Hard Surface Discovery

This is my current work in Progress. I will be updating this post with my process and what I am currently working on. My goal for this project is to continue to develop a strong understanding of effective topology, and bring the hard surface model through a film/animated pipeline to learn more about the other steps and expose blind spots where my effort as a 3D artist will directly effect other members of the pipeline. My Desired final product will be a 2 to 3-second comped animation of the Spaceship flying. (Concept uncredited due to not being able to find the original artist. The original Concept was pinned without credit.)

Comp Done In Photoshop, Asteroids Sculpted in Z-Brush, Rendered in Arnold.

Block Out and Greebles (Pass 01)

During this step I first Blocked out my basic shapes to find proportions in relation to my concept art, and continued to refine the shapes in multiple passes. Once I found the shapes i wanted I began to practice finding the topology that would hold my forms and preserve my edge flow, spending special attention to pinching and deformation of my surfaces.

A particularly challenging segment for me was working on achieving a pinch-less topology while cutting panel lines diagonally across my base topology, on top of curved surfaces. I had to research what better artists were doing to get the hang of it.

First Looks

After Completing my Block out, Initial greebles, and UV’s I brough the model into Substance Painter and Began drafting a few first looks renders. I’m trying to figure out what is working visually, problems with my topology, and how I will be showcasing the model, to focus on the areas that will be most prominent in my final display render.

I used Chat GPT to give my an asteroid background and used it as an HDRI Environment map to Light my Scene, then comped my lit model into the image in photo shop. I played around with manually blurring and adding exhaust fumes to see what my final VFX could look like.

At this Point I used a simple group key frame to animate some motion and play with camera angles. Once I found a cool shot, I used some free sounds and FX to put together my final “First Looks” Comp.

Second Pass

To start My second pass I made some draw over on areas I wanted to see Improved and started to build up secondary forms and details primarily in the engine section of the Model.

I knew I wanted to adjust the paint job and test normal level detail so once I finished my additional forms I brought a small portion of the model back into substance. I wanted to change the scale and type of grunge as well as make the model stand out more in space. I decided to really lean into the X-Wing homage and make the colors gray and red, with a few pops of more metallic pieces to accent the model.

After some pier review and what felt like excessive experimentation I decided on a final color scheme and proceeded to texture the rest of the model for my final Materials.