Game Modelling

Game Character Breakdown & Process

Introduction

This project was done during Term 2 of the Game Art diploma programme offered by 3dsense Media School. In this term, I learnt the process & workflow of creating a character model for games, & I also created my first game-ready character model. The character model created was based on the concept, “Order of Thorns”, by Jianfeng Xing on artstation (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/xYK4Xm). I chose this concept because the character had an interesting story behind the concept, & I also got to learn how to sculpt both complex organic shapes & hard surfaces.

Software used

1. Zbrush

2. Maya

3. Marvelous Designer

4. Marmoset Toolbag

5. Substance Painter

6. Hair Strand Designer

7. Photoshop

Final Renders

Breakdown

After finding my concept, the next step was to gather references on how the asset would look like, as well as the material. Once enough references were gathered, the character would be sculpted in Zbrush. First, the base & proportions were blocked out. Most of my armour was modelled using the Zmodeller function in Zbrush. Some assets such as the sword were modelled in Maya. Once the correct proportion & silhouette were achieved, details would be sculpted. Once the hi res model was done, I retopologized the character using Maya’s quad draw. After unwrapping, I baked the details from the hi res model to the low res model in Marmoset Toolbag, & then textured in Substance Painter. The textures & model was integrated in Marmoset Toolbag as well to finalise the look & create the lighting setup. The final renders were then done in Marmoset Toolbag as well.

Reference Compilation

The character concept was first broken down into different parts to get an idea of what kind of examples are needed. Since the character concept had a dynamic pose, a character sheet was drawn to get a clearer idea on how certain parts look. Both real life & game references were gathered. Real life references helped give an idea of how an object should look & game references gave references on how to detail & give me an idea of what AAA quality assets should look. Material references give an idea of how a material should look & create textures that look believable.

Modelling

The character was mostly sculpted in Zbrush, while the swords were blocked out in Maya.

First, the main silhouette & proportions were blocked out. The cloth base was simulated in Marvelous Designer. For the vines, they were blocked out using Zspheres. The pores of the face were done using displacement map & Zwrap, followed by projection.

Below are some screenshots of the sculpting progress.

Final Hi Res Model

Haircards

Haircards were created using Hair Strand Designer. It allows random generation of hair strands. Parameters such as frizziness & density can also be controlled. After creating the cards, they were manually placed in Maya using the spPaint3d plugin in Maya. The hairs cards were layered to build volume. Since the character’s head was covered in by the hood, hair cards were placed only where it is visible. The haircards & head base was imported into Marmoset to check if the volume was good enough.

Retopo, UV & Baking

The hi res sculpt was retopo-ed in Maya using quad draw.

Final Wireframe

Render Passes

Character Showcase

Turntable

Game Environment Breakdown

Introduction

This project was done during Term 3 of the Game Art Diploma programme at 3dsense Media School. In this term, I learnt the workflow of creating an environment from a concept, creating tileables & trim sheets, & implementing the environment into Unreal Engine 5. I also learnt how to make the environment playable in VR. This environment was based on the concept, “Viking’s Workshop”, by Robert Galliers (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/9E1nvO). 

Software used

1. Maya

2. Zbrush

3. Quixel Mixer

4. Substance Painter

5. Materialize

6. Marvelous Designer

7. Photoshop

8. Unreal Engine 5

9. Marmoset Toolbag 4

10. Hair Strand Designer

Final Renders

Environment Showcase

Breakdown

Reference gathering

Before starting, I first grouped the concept into sections & determining the assets in each section.

After that, I gathered both modelling & look dev references, which showed me how I will model the asset, & how the asset should look like after texturing. My pureref also has references on how game environments of similar themes look, & their trims & tileable references.

Blocking & Detailing

Before blocking, I needed to determine the field of view (FOV) the camera should have in Maya to match the concept. After that, I block out the shapes to get the overall composition, & later block out the shapes of the assets to match that of the concept. Many shapes in this concept are very intricate or complex, so I modelled them in Zbrush.

Once the major shapes are achieved, I added details to assets. For many of the assets, I take them to Zbrush to sculpt out the details, such as for the ballista.

While doing blocking, I also took the assets into Unreal engine to check the scaling & test out lighting. There was a lot of back & forth between Unreal & Maya when I made changes to the assets.

Blocking 1st pass in Maya

Ballista blockout, & also the start of adding details (Ornaments)

Blocking of workstation, & sculpting certain assets in Zbrush

Some assets with intricate shapes were first modelled in Zbrush.

Lighting Blocking in Unreal Engine, 1st pass

Tilables & Trimsheets

Most of the tilables were created using Quixel Mixer, followed by editing using Photoshop to remove repetitive patterns & create a more semi-stylized, semi-realistic look. For trim sheets, some were created the same way as tilables, but I later edited them in Substance Painter as well to make the textures more detailed. Most of the other trim sheets were first sculpted using Zbrush, & later baked in Marmoset Toolbag. I then textured these trims using Substance Painter.

Example of a wood tileable. The above is one of the work in progress shots when implemening into Unreal Engine.

Example of a stone tilable, which I used for the floor & stone table.

For the workstation, it uses a mixed unique & trim sheet. The above textures were sculpted using Zbrush.

Similarly, the Ballista uses a mixed unique & trim sheet. Some of the trimsheet textures were sculpted, while others were from Quixel & Substance Painter.

Unreal Integration

Materials for assets were set up using Unreal Engine nodes. Since textures look quite different between Substance Painter & Unreal Engine, it was crucial to go back & forth between these software to tweak textures. Material instances could also be made to adjust textures without the need to go back to Substance Painter.

Aside from materials, Unreal’s Lumen lighting system was also used to set up lighting for the environment. The directional light & sky light was used to set up the overall look. Afterwards, other lights were added to areas that were lit according to the concept. The use of lighting channels was sometimes necessary to fake lighting where main lights do not reach, & to make the environment look closer to the concept.

My environment also has a lot of fog. Most of the fog could not be accomplished with exponential height fog alone. A material node for fog used & applied to a cube to add fog on certain areas where the exponential height fog could not reach.

Fur pelt material node

Detail lighting of environment

Asset callout. Many assets have shared textures, but the colours & roughness was adjusted through the use of material instances.

Render Passes