October 26, 2017 at 21:47The full cycle of creating a character model for the game
The process of creating an in-game character model from sketch to release.
Good day. My name is Ivan. Today I will share with you the details of game development, namely, I will talk about the full cycle of character creation. So let's go!
As in any other business, you should start with an idea that we need to express in concepts. This is an important stage that will be the foundation for all further work. In fact, it is not so important what quality the sketches will be (yes, I mean myself) the main thing is that they be. Because a sketch is a plan, following which you will save a lot of time and nerves. Having a sketch, you will clearly present the final result and the steps that are necessary for its implementation. As the saying goes, "A ship that does not know where to sail, no wind will be fair."
You will need to use all available knowledge and skills to fashion your character without sparing the polygons. The main task is to create the most detailed model. Because, in the next stages, introducing any detail will be problematic. ZBrush or Sculptris are perfect for this task. If the model is not very complex, I prefer to use Sculptris, since it has an extremely ascetic interface and it is possible to create a dynamic topology.
Having completed work on a high poly model, we can safely proceed to its optimization, because in the form in which the model is now, use in the game is extremely unreasonable. It is unlikely that there will be that daredevil who would dare to drop a model of 20 million polygons and with an absolutely chaotic grid. Therefore, we begin the process of retopology, the main essence of which is to reduce the number of polygons to the optimal and build the right mesh suitable for animation. Retopology can be done both in third-party software and in 3D Max using the PolyDraw tool. Actually, we are starting to do this. We are trying to build a topology using "loops" (loop, from English - loop, turn) in the places of bends, this will facilitate further skinning and provide animations with a more natural look.
Next, we proceed to the scan. We need to expand all parts of the mesh so that the texture fits correctly on the model. If any part of the model needs more detail, then it can be allocated more space on the scan. When creating a sweep, you should try to hide the seams in less visible places, such as the inside of the arm, armpit, etc. To create a sweep, we use the standard set of 3D Max tools.
To transfer detail from a high poly model to a low poly model, texture maps such as Normal Map, Ambient Occlusion, and others are used. Fortunately, their creation is fully automatic. For baking cards, Substance Painter is perfect. We export separately high poly and low poly models and import all this into SP. Roasting is carried out with a couple of mouse clicks, you do not need to do anything manually. The maximum that may be required is to shade the small kosyachki on the cards in Photoshop'e, but most often it is not required.
Getting started texturing our model in Substance Painter. SP provides a unique opportunity to paint directly on the model. For texturing, you can use either finished materials or manually created for any non-standard needs, but most often a standard set of SP materials will be enough. Once again, we will need to mobilize all our skills and knowledge. The quality of the result will depend on this.
So we got to the final stage. To breathe life into our character, we need to create bones for him and put a model on them. Skinning - (from the English word skin - skin, skinning - the process of creating a skin, also spelling skinning is found) - this is one of the stages of a 3D character setup, when the finished skeleton is attached (skinned) to the 3D character model itself. In our case, this is a humanoid, so we use the standard CATRig skeleton. We adjust all the bones to the proportions of our character and proceed to skinning. We are patient, this is a rather time-consuming process, since you need to correctly assign the weight (English weight) for each vertex of the model. The more weight, the more a particular bone affects a particular vertex of the 3D model. Remember, the more correct the topology of your model is, the easier and faster will be the skinning.
Only after going through all these stages, the model becomes suitable for creating animations and importing into the engine, but this is the topic for the next post. Thanks for attention.
Good day. My name is Ivan. Today I will share with you the details of game development, namely, I will talk about the full cycle of character creation. So let's go!
Stage 1 - Concepts and Design
As in any other business, you should start with an idea that we need to express in concepts. This is an important stage that will be the foundation for all further work. In fact, it is not so important what quality the sketches will be (yes, I mean myself) the main thing is that they be. Because a sketch is a plan, following which you will save a lot of time and nerves. Having a sketch, you will clearly present the final result and the steps that are necessary for its implementation. As the saying goes, "A ship that does not know where to sail, no wind will be fair."
Stage 2 - Sculpting high poly models
You will need to use all available knowledge and skills to fashion your character without sparing the polygons. The main task is to create the most detailed model. Because, in the next stages, introducing any detail will be problematic. ZBrush or Sculptris are perfect for this task. If the model is not very complex, I prefer to use Sculptris, since it has an extremely ascetic interface and it is possible to create a dynamic topology.
Stage 3 - Retopology
Having completed work on a high poly model, we can safely proceed to its optimization, because in the form in which the model is now, use in the game is extremely unreasonable. It is unlikely that there will be that daredevil who would dare to drop a model of 20 million polygons and with an absolutely chaotic grid. Therefore, we begin the process of retopology, the main essence of which is to reduce the number of polygons to the optimal and build the right mesh suitable for animation. Retopology can be done both in third-party software and in 3D Max using the PolyDraw tool. Actually, we are starting to do this. We are trying to build a topology using "loops" (loop, from English - loop, turn) in the places of bends, this will facilitate further skinning and provide animations with a more natural look.
Stage 4 - Sweep
Next, we proceed to the scan. We need to expand all parts of the mesh so that the texture fits correctly on the model. If any part of the model needs more detail, then it can be allocated more space on the scan. When creating a sweep, you should try to hide the seams in less visible places, such as the inside of the arm, armpit, etc. To create a sweep, we use the standard set of 3D Max tools.
Stage 5 - Roasting Cards
To transfer detail from a high poly model to a low poly model, texture maps such as Normal Map, Ambient Occlusion, and others are used. Fortunately, their creation is fully automatic. For baking cards, Substance Painter is perfect. We export separately high poly and low poly models and import all this into SP. Roasting is carried out with a couple of mouse clicks, you do not need to do anything manually. The maximum that may be required is to shade the small kosyachki on the cards in Photoshop'e, but most often it is not required.
Stage 6 - Texturing
Getting started texturing our model in Substance Painter. SP provides a unique opportunity to paint directly on the model. For texturing, you can use either finished materials or manually created for any non-standard needs, but most often a standard set of SP materials will be enough. Once again, we will need to mobilize all our skills and knowledge. The quality of the result will depend on this.
Stage 7 - Rigging and Skinning
So we got to the final stage. To breathe life into our character, we need to create bones for him and put a model on them. Skinning - (from the English word skin - skin, skinning - the process of creating a skin, also spelling skinning is found) - this is one of the stages of a 3D character setup, when the finished skeleton is attached (skinned) to the 3D character model itself. In our case, this is a humanoid, so we use the standard CATRig skeleton. We adjust all the bones to the proportions of our character and proceed to skinning. We are patient, this is a rather time-consuming process, since you need to correctly assign the weight (English weight) for each vertex of the model. The more weight, the more a particular bone affects a particular vertex of the 3D model. Remember, the more correct the topology of your model is, the easier and faster will be the skinning.
Conclusion
Only after going through all these stages, the model becomes suitable for creating animations and importing into the engine, but this is the topic for the next post. Thanks for attention.