Sledge Hammer

Project Goal

The idea for this project came to me while browsing Pinterest. I was looking for something relatively simple to model quickly as a practice piece for improving my texturing skills.

I liked the shape of the hammer, which looked interesting to sculpt. Additionally, the small number of elements made it easy to model while still being engaging to texture.

Software Used

• PureRef – reference organisation.
• Blender – blocking, low-poly modelling, UV unwrapping, and packing.
• Marvelous Designer – creating the tape.
• ZBrush – high-poly sculpting.
• RizomUV – UV optimisation for specific elements.
• Marmoset Toolbag – baking textures and final rendering.
• Substance 3D Painter – texturing.

References

Collecting references is the foundation of high-quality work – you should never ignore this stage. I usually spend 2-3 hours on research. To find references, I typically use Pinterest or Google Lens (search by image).

This often allows me to find similar models from different angles or discover listings on sales and auctions where the photo quality is very high.

Blockout

The blockout stage was fairly straightforward. I started by importing my main reference image directly into the Blender scene to use as a visual guide. To establish a believable scale, I added a base human model (1.8 metres tall).

This helped me quickly validate proportions and ensured that the prop would feel grounded in a real-world context.

Next, I created the initial shapes using simple primitives combined with modifiers such as Bevel, Boolean, and Subdivision. At this stage, my goal was not to focus on details but to define clean proportions and the overall silhouette.

This blockout later served as a base for the high-poly sculpt in ZBrush.

For the tape wrapped around the handle, I used Marvelous Designer. The process was quite simple – I created a basic rectangular piece and wrapped it around the handle.

After that, I duplicated the mesh and slightly adjusted its shape to avoid repetition and add more natural variation.

High-Poly

While creating the high-poly model, I tried to keep the process relatively simple by focusing mainly on the primary forms and key details. I decided not to sculpt small micro-surface details at this stage because I find it more efficient to handle them during the texturing process.

This approach allows for much more flexibility if any changes are needed later on.

For sculpting, I mainly used standard brushes such as Clay, Clay Buildup, Standard, Inflate, Morph, Flatten, Trim Dynamic, Polish, and Move. To create realistic wear and chipped wood damage on the handle, I used alpha maps in specific areas to define surface damage and add variation to the material.

Low-Poly

For this project, I didn’t focus on creating a highly optimised low-poly mesh, since the main goal was practising texturing. To speed up the workflow, most of the low-poly meshes were decimated versions of the high-poly models from ZBrush, which helped preserve the silhouette while allowing me to move quickly into the texturing stage.

UV Unwrapping

There was nothing unusual at the UV stage. My main goal was to keep the UV shells as straight as possible to fill the UV space efficiently, achieve the highest possible texel density, and avoid any stretching or artefacts.

Baking

I performed the baking process in Marmoset Toolbag. I usually separate objects into bake groups to prevent projection artefacts and ensure clean results.

The list of baked maps is standard: Normal, Curvature, Thickness, Convexity, Cavity, and two AO maps – one with “Ignore Groups” enabled, which is sometimes necessary for generators to work correctly.

Additionally, I bake the Position Map in Substance Painter instead of Marmoset. I do this because some generators tend to produce incorrect results when using the Position Map baked in Marmoset.

Texturing

I prefer using Substance 3D Painter for all my texturing work. To get a clear and honest look at the materials from the very start, I always fine-tune the viewport and shader settings first:

Shader Settings: I crank up the Specular Quality to Very High (128 spp). This gives me a much more accurate representation of how the light interacts with the roughness of the surface. I also dial down the AO Intensity (to around 0.1) so the baked shadows don’t mask the actual details while I’m working.

Environment: For the lighting, I switch to Studio Tomoco. It’s my go-to choice because it provides clean, neutral lighting without any colour tinting.

I started the texturing process with the metal, using a method that significantly speeds up the workflow. First, I focused on detailing the Normal and Height channels.

Once these details were ready, I created an empty layer with the Passthrough blending mode for all channels (Base Color, Roughness, Metallic, etc.) and added an Anchor Point to it.

This allowed me to feed all my custom height and normal details directly into generators and masks. It’s a very efficient method that results in a high-quality texture without the need for an excessive number of layers.

For the wood, I used a high-quality photo texture as a base and adjusted it using HSL filters to match my references. After that, the rest of the texturing process followed a standard workflow.

The last object I textured was the tape. The process was similar to the metal workflow – I first focused on refining the Normal and Height information to build surface detail, and then continued working on the material itself to achieve a more believable look.

In the final stage, I added paint splatters, dust layers, and fine micro-details to the textures. These small additions help to ground the model and give it a more natural, weathered look.

Rendering & Presentation

Renders were done in Marmoset Toolbag 5. Its main advantage is the speed and the high-quality results that are instantly ready for ArtStation.

For the lighting setup, I usually use a basic HDRI from Substance Painter combined with 2-3 additional directional lights to highlight specific areas of the model and create better definition.

For the camera settings, I stick with the standard Linear Tone Mapping. It avoids excessive contrast, which helps the objects maintain a natural and realistic look.

I slightly tweak the sliders to add some richness to the image and introduce a subtle grain effect to give it a more cinematic and tactile feel.

Conclusion

I want to thank the Games Artist team for the opportunity to share my work. Not long ago, I was reading these articles myself while working on my own projects, and now I’m honoured to have the chance to write one myself.

Thank you to everyone who read this article! I hope you found something useful that helps improve your skills. Never stop your professional growth and keep pushing your limits!

https://www.artstation.com/nikita_nikolenko