Yr4 Week 6: Re-topologising and texturing

Unsurprisingly re-topologising and unwrapping took longer than I had hoped for and due to me already being behind I was not able to fully finish the project this week as I would have liked to. Though I have finished hand-painting my textures, I have not yet managed to add the PBR textures or rig the model, and this is something that I will be doing in my spare time along with the next Style Matrix project. I am unsure yet if I will update this post with the final renders or if I will just create a new one, I may just do a final post with all of my finished results in when the style matrix is complete at Christmas.

The image above shows two slightly different variations of the re-topologised character. The one on the left was the original version but I decided to re-do the collar area as it was quite a large and important part in the original concept and I wanted it to remain so in the final model, so I flattened the area and then made the collar as a separate object over the top of the model. The brief allowed for a few texture sheets so I decided to split my mesh into a main base and the accessories to allow for better quality textures for my final renders.

Here you can see a side by side of my high-poly model next to my completed and re-topologised low poly model. I used substance painted to bake down my normals by exploding the mesh as a new method for this, which i found a lot easier to manage than using xnormal and exporting each asset individually to prevent artifacts. I edited the normals in 3DCoat to ensure that the seams were not visible and to clear up any areas which looked strange or incorrect.

I then used an AO and curvature map created by substance painter as a base for my diffuse map, which I hand painted in photoshop and 3DCoat, alternating between the two to line up textures and fix any areas I was unhappy with on the texture.

I have fortunately managed to finish hand-painting my character, as shown in the image above. However I still need to add PBR maps and I have normal maps which I also need to add. I plan to have these done ASAP but rigging the character may unfortunately take a little bit longer as I am needing to move onto my next project now, but I am hoping to have it all done before christmas.