Introduction
Hello, everyone! My name is Sergey Chebotok. I am 35 years old and live in Portugal, where I work as an Art Director at Volmi Game Studio.
I have over 10 years of experience in 3D, and sometimes, I employ Old School methods to achieve the best results.
Goals
An important point for me was to convey the history of this phone and bring it to life. I did not aim for a perfect one-to-one replica.
I also set a personal challenge to complete this project in just 40 hours. Given the time constraints, I used some modeling tricks during the process.
Software
- PureRef: Collecting references
- Maya: Blocking and LowPoly
- Zbrush: Highpoly
- RizomUV: UV
- Marmoset Toolbag: Baking and rendering
- Substance Painter: Texturing
- Photoshop: Post-processing
Reference
During our summer vacation in Spain (Barcelona), my wife and I visited the marvelous creation of the renowned architect Antoni Gaudí – Casa Milà.
There, I spotted an unassuming old phone that inspired me to recreate it with a modern twist. I captured a couple of photos on my phone, which served as my initial references to kickstart the project.
Modelling
I began with a detailed blockout, focusing on intricate polygons and edge placement on cylindrical parts. It was crucial to maintain smooth shapes and lines without sharp transitions to avoid the segmentation of objects.
I’ll elaborate on this during the High Poly stage. I invested 8 hours in the blockout.
High Poly
With the blockout complete, I progressed to the High Poly stage. Since my model was already detailed, I mainly focused on achieving smooth bevels and adding wear and damage marks to select parts of the phone.
To create chamfers, I employed this method: I selected a part, converted it to a DynaMesh with the medium resolution, accessed Deformations, disabled the point from the “Polish Crisp Edges” parameter, and entered the desired value.
Voilà! Our bevels were ready. This is why the initial blockout had many edges. I also incorporated wear and damage based on references and my imagination, spending 4 hours on the High Poly model.
Low Poly
The Low Poly stage was relatively straightforward. I removed unnecessary polygons and edges from the blockout while ensuring a proper topology.
The subsequent steps involved UV mapping and baking. I utilized two 4k maps, one for the base and one for the details. Since these stages are standard, I’ll skip the details here. I dedicated 6 hours to Low Poly, UV, and Baking.
Texturing
The texturing stage consumed the most time. I opted not to use any resources from Megascans or ready-made materials; everything was created using standard Substance Painter tools. For this asset, I adopted a layered approach, starting from the base and culminating with the final touches.
There are no secrets here; it’s all about immersing yourself in the work, envisioning how you would interact with the object, considering where wear and tear might occur, and projecting this history onto your work.
I’m confident that with this approach, you can achieve a commendable result and find joy in the process.
Conclusion
I’d like to express my gratitude to gamesartist.co.uk for the opportunity to showcase my work and share my experiences.
I wish all artists boundless imagination and success in bringing their projects to life. I’m always available to answer questions and provide assistance.
Until next time!
