Creature Modeling & Texturing - Stegosaurus

Creature Modeling & Texturing - Stegosaurus

This creature was the first character I modelled entirely. I did all aspects of the character : modeling, texturing, lighting and compositing. The stegosaurus is based on a concept by Florent Desailly.

First of all, I started by making a reference board, a few images of which can be seen below.

The challenge was to reconstruct the anatomy of a stegosaurus, using photos of real animals, skins of different types of animal and bones from museums. I also used images from the films Jurassic Park and Jurassic World to give me references for the overall shapes of the stegosaurus.

All the modeling of the stegosaurus was done on Zbrush. For the bamboo and ropes, I made a first low poly model in Maya, which I then imported into Zbrush to sculpt the details.

I first started with a blocking of the creature, based on references found in museum bones in order to have realistic proportions.
Then I added secondary shapes such as skin folds and visible muscle and bone reflections.
I mainly used Standard, Clay Build Up and Dam Standard brushes, starting at a low level of subdivision and then increasing to make the details.

For the details of the skin and scales, I looked for photos of real lizard and crocodile scales. I then projected the details of the scales onto the model in Zbrush, then worked over the details by hand. I had to look up references of other animals to try and place the scales and details in a convincing way.

Retopology and UVs were made in Maya. The topology has been worked out so that the model can be animated later on. To retain maximum modeling detail on Zbrush, I used a Displacement map on my low poly.

All the texture was done in Substance Painter. For the color of the stegosaurus scales, I decided to use the colors of a Milk Snake, which I found very interesting.

Using a mix of different materials, masks and generators, I tried to achieve an interesting look for the scales. I also used Zbrush masks, based on the cavities and details of the high poly modeling, so I could color the space between the scales and add more color variations.

The final pose was done on Zbrush, the lighting and materials were worked on Maya and the renders were done on Arnold. I rendered in passes so that I could continue working on the project in post-production.

The reconstruction of the passes and the compositing was done on Nuke. I mainly refined the colors, the lights and added mist using the depth pass.

Thank you !

Thank you for taking the time to look at my work. I really liked the time spent on this first character. It wasn't easy but I was able to overcome the hardships that allowed me to progress. Now I will have to practice !