Z-Brush: Alien Head

Z-Brush: Alien Head

 This project involved using Z-Brush to poly-paint a model of an alien head that was provided for us. Once painted in Z-Brush it was exported as OBJ files and used to make a low-poly version of the mesh look high-poly in Maya.

This is the diffuse map for the head once it is UV unwrapped. I shaded it using a graphics tablet in Z-Brush.

This is an Ambient Occlusion map I generated in X-Normals. I overlayed it onto the diffuse map to help improve the look of the final render.

Above are two normal maps I generated for my model. On the left is one I made from my diffuse, it gives a lot of fine detail on the skin. On the right is one I made from the high-poly model in Z-Brush, it provides most of the larger details.

 This is the final normal map I applied to my model. It is made up of both the normal maps I generated overlayed on top of one another.

 This is the specular map for the head. It is mostly dark due to the skin not needing to be too shiny. However the teeth and spine are much lighter so they reflect more light in the render.

In order to make the diffuse texture for the eyes I used a graphics tablet to draw with Photoshop, allowing me to achieve a realistic iris effect with multiple colours of similar tones. The specular map for the eye is very bright, since I wanted the eyes to appear very shiny compared to the rest of the head.

Texturing a Cottage

Texturing a Cottage

For this project the model of the cottage was provided, along with the unwrapped UV's. I did however adjust some of these UV's since they were distorting the textures. All my textures and maps were made in Photoshop, and the final renders were made within Maya.

Here you can see the cottage without any textures or lighting - this is what was provided for us with the task to texture the model.

When the cottage is selected you can see it is relatively low-poly, so the use of normal maps was essential to achieve a high quality outcome.








Door Texture:

The diffuse map included shading on the metal handle and hinges to help bring out their highlights in a render. Additionally some grunge textures were overlayed onto the door to make the model look more authentic in a scene. The arch going over the door also uses the same texture as the pillars except it has been warped.

Side Wall Texture:

Again Grunge was added around the bottom of the walls, as well as in the corners of the plaster. I made sure the glass was left light in the specular map, as well as creating an incandescence map to make the windows light up and glow in a render.

Front and Back Wall Texture:

Similar to the texture for the side walls, grunge was added in the relevant places, the windows were left with high specularity and an incandescence map was used to make the windows light up.

Roof Texture:

Normal Map

Specular Map

The roof was made using a tiled texture, hence the multiple diffuse maps shown above. Each one was used for different parts of the roof, such as the top or the edges, but they all tile correctly so there are no seams in the texture. I achieved this by using the clone stamp tool in Photoshop; each variant derived from the same original texture. Each one also has its own normal and specular maps too.

Pillar Texture:

The pillars were textured in the same way to the walls except I added a small shadow on the diffuse map in the corners, acting as a kind occlusion.

Front Point Texture:

Once again this was textured in a similar way to the rest of the cottage, with the warp tool being used to bend the wood texture.

Lighting Set-up:

 I used a 3-point lighting system in my scene to achieve a professional looking render. I have the key light (left), the fill light (right) and the back light (top).

High-Poly Crate

High-Poly Crate

This task involved several different processes, despite the model being provided for us.

Low-poly model

High-poly model

Low-poly model with normal map applied

Firstly I laid out the UV's and generated a normal map using 'XNormals'. This took the detail from a high poly mesh so they could be applied to a low poly one without the high poly count.

Next I baked the ambient occlusion map. This not only provided the occlusion, but also allowed me to read my UV's much more clearly when overlayed on top of them.

The Diffuse map for my crate was made in Photoshop by manipulating photos of various materials. However, the blue decals were made by hand using the shapes tool, then adding a layer mask on top of them to make it look like the paint was worn. You can also see on my diffuse that the ambient occlusion map has been overlayed on top of it, this was done in Photoshop by setting the layer mode to multiply.

Additionally I used a seamless texture for the ground plane and generated both a normal and specular map for this too.