[WIP] Landmark Modeling and Texturing for Videogames
This is my third post about my projects in 3D. In that occasion, I am going to show you the process of an important, well-known landmark in the harbor of Ibiza. This monument was built in honour of the corsairs of Ibiza. This model is a new asset for my final project of master in videogames. I will use Maya for modeling, and then I will texture it in Substance Painter. My challenge is to model for 9 days as a maximum date. So I am going to begin with it.
1_References of landmark and its details
In all my CGI projects, I like to research a lot of images to reference me. This is a little list of some images I found out in google.
2_Modeling of landmark in LowPoly version
This model was modeled by beginning from the lower to upper part. So I began with the painted concreted curb, and I analyzed the real curb before I had modeled the entire piece. The shape of this part was a perfect square with four rounded corners, and this curb was built by assembling many rectangular concreted pieces. So this model had several joints between the pieces, and it was an important point to decide if I created a high poly model with each piece separately.
I counted five pieces in the rounded corner, so the minimum resolution of the cylinder was of 20 sides (5 pieces x 4 quadrants). I decided that each concreted piece would have 3 sides, so the curve of corner would be of 15 sides. I begin this part from two concentric curves, and then I applied a Loft tool to surface this part. Finally I did it a little height of 10 cm.
Then of that I prepared the low poly model of the curb in a way to sculpt each piece in high poly version in ZBrush. So I divided the rounded corner in 11 pieces of the quadrant of curb. I beveled the hard edges to subdivide it the fastest as possible.
Then I continued with one of the steps. First I defined the top shape, and it was a perfect square with four chamfered corners. Also there were four stairs around the landmark. I began from a plane and I chamfered the corners. Then I introduced a loop to extrude the edge, and I created the border of stairs.
Then I created the stoned pavement from two curves (lower and upper). I used a Loft tool in order to generate the curved surface. Then I modeled each step of stairs. There were four steps with a rounded border. I began from a plane I extruded it and I beveled the edge with two segments.
Then I prepared the model to high poly model by separating in the different pieces of steps of stair. So I beveled the hard edges.
Then of that I created the first step of the landmark. This step is divided in 16 stoned blocks, and some pieces have a little rectangular gap. Also the top part is sloped. I modeled it by extruding the edges.
Then I created the next step with the same technique. Also there were 16 blocks.
Then of that I modeled the next rounded step, and it had 7 sides to define the curved section. As you see the middle section reduces from lower to upper part.
The next part was the rounded molding and cube with the pictures. I used the same technique, and I tried to optimize the model as possible.
Replies
2_Modeling of landmark in LowPoly version
Hi 3DModelers,
Today I come back with another guide about my progress in this landmark. The next thing I did was to prepare the blocks of each part of landmark to sculpt a little bit of wear in ZBrush. For that reason I had to check that all of the faces were quads or triads without ngons. Also I beveled the border edges slightly because these stones had sharpened edges. Thus I introduced several inner loops to subdivide correctly in ZBrush then.
Then of that I arrived to a difficult part, and it was the ornamental decoration of landmark. First of all I prepared the base to receive the ornamental scrolls, and it had a molding under the decoration.
Then I began with this complex part. First of all I sketched the different modules of the scrolls in order to know the shape and volume. There were two types of volutes, one of them was wider than the other. So the first type was the type 1, and the second one was the type 2. It was an organic modeling exercise, and I began by creating the most important loops which defined the main shapes.
They were the different sketches I did to understand the modules
This was the first type of volute, and it reminded me an elephant.
This was the second type of volute, and I began from the main loops and then I filled the gaps.
When I finished each module, I repeated them and the result was 95000 triads approximately. It was a very high count, so this model would be the highpoly version to bake over a retopology. For that reason, I created the retopo model over the highpoly model.
The low poly version of ornamental decoration was 8000 triads approximately, so I reduced it a 90%.
Finally, I finished the top part of the landmark by extruding edges and moving/ scaling them to obtain the correct shape according the references. Also I introduced two loops in the long part in order to represent the joints of the blocks.
Also I prepared the low poly model in separated blocks in order to export to ZBrush correctly.
The last piece I modeled in the landmark was the metallic wreath in honor to the corsairs of Ibiza. There were some pieces very easy and other a little bit difficult such as the lassos. The main wreath was modeled from a torus with 20 sides, and the lassos were modeled from a plane which I extruded them.
Finally, this was the low poly modeling of landmark which had 13000 triads approximately.
And this is a turntable of my final low poly landmark.
3_Modeling of landmark in HighPoly version
Hi 3DModelers,
Today I come back to show you a new progress with the HighPoly meshes of each block in ZBrush.
The first piece I sculpted was the pieces of the curb. First I subdivided the mesh, and then I applied Dynamesh. I sculpted the border wear by using TrimDynamic and Smooth Brushes, and I created several custom alphas in Photoshop in order to apply in Standard Brush. Also I used the system of layers in ZBrush to control the intensity of these alphas over the mesh. Finally I merged all the pieces in order to export the Decimation Master mesh from ZBrush to Maya.
The next blocks were the pieces of the stairs. They were very worn, so I used these alphas in a Standard Brush and the layers to control its intensity.
Then I detailed the blocks of the steps of the landmark with the same technique and brushes.
Then of that I sculpted the four paintings around the landmark. Three of these were very easy because they had only an extruded text. The last one represented a scene of a battle between two ships in the sea. So I modeled the ships and the sails in Maya, and I sculpted the waves and the noise of the sky in ZBrush.
The last piece I detailed was the metallic wreath. This wreath had a plenty of metallic leaves, and the lassos had a lightened relief. They were detailed in Maya.
Finally I exported of the highpoly meshes to Maya in order to form the landmark with all the details. This was the result.
Also I show you a turntable of HighPoly model of the landmark.
4_Mapping UV of landmark
Hi 3DModelers,
Today I come back to show you the mapping UV of this landmark. I followed the same technique that I have commented in other post. I only mapped a quarter of this monument in order to save some place and get more quality in the texture. For example, I only mapped one stair and stoned rounded surface, and the rest were a quarter of the stoned steps. Also I avoided the distortion in all the pieces. According to the layout, I did an automatic layout in Maya, but this option had a lot of empty area. So I organized all the UV shells manually, and I got to raise the UV shell’s size in 25%.
Also I overlapped many objects in order to save area of texture and to get more quality.
In the next post I will show you the baking phase with the normal and ambient occlusion maps in Substance Painter.
5_Baking of landmark
Now I will show you the baking of landmark to transfer the details from Highpoly to Lowpoly model in Substance Painter by getting the normal and ambient occlusion maps.
I baked the landmark in different parts in order to avoid some errors and darken areas. First I baked the wreath, and then I baked the rest. Also I had to check and correct the baked maps because they had some errors.
This was the baked maps, normal and AO maps.
This was the result of baking where you can see the low poly model and then its baked maps.
6_Texturing of landmark
Hi 3DModelers,
This is my last post where I am going to describe you the last phase of my landmark: texturing. As you can see, the landmark has few materials where the stoned shaders are majority. Others shaders were concreted curb, paintings and the metallic wreath. I began by using several materials and smart materials of Substance as a base, and then I overlapped other layers with smart masks like the yellow paint of the curb. Many materials had normal maps to simulate a light wearing due to erosion and rain. Finally I exported the textures in 2048 x 2048 pixels.
Here you can see the different maps I got from Substance Designer. These maps were Diffuse, Roughness, Metallic, Normal, and Ambient Occlusion.
Finally I hope that my landmark likes you, and the last thing I show you is short gif with the process of texturing stage and the look development of this landmark in honor to the corsairs of Ibiza.
Thanks you for your attention.