Meet Mat - Peaceful sunsleep

Final renders

For the renders I used Iray in Substance Painter with the following shader settings : pbr-metal-rough-with-alpha-blending. ‘Render Cam Front’ and ‘Render Cam Perspective’ at 4096 x 2160 pixels. 

After discovering a few artifacts, the renderings were redone after correcting them on the relevant grunge and detail layers in Substance Painter, adding also some color iterations on the body. The pebbles and face details who have height were also cleaned to give a smoother surface. 

I had a great time testing different techniques and enjoyed the path tool. The different material tests and iterations, adding and cleaning was a good exercice as well for the hierarchisation of the different layers. 

Overall I am pleased with the work that could be done and had great pleasure working on this project. 

Additional renders for a better close up view. 

Body texture update

After a few tests and iterations on each stone layer, the body gives more the "rock" impression that I was looking for. I could use opacity and roughness to have interesting texture feelings. 

To have a better overview on the rough stones I enabled a random color to see the different areas. After that, the color was enabled and the roughness adapted. I decided to not "overwork" the face, so roughness and more dark stones with opacity would be better. 

The same workflow was done for the body.

Screenshot for the work done on the back and on the arms. 

Iterations

After taking a break for my eyes, and with the deadline extended, the rendering was examined and I started looking for texture references that might be more interesting for the body. 

In order to achieve greater texture differentiation, some areas have been cleaned up, as the grunge or basic texture effect should not affect all areas.

I wanted to have a texture that resembled the references by adding stone and mirror details like those found on certain oriental lamps. In this case, the base has been modified and the additions hand-painted on different areas to create a random effect, that on different layers, using the cells base as reference. 

To the stones where added different height, opacity and roughness.

Render - test after iterations

Tessellation has been activated, and details such as scratches and gloss differentiation have been arranged for better viewing.

To get a better result, the samples were increased and several tests were carried out in different environments. 

After participating in the review on Discord, adjustments can be made to the rendering background and other details. The idea would be to add ornaments to enhance the future rendering. 

Renders - tests for surface analyse

It is a pleasure to participate and challenge myself. I'm looking forward to use the path tool in my future projects. 

Additional renderings to better visualize color details on the base. 

These first rendering tests show that the body texture is not sufficiently visible. In this case, further iterations are required to better visualize the surface and highlight additional details. 

I did all the surface details with the path tool, which I used for the first time with this piece. The videos on Youtube from Mr. Gomez where very helpfull and I'm glad to see all what I could do with one tool. I added different layer details for the texture for the base of the body and played with roughness, alphas and add also scratch details. 

Texture details

After using the path tool for the main detailling, the idea was to attempt to create an interessting surface texture.

The idea was to test different thicknesses to keep details light but visible. Different strengths were applied before final surface detailing. 

Face - Pathtool

In order to achieve slight differentiation for facial features, the new tool was used with pressure differences.

The main colors being gold and silver for the details, a diffusion was worked into the stars on the cheeks. In the next steps, this will be repeated to obtain light gradations. 

Sketch - exploration 

To improve the process, I tested the open eyes and now the closed ones. With two different layers I can now see which one I prefer, and at the moment definetly the closed ones. 

Now that I have a better idea with the different sketches for what I want to do, I can go further and explore the new path tool. 

Sketch tests 

This phase allows you to better visualize the future placement of details. I find it interesting to make quick sketches directly on the character. This lets you test different iterations using layers, and allows you to quickly make changes or keep certain ideas to the side.

Tarot Matt References Step 1

Divided into three sections, the aim is to differentiate areas of the body in order to define which details might be of interest. The file will be improved throughout the process, so that I can also test elements that might work better on another part of the body, or not be used at all.

Update references when adding details such as clouds and stars.

Update - body texture 

For the body, I wanted to try a stone with cut-outs. References were found for stones used to create floors. The aim is to get as close as possible to the stone and, if necessary, finish it off by hand.