[WIP] Prop Model: Spell Book

Daustin_3D

I'm working on building my portfolio and expanding my know-how on stylized models and assets. I'm not well versed in this area of 3D modeling just yet but that's all the more reason to do this exercise! 

I'm starting with this Book illustration that I can only trace back to this link : [LINK]



I'll be posting my progress, Feedback and critique is absolutely welcomed!! 

Daustin_3D

This is the progress I have so far.
I'm still in the blocking phase and I haven't added in a few elements just yet. Butt once everything is in and mapped out correctly, I'll be backing up the edges and going into ZBrush.

aclund3

Cool project!

I'd think about what parts you can reuse so you can only the work once. For instance, the hinges, possibly the keys, the hands, the pins/tacks/round attachment thingys. If you use the same parts up until near the end, it can save a lot of work   I'd make the parts slightly different once almost done

Also, I'm a big advocate of always maintaining really clean topology throughout every step of the process as it always seems to pay off in the end. Most of the mesh seems fine for this stage, but the hands have a few broken loops that I can see.

Cheers and keep going!

Daustin_3D

aclund3 said:

Cool project!

I'd think about what parts you can reuse so you can only the work once. For instance, the hinges, possibly the keys, the hands, the pins/tacks/round attachment thingys. If you use the same parts up until near the end, it can save a lot of work   I'd make the parts slightly different once almost done

Also, I'm a big advocate of always maintaining really clean topology throughout every step of the process as it always seems to pay off in the end. Most of the mesh seems fine for this stage, but the hands have a few broken loops that I can see.

Cheers and keep going!

Thank you for the advice! for faster workflow and more efficient work, I have been duplicating repeating objects such as the hinges and keys! I'm glad that you mentioned that.

As far as the hands topology, I have the hands made of of 4 objects grouped together. I figured that having the hand made up of separate parts would make it easier to add fine details such as dents on the edges and things like that.

I have the mesh smoothed here, but does the topology look okay for the individual parts?

Daustin_3D

I'e gathered some reference for materials and sculpting. To make it easy to display the images for the purpose of this post, I put some of them together in photoshop. 

I just pulled the images from google. I was particularly finding it hard to find reference for flat pieces of aged metal. Are there any sites that you know of that have a good library of metal reference? I'd love to know. Thank you!

Carabiner

Are you planning to keep the handpainted quality of the concept? If so, in addition to looking up references of specific objects, I'd also look up examples of 3D props that have that same style since that'll be important in your workflow too.

Daustin_3D

@Carabiner That's a good point! I'll make sure to keep gathering stylized reference as well.

Daustin_3D

After some reviewing I found that my proportions were a bit off, so I've updated my original Maya model to widen the book edges to make sure that the textures are proportionate.

Daustin_3D

I forgot to include that I have been working from 2 reference images because the artist did a redraw of the illustration. I'm working to get a happy medium of the two.

Daustin_3D

Sculpting Update!!!

So after fixing some geometry issues, I'm back in ZBrush with my model. I'm currently adding in the details for the book, such as dents and scratches. I've going over each asset at a time to apply textures appropriately. SO far the only Zbrush brushes I've used are the H Polish, Dam Standard, and Move. I didn't want to get carried away with fancy brushes in this early of the process.

Critique is welcome and appreciated!!!

Daustin_3D

Updates!! I've been working steadily at my model and reviewing techniques that I've seen circulating around on youtube and on here. I've begun to add small details to my model

I've added some detail to the skull and horns to start reflecting the concept more closely.



As well as minor details on the key ring and keys. There were some proportional errors I've corrected.


I've added details to the book itself, as well as the bind, and its buttons. There are definitely areas that I'm going to revisit on the book.

Daustin_3D

I will say that I am looking for advice on the Leather stretched on the model. Any critique? I'm not sure if the rips  looks okay.

Daustin_3D

More progress!
I'm in in the process of importing back into Maya!

Daustin_3D

I posted a question in regards to xNormal in the xnormal master thread, if you know anything that could help me out, please check for it here! ---> LINK

Stefmon

It's looking neat! You could use the 'Lattice Deformers' in Maya after you're done to give it a stylised deformation though that would make it different from the concept. They're similar to ZBrush's 'Deforemer' deformer. 
Since the concept looks hand painted, you could polypaint the high poly in ZBrush and bake out that polypaint in xNormal.
(there's something you have to tick in xNormal to bake the poly-paint.)
I found some neat Brushes that help with polypainting http://www.workshophatemachine.com/2015/07/17/polypaint-brushes/

Daustin_3D

Stefmon said:

It's looking neat! You could use the 'Lattice Deformers' in Maya after you're done to give it a stylised deformation though that would make it different from the concept. They're similar to ZBrush's 'Deforemer' deformer. 
Since the concept looks hand painted, you could polypaint the high poly in ZBrush and bake out that polypaint in xNormal.
(there's something you have to tick in xNormal to bake the poly-paint.)
I found some neat Brushes that help with polypainting http://www.workshophatemachine.com/2015/07/17/polypaint-brushes/

Thank you! I appreciate the advice and I do want to push the silhouette to be more appealing so I'll check out that deformer. And thank you for the brushes link!

Daustin_3D

Just finished the final touched on the gloss and albedo map!

This is my first video game asset that I've finished to completion! Critique is still welcome and highly appreciated! Thank you all for your tips in advance! 

PeterK

Heya @Daustin_3D , you may want to go 100% hand-painted with this asset if you're looking to match or approximate the reference you showed.  Congrats on getting your first asset done, it's literally light-years better than the ridiculous cylinders+box dragon I made when I first started. Looking forward to seeing more.

Daustin_3D

PeterK said:

Heya @Daustin_3D , you may want to go 100% hand-painted with this asset if you're looking to match or approximate the reference you showed.  Congrats on getting your first asset done, it's literally light-years better than the ridiculous cylinders+box dragon I made when I first started. Looking forward to seeing more.

Hey @PeterK thank you so much for the feedback!! I'll have to look into learning more hand painting techniques since I'm fairly new to it. If you wouldn't mind, could you share any information or resources (like videos or tutorials) that you know of?

PeterK

Google had so many resources for that, just search "hand painted texture tutorial" and it'll give you videos, links, etc.

Some small tips: If you have a tablet/Cintiq, set your brush to 40% opacity and stroke over stroke. If you don't have a tablet, you're going to have a hard time with hand-painted textures. Though, I suppose you could do REALLY hand painted textures and print your UV's lightly on paper and draw/color over them, scan it back in and apply to your book (I really don't recommend this). 

mind you "handpainted" is a style which can be done via mouse, but it's very difficult to do that, and not difficult in an engaging way.