For the final World Building project we had to model a crab based off reference photos, and give it Photorealistic textures. The following restrictions were:
- 4000 Triangle Limit.
- 1024*1024 Diffuse, Normal and Specular texture.
- Photo realistic textures.
I started with a base mesh and just tried to match the general shape of the crab's shell. It was a simple shape, but I wanted to make sure it had enough polygons for when I paint the normal maps in mudbox. I decided to do the limbs as separate objects, and began modelling the claw, making sure to pay close attention to my reference images to see how it's built.
I created one leg in the same manner as I did the arms. I then UV mapped the arm and leg, before I cloned them, this is so that they can share the same UVS and allows for more texture space. I then cloned the arms and legs, and made some tweaks before I was happy with my mesh.
I used the projection tool in mudbox and the reference photos to paint the textures directly onto the model. I really liked this method of texturing, its a lot quicker than doing it by hand and I can get a result straight away. This is useful for getting the photorealism required by the brief. I did the normal map after the diffuse, using the painted textures as my guide to which areas should be raised/lowered.
I made some final tweaks in photoshop when I was happy, then created a ambient occlasion map and specular map and I was done.
I was really happy with the result of this project, I found a new method of workflow that works out to be alot quicker and more accurate than my previous techniques, one which I will be sure to use in the future. The only thing I'd change is probably make the end caps of the legs segments thicker, as they look a little thin from certain angles.
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