My first work for portfolio 3d artist
polycounter lvl 3
Greetings to all who are interested in this article!
My name is Nikita Osmanov. For two years now I have been self-learning modeling for games on the Internet. I’m not working anywhere at the moment. But i began to collect a portfolio to get a job in a game development company and join the whole cgi and gamedev sphere.
In this post, I will talk about the pipeline for creating my Bunker phone project, modeled in Blender and textured in Substance Painter. Enjoy your reading!
1.Idea
I regularly browse ArtStation with Pinteres and look for something new and interesting to get inspired. I like vintage and old things, so my choice obviously fell on something suitable for this topic.
The main goals were to show with the example of a simple object with a recognizable silhouette that I can convey it and further create materials that are close to realistic, but at the same time that they are expressive.
2. References
Searching for references is an important process. Fortunately, pinterest is very convenient in this regard and I immediately found some interesting and suitable ones. In addition, the search on images on google also accelerated their selection. A lot of photographs from different angles gave me an understanding of shapes and proportions, and the details became more clear.
The PureRef program helped me organize all the references. With its help, it is easy to work with references by placing them on a second monitor. This program is free and you can download it on the off site.
Here is what I managed to collect.
3. Modeling
I started with blocking the model - representing it in the form of primitives. This is an important stage, which makes it possible to understand the main forms, the location of the parts of the model relative to each other and their scale. Unfortunately, I did not save my block to show it to you.
Next, I went on to model the High poly version of the “subdivision” model. This is a polygon modeling method in which the subdivision (Blender) modifier is added. With this modeling technique, the shapes are smooth, which is exactly what was required for this model. I got something like the following.
After that, I remove the modifiers that change and complicate the grid and clean it from those that do not affect the shape of the polygons, while the shading of the low poly version of the model should remain correct, so it should be balanced with optimization. This is what low poly looks like
After that, I remove the modifiers that change and complicate the grid and clean it from those that do not affect the shape of the polygons, while the shading of the low poly version of the model should remain correct, so it should be balanced with optimization. This is what low poly looks like
The modeling process is complete.
4. UV.
There are no features here and I do not use third-party software for this. To be honest - this is probably the fastest step in creating a model, for me personally. I just mark the cuts in places of sharp edges and on cylindrical surfaces (of course, trying to hide the seams from the eyes). I unfold and pack. That's what happened
5. Bake
I always call the low and high versions of models using the _low and _high prefixes. This allows you to not only navigate the project, but can also help with baking. I am wrapping materials with contrasting colors on high poly in order to bake the ID map in the future. I baked Normal, ID and AO in Marmoset, and Curvature, Position and world map in Substance painter.
By the way, a very important point is the organization of your project within the program. It allows you to take a step back without bad consequences if you make any mistake, or if you want to make some changes in the modeling process.
My project organization looks like this: 1) High poly version of the model with modifiers hanging on it. 2) Low poly with modifiers of the Mirror type and optimized mesh 3) Low poly model for baking, with a ready scan and breaking into groups so that the intersecting parts of the model do not bake onto each other. 4) High poly with modifiers applied. 5) One-piece, customized low poly version of the model, ready for export to the engines.
6. Texturing
This stage is one of the most difficult and long for me, because it should be very attentive to detail. We must not go too far with one and not forget about the second. Here, the study of the surface and materials at the reference becomes more accurate. Nevertheless, this stage, if done correctly, makes a very large contribution to the expressiveness of the model. A bad model can be pulled out due to good textures, just as an excellent model can be ruined by a bad texture. I think the more time you spend texturing and adding details to your model, the better it will look.
Eventually
I render in Marmoset using a three-point lighting scheme and get the result.
You can watch the video with the camera flying around, more beautiful renderings and the grid via the link (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/JlowZn) in my portfolio, which will soon be replenished with even more work! I would be very grateful if you support me like 
In conclusion of this article, I want to thank all the artists who inspire me every day, and those people who do useful lessons that help me in self-education.
Also many thanks to those who read this article. I will improve my skills and strive for more results.