborne looks fantastic, it's such a treat to see studios embracing techniques clearly inspired by BOTW and Arcsys. And it certainly makes sense coming from the makers of Banner Saga. Very cool.

Fucking love this