"PUNISHER"- Creating a Hardsurface Hero Asset.

Greetings readers! Welcome to my production blog, where I document the exciting journey of creating a hero asset - a double-barrel shotgun inspired by the incredible Ivan Santic.Throughout the process, I aim to showcase my skills in Autodesk Maya and Zbrush for modeling, Substance Painter for texturing, and Marmoset Toolbag for rendering. You'll read about my experiences, challenges, victories, and insights gained from my research. Thanks for joining me on this adventure!

Research and Conceptualization

For this project, I wanted to make an asset that captured the essence and visuals of an object that has been with someone through thick and thin and has seen warfare of different eras. Something that was passed along and modified along the way. So, I settled on the concept of double-barrel shotgun by Ivan Santic.

The goal was not replication but capturing the essence and style. Also, I made some changes according to my liking of the asset which wasn't in the reference due to the story and look of the asset that I was going with. I wanted to give the asset a sort of minimal cyberpunk and steam-punked look, change the color palette with some bright colors, and add wearing and tearing with imperfections.

MODELING

Blocking out and Detailing in Autodesk Maya

I began by using basic shapes and forms to block out the overall structure. The main shape was the barrel frame for the punisher. I wanted to work on the forms for the barrel frame and its components first as it was the main attraction for the shotgun.

I used the same barrel frame to create the inner blockouts of the shotgun by duplicating the faces and extracting the faces to make a new mesh and then extruding the mesh and inverting the normals. I used different blinn materials for different parts to make UV sets according to the material ID setup

I used the same frame's faces to extrude a mesh to make the handle's base mesh.

I made the shotgun's handle by extruding the faces and dragging down the faces to make a handle and later on adding loops to add more topology. I wanted to keep the mesh quite low poly so I could add more topology to make different meshes from it. Also, I made some cutouts for the Lock and the switch by duplicating faces from the hollow parts and extracting them.

I also made a separate mesh for the frame's front part and added two panel faces on both sides.

After making the handle, I selected and extruded the faces from the handle's faces below the handle to make way for the trigger part. Later on, I selected the faces of the trigger and extracted those faces to isolate the trigger part and work on that.

I beveled the inside curves to make it more round and fixed the topology to add edge loops later on. I extruded more faces to make panels inside the trigger to give it more depth. Also, I extracted more faces to make some panels from the trigger's mesh.

I added some topology on the trigger to make a circular part for the trigger's Frame. I selected the faces and made the faces circular to extrude them to make the circular part for the trigger. Then, I selected some of the edge loops to extract them to make some more panels for the circular part.

Made the Inner Barrel's Frame by Booleaning the main mesh with two cylinders and then bridging the vertices for better topology and adding more supporting loops.

The front components consist of different panels to add more character and armor to the shotgun. The component's meshes were quite simple to make by duplicating and extracting faces from the original mesh.

For the Trigger, I used the inner faces of the Trigger's Frame and extracted them. Then, I added more topology to the slide and constructed new shapes for the trigger. I added some panels for the trigger and deleted those panels to bridge them later. Then, I added supporting loops to subdivide a bit to give it some more shape and also added a different smaller trigger fingerprint mesh.

Made this part for the Handle's back which works as a holder grip for the Handle's Bar.

Also, I added a small round tab underneath the Handlebar which works a grip and doesn't let the handlebar from tearing.

The scopes were pretty easy to make since it only required a cube, adding some edge loops and moving the edges to form the shape. Then, I cut out a small cube area to make a marker for the scope. I gave the scope marker an emissive material. Later on, I added some more edge loops to make it sharper when subdivided.

The lock was fairly simple to make. I started by taking a plane and beveling the edges to make it round and rerouting the edge flow. Later, I extruded the plane to give it more depth and then I made a small cube cutout at the end and added more edge loops to subdivide it.

The stripes were sort of a supporting rail for the scopes. The stripes were made from a simple plane and by adding edge loops to add some panels to make the sides.

The Hinge was a crucial part of the Project. It was the most time-consuming part of the process. Not the modeling part but the figuring one where the hinge should be and how should it look. So, I made a body with some space where I could place a cylinder sort of hinge so that the barrel opens faster.

The bar grip was something that came way later in the modeling process as I wanted something that would make the hands go a bit further for the trigger as there is some space between the bar and the trigger.

For the Handle's Paneling, I made an edge flow to create a path which I then beveled to make a way to further extrude it. The extruding created a depth that was necessary to differentiate the grip of the handle.

The Bullet was a quite simple task. I started with a simple cylinder and worked my way up. I added edge loops and extruded some parts to form the main shapes and then subdivided the parts.

The inside chamber which is a small one was duplicated from the main frame to help the bullets rest when loaded and fired.

This grip was added to support the hand when fired. I made the grip by duplicating the faces and extracting them to make a grip. I added edge loops to the grip mesh to make lines which i extruded later.

This is the reloading phase when the chamber is open. The chamber opens to reload the bullets with the switch slider.

This is the final model with all parts composited together. Merged down parts and made the model ready for UV unwrapping.

UV UNWRAPPING

UV unwrapping brought some minor difficulties. Careful planning was needed to flatten the model's surfaces efficiently. I studied on my own, trying to use various unwrapping methods to maximize texture space and reduce distortion. Ensuring a seamless workflow during the switch to Substance Painter was the aim. At this point, I needed to express my progress and seek critique. Peers assisted me in seeing any difficulties and dealing with them right away in the process by calling things out.

Before starting UV unwrapping, I had to make sure that the model had clean geometry with useful edge flow. This would simplify the creation of?efficient UV schemes.

I started with basic camera-based mapping to get a quick initial layout and then adjusted the mapping options as needed for the other parts.

Then I selected the edges to cut the UV edges or mark seams in the UV editor to unfold them.

After marking the seams, I unfolded the shell to get a more relaxed layout of the shell. Then according to the meshes and their UVs, I would optimize them or unfold them along the U or V axis to get the best result.

I also tried to maintain consistent texel density across the asset. High-priority areas should have higher texel density for better texture resolution.

I also used a checkered pattern to check for any distortion and then used the Smooth UV tool to relax the UVs.

At last, I used the layout UVs tool to automatically arrange UV shells within the 0 to 1 UV space efficiently. I repeated the same steps for all the other UV shells with some changes in the Mapping and Unfolding.

Before exporting the model to Zbrush, I took the time to set up materials for the Texturing parts according to their UV sets.

HIGHPOLY - ZBRUSH

In 3D asset production, a common procedure is to import a low-poly model from Maya and create a high-poly mesh in ZBrush. For intricate sculpting, high-poly mesh is frequently utilized. The details can then be transferred to the low-poly model for baking regular maps.

I made this high-poly mesh by subdividing the low-poly mesh from Maya. I didn't sculpt any details or use any alphas. I left the detailing for Substance Painter.

BAKING IN SUBSTANCE PAINTER

The next step was to launch Substance Painter and make a project. Setting out the project settings, including resolution and output maps, and importing my preferred asset set the way for a perfect baking experience. I employed a straightforward PBR workflow to?keep flexibility.

I baked the maps at 4k resolution while increasing the antialiasing to 16x supersampling and secondary rays of the maps to 128. I dealt with both high-poly and low-poly versions of our asset through the baking process. While the low-poly counterpart offered an optimized base for real-time rendering, the high-poly model kept all of its precise features.

TEXTURING IN SUBSTANCE PAINTER

After creating my component, I Imported the 3D model, and setting up the project's resolution and output maps was needed for this. To ensure consistency and realism in our results, I implemented a PBR workflow as mentioned earlier.

I used a layered method, applying details one layer at a time. A specific substance or attribute, such as the base color, roughness, metallic, normal, or height, was represented by each layer. This approach gave precise control over the final look of the asset.

For our assignment, we were told not to use smart materials so I created a plastic material that would serve as a base for the model and also created a slightly different plastic material as a variation for the color.

The procedural grunge texture library offered by Substance Painter opened up a whole new realm of possibilities. I modified these dynamic textures to provide subtle grime, rust, and scratches that add variation and realism. The fine characteristics in my asset became enhanced using procedural textures. I added a lot of grunge maps to give the model a greasy matte look via fill layers.

Furthermore, I used various generators such as curvature and dirt fill in the Imperfectation details. Dirt masks also made their way into my projects as I extensively used them for adding grunge details.

Decals were a big part of my project so I made a lot of them and the reason for that is because decals bring out the characteristics and the story of the asset.

Made another material which was a metal for the frame and its front components.Added a lot of imperfections and details to it

I used the same base plastic material from the asset's Barrel Frame but changed its color properties to black to have another plastic material for the Handle.

For the Trigger and the other small components, I made a chrome material and added imperfections to it. I wanted the small components of the handlebar and as well the asset to stand out with a bit of flair.

So, texturing is one of the processes which I quite enjoy and it came to an end when I was happy with the results and the look.

I Textured the bullet with two different materials, one being metal and the other chrome. Also, I added a lot of imperfections with grunge maps. The bullet was a fairly simple one to texture.

Later on, I exported the textures with the PBR Metallic Roughness preset and 4k output.

RENDERING - MARMOSET TOOLBAG

Marmoset Toolbag is a powerful real-time rendering and baking package that offers artists the power to add realistic details and stunning graphics to their tasks.

Firstly, I imported my Lowpoly model into the viewport and chose the HDRI (Sky) lighting that I wanted to add. I chose a studio lighting setup as I wanted to my asset as an industrial product.

Then I created a new default material and added one of the texture sets to it. Similarly, I duplicated the same material and added the rest of the texture sets.

I changed the texture parameters a bit such as flipping the normals to the Y-axis and scaling down the height a bit

I added the materials to the model and wanted to see how the lighting looks.

I was able to build realistic and dynamic lighting scenes with Marmoset Toolbag's high dynamic range lighting tools and real-time global illumination. To create the feeling I wanted in the setting, I experimented with several light sources, varying their intensity, color, and shadows.

I looked into Marmoset Toolbag's post-processing features to provide that finishing touch. I adjusted every detail, including color correction and depth of field, to improve our render's overall visual impact. Seeing these modifications in real time allowed me to get quick feedback, which expedited the creative process.

Before adding the camera, I wanted to set up the lights so that I could see those Imperfections and maybe give some rim lights to have those lighting reflections.

At last, I added a camera, changed the lens to Orthographic, and added a bit of a vignette. I changed the resolution to 4k for the renders. Also, I added render passes for Normal, Roughness, Metalness, Wireframe, and Albedo.

BEAUTY PASS IN ARNOLD

The beauty pass is the culmination of all the elements—diffuse color, shadows, reflections, and more—that go into making the final picture. It serves as the foundation for other passes, such as reflection, shadow, and ambient occlusion, to be added to during the compositing process.

We had to render out at least one beauty pass using Maya's Arnold renderer as part of our assignment.

To apply every PBR texture I exported from Substance Painter, I reassigned Aistandardsurface to every texture set after importing my model into Maya.

I created the preview, set the UV Tiling mode to UDIM (Mari), and allocated the textures to the appropriate materials.

To bring out the character's traits and create the appropriate atmosphere, I experimented with several light sources. I used the Skydome light, set the intensity to 2, and added an HDRI to the base lighting's color profile.

To render the desired image, I also installed a simple camera. I increased the sample to fifteen and adjusted the rendered image preset to two thousand. The GPU renders significantly faster than the CPU, thus that's why I chose it.

CONCLUSION - A JOURNEY OF GROWTH

Thinking back on this amazing journey to create the double-barrel shotgun, I see the deep development that goes with?such large-scale endeavors. Each step, from modeling problems to texture discovery, improved my artistic vision and skill set.

I encourage other artists and prospective employers to peruse my blog, which acts as an example of my dedication to and passion for 3D art. My approach to creating outstanding hero assets is characterized by my desire to overcome difficulties, my desire to learn new things constantly, and my ability to work with peers.

I appreciate you continuing this journey with me. I'm excited about what the future holds and eager to bring the?same passion and drive.

Finally! The Renders.