Ghibli Stones

Project

The original goal of making this stone asset is how to rely on MASK, the generator, without using hand-painted conditions.

And other functions can directly generate the texture expression method that is most in line with the Ghibli effect so that it can be created as a smart material ball and used on other different models to improve work efficiency and personal practice.

Software

• ZBrush
• 3DS Max
• Substance Painter
• Marmoset Toolbag
• Unreal Engine

References

The source of reference is firstly influenced by the Ghibli anime. I think this style is worth exploring. It is also inspired by the game Genshin Impact.

Blockout & Design

At the beginning of the production, I will first study the texture performance of the stone I need to make, a general shape, and the scene of use.

I chose to use the most common flat stones, which can be used as stairs in wild scenes, and small stones by the river. These stones are very versatile.

High Poly

Sculpting is mainly between realism and stylization. Adding some realistic textures to the stylized shape is used to express some irregular changes in the stone texture of wild scenes.

This step is very important and it greatly determines your subsequent textures. an effect that can be achieved.

Retop, UVs and baking

For personal free time, time is very precious so I don’t want to waste too much time on topology at this stage. After the high model is made.

I use the Zbrush surface reduction tool to quickly make the low model This can very quickly preserve every structure on the high model.

After the quick surface reduction in ZBrush, we can standardize and cut the UV in 3DMAX or MAYA.

Or if you want to be lazy, you can directly use Substance Painter’s fast UV unwrapping for production I use Marmoset Toolbag for baking, it can preview the result in real-time, which is what I really want.

Texturing

This step is a link that we need to focus on understanding. The final effect depends on the time and cares you spend on this step.

First of all, we can create a texture map with many color changes by ourselves. In this step, we can take a screenshot of some games or Ghibli anime to cut off a part of your favorite texture and make Tilling in Photoshop.

From the picture above, we intercepted a part of the wood texture to make a Tilling base map, which greatly improved production efficiency. Here is a rough quick showcase.

First of all, we should pay attention to the fact that in order to restore the color block effect of Ghibli, we need to avoid too fine texture changes in realism.

The combination of color blocks is used for production, so in Substance Painter, we should control the mask map to the large-volume color blocks, we can use AO and fill maps to perform a blending mode, and some information that exists in the structure Removed by AO.

Then we strengthen the sense of volume at the structure to show some effect changes of Ghibli color blocks Finally, we added moss edge fraying to complete a general effect.

Regarding roughness, we can use the base color to perform a processing method after decolorization by adjusting the color scale to enhance their comparative relationship.

In this way, a relatively overall roughness map can be obtained.

Rendering

For this stone asset, I don’t plan to render them separately. I will use other trees and vegetation in a scene level later as a complete scene for display.

At present, it is only a demonstration of the effect in Unreal Engine.

Final words

Finally, after completing the above mapping steps, you can also add some hand-painted processing and add some dot textures for decoration according to your own needs. This step will take time but the effect will be greatly improved.

If you have any questions after reading this article, you can contact me at any time, and I will answer your questions as soon as I see them.

Felt your reading, and a big thanks to GamesArtist for contacting me to write this article.

Thanks!