Dota 2 - Warden of the Depths Item Set
This set proved to be the most challenging yet due to very strict poly limits. Also because Morphling doesn't have a default set there is no reference to how things should best be rigged or placed on the base model. I spent the most time with this set in pre-production for those reasons. I had to make sure my ideas functioned even before I did the concept work. This in turn made the concept phase easier because I had a very solid blockout to draw over. Many of the items went through a few iterations but turned out very well. All of the pre-production work made the sculpting, texturing, and rigging go very quickly. It was all so well planned out by that point that it just needed to be executed. All-in-all I feel this is easily my best set yet. A very original idea for this character and it suits him well.
Programs Used: Maya, Zbrush, Photoshop, Marmoset Toolbag, NDO, xNormal, Crazybump, Dota Test
Programs Used: Maya, Zbrush, Photoshop, Marmoset Toolbag, NDO, xNormal, Crazybump, Dota Test
Dota 2 - Fel-Iron Clinkz Item Set
This is my second submission to the Steam Workshop for Dota 2. The first one was wildly successful and this one has been a long time coming. This project used Zbrush to do all of the sculpts far more than the Silencer set. I learned so much working on it and all the time spent was totally worth it. As before I started with a concept I created and worked from there. I created the low meshes in Maya so that I was sure my design would work with the limited polycount available. At this time I also rigged up the items and loaded them into the game. This gave me a chance to see that they all worked together in the character's animations. It helped me to troubleshoot any clipping issues early in the pipeline. From there I took each item into Zbrush and created the high meshes and baked it onto the low meshes I had already created. The texture work was pretty simple with the bakes I had made. After that I created a few background items for the Marmoset screen shots for the marketing images. My goal with this set was to make a very evil looking steam punk armor. The character himself is always on fire so I thought it would be interesting to make the set look as though it is harnessing that power. I learned a lot about creating hard surfaces in Zbrush and using that in my pipeline. All in all, it was a great experience.
Programs Used: Maya, Zbrush, Photoshop, Marmoset Toolbag, NDO, xNormal, Crazybump, Dota Test
Programs Used: Maya, Zbrush, Photoshop, Marmoset Toolbag, NDO, xNormal, Crazybump, Dota Test
Zodd The Immure - Starship
I worked with the people at Abyss Studios on their canceled Kickstarter campaign. This ship was featured in their video and will likely be used in the game if they continue the project. Using reference I had gathered and input from the team I was able to design and create the ship myself. I modeled the high poly version in Maya and baked it using xNormal. Using the bakes and Photoshop I was able to texture the lower poly version. I used texturing techniques I learned while working on Injustice to help make the ship look more stylized. The wings are designed to fold up and the two lower arms swing forward and act as landing gear when it lands. The pilot's chair also swings down and around so the pilot can walk around the cabin. This was designed to allow for the largest view possible when flying. This was designed to allow for the largest view possible when flying. Below is a link to the Abyss Studios website and the Kickstarter video the ship is used in.
Programs Used: Maya, Zbrush, Photoshop, Marmoset Toolbag, NDO, xNormal, Crazybump
Programs Used: Maya, Zbrush, Photoshop, Marmoset Toolbag, NDO, xNormal, Crazybump
Art Tests
This is a texturing test I completed. The texturing was done using Photoshop, Zbrush, CrazyBump, and xNormal. It is rendered in Maya per request of the company providing the test. There is eight 512x512 and one 256x256. The occlusion is in a lightmap image using a second UV set and blending for the ground and tree trunk is a painted mask in the lightmap's alpha channel.
Programs Used: Maya, Zbrush, Photoshop, Marmoset Toolbag, NDO, xNormal, Crazybump
Programs Used: Maya, Zbrush, Photoshop, Marmoset Toolbag, NDO, xNormal, Crazybump
Here is an art test that required me to build a dock scene with a list of particular assets. The tri limit was 3500 and I was only allowed diffuse maps that were 512 or smaller with a single 512 lightmap. I used 96 lights to make the lightmap and there are zero lights in the final scene. Everything is vertex lit and self-illuminated. They also listed the need to have reflections from the rain on the ground using geometry and transparency in the ground pane. The render had to be out of 3ds Max because that was the requirement. Hope you enjoy.
These are textures I hand painted in Photoshop for an art test I took a while back. They wanted a cloth, stone, wood, and metal texture. Reference was provided but the particular look of each was up to me. The second image is for another art test I took. I had reference images for what the asset previously looked like and they wanted it given a "next gen" look. It required a Zbrushed normal map, hand painted textures (1024/1024), and less than 3k tris. Looking back on it now, I wish I had used more UV stacking to give the UVs more real-estate and it would have reduced the time spent in Zbrush. All that said, it was a great learning experience and a trial by fire using Zbrush so heavily on a project.
Asset Work
These are several assets I worked on in the past to exercise my skills. The urban assets were done to showcase the skills I learned at Warner Brothers while the barrel and the floor are exercises in a more hand painted style. The planks for the wood were sculpted in Zbrush to bake down.
Programs Used: Maya, Photoshop, Marmoset Toolbag, NDO, xNormal, Crazybump, Dota Test
Programs Used: Maya, Photoshop, Marmoset Toolbag, NDO, xNormal, Crazybump, Dota Test