​Hard Surface Modelling

8th March 2020

What is Hard Surface Modelling?

The modelling of inorganic objects such as weapons and buildings.

Process/Workflow

  • ​​Referencing and Sketching
  • Modelling the high poly version immediately in Maya/Max​
  • Retopologise in Maya/Max​

OR
 
  • Referencing and Sketching​
  • Modelling a low poly version in Maya​
  • Giving it detail in zBrush so you can bake a normal map from it. ​
                                         (This is the workflow that I followed)
Low Poly Version in Maya
High Poly Version in zBrush
  OR​
 
  • Referencing and Sketching​
  • Create model in zBrush ​
  • Use Quad Draw Tool in Maya to retopologize

It is up to the artist to decide whether or not they want to use zBrush to make details, like rock and engravings, or leave it up to materials.

Texturing

8th March 2020 - updated on 26th March 2020

What is Texturing?

Texturing is the process for adding colour and detail to a 3D Model.

Texture Maps

There are a number of texture maps that help with making up a material.

 Diffuse Map

This map holds the information of the colour and the pattern of the model​.

Ambient Occlusion

​This map helps emphasize the areas that have shadow.

Normal Map

This is a computer generated map. The details of a high-poly model are projected to that of a low-poly one. It dictates how light hits the surface of the model so details can embossed and engraved on a surface that is actually flat.
This is used in the game industry to have various details in a model, yet keep the model low-poly to preserve game performance.

​

Roughness/Gloss Map

This map determines how sm​ooth or rough a material is. If it is smooth it acts like a mirror and reflects light but if it is rough light will scatter.

Metallic Map

Determines whether an object is a metal or not. Its either 0 or 1/Black or white, meaning it is either a metal or not.
In this case only the door knobs are metallic so there are only 2 white spots

Texture Packing

Since roughness, ambient occlusion, and metallic maps are all gray-scale maps, they can be stored into separate RGB Channels and combined together to create one image. Then using nodes in unreal you can tell the program which channel has which map.

​Procedural Textures

​If one would like to differentiate each brick of a wall, so a model looks more realistic, they can utilise procedural textures instead of using zBrush.​ Substance player along with Poliigon make it easy to create procedural textures.

Trim Sheets

Trim sheets are used to create tileable textures with ease. Typically these are used for Environment Design. This process starts by creating the details of the texture in Maya or 3DSMax.  A square plane is created and is segmented into different parts for each detail. Blocking of the detail is created in Maya then taken over to Zbrush to add finer details. The edge must be able to be repeated seamlessly. In substance the maps mentioned above are baked. Afterwards textures and materials are painted or applied. These can be the Applied to 3D Models in 3D program or game engine. Each segment of the texture can be used on its own.

Resources

Maya and Substance:
https://www.youtube.com/user/FlippedNormalsTuts

Substance and Unreal:
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FPRe1COFQXs

Unreal Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/UnrealDevelopmentKit

Substance Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Allegorithmic

Poliigon Documentation:
​https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2htO08S3aB5_0qKneisRWg
​

References

Garlington, R., n.d. What Are The Different Texture Maps For?. [online] Poliigon.
Available at: <https://help.poliigon.com/en/articles/1712652-what-are-the-different-texture-maps-for>
[Accessed 8 March 2020].

Poliigon, 2019. The Future Of Texturing Is Procedural. [Video]
Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx9vmYwQeBg>
[Accessed 10 March 2020].

Williams, K., 2018. Wilson's Heart Trim Sheet_01. [image]
Available at: <https://www.artstation.com/artwork/69w2W>
​[Accessed 26 March 2020].
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