Birds and Feathers yum
polycounter lvl 4
Hi all!
So I recently have been working on an asset for Unity that involves a bird like creature that I created the majority of it in Zbrush. And here where it gets tricky, maybe Im over thinking it, I am trying to do the textures and trying to find the best way to do so.
I really wanted to be able to use Material IDs for the bird so I could easily create and adjust realistic feathers through substance painter however there is little to no information online that I could find on how to accomplish this. So here is my train of thought:
First I said just retopo as I traditionally would to keep under my 4k poly budget and I got received a 2.8k model with very sharp edges along where the model transitioned from feathers to skin/ scales. So then I thought I should create separate objects for each area where there are feathers, covering the body, and from the beak around the eyes covering the head and neck. Then I would use alpha maps along the edges of those objects where the feathers ended. In doing this I came up with a lot of problems and had a real concern with sorting. Now I have gone back to just one solid block in and using a mask in Painter to block in where I want to work. But this just seems to give me really poor results. I can't just grab the beak and add the material I want. Most of the issues are coming in places like the beak where the feathers and hairs have real organic lines and I can't just break up with my topology.
I am not sure if anyone can help me but if anyone has ANY experience with feathers and birds or similar problems please help!
Thank You for your time,
Adam
I really wanted to be able to use Material IDs for the bird so I could easily create and adjust realistic feathers through substance painter however there is little to no information online that I could find on how to accomplish this. So here is my train of thought:
First I said just retopo as I traditionally would to keep under my 4k poly budget and I got received a 2.8k model with very sharp edges along where the model transitioned from feathers to skin/ scales. So then I thought I should create separate objects for each area where there are feathers, covering the body, and from the beak around the eyes covering the head and neck. Then I would use alpha maps along the edges of those objects where the feathers ended. In doing this I came up with a lot of problems and had a real concern with sorting. Now I have gone back to just one solid block in and using a mask in Painter to block in where I want to work. But this just seems to give me really poor results. I can't just grab the beak and add the material I want. Most of the issues are coming in places like the beak where the feathers and hairs have real organic lines and I can't just break up with my topology.
I am not sure if anyone can help me but if anyone has ANY experience with feathers and birds or similar problems please help!
Thank You for your time,
Adam