Splicer's 3D Development Thread

splicer 2017-05-09 17:34:15 UTC #1

Hello everyone, wanted to start a thread here to document my progress in creating 3D game assets. I'll start with my most recent asset. I created it for a contest over at Sketchfab. The challenge was to create a battle axe.

I started by drawing a few concepts.

I asked some friends which one would be best to model for the contest and C was the one.

I then started by blocking out the base shape in Maya.

I then took that and turned it into a initial high poly and into Zbrush for detailing.

Here it is fully detailed and finished high poly sculpt.

Then it was onto retopology. I use 3D coat for this. Here is the final topology.

After that UVs, which were done in 3D coat and Maya.

And last into Substance Painter where I do my bakes and texturing.

And link to the Sketchfab viewer.
https://sketchfab.com/models/f3acbdfb77dc449fb2d08bc3524a4e79

Thanks for looking. Love to hear your thoughts and opinions.

malcom 2017-05-09 18:43:59 UTC #2

This is really cool. I love the little details on the axe handle. The textures are good in my opinion. If I could recommend something it would be to add scratches and cuts to the bladed areas. These things made the other concepts with them standout more. The wear and tear added to the story of the weapon. In the texture version it shows it's been used somewhat so a few battle scars would be nice to have as well. Over this is tell a solid job. I look forward to more work in the future.

splicer 2017-05-10 07:20:49 UTC #3

Thank you for the compliments and feedback Malcom, I see what you mean about adding the scratches and damage to tell a story. I will apply it to my next one.

I am already working on it, here is the final low poly and initial high poly which I'll detail. This one is more of a barbaric style, crudely made with low end materials.

Will be making the other 2 once this one is finished. Trying to get my work flow down!

splicer 2017-05-16 19:41:24 UTC #4

Updating to show my finished high poly. @malcom how are the details? Maybe I went a little over board, never gone this dense on the mesh resolution. The wood I didn't want to overdo as I found a nice Substance Material I already tested which will work, and don't want the wood grain to conflict. I'm anxious to finish this. Looking forward to getting more feedback from you.

malcom 2017-05-16 22:15:14 UTC #5

In my opinion I think it might be a bit overboard as well. It feels "fack" in a way. I like the little chips on the outside of the blade and the thing that holds it together. I think you should keep that. The inside cuts are a bit much. Other than that, this is looking good. I feel you lost the transitions for the top part of the axe blade. The bladed part on the holding area looks nice. Try to get the same look on the top blades. Lessen the scratch details on the blade and I think you'll be good to go. Some blades can have a lot of scraches but usually they have a bit of rust and age look to them, but I don't believe thats what your going for. Again keep up the good work. I like where this is going. I look forward to the textured version.

edit: I think you just need to spreed the scrach details in a good ration. Think of the 70/30 rule. Have 30% be detail and the rest pretty clean. This way it looks used but not overly used. Hope this feedback helps.

splicer 2017-05-19 15:59:58 UTC #6

Malcom thanks for the feedback. I see all the points you've made, all makes sense. On the transition of the top blade, I'm thinking maybe try some primitive looking welds between the blades and how they attach to the center piece. Or maybe like the bottom, make it look like it's cast out of one piece and hammered into shape. Also I think there needs to be some gap and definition where the wood sticks into the metal piece on the top blade. I'll redo the scratches to create the balance you're talking about. And for the rust, I'm going to add that in when I texture in substance, the micro detail is for the normal map anyway, and substance does a great job creating that and having it match with the metalness and rough maps.

splicer 2017-05-19 16:12:12 UTC #7

Here's an example of what I mean about the rust.

This sword I made, the high poly base I used for the initial bakes.

And the final finished real time assets.

Link to the sketchfab viewer. Is there a way to embed that here?
https://sketchfab.com/models/bb06dc56fdba4894a201a81497bf2ad1

malcom 2017-05-19 16:26:14 UTC #8

That looks pretty good. Ok I see where your going with this now. Look forward to more updates

splicer 2017-05-27 21:42:33 UTC #9

Thanks Malcom! I'll be finished within the week and I'll post!

splicer 2017-06-08 20:39:25 UTC #10

Some progress update. Retopology finished, as well as UVs.

Bakes are done, have a little cleaning to do on them, then onto the texture.

Here is the high poly baked onto the low poly as well as topology.

splicer 2017-06-09 18:57:34 UTC #11

Finished with the texture. All that's left is to set up my lighting and final render in Sketchfab 3D viewer.

malcom 2017-06-09 20:58:29 UTC #12

This is looking really good. Keep up the good work.

splicer 2017-06-11 11:03:16 UTC #13

Thanks Malcom, good to hear you like it! And I will, starting on the next one today.

splicer 2017-06-14 19:58:07 UTC #14

Here is the final real time render of it. 3,500 polygons.

Also the Sketchfab viewer link.
https://sketchfab.com/models/a26c579dd74b4a5c87eef4d0913906af

splicer 2017-06-18 00:03:33 UTC #15

Here's another project I'm working on. My Artwar Character which I was originally going to enter in both the 2D and 3D portion of the challenge but didn't have enough time to finish the 3D one. Haven't been working on it lately but that's going to change. Here's where I'm at.

The 2D design.

And some 3D wip.
Working on suit and armor blocking.

Creating initial low poly block out to then turn into high poly.

I'm going to try and do her suit in Marvelous Designer, which I started learning a few months ago, the biggest reason this is taking so long. Also the hair will be a challenge as I've never done real time hair with alpha cards, been studying and learning how to do it. Really looking forward to getting feed back on this as I progress with it and show updates.

splicer 2017-06-19 15:59:15 UTC #16

Here's something else. Don't like how I did the bones on it's chest, want to do more rib like.

WIP sculpt

My concept

splicer 2017-06-20 16:21:30 UTC #17

Put my finished 3D next to my 2D concepts. Thought it created some cool imagery.

splicer 2017-11-20 18:16:49 UTC #18

Has been some time since I posed here.

This is my latest finished 3D piece.

Marmoset Viewer

ViewerV2-1.mview (17.2 MB)

This was done for the Beyond Human challenge on Artstation. A link to my thread is here.
https://www.artstation.com/contests/beyond-human/challenges/24/submissions/20899

I made a lot of changes to the final version, removing the pose as I did it in transpose and rushed to finish in time for the deadline, so certain areas were off. Decided to release just the t pose and move onto my next project.

Looking forward to getting some feedback on this one to apply to my next one, here:

splicer 2018-07-28 14:06:51 UTC #19

I want to make update on this thread. First this is part of the other set of axes and the definition for each step. First I create low poly based off my 2D concepts. I use primitives when I can here and extrude out a flat plane for more irregular shapes. This gets turned into the high poly sculpt which I make entirely in Zbrush. Low poly retop, bakes, then finally texture, my software is...

Maya, Zbrush, 3D Coat, Substance Painter, Sketchfab.
https://sketchfab.com/models/0878c184ce49489aa6e16b92483406a7

https://www.artstation.com/splicer