This is a blog post which will detail my development process in the modelling stage of this assignment. I made sure to take screenshots of my model throughout the modelling phase of the development process in order to use them for this very blog post, not only to prove my use of various techniques which I have been taught during class time.
As you can see here, I started off by creating a low poly model of the head of the character, making sure to have loops in certain areas such as the eyes and the mouth which is standard for most face models as not only is it a part of the brief, but it is also generally useful for keeping the posing and the modelling simple and allowing for it to not break when I am trying to edit the model. I used certain colours to help myself visually differentiate each section of the head, for example, Blue: eye loops and ears, Green: mouth loop, Yellow: areas that are not defined by loops like the nostrils, neck and the area between the mouth, eyes and head loops, Red: a loop that goes around each other loop on the face area to show the front of the head. In order to get an appropriate shape for the model that matches what I had drawn in the concept art I used many techniques like Mirror and Subdivision Surface modifiers, and the grab and smooth tool in the sculpting mode for many things like making sure the details I edited on one side translate to the other side, making the model look a lot more complex so I know what the fully detailed output will look like while still keeping the model low poly, and for the sculpting tools, to model the head to bring it to the shapes I had used when designing the character.
Next I moved onto modelling the body, arms and legs. Similarly to what I did with the head sculpt, I colour coded specific areas to denote to myself what certain parts of the model represent, for example, Green: neck base, Red: chest, upper back and legs, Blue: shoulders, Yellow: arms, White: hips, and Cyan: torso. Just like with the head, this is to help me with the topology and to allow me to identify the areas when I am sculpting them so that I do not make a mess of the model by accident. In order to make the limbs, rather than creating separate objects I simply extruded sections of the model below the shoulders and on the bottom of the hips. I made the legs and the main torso as separate objects, however once I was finished I then joined the two sections together and merged the vertex’ at the connection points.
After completing all of the modelling with this character I then moved onto the UV Unwrapping stage, making sure to separate all of the UV shells and organise them into sections where they will use similar materials and colours. In order to arrange the UV shells in a way that is neat and fit for the texturing stage, I gave all of the surfaces on the model the checker material. This allows for me to check if the UVs are applied in a straight pattern so that when I eventually texture the surfaces the materials do not break and look cut off in certain areas.
Next I moved onto adding fine details to the model using the multiresolution tool which allows me to add these details without changing the core model itself.
after this I started to bake the normal and AO maps and bring them into substance painter to add the main textures to the model.
Next I started to use hard surface modelling to create the lightsaber prop, then I started to unwrap this model, still using the checker texture to make sure the UVs are applied straight.
Afterwards I brought the lightsaber into substance painter and added all of the textures to it.
Here I added the rig to the model and then started to pose the character along with the prop, using the grab tool in sculpting mode.
Here I have uploaded the fbx file of the models to sketchfab and have added some changes to the lighting.
Here is the final sketchfab upload of the models I have made of the character and the prop, this is a link so anyone viewing this is free to click into it and look at the model, but if not here are some final screenshots:
