The Bi-Weekly Substance Challenge (Challenge 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 & 12)
interpolator
Hello everyone, welcome to the Bi-Weekly Substance Challenge.
How it works
- Every 2 weeks a new reference will be shared to be recreated, you are also encouraged to find your own reference, as long as it still fits the topic for that bi-weekly substance, for example if we share a mud reference, you can gather you own mud reference.
- You can be creative with the reference and make it look either realistic, stylized or hand-painted, it is up to you.
Guidelines
- Try and give constructive criticism, giving and receiving this should help each of us artist grow.
- This is a Substance Challenge, so stick with that software.
- You can post Wip's and finished materials here.
- Don't share work you've done in the pass, if you done a material before, try it again don't try pass old work off as something you did for this.
- Final material renders to be rendered in a real-time engine (Marmoset, UE4, Unity, Cryengine, Stingray, IRay is also accepted).
- This is a learning experience for all, don't be afraid to ask questions.
- Learn all that you can and do share what you also learn.
- Please be respectful to each and everyone.
Discord
We have a channel in the Allegorithmic Discord group where you can share WIP's and final images as well as discuss the challenge, Click here to go to it.
If you have any other questions in relations to any of the Allegorithmic's software, use the appropriate channels for those questions.
Resources
- Allegorithmic Youtube Playlists
- Substance Academy
- Rogelio Olguin Substance Designer Gnomon Tutorial
- Joshua Lynch Substance Designer Tutorials
- 80.lv Substance Designer Articles
Previous Challenges
- Challenge 1 & 2 (Brick & Marble)
- Challenge 3 & 4 (Rock & Sewer Drain)
- Challenge 5 & 6 (Roof Shingles & Sea Foam)
Challenge 7 - Stuck in the mud! (Muddy ground) || 12th May - 26th May.
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Challenge 8 - Copper || 27th May - 10th June.
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Challenge 9 - Windows || 13th June - 27th June
Click the images for higher resolutions.
Challenge 10 - Ornate Door || 28th June - 12th July
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Challenge 11 - Moorish Mosaics || July 17th - 31st July
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Challenge 12 - Round Ornaments || August 2nd - 16th August
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Replies
Just had a go, haha how horrendous is this attempt. Damn it's SO difficult.
Going to start mine today. Hopefully see more people joining in soon.
I realize now I should have taken some progress shots. Anyway, here is what I've been doing over the weekend.
I think the close-up looks a bit green because I was using the cave entrance HDR. But it fits the theme I guess.
Would love to see updates.
Here is my update from today. Not happy with the stones yet but the mud itself I'm liking.
- More variation in size of rocks, rocks lighter in colour in general again more variation, not as many
- Vegetation needs more colour
@3DKyle Amazing detail work here, can easily spot the variation in sizes. I think it might have been one of your video tutorials I purchased where you try to have that small, medium and large detail breakdown which this substance is really expressing well. Looking forward to seeing flats. In the cylinder it looks like the 'holes' (where there is no mud) seem like they are going to look too artificial in layout, might need a longer transition (less contrast in your mask?) so that at least in some places the transitions are not constant. At least from a distance.
@Nathan3D Love the markings on this. Almost looks like mud that has been driven on. Would blend out the transition between mud and liquid more perhaps.
Here is mine, I actually restarted as I always seem to do. Still WIP, generally want to improve micro detail, add small twigs (maybe vegetation too) and some cracks in the more dried out patches. I want to make the 'caked mud' heaps more mud like, perhaps with just more markings (looks too clean I think).
@capone Thanks for the feedback. I love the material design of uncharted and I was indeed going for that more expressive kind of design. Glad you noticed! You're right about the colors, those definitely need some attention. And after seeing @3DKyle 's material I feel like I need to bring out my high frequency detail more. I might ditch the grass altogether, as I'm not to happy with it.
I was writing feedback back to you, but you already noted most of what I was going to say. I do want to add that right now your low areas look dryer then the high areas, because the dirt in the high areas is darker and more saturated, as wet mud tends to be. And you would expect the low areas to stay wet longer.
@3DKyle. Same thing: The edges of your dried up puddles look much dryer then everything else. I cans see what you were going for with floating stuff left behind by the drying water, but right now it just looks like dirt.(perhaps add a bunch of small twigs and other debris to these edges)
Also, the orange feels a bit out of place. Perhaps it would work if there were some chunks of orange clay in other areas of the material as well. And the way the orange is streaked out makes it look like water was flowing in a straight line, rather then sitting in a pool. The fine detail is absolutely stunning by the way (although the rocks could do with being a bit smoother) The little twigs, the fine cracks in the dirt, all very satisfying to look at.
@Nathan3D. Great looking clay-like mud. Could do with some separate chunks dirt. The fine detail in the low areas could do with a bit more variation as well.
Here is the start of attempt 2
Still got to work on my microdetails. I turned the pebbles into random little bits of 'stuff', might try and bring pebbles/stones back into it later.
here is my final for just now you can see more images over here https://www.artstation.com/artwork/EDebK
@Confrontation
looking like a good start, you should get your mud down first though before moving onto other elements like twigs and stones etc. maybe some more height variation like mud clumping or crumbling areas.
@RobeOmega i hate it when that happens. how are you doing your footprints? just a mixture of shapes? definitely try get some more height in there though and your stones just look like colour info and no height?
@capone looking good man your higher parts look a little soft though, keep going though
@3DKyle terrible, start over
My base is coming along. Can't wait to get this into marmoset and really push it.
Brought back some larger rocks. Any ideas? Vegetation/Footprints/cracks/tracks/lines? I've made that error of not sticking to particular reference so I'm not quite sure what I'm aiming for
Closup shot! you can see some subtle microdetail here. Is it enough?
Done some changes:
Tweaked the height map for the rocks to make them stick out more
Added some parts of smoother/flattened out dirt and mixed it with the more fine clumps of dirt
Added some subtle flattened out parts where very old footprints have been
Added more height variation
Added more depth for the footprints
Added some noise to the footprints as they were too super clean and perfectly shaped before
Still up for more feedback as always.
@RobeOmega
- Looks too dry, almost like soil. I guess 3DKyle also created a dry looking mud but I think it works for him because of the transitions, microdetails and variation.
- I'd add more colour variation from the flat areas to the detailed areas? More colour variation in general.
- Since it's dry mud try something like cracks in the 'flat' areas?
- Rocks look a little too artifical? They all feel too similar, perhaps try getting some more tone difference in them?
@ViniCortez
- Needs more colour variation
- The sunken in parts are currently too harsh in transition
- I like the general markings you have going on, it's interesting details.
I'll be adjusting the rocks a bit and add twigs. The color also needs more work. What else do you guys think is missing?
@capone haha, I know what you mean.
have you added the micro-details into the roughness too? the dry areas might be better with a darker roughness value or some small variations
@Daniel_Swing nice idea!
was the basecolor in your reference toward pink? it looks a bit similar to wet granite, perhaps changing either the basecolor or adding some bigger bumps in the normal could improve it.
this was fun to do.
What do you guys think?
More images: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/2aNOA
@capone Yeah, that's what I meant with the saturation. Your last screenshot really shows different amounts of wetness very well.
Be careful with how steep the edges of your pebbles are. Right now they are forming these black outlines, which tells me the edges are to steep for your normal map. Either make them a bit lower or bevel/blur the edges a bit more. They could also do with a bit more variation in size. Also add another shape of twigs. It's very noticeable how every twig is the same straight stick. I think your microdetail looks pretty good. Some cracks in the dry areas aren't a bad idea. Also add some medium detail to the height, some bumpyness.
@RobeOmega I like your microdetail, but would agree it looks a bit dry for mud. A bit more height variation would be nice. You have quite small little dimples in the ground now, add some larger dimples on top of that. Also add variation to the pebbles. Not just in tone, but also different sizes, and spaced out less evenly.
@Daniel_Swing Very nice already. Perhaps add some medium detail to the height. Right now you have some fine grain on the surface, but no real bumpyness other then the very large subtle height variations.
@BlackNeko Nice start. I like the variation of unevenly shaped bumps. Looks much beter then generic smooth bumps IMO. Looking forward to see what kind of details you'll add to it.
@ViniCortez Very nice end result. The only point of criticism I would have is that the puddles look oddly steep. Other then that it looks great. The difference in colors, different levels of detail. Satisfying looking cracks in the dry areas. Very nice.
I feel like it got a bit too grainy and I still need to manage the color.
I'm calling mine done as I got a tutorial series coming out and want to make sure it's out this week.
More images @ https://www.artstation.com/artwork/5Em3A
Something always goes a bit wrong when I start working in marmoset, have to keep adjusting textures to make it work in substance and then again in marmoset. I think my WIP shots from SD look better? or have I just been looking at it too much! Also, when people render in marmoset do they make their textures 4K? (This is still set to 2K).
Anyway learnt some interesting things here that I hope to correct next time, especially the value of reference and also the value of micro detail in the albedo (not just the height/normal).
@3DKyle : I think your puddles look a bit too sharp. But the dirt is superb!
@capone : use your height map as a displacement map in marmoset, add a 'Flat' subdivision to your material and your result will really pop!
@Eggfruit : Really like the look! Though the color an the wetness makes for a nauseating image.
@ViniCortez : Really awesome! How did you get that beautiful fiber-grain?
@capone I keep my textures to 2k but that depends on the material as I will go lower if it is suppose to be lower in a game. I agree with Daniel in regards to getting a height map on your view in Marmoset to bring out the details more as the rocks are looking pretty flat without it.
@Eggfruit If you're going for stylized then ti looks pretty nice. Though with the grass I'm not sure about it. You might want to consider making more grass lumps and they all look the same. Maybe add some loose grass scattered around on parts to show the grass coming off too maybe.
@ViniCortez Nice looking mud. Though the footprints look super tiny compare to the details. It would have been nice to see more of the puddles like you got close to the camera around the material more as it just looks like one bit with the ones in the background in the blur not really viewable.
@BlackNeko Mud is coming on well, would be good to see more height variation on it. Add some rocks and bit of debris to the mud too to help make it stand out more.
More renders here.
@Eggfruit It looks a lot better!
@Daniel_Swing well done! the pebbles and the surface details really work well together!
@3DKyle Awesome material!
@K the one I like the best is the third iteration you posted on Artstation, but the green of the 2nd is a pretty cool idea too!
thanks for the feedbacks so far!
WIP. as I'm authoring the material for UE4, I decided to switch to a tessellation from a POM. It seems some of the small mud details got lost while adding more height variation..? I'll need to improve the pebbles too.
This is my first post for this Polycount Substance Challenge. There's my final muddy ground material, after a lot of changes during last 3 days.
I tried quite a lot of various details like footprints, pebbles, small branches, puddles...
For my final version, I delete footprints which were not enough detailed for me, I favored small details such as pebbles not to overload the material.
It's my first mud material made with substance, be indulgent
More screens on my Artstation
I did a quick mud thing some time ago but was unhappy with it. Then I found this thread and it really helped me settle on much of the shapes. I went for a poor man's festival terrain type of mud.
I'll edit this post once I have some renders done. Probably an Artstation page as well.
I gave the new challenge a shot
Any form of crits are welcome
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/PZ6ln
Just the basic surface and color so far!
More renders here.