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The Borderlands workflow?

zombie420
polycounter lvl 10
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zombie420 polycounter lvl 10
I was looking at the borderlands 2 art dump and was noticing that they use a lot of high polys for some of the more detailed models. What did they use the high polys for? Surely I didn't see normal maps, did I? Probably occlusion and maybe cavity?

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  • BARDLER
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    BARDLER polycounter lvl 12
    They use normal maps. They wouldn't be able to get that clean of shading on such lowpoly models without them. It also looks like their highpoly detail is the base for their handpainted styled textures.
  • passerby
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    passerby polycounter lvl 12
    They use it to get better shading, and use the hps to make selections and masks easier to create. Looks like there using a lot of AO, cavity, and curveature information that is baked from the highpoly. Also maybe useing the object space normals to mask things.
  • s6
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    s6 polycounter lvl 10
    As the other gentlemen said the normals lend themselves to getting a solid base for the diffuse.

    A friend of mine at GBX described one day how they get a rough base for the inking. It's much more effective on non hardsurface models, but it will work to some degree on pretty much everything.

    In addition, like you already said, highpolies can be used for AO, Cavity, Edge maps, World space normals for gradient maps etc etc.


    ccbyeOZ.jpg


    From there you do inking, texturing, detailing etc. Here was my process breakdown back when I did some assets in that style. For more check out the thread: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=124371
    s6 wrote: »
    Alright, here we go guys. Hopefully I didn't get too image happy.


    Forgive poor image compression on most the image. I opted for quicker loading over quality. Except for this first one.


    IBX8k0.png



    This particular set of props was meant to be a quick and versatile. Borderlands (and their level designers) are notorious for re purposing nearly everything. So i wanted to make some pieces that could be wall supports, Trim on the floor, Scaffolding, Makeshift floor, Etc. But I imagine you guys aren't interested in the model as much as the textures so:

    In the vain of being quick support props, none of these were baked, and there were no maps to start out with. The entire texturing process took place in Photoshop, Starting with inking based on UV's. Textures for all of these pieces are on one 2048 map, Diffuse only. Total tris count for the pieces is 780.

    (Half Size of the UV's: http://i.imgur.com/57crit9.png )

    (Flat Shaded model, outline is post process in Marmoset)

    cUJEF92.png


    Inking-

    For inking I use a simple round brush with size set to pen pressure. Black color. nothing fancy at all.

    Inking is typically my first step, depending on the model, and if it has bevels/edges i want to look beveled on it. Almost no matter the model, I'll start by outlining the major edges of the UV shells. Then work my way to non bordering edges, Then from there I'll start "making up" lines and shapes. Having straight Uv's makes this SOOO Much easier. Shft+drag out straight lines in PS is a huge time savor. Sometimes that creates lines too "nicely" though, and I go back and squiggle them out a bit :)

    Popular things in the borderlands universe:

    Quilted metal. Tape. Band aids (probably not as much as i use them tho, I just love the damn things) among edge scrapes, little circle, Hatched lines for recessed surfaces. Hard to explain exactly what you should put where, But after a few assets and studying the borderlands stuff you'd get the idea ^^

    Usually the less important the line, The thinner it should be. using a fixed width would turnout in a terrible piece.

    Inking is the layer that I come back and add to the most in the process. As I finish other steps, I always come back to my main ink layer and adjust/add details/lines accordingly. This shot of the ink here is of how it turned out in the final texture, The first pass of inking is much rougher and uglier.



    KhT7Q35.png



    Highlighting-

    There is an important reason I separate "highlighting" from "lighting". It's because they don't always go together with shadows, and some of the most important highlights are un shadowed.

    The reason highlight is so important is because the normals on a model in the borderlands style get hidden extremely well by the heavy inking and light faking. Apply a black diffuse to a model you've done, and apply the normal map. And see how much of the *Edges* are showing up. Normals in the middle of faces tend to do better than edges, But they are still considerably flattened by all the line work.

    SO HIGHLIGHTING IS IMPORTANT! It's like you baked your model with really thin edges and need to go back and thicken them up. Your creating the illusion of a edge that isn't impossibly sharp.

    Because you can't have a highlight, and an ink line int he exact same spot on the map, you have to decide which one is more important. Edges that run down the model at a "peak" or high spot are perfect candidates for highlighting. In these spots I will highlight before I ink, Then ink around the highlight later. Such as the high points on the "wavy" metal and the other pressed metal. As apposed to the highlight on the pillar which was done after the inking.

    Not inking the edge of a model, or leaving a high point unmarked gives an opportunity for normals to shine, Bevels to actually catch light, and if nothing else, Gives you a spot to fake a highlight on that edge.

    Again no special brush for the Highlights. Round brush, Size controlled by pen pressure, and the layer usually ends up on soft light around 50-75% opacity.

    And again, The first pass of highlight is always rougher. As the texture develops, The ink develops, and as the ink develops, Everything else develops. Creating kind of a vicious cycle of updating prior passes.

    cvLcCbg.png




    Shadows-

    Pretty similar to highlighting, This is black painted on a soft light layer around 50% opacity. I lay down shadows on the bottom edges of things that should have depth. Just as the highlights should be painted in. If the model is going to have a variable rotation, i might be a little more subtle with the shadows so it doesn't look to strange when its upside down.

    At this point I'll usually do the major shadows as well. Like in the groves of the sheet metals here. Depending on the model it could be brushed in with a low hardness, Or use the marque select to block in values, then use blur to fade the edges if the model is a little more angular.


    xbwSggt.png


    Color Block in-



    When I block in colors i usually try to get the most accurate "end color" out of the model. Even though it will change a bit with texturing and what not. It just helps to get them close so you don't get carried away from your initial idea by the colors in your texture overlays.

    Nothing overly special here. Just blocking in colors :)



    rH2dO0A.png


    Base Textures-

    At this point most of the really hard work is done, So it tends to go a bit quicker. I'll usually find some texture in the vain of what I'm working on (wood, metal, Plastic, etc) and play with levels and color balance a bit. I'll then run the texture through a custom Toon-It preset I made.

    The setting that change most when doing certain texture is pre/post blurs. Depending on how noisy the texture is to start with and how "splotchy" I want it. I'll tweak other settings according to what i think would look good on the current spot I'm working on. The biggest thing is to get rid of the "Gritty" high frequency stuff. I usually prefer to keep some of the noise intact thought. A lot more interesting than a completely soft spotty texture.

    Here are a couple close ups of texture i commonly use. Before and after processing.

    Left side is the original texture, and right is after being processed.

    7ERUpsd.png

    QOXJxSu.png

    C8H6wUb.png

    liODLnh.png



    Detailing-


    After the base textures are done I'll usually do one final pass of details to make it that much more awesome. Things that consist of, but aren't limited to:

    Rust, Dirt, Grime, Paint, Spotty dotty paint spray (Yeah, That's the technical name for it, back off), Chipping, and other surface stuff like peeled paint and surface stuff. You can imagine even at this stage, I'll finish detailing, Then go back and refine the Ink layer to support shapes and details created in the texture pass.

    Add an outline around the model in your render, And you've got some borderlands styled stuff!



    PALoOa4.png


    9JYlO5x.jpg





    *****( High res: http://i.imgur.com/FO6B1aA.jpg )*****



    Let me know if you guys have any specific questions or curiosities. or want to see a specific image of somethin or other. Appreciate all the support and interest you guys share here, So anything I can give back, Just let me know :)

    Hope It wasn't a completely failure of a breakdown...

    -Mike
  • cptSwing
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    cptSwing polycounter lvl 11
    Heh, I was about to look up your thread from way back in order to link this dude up. Great source of information and easy on the eyes too ;-)
  • genwu
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    genwu polycounter lvl 7
    Thanks s6 for the link and post, definitely some awesome information in there!
  • xChris
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    xChris polycounter lvl 9
    This is a professor of mine from DePaul University, extremely good artist, I think you guys would appreciate this

    http://methodj.com/borderlands-style-texture-creation/
  • jlmayen
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    jlmayen vertex
    Hello everyone and @S6, great work and breakdown! this is a very late reply but I jumped to this post after looking how to do an outline finishing in Marmoset. Could you guide me a little about this? I don't know if it's a version issue, as I have Marmoset Toolbag 2, and can't find the outline option. Thank you!
  • HeXik_RiVeyy
    What 3d program was usedd to make this, how do you draw on the object  

  • Quack!
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    Quack! polycounter lvl 17
    What 3d program was usedd to make this, how do you draw on the object  

    If you read their post, they says exactly how they do it.
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