Terrain 01

The Terrain

 

 

Created the mesh using Maya ocean. Then converted it to polygons to get those natural shape. I sculpted it further to give more height  and flatten area where needed. Then I simply duplicate and resize them to give different mountains in the background. UV map is just a simple y-axis planar projection and have the texture painted in Mudbox. The problem is when rendered the quality is low. This is due to the fact that no image is big enough can be obtained to paint the whole terrain. The tiling effect is obvious when the scene is view from far. Repeated textures make the terrains look cg. I did a research online and found a good software (Vue) and able to export the terrain and paint the texture there. I then did a render of the terrain after the texture is painted from the top view and managed to save the image at a high resolution (4098x4098) and map it to the terrain in Maya. 

 

The above image doesn't has the texture tiling effect as the 4k texture map is good enough to cover the whole mountain. I further give more details to the mountains by extracting a normal map using Crazy Bump. The settings there are important to fine tune the outcome (like setting the finer and large details to the appropriate values).

Did a test render with just one directional light and using raytrace shadow. The bump is a bit high but can be reduced in Maya settings by lowering the value in the bump attribute. The background will of HDRI based image (sky and clouds) to lit up the scene a little more.

 

 

Bamboo Forest

Bamboo Forest

 

Modelling the bamboo forest was probably the easiest task. Simple cylinder and planes to shape up the bamboo and leaves. Texture them in Photoshop and duplicate them to fill the scene. All I did was changing them in size and shape to make them look as natural. The rocks were done using cubes, and sculpted them using the Maya's Sculpt Geometry Tool. The hard part was to uv map them as evenly to avoid texture stretching. I found ZBrush has a very good plugin called the UV Master. A very simple, fast and accurate uv map generator with least effort. A one minute process instead of 15 mins in Maya. I then painted the rock texture in Mudbox as this is object is organic. I mentioned in previous post that painting organic textures using 2D Painting program like Photoshop is not accurate.

 

 

The ground plane is just a simple texture of tiny rocks and grass. Just a simple y-planar projection. I also create a 'gobo' in Photoshop, a simple 'Scattered Maple Leaves' brush painted randomly on the uv map in solid black (different sizes and opacity ) and saved the file in png format. This format with transparency with let light through in the Maya scene but cast shadows on the ground.

I did a quick render and was quite happy with the outcome. Got all the details needed and it rendered in just 40 secs with just one single 'directional' light.

 

 

Finally I turned on the 'gobo' and did another render and got the 'fake shadows' I wanted. This method gives nice soft shadows and won't make the scene becomes dark. The background will be replaced with a matte painting and the compositing will be done in After Effects with extra layer of fog in-between to give depth to this scene. This scene is rendered using Mental Ray and Ray-Trace shadow. I encountered a minor problem as shadows from part of the plane (the leaves and gobo that has transparency) were casted on the ground and rocks. Did some research and able to fix it up in the Attribute Editor (material section/raytrace options) where I turn the setting in the 'shadow attenuation' way done to 0. This resulted in clean shadows casted on the other objects. This however increase the render time but the effect is worthwhile.

 

The Pagola

The Pagola

 

 

 

Did a lot of research (online pictures) on Chinese architecture especially the roof. Took me a while to get the shape and placement right. The outcome is good. Modelled part of the pagola and duplicate it around the y axis 5 times. The base is from simple cube shapes.

 

Took quite some time to UV map this mesh as it has many different shapes. All this is done in Maya using planar projection.

 

Texture the entire pagola in Photoshop as this is a non-organic object in which I find it more practical to do it just applying texture in 2d.

 

Test render in Mental Ray and the outcome is not too bad. Might redo the texture with higher resolution texture to bring out more of this pagola. Will decide at a later stage when applying lightings whether to use a normal map to enhance the details as this scene will be quite dark.

The Cave

 

 

 

The Cave

 

 

 

Cave interior

 

Modelled using basic shapes except for the stone Buddha. Added some major props like the wooden house and bridge. Will be adding more minor props like extra woods and stuffs to make the cave more complicated and untidy.

 

Uv map and applied some textures was quite easy as I just use Maya's Auto mapping. This saves time as this model doesn't move or to be animated. I only UV mapped the wooden objects to give a more accurate texture mapping and character to them. We will be using Maya's ocean to simulate the water in the cave.

 

 

Placed some Point Lights with one Ambient Light on the background and did a test render in Mental Ray. Will be using Maya's Particles to simulate fire in the cave. We will be placing a lot more lights in the scene to bring out some of the objects' details and give depth to the scene. We might also use normal maps if required to bring out the details of the cave. Render time was quite cheap in this render and we hope it won't cost a lot more with the extra lights we will be putting in.

 

It's a bit tedious modelling those organic shapes in Maya. Should have just create the basic shape of the cave and sculpt it in Mudbox using the Grab tool. It would have save half the time modelling them in Maya. Texturing the cave is as easy as flooding the entire UV map with a single jpeg texture, and only use Mudbox's projection painting to do the stone Buddha's face to give precise and accurate details to the face. If I would have taken the modelling into Mudbox, I might have done the cave a lot bigger as Andrew first suggested. We all are happy with the outcome and hopefully after placing more appropriate lights in the scene, it will give the correct mood in the render outcome.

The Warrior

The Warrior

 

 

Done the modelling in Maya 2013. Quite happy with the outcome of the topology and details of the model. Modelled the entire model using a sketched reference picture I did in Photoshop. I would have use a realistic picture of a person should I were to model a similar character to get the proportion of the body precise especially the fingers and the face. This would help when doing the joints and rig at a later stage.

 

 

UV the character using a third party software, Headus UV. Using Maya to uv map this character is tedious and not as accurate. I find it hard to get the map without much stretching. I decided to redo the uv mapping using the later software. It is a lot faster and precise uv mapping. Minimal stretching of the texture.

 

 

Took the mesh into Mudbox and started sculpting details to extract a normal map. It's a new operation for me but finally got all the extra details I needed. However when I applied the extracted normal map to the character and did a test render, The character went bizarre. Wei suggested I take the normal map into Photoshop and repaint it. And after smoothing the normal, it came out brilliant. Instead of applying the texture in Photoshop, I used Mudbox's projection painting to apply the final texture. It is accurate and details can be painted on the mesh exactly where I wanted. I find painting the texture in 2d isn't as accurate. I find the other advantage painting in Mudbox is the accuracy of using tools like the dodge and burn tool to enhance the shadows and highlight area because of the real time normal map that indicates where the exact folds and bumps of the mesh. It will be hard to do that using Photoshop to paint in 2d.

 

 

 

 

The most satisfying stage after I completed this rig. It is a simple rig but it does everything we need to animate this character. As for the head, I use blendshapes I sculpted in Mudbox. It is fast and easy. I just need to sculpt the blendshapes required for this character. Rigging the head would take much longer time and I find the blendshapes work just as good. I took Wei's advice to skin the mesh using Maya's component editor after I painted part of it using the Paint Weight Skin Tool. This gives a better deformations of the character when animated. However I encountered minor problems as the topology and geometry of the mesh isn't as perfect. I overcome this problem especially when animating the elbows, shoulders and the knee using corrective blendshapes. Found a great script online called The DeltaExtract mel script, which saved me a lot of time.

 

 

 

 

Posed the character and did a test render using Mental Ray. There was some minor issues where part of the character poked through the mesh as the whole mesh of the character is made up from few different mesh. I managed to overcome the problem with the corrective blendshapes and I am happy with the outcome. The cape and part of the character's clothing will be ncloth simulation. Might consider using ncloth to do the hair but Wei suggested that leaving the head as it is will be good enough as ncloth will be expensive in render time.

 

In conclusion, if I were to do this character from scratch, I will use a realistic reference pictures to model it in precise proportion, it will definitely help when doing the rigging. Furthermore, extra geometries will be added for the mesh where needed to give a better silhouette of the character, which then will make the normal map producing a more realistic details. I will also use less geometries in the more complicated area like the eye's folds, as this will make the normal maps not as accurate. I can then later add the geometries back after applying the normal maps and the outcome will be more natural and better. The other trick in bringing out the details is to use high resolution texture but sometimes it is hard to obtain one online. It will be worthwhile to subscribe from website like CG Textures to get those high resolution texture. I went through the rigging process with minimal problems. Only problems are the rig is not as clean when completed. This is due to the lack of cleaning and grouping appropriate joints and controllers as I rig the character. If I were to do all that from the start, it would surely saves me time going through the entire rig to locate the problem. Overall, I am happy with the outcome. Can't wait to animate this character with all the other props and models in the complete scene set.