Gentleman's Flintlock Pistol, Turntable Render

I wasn't happy with how I'd left the Gentleman's Flintlock Pistol. After a little break I've gone back and added a bit more detail to it before creating a turntable render for my portfolio. I think it's been worth it, and finding out how to add multiple light sources in Marmoset Toolbag has really taken the lighting to the next level. Check out the results below.

Game Character clothing.

I've been working on the clothing for my game characters. I took the opportunity to learn Marvelous Designer to help speed up my workflow. I found it pretty intuitive and it helped to create the realistic folds in the different materials I wanted for my character.

Early attempts were pretty basic.

The software was easy to get to grips with and once I'd manipulated the folds and adjusted the material parameters I was happy with the results. I'm still working on the overcoat and a few accessories, but my character is looking very dashing so far, if a little bald! 

I took the mesh into Zbrush to model the embroidery on the waistcoat. I used the character research and designs I created earlier in development to help me.

I created a quick turntable render in max of the high poly mesh. I'm pleased with the results achieved whilst experimenting with Mental-Ray materials and a few patterns from my own texture library. It should be easy to recreate the look once I redo the topology of the model, bake out the maps, and make the customised PBR shaders for UE4.

NASA Tournament Labs Modelling Competition.

So I entered a modelling competition, set up by NASA, to create precision 3D models for use in their EVA simulations, to calculate the movements of the robotic arm aboard the ISS. You can find the competition here. Out of hundreds of entries and ninety-one finalists I came fourth in the first competition...not bad!

 I was praised for the quality of my work which was thanks enough, but congratulations go to the winner, and I can see where he went above and beyond in terms presentation of his work. I really should've done an exploded render of my model to show all the different elements separately. Anyway, here are the images I created.

Game character, weapon renders.

I've redone this models topology, baked out the maps, and I've just finished the textures in Quixel. Here's some of my latest renders. I created this weapon to be the perfect counter point to the Bayonet Flintlock Pistol I created for the games other main character (see earlier in the blog here) and I think that shows in the craftsmanship of this one.

Texturing a character's head

I really wanted to cover texture creation in Zbrush, to paint my character heads. I sourced a number of useful skin textures, and facial photographic reference, then imported them into Zbrush. Loading the textures into the Spotlight tool overlays them on top of the model in the viewport. By transforming (scale, rotate, move) both the image and the underlying model it is possible to line up the image with the geometry below. Using a brush tool and painting over the texture projects the colour information onto the model.

I continued to paint each major facial structure, moving the image when necessary to achieve the best fit for my model. To fill any areas of back facing geometry I used a colour spray brush to sample the nearest colour to the unpainted area.

Using different textures can lead to a mosaic effect due to the variation of lighting and skin tones in the images. I used the clone and smudge tools to subtly blend these border areas together.

  The final head looks impressively realistic.

Gentleman's Flintlock Pistol base mesh

I've begun working on the 'Gentlemans' weapon asset. I wanted this one to be more elegant and refined compared to the 'Bandit's' weapon. I created this in 3DS Max and Zbrush but I still need to work on the textures.

Gentleman Character Sculpt

After creating the Bandit head I began sculpting the head for the Gentleman. I applied the same process but followed the reference imagery for this particular character. I had designed the Gentleman to have sharper features than the more rounded nature of the Bandit’s head, and that is reflected in the basic shape of the initial sculpt.

Continuing with the sculpt I concentrated on the underlying skull of the character. He has prominent cheek bones but a less pronounced brow. The ears were created by masking and extruding the geometry in the same way as the Bandit sculpt.

By creating the muscle structure that flows around the mouth and into the bottom lip (the depressor Angil Oris and the Depressor Labil Inferioris) it gives a more natural appearance. The lips are then pronounced by creasing the border and slightly inflating them. Modelling the inner ear structure required studying photographic reference and then translating the volumes to the 3D sculpt. Breaking down the forms I carved in an ‘S’ shape, deeper at the base than at the top, then the branching structure of the ‘Anti Helix’ was built back up with the clay brush.

To finish volume was built up from the cheeks onto the sides of the nose to form the Nasalis facial muscle, the Philtrum was indented, and the nostrils defined.

There is still some sculpting that could be done to take this model to the next level. Wrinkles, skin pores, and breaking up the symmetry will further enhance the realistic appearance of the model.