Intermediate Modeling

Door

Final

December 19, 2020

It was time I finished what I started in ZBrush: the high poly model. I ended up using an alpha I made in Photoshop to accomplish creating a metal hinge design for my door. I went back and tweaked the wood to convey depth for where the metal is placed. I added bolts and a door knob, and re-sculpted once again in areas to help give the appearance that pieces are really bolted down. I did one last do over with sculpting and touch ups, and finally felt things were ready to be moved to Maya for retopology.

The Quad Draw tool gave me some difficulty. Working with objects having depth and being in close proximity, the whole process was simply cumbersome. However, in the end my low poly model turned out very well - keeping a nice distribution of edge loops, and having turned an 11 million poly model into 6,000.

Luckily, getting everything into Painter posed no issues for me. The bake came out with only a few not easily noticeable artifacts, and I had no bleeding with my IDs. For texturing, I went with a similar stylized look as with the old beer mug. I used much of the same tricks as well - trying to provide a level of detail, but not stray away from the cartoony style. I like the color composition of my original reference, and just stuck with that.

In Marmoset, I messed a lot with lighting, saturation, bloom, and sharpness in order to capture a vibrant stylized appearance. Some of the smaller details do still show up, and the materials are very readable and pop. Unfortunately, much of the criticism I received from my peers was mentioning the colors being a little too bright and vibrant, and I am incline to agree. In particular, the wood looks a little too polished, giving off a plastic complexion. I may have gone too extreme in that direction, and didn't realize I needed to dial back. I returned to Marmoset for a second render, adjusting and cleaning things up for a more improved and final look.

Original Render

Final Render

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Door

Milestone

November 30, 2020

To start, I jumped into ZBrush to begin modeling the high poly for my door. I decided to first work on the outer brick of the doorframe, just so it would be easier to start large and work my way inward. As I was in the process of making that, I realized I would probably need some space left for mortar to go between those bricks. I actually had several attempts when creating this, but ultimately I ended up with something I liked.

Modeling everything else afterwards went quite smoothly. I had a nice framework (reference) to go by when continuing with the inner doorframe, wooden door, and stone steps. Overall, modeling for high poly went well as I followed the tertiary structure of working from blocked out shapes to greater details. I did, however, only partially finished my door's high poly - only having completed the organic shapes. Next, I will have to model out some metal features: a door knob, door hinge, and bolts.

Looking at it again, of what is finished I do believe it could use some more touching up. Perhaps I will add more unique features - chipped stone or wood - just to give it character. I could go overboard, too, as it is not typical or expected to have a hobbit door be so out of shape. I will have to find a balance when I get to that point. Once I do wrap things up in ZBrush, it will then be exported for Maya to be retopologized for the low poly. Afterwards, everything will be ready for Painter for texturing - that is the workflow ahead of me.

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Door

Concept

November 3, 2020

For my final project, I am tasked in creating a stylized door of my choice. Considering that is the art style I am to go for, I began searching fantasy and concept drawings of doors to get inspired. I then stumbled across a hobbit door, and realized how fun that'd be to try and create in ZBrush. Not just because I am a fan of Tolkien, but the uniquely rounded shape of the door helps compliment the stylized look I will be going for.

Unlike the old beer mug assignment, I am to start things off straight away in ZBrush. Much like what the reference shows, I will model the wooden door, the metal knob and various bolts on the door itself, the brick door frame, and stone steps that lead up to the door. I may go even further and add the wall to the house, and a bit of foliage if I can figure that one out. This reference also leaves a lot for personal details, and so I will consider adding unique touches like maybe a family crest on the door. I could also stick with the premise and include a magical rune symbol carved into the door - like what Gandalf creates - and use an emissive.

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Old Beer Mug

November 2, 2020

This time around, I was assigned in creating a stylized beer mug while referencing a tutorial that showed the workflow of modeling in Maya, creating the high poly in ZBrush, and finishing texturing in Painter. Afterwards, I would take my finished model into Marmoset for rendering. Starting in Maya, I had an easy time with the modeling and UVing process. However, I did run into problems when considering fixing my triangles to quads on my bolts and bottom of the mug, and reducing my poly count to a reasonable 4,000. In particular, some of the bolts I had fixed I had forgotten to fix the UVs for, of which I was not made aware of until by the time I was in Painter. Thankfully, the Maya to ZBrush to Painter pipeline is pretty clean so long as the object in mind is kept within the same world position - it was a difficult problem to find what was wrong, but easy to fix.

Jumping into ZBrush was a bit intimidating at first since everything was foreign to me, but once I really started to delve into it it was a lot of fun. Learning and getting used to the tools and interface, utilizing the symmetry tool and various brushes, and doing a lot of manual carving to my mug. I would say I spent the majority of my time on this project in ZBrush with just making sure I keep to the art style and giving my high poly some character.

Once in Painter, I then noticed my bolts having an error after baking. I had to retrace my steps a bit to discover it was a UV problem, and quickly solved this as mentioned earlier. Because I had never worked on texturing for a stylized 3D model before, I paid especially close attention to the tutorial for the Painter portion. In Marmoset, I messed around with a little bit of everything: depth of field, extra lighting to let the colors pop, and sharpness and saturation to exaggerate those colors and detail. I even added some subtle grain to bring out my vignette some more in my final render (the background looked a little too flat for my taste). With some final edits and cropping in Photoshop, I am very happy how it all turned out.

Final Render

Tutorial Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Yr-yuFRZd0&t=1s

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Game Controller

Final

October 13, 2020

Continuing with modeling, I solved my problems with the areas where all the buttons will go. With small tweaking of edge loops to fix n-gons, keeping my edge flow clean, and a lot of hours spent, I was finally able to accomplish this. Buttons were modeled separate, and traced along the holes the controller body left for accuracy. The channel switch was a bit tricky, but giving myself time to figure it out, I was able to accomplish this just the same. One thing I did skip were the deep intrusions where the screws would go, and the piece for holding batteries. I realized much of the angles I wanted to show would not be what is underneath. Then, I began UVing and getting things into Painter.

After setting up my IDs and baking high to low, I began texturing. My approach was to simply replicate the real thing as best I could, and so I tried to match color, specular, and height information with stamping in the letters and words. Of course, I also pulled in an alpha stamp to place the logo. After I was happy with the results, I moved things into Marmoset.

In Marmoset, I messed with depth of field, added a vignette, and added lighting and sharpness to really bring the focus to the details within my model. The AO and height maps really helped exaggerate these features as well. I believe I did accomplish in creating much of what the real Gamecube Wavebird controller looks like, and I am proud of myself for that.

Final Render

Time Frame List

• Modeling - 12+ hours
• UV / ID / Baking - 2 hours
• Texturing - 3 hours
• Marmoset - 2 hours

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Game Controller

Milestone

September 21, 2020

With this modeling assignment, I must create a convincing replica of a game controller. Going with the Gamecube Wavebird controller, I began to block out its general shape while in Maya. My strategy has been to work only half of the controller, and simply duplicate and mirror it over to complete its base form. I do believe I did a good job extruding and adding edge loops only when necessary. When I was done with that, I then started to gradually add additional edge loops and using the multi cut tool to better match the controller's organic shape.

My biggest hurdles began with fixing a few n-gons and tris. By the end, I did end up with a single triangle, but at least it is in a spot not easily seen. The inside area where the controller handle and center piece meet proved especially challenging for me. But, in time I figured out a way to make it work while still maintaining the integrity of the shape. I then moved on to the top area where the buttons will go. I had many setbacks with this. I struggled a bit to make sense of what the best way to approaching it was. After several messy attempts, I ended up scrapping it and pushed it for a further day.

What is next for me is to finally finish that top area, work on the dips where the L and R buttons will go as well as the screws, and continue to refine the curvature and organic look of the controller. I am also unsure how I will tackle the bottom of the controller where that detachable piece is for holding in batteries. We will see when we get there.