Wizards Backpack

Project

First of all, this backpack is just a smaller part of the character I am currently working on for my portfolio, but I’ve decided to treat it as a separate asset.

The main goals during working on this project were to improve my skills and knowledge and create a game-ready model of the highest quality I can achieve.

Software

I used 3ds Max for some basic modeling and for the rig and animation of the moths. In Marvelous Designer, I created the basic patterns for the backpack, blanket, and hat, and then went to ZBrush to detail everything and create the rest of the hard surface stuff.

For low poly, I used Topogun, while UVs were made in RizomUV. For baking, texturing, and presentation, I used Marmoset Toolbag.

References & Inspirations

I wanted to create a backpack that would fit the character of a wizard/traveler. I started looking for pictures of old leather backpacks, pouches, and anything related to medieval fantasy style.
~Then, when I found enough references and had some visualization in my head, I started thinking about accessories.

What could the wizard character have with him while traveling? How could I add them to the design and make everything cohesive? I wanted all the accessories to hint at the wizard’s story.

Marvelous Designer

Given that the whole backpack is fabric and leather, I’ve decided to push the Marvelous Designer work as far as it’s possible.

Before I started working with patterns in MD, I made a simple block out for the backpack’s interior and the scroll support in 3ds Max, then exported it to ZBrush and used dynamesh with low resolution to keep the geometry as one unified mesh.

I exported and used them as an avatar in Marvelous Designer. While working, I kept modifying the interior of the backpack to get a better shape for the final result.

Since you can always move your avatars around in Marvelous Designer, I made the blanket around the scroll well above the rest of the backpack, then moved it to the right position with enabled simulation and added the covering part on the top.

Knots of the two front straps were made in MD also but on a separate scene and added to the whole ZBrush scene at the end.

Next, I created a hat and, as you can see in the image, used the tack tool to force some bends into it.

When I was happy with the result, I exported everything to 3ds Max, added thickness by using a shell modifier, and exported everything to ZBrush.

High Poly and Accessories

After exporting everything to ZBrush, I started working on details and accessories.

• Stitches were made using a curve insert brush. By having them as separate objects, I was able to easily assign a different vertex color so that I can create an easy ColorID map.
• The holes in the straps were made with a layer brush with DragDot type of stroke, knowing that I will not have open geometry in the low poly and that I just want to fake the actual holes.
• The borders of the leather were made in 3ds Max. I created a helix object, then put the Sweep modifier and set it on Bar in the “Built-in section” and disabled the “Banking” option. Next, I added a Path Deform modifier on a path created by selecting edges on the backpack and using the function “Create Shape from Selection”.
• The damage and leather cracks were made using mostly DamStandard brush.
• Memory folds made by using some alphas + morph brush to easily erase some of them. I used the same method on leather parts to get some additional details.
• The horn patterns were sculpted using radial symmetry and paying attention to the references I had. The scroll, the horn, and the lamps were made with the same workflow: simple block out in 3ds Max, then exporting to ZBrush, cleaning the meshes, making some adjustments, and adding some interesting details.

One note

The lamp and the horn were made in a neutral position (0,0,0). I moved them to the final position after baking the maps.

Thanks to this approach, it was much easier to work with symmetry and to create the low poly.

After finishing the high poly model, I used Decimation Master to reduce the number of polygons without losing quality and details and reorganized the individual objects in the way I will do retopology.
Some of them I wanted to merge into one object, and some of them kept separately, for example, all belts and leather straps.

The last thing to do in ZBrush was to set up vertex colors by selecting a particular part of the objects and using the Fill Object option in the Color panel.

Retopology & Low-Poly Model

I am a big fan of Topogun, so it was my go-to software when it comes to retopo. Due to the amazing tools to create topology and the shader that makes it easy to read the volumes of the model, I highly recommend Topogun to everyone.

Most parts were made manually, but there was one tricky exception… the scroll. Because of the many layers of thin paper and the gaps between them, I had a problem finding the best solution.

My mentor told me to split the scroll into 2 parts – one with the wooden core and part of the paper, which is rolled tightly around it, and the second, the outer part of the paper with bigger gaps between layers as a single one-sided sheet.

UV Mapping, Baking, and Texturing

The UVs were made in RizomUV, and I think everyone knows at this point how much of a time saver this software is.

For baking, I used Marmoset Toolbag 4. Thanks to Quick Loader, my low-poly and high-poly models were automatically distributed into individual baking folders since I made sure that both my high poly and low poly had the correct names and suffixes (name_high, name_low).

For baking the maps, I used 64 samples, except for the vertex color map (the ColorID map), which I baked with 1 sample to avoid blurring between colors and ending up with seams. Texturing in Marmoset Toolbag 4 is very similar to texturing in Substance Painter, though I find it more stable and faster.

I started with basic materials and step by step I added new layers with color variations, scratches, dirt, sun exposure, etc.

The glass and fluid elements have separate shaders that use Refraction as a transmission mode. This gave me access to the refractive index parameter (which determines how much the path of light is bent or refracted when entering a material).

I used the real-world IOR values that you can find here also. For the main shader, I used microfiber as diffusion since we have quite a few fabrics that needed sheen. The scroll had a separate shader so I could make use of subsurface scattering. I recommend the video on the Marmoset Toolbag’s website in tutorials section about advanced shaders under this link.

Moths’ Animation The moths’ animation was made in 3ds Max. This was my first time creating this kind of thing, so basically, it was a combination of studying tutorials about rigging and animating butterflies and testing how it works by trial and error.

In general, we can divide the work on this animation into two parts:

• Creating a basic rig and flight animation in a static position.

• Creating a point that follows a path and connecting the moth.This was the main tutorial that I used to learn how to do it.
  After animating one moth, I duplicated everything and modified the paths to make some flying variations.

Rendering

I love Marmoset Toolbag. Everything is so easy to set up to present your assets. I used a dark HDRI map with bright, contrasting dots, a very simple 3 lights setup, and 1 inside each lamp. After that, it was all about setting up the camera parameters.

I used ACES tone mapping, played a bit with the highlights, midtones, and shadow values. Added a bit of chromatic aberration, bloom, vignette, and grain. The renders were made using Ray Tracing since I wanted the refraction shaders to look as good as possible.

Conclusion

Don’t avoid hard work because only it guarantees development. I learned many new things while working on this project.
There is always room to learn and develop your skills, especially nowadays when knowledge is all around us.

I want to thank the Games Artist group for the opportunity to write this article. For those interested in my current and future artworks, here’s my Artstation.

Also, if you are looking for a repository of knowledge related to making quality characters for games, I would like to invite you to my mentor’s (Georgian Avasilcutei) Patreon.