I initially wanted to try and texture all the individual components of my model separately so firstly I focused on getting the coat seamed and UV mapped.

I used a face checker to make sure that the coat didn’t have any n-gons and that there was little to no triangles.

I then exported the UV map as an FBX and then imported it into Substance Painter. I started to look at getting a nice shiny look to the coat as it was going to have a “wet” look.

I looked into different images of a yellow raincoat to get an idea for what kind of shine from the texture I was looking to achieve.

I then started to UV map the rest of the components of the model.

Once I had all my UV maps done I then started to texture. However, when I baked the mesh maps I realised something was seriously wrong with the wings of my character as I was getting blotches on the textures I had made. I did try searching on google but couldn’t find a resolution to this problem so I asked in our discord and thankfully got a really helpful response about how to check that the faces are the correct way.

When I checked my model I realised this was the culprit to my issue and spent quite a bit of time fixing it but eventually managed to get my model entire blue… which is what I wanted!

When I applied the armature to my model I realised that something wasn’t quite right as certain parts just were not moving the way they should be. Charlie in the class had been having the same issue so I was able to use the tutorial on YouTube that he did and rectify this.

I knew the pose I wanted my character to have but without learning weight painting it made it very difficult to move into the proper style I had envisioned. I improvised though and after playing around with it for quite some time I managed to move the arms into somewhat of the correct position.

I wanted the candle to glow in my scene but wasn’t too sure on how to carry over an emission setting. So I looked up a tutorial on YouTube on how to create emissions in Sketchfab itself and I found it very useful! I had issues with getting the candle texture to import as I was either able to get the eye textures or get the candle textures but not both. I worked for quite a few hours on this but unfortunately I just couldn’t resolve it myself. So, instead of the candle being textured in substance I just used blender colours to add a colour to it as I knew that I was going to add the emissions to the flame anyway and felt that it would work out okay.

Once in Sketchfab I looked into that Youtube tutorial however, I found that it doesn’t create and emissions as I had hoped. I played around with the Sketchfab editing settings and found a spot light, so I positioned this at the candle flame and played around with the softness, brightness and angle until I was happy.

When the character was in Sketchfab I noticed this flaw on the inside on the sleeve. I went into edit and scuplt mode on my model in Blender but was unable to work out how this had happened. Due to it being on the inside on the arm, and me not having any time left to rectify it, I felt like it would just have to do!

Upon uploading my Sketchfab model I rotated around to inspect it… I notice I’ve made a bit of an oopsie!  The hand holding the candle is the wrong way and the thumb should be point outwards. I tried to see if I’d a Blender file with the pose done without the armature joined, unfortunately, I didn’t!  Although this maybe isn’t too noticeable, it’s been another BIG learning curve for me, to make sure that I save my Blender file separately  before I apply the armature so that if I notice any small flaws they should be easier rectified. I’m annoyed at myself as I’m a bit of a perfectionist and this minor mistake is a lot bigger in my eyes now that I’ve noticed it!  We live and we learn… I move on this time!

And with that…. this horrible ordeal was over! A great learning curve for the future as almost every step I had issues that weren’t easily rectified (my inexperience likely didn’t help the matter)

But… “Protect the Light” is complete!

https://skfb.ly/oPnKP