The Beginning: Decision of Themes
For both the 3D Asset Design module and the Environment Design module, we have been granted a set of themes and sub-themes that should be used to base our projects around.
I made the choice of the main genre of fantasy and the sub genre of decay. My reasoning for this is that my best interest in most forms of media is the theme of fantasy and I feel that I’d be far more capable of implementing my ideas due to the vast knowledge of the subject I have already. As for the sub genre of decay, this works well when paired with fantasy due to the fact that within the genre of fantasy itself there’s a plethora of concepts such as necromancy.
As this will be the centrepiece of an environment it will follow the same theme. The environment within my mind is a forgotten ruin, surrounded by daunting crimson red trees that are encroaching on a crumbling meadow featuring pillars, crumbled archways, waterlogged divots and a headstone in which my asset will reside by.
Making a Start: Research and Reference
The vague idea which I have for this project already would present an ancient longsword featuring vines wrapped around the blade sprouting decaying roses; with aged runes that run up the beneath the vines that glow a faint green. Despite as of now having this concept in my head, I felt it was best to look further into existing concepts that could relate to mine, to spark additional inspiration and really exert my own boundaries.
In addition to these findings I then took to photoshop to visualise the concept and be able to have my own interpretation to work off of, shown below:
I came to the conclusion in the end that the vines and roses that would adorn the length of the blade is beyond my practical ability as of this moment in Maya.
Putting into Practice: Commencing Creation
First Step:
Within Maya, I incorporated my sketch into the project to have an interpretation and vision of what I’m planning. I did this by using the feature within Maya to import the image from my drive.
Second Step:
It’s time to start modeling. I began by shaping the handle using a Cylinder, which will serve as a foundation for the hilt, pommel, and blade. The image below demonstrates the tool I used and the Cylinder on the canvas.
Third Step:
I noticed that the Cylinder I placed was too wide and short. To fix this, I adjusted its height by selecting and extending faces on one side using the ‘Extrude’ tool and keeping in mind the scale of human hand.
Fourth Step:
With the height set, I turned my attention to the width/radius to make it thinner. For this, I switched to object mode and scaled the entire object whilst using the Attribute Editor to adjust the radial properties.
Fifth Step:
Before proceeding with sculpting the hilt/blade, I decided to focus on creating the pommel. To begin, I formed a band at the top of the Cylinder, which will hold the emerald. I used a Sphere to visualize the scale and how I’ll approach it. Switching back to Face mode, I selected the top and bottom halves, except for one section, and deleted them to form a ring shape.
Sixth Step:
In the previous step, I noticed that the ring I created has a radius that is too wide and doesn’t sit correctly. To fix this, I experimented with a variety of values before eventually finding them satisfactory.
Seventh Step:
With the throne set for the emerald, I added a sphere and transformed it upwards to gather an idea of how I’m going to proceed, then scaled it down to fit perfectly within the band.
Eighth Step:
Now that I have my handle fairly done, I moved onto the crossguard. In which I took a Cube and sized it up against my handle to get a good idea of what’s ahead.
Ninth Step:
As shown in the previous screen-captures, the cube is far too small and does not accommodate the handle correctly. This is where I head into the object’s properties and manipulate the scaling parameters in order to accurately meet the circumference of the handle.
Tenth Step:
Now that the Cube’s proportions have been adjusted correctly and is in position, I made use of the Attribute Editor to adapt the object’s width, though in this case due to how I’ve laid out the objects on a certain axis it’s the depth. To which I can then bend and curve in ways I see fit in the future.
Eleventh Step:
In order to efficiently have the ability to adjust the curvature of the now rectangular object I must have subdivisions set within the object. I did this by remaining in the Attribute Editor and shifting the values until the object was evenly split on either side.
Twelfth Step:
This step required more technicality. Firstly, I had to navigate to the Deform Toolset at the top of the screen, into the dropdown menu to find ‘Nonlinear’ and then select ‘Bend’. This wasn’t as simple as bending the object, instead I had to manipulate the bend modifiers using the rotation tool, so that it bent on the correct axis and didn’t warp in multiple directions .
Step Thirteen:
Despite the cross-guard being in the right position and now the right curvature, it still appears very blocky. And so, using the ‘Edge’ tool I went along selecting each edge in order to then use the Bevel tool to begin smoothing it all out; to appear far more realistic and true to the sketch.
Step Fourteen:
It was time to start working on the blade to complete the foundations. This would allow me to add detailed elements. To start, I added a Cube and aligned it with the crossguard/handle. I adjusted the depth and width to achieve a blade that is wider yet thinner than the handle. Next, I selected the top face of the blade (pictured as bottom) and extended it until it matched the proportions of the hilt.
Step Fifteen:
The issue I then had was that there was absolutely no point at the peak of the blade, instead a flat cubic face. To defeat this problem I expanded a short section at the top of the blade using the Extrude tool, selected two of my edges using the ‘Edge’ tool and then went into the ‘Edit Mesh’ tab to collapse either side in order to create a sharp point.
Step Sixteen:
I may have my sharp point, but the sides of the blade are still quite blunt. Therefore I need to hone the edges of the blade so that they create a singular sharpened line in the centre. To achieve this I selected the majority of edges and then used the ‘Bevel’ tool, manipulating the segments and removing the smoothing as a whole within the Attribute Editor.
Cleaning up In Maya: Mapping and Unwrapping
Step 1:
To present the wireframe I first selected all objects that create the sword and then navigated to the ‘Mesh’ tab to then clicked ‘Combine’. This essentially means I can configure the wireframe of the entire piece rather than just one separate segment.
Step 2:
I clicked into the ‘Display’ tab to configure the wireframe’s colour. I selected one of the Index colours which was purple and then clicked ‘Apply’ before closing the window and pressing ‘4’ to switch to wireframe mode.
Step 3:
With the Wireframe successfully presented, it’s time to unwrap the object in Maya. As my piece already has its properties combined, clicked it and went up to the ‘UV’ tab and selected ‘Automatic’. Once I’d done so I opened up the UV editor and found that I had zero overlapping UVs aswell as zero reserved UVs.
Step 4:
Since the UV unwrapping and the wireframe have been successful, now’s the stage where I export my object into Substance Painter. I started by heading into the ‘File’ tab after selecting ‘Export Selection…’ and navigated to a file I had created for the purpose of withholding my asset.
Substance Painter: Textures and Details
Step 1:
Inside Substance Painter, I first had to import the FBX file I’d exported from Maya. The way I did this is by selecting ‘File’ and then ‘New’. This presented me with the project settings I needed in order to select my asset file and adjust the resolution and format to 4k and OpenGL as well as the template I required.
Step 2:
My asset loaded in the software the way I intended, with the UV map shown on the right hand side of the interface. I decided to make a start on the handle, as this is the part of the asset which will require the least amount of effort and proves a good starting point.
The way I went about this is instead of manually using the brush to paint the UV map or the asset as a whole, I used a method that allows me to texture individual polygons for pinpoint precision. More specifically this method went as follows:
Dragged the Leather texture from the Asset Library and onto a new Layer, this covers the entire asset initially:
Right clicked the layer I applied the texture to, added a Black Mask:
I then selected the ‘Polygon Fill’ tool and navigated to the properties to select ‘UV Chunk Fill’:
Following these steps allowed me to manually fill each polygon on the UV map so I did not overlap into the surroundings, giving me the opportunity to be absolutely accurate when it comes to texturing each part of the asset. I’ll be using this method consistently throughout the entire texturing stage.
Step 3:
Using the method I implemented prior, I applied a ‘Ruined Steel’ smart material to both the crossguard and the band beneath where the Emerald is going to be place as their material types are going hand in hand. I then tweaked within the material layers and tinted it to a more gold/brass-like hue.
Step 4:
I’ve intentionally avoided the Gemstone sat atop the handle of the sword as that will require the most attention and configuration at this stage in comparison to the other parts of the asset, so in this case I focused more toward the blade. In which I went for ‘Old Iron’ and increased the roughness to reduce the shine, as well as darkening the default colour to intensify the decayed look.
Step 5:
For the Gemstone, I went for the ‘Marble Verde Alpi’ smart material and removed the veiny filter that came as a default layer, then changing the hue of the base colour.
Step 6:
Moving on to the emerald’s glow. Before I did anything to the layers themselves I first had to configure the ‘Texture Set Settings’ in which I added an ‘Emissive’ channel that’ll serve as the backbone to the glow of the Emerald.
In order to see this emitter in action I had to configure both the shader and display settings beforehand:
Step 6:
I turned my attention to the cross guard. I made use of the Symmetry tool within Substance Painter to ensure the etchings on each side were completely equal. The only downside to the Symmetry tool is that you can only mirror one axis at once. Meaning I couldn’t paint on both sides of the cross guard.
Step 7
The way I tackled not having the ability to mirror to the other blank side was by duplicating the layer I had been painting on and adding a filter known as ‘Transform’. This allowed me to move where the etchings were on the crossguard and in turn I used the 2D view of my UV map to adjust it onto the other side correctly. The way I did this was with the offset settings in the property viewer.
Step 8
I explored a number of the other metallic materials within my toolset and amended the blade’s material to ‘Rough Steel’ that gave my asset a sleek look whilst maintaining the decaying theme. Ontop of this I also used a number of ‘Scratch’ brushes to accentuate the aging.
Step 9:
I followed the same shapes that I created on the sketch and tweaked only one of them. I used the same glow effect as I did on the Emerald to maintain the colour scheme and lastly duplicated and transformed each layer to transfer onto the other side of the sword.
Step 10:
For the final touches I decided to add details to both the Emerald and the handle, these beings cracks and creases that can further convey the concept of both usage and decay to truly wrap up this piece.
Final Stages: Baking and Beauty
