Blacksmith Scene Final
Friday, May 15, 2020
I had so much fun with this project, and I feel like my skills have improved significantly since starting.
I have grown so very comfortable in Substance Painter, Blender, and Maya. This whole time, I have been using Blender for most of my modeling work instead of Maya.
These spoons turned out quite nice. A blacksmith would be proud to have them on display. In addition to the models provided by our instructor, I put together objects from Morrowind Oblivion, Skyrim, and ones I created myself. The mead, tankard, plate, and hammer are from Skyrim. The lamp and spoons are from Oblivion, and the scrap metal is from Morrowind. |
| That mead is "The Spice" |
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Blacksmith Scene Week 4: Baking the Furnace
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
So, first of all, I baked a furnace. Normally it would be the other way around, but in this case it was the pizza that cooked the oven.
I did not feel like unwrapping each of the bricks was a good solution, so I made a simplified version of the mesh and used the original as a high poly mesh for baking. I have settled into a very nice retopolgy method in blender that uses the shrinkwrap and subdivision surface modifiers. I can very easily add or remove detail while keeping it accurate, and without needing to commit to any changes. I make sure to keep all the most important vertices in the right place.
I went back and reworked this barrel. I showed the previous version to my brother, and he gave me some valuable suggestions. I liked the idea of baking the bolts on, but it was too obvious that they did not actually stick out.
I thought back to how it was handled on the Skyrim hammer, and applied that solution here. I added extra height detail around the edge to make the surrounding area appear indented, thus making it acceptable to the eye.
My reference pictures told me that it is much more common to see only two smaller bolts at one spot on the ring, rather than large bolts all around. It has 1680 tris, with the high poly model sitting at 6524. It looks real neato now.
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| After + Crate |
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| Before |
I started combining my objects onto the same UV maps. The barrel and crate are together, with a table and bench joining them soon.
The furnace, hammer, tongs, and one spoon are also in the same space, with more spoons and chunks of scrap metal that I still need to model.
I deliberately gave different parts of the furnace varying texel density when working on the UVs. The chimney in particular received a significant squishing.
My previously high resolution materials for the individual objects transferred into the combined scene with no major issues. Any place where I used a position map in a mask, I had to make some adjustments. I do not consider this a major issue, since the solution was fairly clear straightaway.
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| One of these items does not belong |
Going forward, I plan to I still have objects that have yet to receive any attention at all, but there is no reason to worry about them.
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Blacksmith Scene Week 3: Fixing the Spoon
Wednesday, April 22, 2020
This week, I actually got very little work done. I got a lot done last Wednesday, but since then I've poured most of my time into other work. Previously I was ahead of schedule, and now I'm simply on schedule. Mostly, I've been working with extra prop models, and have only given attention to a few of the ones provided by our instructor. That's going to change soon.
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| left: fixed model, right: model from game |
I borrowed a spoon model from Oblivion. It needed a little bit of work done before I could UV it, but it did not give me much trouble. I turned the tris to quads, then tamed some funky geometry. It was a little bit crooked, too, so I straighted it out.
Next up, I plan on modelling some spoons using the photo reference I shared last week. That won't take long.
UVs
Textured Props
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Blacksmith Scene Week 2: Hammer & Tongs
Wednesday, April 15, 2020
"The power from the triangles will guide us through this"
- Tommy Coolatta
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| Got carried away and spent my entire morning on this. |
This week has been filled with so much topology and UV work, and I love it.
Last week, I put together an asset list when I was brainstorming concepts. Several of these items were not included in the Maya scene provided. My plan is to borrow those models from games or make them myself, which I've already started on.
So far, I have made UV layouts for the barrel, table and crate from the scene provided. I also borrowed a hammer from Skyrim, and a spoon from Oblivion, and made a new model for a pair of tongs. The hammer and spoon needed some work done before I could use them. I took a peak at some other models from those games for ideas for UVs. Don't take advice from Bethesda.
I've done some texturing in Substance Painter for every model I worked on so far. I still haven't arranged any objects into one a single texture sheet, but that will not be an issue. I was careful to work in a way that would make it easy to adapt to changes in the UV layout.
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| Bethesda, why |
The hammer and tongs belong on the same texture sheet, but that's about all I've decided so far. The spoons, tray, table, and some of the tools are going to be seen up close, so I know they will need good texel density. Spoons are quite small, though, so they won't necessary require as much detail as the tongs or hammer. I still haven't decided how many spoons, or what kind of variety I want to include. I may even go crazy and make a ladle, too. Anything's possible.
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These are some of the images I gathered for reference. I would like the blacksmith to have a variety of spoons on display, as well as some in-progress spoons in various states of completion. I've already made and textured a model based on the tongs from the top photo.
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Blacksmith Scene Week 1: Spoons!
Wednesday, April 8, 2020
I'll be honest, I did not start off with my concept. Instead, I compulsively started fixing a table that was badly in need of some attention. My work on the table took me about two hours. Then I made a UV layout for that table, and UV layouts for two more props.
Next, I started working on a barrel. Rather than stick with the model as provided, I decided to make a simpler version of the mesh, then bake the original higher poly model onto it. Still needs some work. I also did some basic texture work in Substance Painter for the barrel and the table.
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| first thing I did in the morning |
After all that work, I finally put some thought into my scene composition. I decided quite easily that my scene would be about a blacksmith that exclusively makes and sells spoons. The character also likes to plop down on a bench underneath a shady giant mushroom when taking breaks.
Other than continuing UV and texture work, my plans for next week include finding or making concept art, as well as models for extra props. Expect spoons soon.
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| An assortment of spoons will be displayed on trays on this table |
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Retopology & Texturing
This assignment was all about taking models that are
beautiful to human eyes and remaking them in a way that is beautiful to a processor’s
eyes. The assignment was to retopologize three knife models that were made
using photogrammetry, create UV layouts, then use the original models to bake mesh
maps in Substance Painter. The goals here were to continue exploring Maya and Substance 3d, and learn how to turn highly
detailed models into more efficient ones that can be used by
game engines.
I got excited about this assignment very quickly. Retopology
is something I had just started to teach myself how to do in Blender, so it was
already on my mind. Insanely detailed models are nice, but usable models are
better.
Rather than doing everything from the ground up using quad
draw, my strategy was to start with primitives and then bend them into shape. I
started with cylinders and cubes to represent the large shapes, then added
divisions and moved things around, gradually adding detail where appropriate.
The biggest problem I encountered was the struggle between wanting
to make the model as efficient as possible or more accurate. We were given a 2000
tri count limit for each model. As a Half-Life modder, I am very comfortable looking
at and working on low-poly models. Naturally, everything I did stayed well
below the limit, and perhaps too low. My highest poly model was the complex
bone knife, at 928. It turned out quite nicely. The lowest poly model was the
other bone knife, with 344. That knife and the lion’s head probably needed some
more detail, but the end results look good enough to me. Adding edge loops was often
a difficult decision. The wooden knife ended up at 848 tris, and it uses them wisely.
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Substance Painter Tutorials
After getting a getting a taste of Alchemist and Designer, it
was time to paint. This assignment served as our introduction to Substance
Painter. Like it’s siblings, Substance Painter is intuitive and powerful. It
takes some time to realize how to use it effectively, but it feels great once
you get comfortable with it. I experimented with Substance Painter before and had
some fun with it. I used it once to make some textures for a Half-Life mod, and
used it again to make something disgusting during the 2020 Global Game Jam. Now
I finally got to sit down with the software and learn how to use it effectively.
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| Lantern texture maps |
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| Amp texture maps |
Just like in the Alchemist & Designer assignments, things
went pretty smoothly. I had some frustrating moments, but the problems
themselves generally were not memorable. There was no point where I felt stuck,
but I did confuse myself sometimes. The tutorials were hours long and felt repetitive,
as they echoed many of the things covered in the previous tutorials. I sped
them up and skipped through probably about 60% of the content. That 60% probably
contained one or two nuggets of wisdom that I would have wanted to hear. Generally I am satisfied with the end result, but something about the rust on the lamp… bothers
me.
Overall, I really enjoyed this assignment. It unlocked new
realms for me, and I feel like I made some great progress compared to where I
was two months ago. I have spent a lot of extra time in Substance Painter
working on side-projects. Learning this tool has enabled me to do some things I
previously could not. I appreciate how Substance Painter has a great mix
between logic and creativity. It allows you to create very realistic materials in
a smart and methodical way, but with a personal touch.
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Alchemist & Designer
These first assignments were our introduction to Substance
Alchemist and Designer, and the Substance 3d tools in general. The goal of the Alchemist
assignment was to create a material from a photo following in-class
instructions, and then import that material into Unity. In the Designer
assignment, the goal was to create four materials following tutorials provided.
Substance Alchemist focuses on making textures from images,
and working with pre-existing materials, and makes a point of having a simple
interface. Substance Designer is used for creating materials and textures from absolutely
nothing, and it is all about the nodes. While Alchemist’s user interface is
inviting to a beginner, Designer is daunting at first glance. Once you
understand what you’re looking at, working in Designer starts to feel very good.
It no longer feels daunting, but it is clear that there is a lot there. There
is so much to explore, and so much power to harness. The possibilities seem
endless.
Things generally went very smoothly. I found the tools to be
both powerful and intuitive, so it was easy to get comfortable using them. In Alchemist,
I did not encounter any problems worth remembering. Designer was a more
interesting beast to tackle, but I have nothing specific to complain about. Any problems
I encountered had to do with understanding the tutorials. The tutorials were easy
enough to follow, but there were a few times when it was unclear why I was
being instructed to do certain things. Sometimes I would create my nodes a
little bit differently than in the tutorial because I thought it was going to
be used a certain way. This caused problems later on, when I would need to track
down which the offending node. I sometimes needed to go back and redo sections
of my work, but it was merely a minor nuisance and did not stand in my way in
the long run.
