[Finished] Samurai

Pav3d · Aug 2018

Hello!

Inspired by all the samurai themed games during E3 (especially Sekiro) i decided to make my own.

Final scene will have her shot full of arrows, or cornered, or making some sort of last stand, something dramatic!

Ive been busy researching and concepting and here's where I am at the moment:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/9i/buqeh4fvzoiv.jpg

Majority of it is still in early concept blob stage but a few things are starting to take shape.

Her sandals and leg wraps:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/vn/727ysrmgto6k.jpg

Her arm armour:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/sf/0h2xoqsssqpk.jpg

Next ill continue on with the sleeve fabric and research a way to do the intricate chainmail that Kote have. As well as designed her emblem which will dictate the theme of all the pattern work.

Pav3d · Sep 2018

Seems like I either started too early or too late for this Artstation challenge, so poor timing from me

Anyway here is what Ive been working on:

Working on the arm armour and fabric. Upper arm armour still needs some string holding it together and engraving

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/eb/773kf13ae7iu.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/bc/purex24zc5fx.jpg

Here's the process of the mon design:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/q7/ztj9z4r44u8q.jpg

Here's what shes looking like overall, playing around with the idea of having a head dress that would be similar in fashion to something on a helmet

Also did some work on the trouser folds exploring the character of her face and other little designs, next up is doing some more armour work (coz its fun :P ) and some more work on the trousers

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/gx/9oym0wnq546e.jpg

Olingova · Sep 2018

Details in the sculpt are gorgeous!!!
Just kinda skeptic about this chain mail on the elbows, looks way too weak to me, looks like it would break in a sec. I would suggest to make it plain or remove it.

And yeah haha thought the same for the artstation contest, too bad because it's coming out really nicely!!

priderice · Sep 2018

I Really love the Stiching and the thin Fiber Rope, makes it so realistic

Doxturtle · Sep 2018

really great attention to detail with this piece, the tiny details on the hand are so good

Alex_J · Sep 2018

Tutorial please!

Will pay money to watch breakdown of the stitching between plates, particularly the gloves.

aanselmo · Sep 2018

This is getting amazing, the details are really good, love the footwear with the rope piece

ja000ha · Sep 2018

The details are excellent! Looking forward to seeing how she turns out.

g_osorio · Sep 2018

This is gorgeous! how did you do the back part of the shoes? was it all with zspheres?

sugunwar · Sep 2018

Hello, nice job, could you explain how to make that stiches and back part of shoes? please

Pav3d · Sep 2018

Thanks guys!

sugunwar said:

Hello, nice job, could you explain how to make that stiches and back part of shoes? please

g_osorio said:

This is gorgeous! how did you do the back part of the shoes? was it all with zspheres?

Took some experimenting but I did it all using curves in Zbrush. zspheres are too damn fiddly for me :P

Using this video of how theyre made as a guide, i set up some meshes in 3ds max that would act as curve guides in Zbrush.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/a3/gvjx39dbykse.jpg

Using the open edges curve function I added curves to and and applied a simple rope brush I made to it.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/as/7fqrbz1uy06t.jpg

Then I had to do some inflating and sculpting to clean it all up.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/1g/gc4k915ammeq.jpg

Final touch is adding some fibremesh for some frayed string effect.

BIGTIMEMASTER said:

Tutorial please!

Will pay money to watch breakdown of the stitching between plates, particularly the gloves.

Im looking into it

Pav3d · Dec 2018

Hey guys, been a while! Been busy working on the armour and lots of fold sculpting. Decided to give her a helmet in the end as samurai helmets are too cool to not do

Renamed the thread to "Samurai Defeated" as in the final pose she'll be at the end of a long battle, filled with arrows and about to engage in a final stand.

Still got a lot of detailing to do (armour string holes, memory creases, rips, damage etc) and engraving on the armour.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/md/nc5ud1d18yl2.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/b4/anos0ajlx7h2.jpg

oraeles77 · Dec 2018

all of this was done in zbrush??

renocrade · Dec 2018

great job with the details.

Pav3d · Dec 2018

Thanks @renocrade

oraeles77 said:

all of this was done in zbrush??

The armour and string was made in 3ds max, the cloth was all sculpted in Zbrush

Carlos Eduardo · Dec 2018

Amazing how fast you can work. Your topics are always full of motivation and knowledge for me. Thanks a lot!

Mark Dygert · Dec 2018

This is coming a long fan-fucking-tastically. Keep up the good work!

Aaahem... I mean this sucks, you're failing, try harder.

AndrewCothill · Dec 2018

The cloth was all done in ZBrush??

You're my new hero

Lou_ · Dec 2018

Great work so far! If this is anything like Lordling I am sure it will become another of my favourite pieces of character art!

Bill Lumbergh · Dec 2018

I love it Pavel!! so good!

bkost · Jan 2019

Oh man, thats too good to pass up. Thank you for the notice @Lucie666

jose.fuentes · Jan 2019

so good, I can't wait to see how this develops

Aga22 · Jan 2019

this is insane. congrats. i'm amazed.

Tits · Jan 2019

That's some kickass detailing work, the whole piece is incredibly well done

shogunato · Jan 2019

Fantastic work this is really impressive

Ruflse · Jan 2019

Your characters are always top quality! I learn a lot using them as reference.

Pav3d · Jan 2019

Thanks everyone

Been working on finalizing her face and pore details.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/ir/s046885i3hgs.jpg

Also been working on her Katana and exploring the wind/cloud/fujin/rajin themes of the engraving. Here is the high poly.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/ct/m6qb688s44bh.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/v4/otn8egzg1r22.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/wj/oz4f3n37ny7o.jpg

Next up is belts and armour detailing

Alex_J · Jan 2019

man....

i follow a lot of great artist who make work that makes you say, "damn, that's awesome." but your work consistently makes me say not just "awesome" but also "how the fuck did he make that." And always with the tiny little details too. Really impressive.

BestiART · Jan 2019

looks great man!! How did you make the details on the handle of the katana?

dGreenberg · Jan 2019

The katana looks incredible and her face has so much more life and personality now, man! All the pieces on that sword look like they interlock and work so well together, and your details are always super well made. The details on the grip just below the guard and the part at the top of the scabbard (in particular) are jaw dropping. Incredible update as usual, @Pav3d!

Pav3d · Jan 2019

Thanks guys, very encouraging

BIGTIMEMASTER said:

Tutorial please!

Will pay money to watch breakdown of the stitching between plates, particularly the gloves.

If you are referring to the chainmail in between the glove plates I can explain that.

For this I used nanomesh in Zbrush. Since Zbrush will create the nanomesh mesh in the center of each poly I made a proxy mesh in 3ds max to guide exactly where I wanted to the chainmail to appear.

You can edit the proxy mesh using regular move brushes etc and see the updates on the chainmail in real time.

You can use the ZDM brush "spin edge" option to adjust any incorrectly rotated chainmail links.

The final part is just manually moving around individual chainmail links to get them to fit in the correct spot. This is the longest and most tedius part and there is no fast way to do this sadly

Now if I was doing this for a game character today I wouldnt bother with this method

I would instead bake down chainmail onto a simpler mesh, similar to the orignal proxy mesh and align it that way. Im just using this as a way to experiment to see if I can find some way to make a chainmail with some more depth.

BestiART said:

looks great man!! How did you make the details on the handle of the katana?

Hey thanks! could you be more specific? im not sure what area you mean, the white handle texture or the wraps or the engraving or...?

Alex_J · Jan 2019

thanks, I really appreciate that, Paul. So you get the chainmail into position, then just have to line things up, and punch out the tiny holes.... very meticulous. If you baked the chainmail into a texture, I don't think then you could have it runnign through holes like that on ethe gloves? Well, I'll see how it looks at the end and should be able to understand.

I saw that you had a live class, unfortunately it was while I was out of town. If you have anything more like that planned, please let us know.

NikhilR · Jan 2019

BestiART said:

looks great man!! How did you make the details on the handle of the katana?

Hey thanks! could you be more specific? im not sure what area you mean, the white handle texture or the wraps or the engraving or...?

@Pav3d
Thank you so much for sharing these techniques!
I've been using the curve function method for some straps on a sword I'm making (not working out very well)
Did you use curve functions for the wraps on your katana?
I'm preparing to post progress for my model, would it be alright to pm you some progress thus far first and get some guidance?

BestiART · Jan 2019

Pav3d said:

Thanks guys, very encouraging

BIGTIMEMASTER said:

Tutorial please!

Will pay money to watch breakdown of the stitching between plates, particularly the gloves.

If you are referring to the chainmail in between the glove plates I can explain that.

For this I used nanomesh in Zbrush. Since Zbrush will create the nanomesh mesh in the center of each poly I made a proxy mesh in 3ds max to guide exactly where I wanted to the chainmail to appear.

You can edit the proxy mesh using regular move brushes etc and see the updates on the chainmail in real time.

You can use the ZDM brush "spin edge" option to adjust any incorrectly rotated chainmail links.

The final part is just manually moving around individual chainmail links to get them to fit in the correct spot. This is the longest and most tedius part and there is no fast way to do this sadly

Now if I was doing this for a game character today I wouldnt bother with this method I would instead bake down chainmail onto a simpler mesh, similar to the orignal proxy mesh and align it that way. Im just using this as a way to experiment to see if I can find some way to make a chainmail with some more depth.

BestiART said:

looks great man!! How did you make the details on the handle of the katana?

Hey thanks! could you be more specific? im not sure what area you mean, the white handle texture or the wraps or the engraving or...?

I mean the grip of the katana, those fabric fibers, how did you make them?

Torch · Jan 2019

Fantastic dude! You're going above and beyond with those katanga details, the materials look spot on. Great job

Pav3d · Jan 2019

NikhilR said:

@Pav3d
Thank you so much for sharing these techniques!
I've been using the curve function method for some straps on a sword I'm making (not working out very well)
Did you use curve functions for the wraps on your katana?
I'm preparing to post progress for my model, would it be alright to pm you some progress thus far first and get some guidance?

Ill explain the wraps below. And yeah sure, when I have some time I will take a look

BestiART said:

I mean the grip of the katana, those fabric fibers, how did you make them?

The wraps are made in 3ds max, made using relatively simple meshes with a shell and turbosmooth modifier on top

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/ir/qlfxaqo0mlod.jpg

Before that I had to get my head around how theyre actually made IRL, so I did some practicing with some shoelaces

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/fe/xux7rgkw2rpp.jpg

this pdf helped a lot.

While modelling I made sure my UVs remained straight, so it would be easier later on.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/vk/55220ecwhgji.jpg

I then made the thread pattern using substance designer. Its fairly clean at the moment I will need to make rips, holes, loose threads etc.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/c9/cnga9n4f51an.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/bu/kyblvbeocbsy.jpg

Currently the wraps are pretty high poly, so I will make a simpler low poly mesh of the handle and then bake the colour information from the thread normal maps onto it. Then bake the high poly wraps normals and blend them together.

I will be using this technique for all the string holding the armour together.

Pav3d · Mar 2019

Hey everyone,

Finished up the sculpt. Felt like I was doing knots and string for months

Belts, string, skirt armour clips and hand detailing

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/x0/5mjxfgiant59.jpg

More belts and string, as well as the Douran (ammunition pouch, took a while to find out what that was called!)

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/u4/ek90tqx3y8q3.jpg

Embossing on the Kote armour, as well as some detailing around the Egawa (white leather parts on the armour)

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/qp/yevzkypjy1hl.jpg

And holes, so many holes, for all those threads :P

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/c4/0fgd4zjjp66v.jpg

Part of this project is to see how much detailing (that just gets baked down anyway) I can move to substance painter/designer, so instead of doing things like stitching, remaining memory folds and rips/damage in the sculpt ill save them for the texturing stage. This is so I can have a lot more control, not have to deal with really dense meshes and easily erase and change things up.

Biggest one is the engraving, which I normally do in the sculpt but im going to do it in painter, as well as the Egawa patterning.

After some experimenting ive found that you can basically recreate the chisel brush within painter using a normal map as a brush.

Heres a quick test I did on lordling:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/16/uiwp0gbiid04.gif

Also folders are GREAT

Now off to low poly hibernation!

Ruflse · Mar 2019

Looking solid!
I did a samurai some time ago and I'm curious to know how you are planning to retopo these pieces. Are you going to use the same model and texture space for all of them or are you going to give each of them their own topology and texture?

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/7k/g9r212aj8ufy.png

Lou_ · Mar 2019

Amazing work Paul!

How do you do about baking the normals of the wraps?

Is it projecting the colour map in zbrush
or are you Photoshop editing them on to the UVs

It seems like a very interesting workflow.

Pav3d · Mar 2019

Thanks guys!

Ruflse said:

Looking solid!
I did a samurai some time ago and I'm curious to know how you are planning to retopo these pieces. Are you going to use the same model and texture space for all of them or are you going to give each of them their own topology and texture?

Each plate in the set you highlighted will have its own topology and uv's. Then it will be duplicated 5 times around the body. The front 3 and the back 3 will share the same UV's. Theyll look something like this:

Lou_ said:

Amazing work Paul!

How do you do about baking the normals of the wraps?

Is it projecting the colour map in zbrush
or are you Photoshop editing them on to the UVs

It seems like a very interesting workflow.

Heres a breakdown, hopefully it makes sense

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/vc/czi69oaa16z9.jpg

Alex_J · Mar 2019

all these mini-tut's in your threads ought to be compiled and archived.

bkost · Mar 2019

Wonderful work Paul! I look forward to seeing how you manage to retopo/uv all the tiny details

@BIGTIMEMASTER I second that! It'd be nice to have a repository of various mini tut's people post on the forums. There are so many hidden gems

Ackeem · Jul 2019

Brilliant work as always man! great thread as well

Pav3d · Oct 2019

Thanks guys! Been a while but Ive been busy doing the low poly, baking, texturing, hair cards as well as designing fabric and engraving patterns. For now heres her weapons.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/g6/s1009pb53le0.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5021068/uploads/editor/wl/upsfr444xrp6.jpg

Still texturing her, nearly done

Nuclear Angel · Oct 2019

Damn such intricate detailing and beautiful closeups. I am super impressed on how well you have retained the details on the textures. Almost look like detail maps are being used in places!