Meet Mat 3 - Ayothaya Guardian

Hello again, everyone

After a while of rendering everything out. This is finally it!
This is the end result of my Meet Mat 3 - texturing contest.

Please welcome...
Mat - The Ayothaya Guardian.

Process Breakdown

So, in this update, I also want to summaries some of the processes I did in this contest.

I begin by creating a mood board and exploring ideas related to Thai culture.
I then draw a few designs to see if the idea will work.

After getting some direction, I experimented with the Smart material to understand the user interface, the material settings, and the fitter inside the Substance 3D Painter. Along the way, I created new Smart materials that would fit my design, but I still need to tweak them later.

Moving on to the model, I used the technique shown in the Rookie's video training lessons for Meet Mat 3. I start drawing the shape with the Paint tool, then refine those shapes with the Path tool and use the Anchor point to reference these shapes to the displacement and Smart material.

The information from the Anchor point will then be modified inside the mask. These masks were constructed from blending mode (multiply, subtract, Linear dodges, etc.) and combined with filler effect and texture map to create a new shape. Which can be procedurally adjusted or changed at any time during the process.

For the displacement, I work on the big flat shape first, then add some variation to those shapes, and lastly, add detail. I try to imagine this like crafting a stone or wood statue.

I then apply the texture I created and tweak each of their parameters, adding or removing fillers and layers inside the Smart material.

The next step is all about going back and forth between all these workflows to refine all aspects of the texture.

In the last step, I play around with the Iray® render setting. Put on good lighting and experiment with the camera setting. Then, "let my rendering, CPU, and GPU begin their wonderful journey!" (probably)

Lastly, as a beginner in texture and Substance Painter user, I want to say that I feel very grateful for participating in this contest.

Before the contest, I felt that I was still not ready to work on the texturing because there was so much that I didn't understand or didn't even know of. For example, how can I create a model that works well for the texture, properly unwrap the UVs for texturing, and ensure that the texturing does not interfere with animation or later stages?

This contest has allowed me to set aside some of those problems and focus on trying out texturing. During this time, I feel that I have learned so much, and I am grateful that I decided to participate in this contest.

More importantly, that is an opportunity to meet cool people and artists who bring their passion to life. Just being able to see and learn from everyone's work is truly an honor.

Thank you to all the judges, sponsors, and organizers who made this contest possible.
Much appreciate everybody who came and checked out my entry.
A very best of luck to everyone in this contest. (All of you guys are amazing!!)

I will see you later, until then,
May your road lead you to your passion.

Thanathorn Phumsawai

Render setting (Post-product) - I

I think it is time to work on the rendering to get the best result for submission.
This is what I got for today. I changed the render setting and lighting inside the Iray® renderer, and I can already see the difference. The material now feels much more alive.

I will see if there are any additional render settings that I can change or add. Besides that, I believe this is about to be my final submission.

Refinement XIV

I feel that some parts of the helmet are quite empty and a bit too smooth.
So I tried to add in some bolts and welding metal to make it look like they connected from multiple pieces.

Refinement XIII

I was experimenting with adding detail to the side part of the displacement today, and here is what I got so far.
I also added a bit more to the surface detail of the stone part.

Refinement XII

I tried several methods to fix the stretched area, but they didn't work out much.
I also made some adjustments to the material seam. I didn't fix these parts earlier because they won't be visible to the camera. However, since we have been granted extra time, I think it would be best to clean them properly.

Refinement XI

Another pattern was added to the gold stripe part of the helmet today.

Refinement X

A minor tweak for today: I added a gold material to the pattern from the previous day. This helps create a contrast to the helmet base colour. I also added a little bit of colour variation to the leak effect.

Refinement IX

Today, I added another pattern to the helmet to fill the empty area on the helmet. 

Refinement VIII

Small process of adding detail on the elephant today. I use the Path tool to help create this detail.
I'm still trying to draw a few versions of these patterns, but this is what I got so far.

Refinement VII

I continued fixing the edge wear on the corner by following the plan from yesterday. Although the stretching is still visible, it is a bit less noticeable now.

I also added another Line Thai to the helmet. However, I still am not happy with how it looks. I will continue to work on it later.

Refinement VI

Today, I tried to fix the stretching edge wear on the front of the helmet. However, it still does not quite work the way I wanted.

So, I did a bit of planning to see how can I solve this problem.

The original geometry had quite a shape edge. However, after I added the displacement, it became more round and stretched.

That makes the edge wear filter or the mask that relies on the curvature of the geometry work incorrectly in this case. These filters will cause a stretch in a very linear and even from the top to the lower end.

I believe that instead of placing the wear effect directly on the edge, it would be better to place it on the side, with a small amount of overlap but not completely covering the edge. This way, the worn texture will maintain its original ratio and not look uniform throughout the curvature. The overlaid part will appear as scratches when stretched out.

Refinement V

This is the version that I am ready for final submission, but I will see if there is anything else for final tweaks before the final day.

Today;
 - I fixed the gold material and added some dent detail to the displacement.
 - I added some leak and dust detail to the helmet part.
 - Add another set of line Thai onto the helmet.
 - Fixing the seam between all material on the head part.

Refinement IV

Today;
 - I create new material for the eyes area.
 - Create new patterns for the pupils.
 - Fix the stone material to fit with the head shape.
 - Adding miner dust to some part.
 - Fix the metal material on helmet part.

Pattern used are as below:

Refinement III

Today;
 - I added another pattern to the shirt part.
 - Make some adjustments to the shirt surface material.
 - Add dent displacement to the gauntlet.
 - Adding dust effect to the shirt.
 - Fix the metal material on the shoulder armor.

Refinement II

Today;
 - I added darts to the lower part of the shore, which refers to the dirty part from being used.
 - Added pattern to the shorts and waist ties. (The pattern I use comes with the substance)
 - Added slight dent displacement to the shirt's gold trim.
 - Also, fix the seam of the material on the body part that course from the displacement.

Refinement I

At this point, I think it's time to refine everything towards the finalization. I will jump back and forth between materials, displacement, etc. until it's ready.

Today, I start to form the feet and will continue going upward;
 - I added the displacement pattern and roundness to the ankle ring.
 - I readjusted the stone material on the skin part to have slightly more colour variation
    and contrast.
 - I added dust and a back outline at the intersection of the.

Body Displacement Lv3 - II

Another set of LineThai and pattern to the shoulder armour and shirt trim today

Here is the LineThai and patterns I created from Clip Studio Paints.

Head Displacement Lv3 - I

The detail on the head part today. I tried a feature of radial symmetry to draw the pattern on the helmet. Then, I repeated using the Mask and Anchor point to make the displacement.

Body and Base Displacement Lv3 - I

So, I started adding the final layer of displacement, which focuses on detail, pattern, and line Thai. It is also the part that I am most excited to work on. Today, I start from the gauntlet and the base.

Here is the pattern I use. I create this in Clip Studio Paint.

Body Displacement Lv2 - III

More updates on the body displacement. The waist ties, shoes, and shirt's trim.

Body Displacement Lv2 - II

Back to the displacement again today. I'm working on the shoulder armor, pants, and waist ties to give them a more refined shape.

Fabric base material

Another material for the base today. I tried to make this material based on flannel fabric.
This is how the Mat - the Ayothaya Guardian look so far.

Wood Material

Today, I made a wood Smart Material for the base of the Mat character. The current result still doesn't quite meet my expectations, but I think I should leave it like this for now and revisit it again later.

Helmet Displacement Level 2

Today, I added different shapes to the helmet. The displacement extraction is very linear from the original surface, so I need to simplify some curvature shapes from the original references for displacement to work accurately. 

Elephant Displacement Level 2

Refine the shape of the elephant today, and I use a combination of the mask layer, anchor point and filter to subtract and add the part. 

Shirt Material and Body Displacement Lv2 (I)

Today, I created new material for the shirt part, and I'm starting to refine the shape of displacement.

Smart material Apply

After working on the displacement for a while, I want to test the Smart material I prepared to see how it will look on the character.

There are issues with the texture appearing stretched or not displayed correctly on some corner parts. So, I will try fixing these later on.

Displacement Lv1 - Head (I)

I tried to reapply the same workflow I did yesterday to the Head part. This is because there will be an intersection around the elephant area, and I need to be able to control each part of that intersection separately.

After

Before

Displacement Lv1 - Body (I)

Today, I ran into another problem with the displacement. The displacement stack on the parts that overlap causes an uneven surface. To fix this, I decided to reorder the layers. I group the shape and colour into a first group and use the anchor point to refer to the second group, which will control the displacement alone.

For the displacement layers, I extrude the large shape first, then subtract or add the displacement level to the smaller shape.

Elephant shape I

For the last two days, I have been relocating overseas. So, I haven't had much time to work on this.
Today, I work on the shape of the elephant. I currently separate it into 3 parts for easier to edit it shape.

Displacement Practice VIII

I was experimenting with adding more variety to the displacement today. I am still learning how to use different filters to create procedural masks. My plan is to create a displacement group with three levels. The first level, which is almost finished, will be the base flat shape. The second level will focus on adding variation to the shape from level 1, and the third level will add small details.

Displacement Practice VII

I didn't make much progress today because I encountered some issues with the displacement of the head part. Multiple mask layers were duplicated and built upon to create different shapes. I want to reduce the number of these masks and pass only the essential information through the Anchor Point. So that it is easier to understand and make changes to the project nondestructively.
However, I haven't been able to make it work yet.

Displacement Practice VI

I cleaned up the rough shape I made from the previous day. I still need a few more details to the head, and then I will apply the displacement.

Displacement Practice V

Unfortunately, I don't have much time to work on this today. So, I only added colours to the base area with dark brown and dark red. For the dark red area, I created it with the simple gradient mask and then used the level to tweak the black and white colour to be shaper.

Displacement Practice IV

I created a rough drawing of the outfit on the body part and saw how it would look. Then, I will add the displacement.

Displacement Practice III

I am still working on the head displacement and practicing using the Archer point feature to reference the larger shape of the mask to the smaller shape to make a layer of difference displacement height.

Displacement practice II

Special thanks to Adobe Substance 3D - Meet Mat - Lesson 02, which helped answer many of the confusion I had from the past few days.

After understanding each step in the workflow, I can now make a better start on the displacement.

Displacement practice I

I managed to make the displacement work, but I still need more time to get used to this feature.

Path tool practice II

I am still researching how to use the Path tool to control displacement, but It doesn't work yet. So, I draw some guidelines onto the character that later will be extruded if I can make the displacement work properly.

Path tool practice I

A shot progress today. I switched from creating Smart Materials to practicing using the Path tool. I plan to use the Path tool to control my displacement nondestructively. However, I have difficulty to get it working at the moment.

Materials reference

Yesterday, I felt a bit lost with the material direction that I wanted to go for. 
So today, I want to do some planning to narrow down my focus on the element I need to work with.

Old fabric material

Today, I attempted to recreate an old fabric. I still do not quite like how it turned out. It looks too old for my liking. However, I plan to wait and apply it to certain parts and then make adjustments or changes from there.

Gold trim material

Today, I created a gold material. It has a much larger shape of dents to the surface. This is meant to represent that gold is a softer metal than steel part, and thus, it is more prone to deformation over time. I also added scratches and dirt to give the material an ancient look.

Steel helmet material

Another practice and working on material today. Similarly to the previous material,
I chose a few Smart Material presets and combined bits and pieces into new material.

This one is more metallic. Since it's a helmet that passes through time from battle and impact. This material will show more damage to the surface, scratches, dents, etc. 

First Base Material

After spending quite some time planning, I decided to start creating something in Substance Painter today.
I mostly play around and experiment to familiarize myself with the software. 

I still don't quite understand how to create the texture from start to finish. Therefore, I begin by choosing a few Smart Materials that came with the software and dissecting them to see how they create that texture.
I later mixed some parts from those materials and experimented with parameters to create the material that matched my concept.

For this one, I tried to create a texture that has a blending between stony and metallic.
Since this concept is a guardian from ancient times, I want him to appear old but not decrepitated.

Refine Concept

I finished the concept today. Here's how Mat will look with the Thai patterns and lines I created.
Some areas are intentionally left flat to balance the level of detail in the model.
These flat areas will be added with the cracks and stone sculpture texture.

Symbols practice II

Today, I am still practising drawing the patterns and Line Thai. 
As I am new to this style, I try to choose from references that have a simple shape. I simplified and recreated some of them to create my version of Line Thai.

I try to plan everything out as best as I can first before jumping into Substance Painter.

Symbols practice I

I am still working on finalizing the final design version. However, I realize that each symbol and pattern has its own complexity. So, I decided to do some practice on those, which took me a while since it was my first time drawing in these styles.

I believe these symbols and patterns can be achieved with Substance's 3D Path tool and the Anchor Point feature so they can align nicely. I also plan to use these symbols as my costume brush for easier adding detail on different parts of the mesh.

Concept

Today, I started working on the design for the Mat character. Everything is still not finalized yet, but here is his current appearance.

For now, I simplified the details to save my planning time and improve readability.

Mood board

For the idea, I want something related to Thai culture. Because I am from Thailand and have not explored this theme before.

Thai culture can look very convincing with delicate details and often tells a narrative within them.

The naming of "Ayothaya" for this project comes from an ancient city in Thailand. 
My clothing idea is inspired by King Naresuan and the legendary Krut.
In my opinion, Thailand's national symbol, nothing else fits better than the elephant.
For the surface style, I want it to have a rough, stone sculpture-like texture but also a metallic look. The majority of it will be decorated with Lines Thai and patterns.

Test Render Engine 

To start off, I have the direction idea, but it's not settled yet.

However, I'm more worried about the software since I haven't used it before.
So, I decided to look into the rendering in this software first. Because I feel that it is a crucial step that will significantly impact how my work turns out.

I did some render testing to see how it would look. I haven't tweaked the settings yet, and I set the sample size to a lower number so I can quickly see the results. I will change the render setting more later to get a better result.