Blizzard ORC ( Fan art)

lotet · Aug 2017

LATEST

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

So I wanted to add this guy that I made back in 2014 to my portfolio.
knowing I was gonna do some minor tweaks to the textures, since back then this was my first rodeo with PBR. but when I opened up the project I got so ashamed of my own shitty work I had to redo the textures from scratch.

with that said, Im not the best with realistic textures so any feedback or crits on how I could improve the texture work would be awesome!
I dont want to redo any modeling, since if I start doing that, I might as well go all in and re-model him from scratch, and atm I dont really have the time

Im probably gone ditch the shitty tattoos and glowy axes since, to be honest, I added that to cover up my bad texture work xD
anyways enough talking, here there be pixels. Textured with substance Painter and rendered in Marmo.
Extra screenshots over at my Artstation.

Zack Maxwell · Aug 2017

I'd say the cavities are much too dark. The nipples are also freaking me out; they pop a lot more than you may have intended, because of the strongly contrasting color.

lotet · Aug 2017

Thanks for the feedback @Grimwolf
Lowered the AO some, and tweaked the nipples lol.

also added a Horde tattoo to his shoulder, I dont wanna go as full out as the old one, but I think I want a few here or there.

Jarran · Aug 2017

hey this guy is awesome! I'd suggest doing a pass on roughness/spec throughout the model. unfortunately at the minute he's feeling quite flat because everything seems to have a similar value

Bedrock · Aug 2017

I'm noticing some serious texel density difference between the shoulder and the rest of the arm on the last image. The sculpting all around just feels really smooth and lacking in detail, which is even more obvious with that dirt you got overlaid over the whole thing. Not sure if you can fix all that though..

I like the armor. Could use some spikes!

lotet · Aug 2017

Update! so Ive mad a lot of small changes, but most noticeable in the beard and the shoulder spikes.
I also opened up his mouth, modeled a mouth cavity and tongue and added a bunch of teeth.

then there are smaller things like I added detail to his leather strap on his shoulder, which hopefully makes a lot more sense now. I feel his boots and legs are the weakest part of the design at the moment, so I need to figure something out there.

its been a challenge adding stuff without re-UVing and modeling things from scratch, so the shoulders are made out of his teeth and the beard is using the same hair cards as the hair for example.

@Jarran - Thanks! Ive made some minor tweaks to the roughness maps, hopefully its better now.
@Bedrock - Yep, as Ive mentioned, the original model is a few ears old, so there are a lot of noobish UVs going on, but Im gonna try my best hiding it somehow, hopefully the leather belt is helping a bit.

Svartberg · Aug 2017

@lotet Overall render looks solid and very good. Could you maybe post separate flat diffuse and roughness passes?

zug zug · Aug 2017

Amazing work!
One thing... This beard style reminds a bit something dwarfish ... :P

lotet · Aug 2017

@zug zug - interesting, I was kinda going for something close to this look.
@Svartberg - here you go, map breakdown.

Torch · Aug 2017

WURK WURK

oreoorbitz · Aug 2017

tips:
tanned skined is more shinny. A good way to add variety is to have his back and top of his shoulders more shiny, and maybe darker in the diffuse.

Another easy way to ad variety to the texture of his body is to add more scars, not deep blade scars, but subtle scrapes and maybe smaller knife wounds.

Thats about it for suggestion I have, Great work mahn

Svartberg · Aug 2017

Right,
So, here's what I could muster.
1. Diffuse
It's been my experience that semi-realistic texturing is heavily based on subtle texture variety. You have a good variation of minor details on the skin so far. I mean the array of cold and warm colored spots scattered across skin areas. However, I feel that it has a lot more potential. It's always good to play around with colors and generators (I'm assuming you're using Substance painter, though i may be wrong) adding absolutely crazy colors in moderation. This goes for any material to a certain extent. In marmoset while fully lit with normals, they will go a long way.
Since it's not exactly a realistic character, absolutely flat albedo is not entirely called for. A subtle vertical gradient will help this guy pop a little more.
Also, just a side tip. It's good to always export textures from Painter to preview them in target rendering engine. Painter's viewport is alright but it usually looks nothing like the end result.

2. Roughness
Material differentiation. Right now it's very hard to discern leather straps from skin on roughness. You may argue that cured leather and skin are about the same roughness value and you may be right but by contrasting your materials you help break down large monotonous shapes into smaller, more readable shapes. Like many other aspects, it's a subtle thing

A lot of variety. Don't be afraid to add roughness values that are not supposed to be there. By adding these aberrations you're breaking down the material surface glare. Instead of nearly flat, uniform glare you'll have light playing around these rough and smooth spots. Don't necessarily stick to one size. Tiny specks and big spots serve their unique purposes each. It's always good to experiment with that, just as with the color. But it's important to practice moderation in order to not lose main shapes of the model.
A good way to preview roughness is by applying flat black diffuse and just spinning light source around the model. It helps to take a better look at the fresnel and general glare behaivour.

That's roughly what I wanted to add.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/py/84ney4z006oz.jpg

I'm sure the texture will turn out great

lotet · Aug 2017

@oreoorbitz - thanks, Il keep that in mind as well!
@Svartberg - oh wow thanks! Gonna try my best to implement all that.

stay tuned!

lotet · Sep 2017

OK, so I got around and posed him up.
Im not sure if these will be the final shots or if Im gonna do some more cinematic shots in the future, but Im starting to feel like Im overworking the guy. there are a lot of small issues since its an older model that i just cant fix, texel density, bad UVS and so on thats stopping me from pushing that last 10-20%.

also thank you again @Svartberg for that awesome breakdown, I tried implementing as much of it as I could with the limitations I had.

this has been an interesting project for sure, and Ive noticed that I have learned a lot more since 2014 then I though I had, most importantly, this rejuvenated my passion for more "realistic" textures

Bedrock · Sep 2017

The grey gradient background is just boring frankly.. I'd go with something darker and throw some stronger rim-lights on the green dude

lotet · Sep 2017

Bedrock said:

The grey gradient background is just boring frankly.. I'd go with something darker and throw some stronger rim-lights on the green dude

Yep, I felt the same staring at it yesterday, Im probably gonna make some cooler presentation shots, but as far as the model/textures goes, I feel like I cant do much more.