Week 10:

Props Props Props!

Following from my previous post my next goals were to populate my scenes with more props. The most important of which being my final "Hero Asset" which was to be Arthur Spiderwick's Fieldguide. For this I already had my PureRef board setup with various images of the movie prop so starting modelling in Maya. For this prop I made a basic LowPoly version and HighPoly for use in the baking process.

Whilst for a rather basic prop being really nothing more than a cube, I wanted to get a good level of detail so allowed this object a higher poly count, a good portion of which being spent on the string binding as was obviously of much lower quality when attempting to bake down onto a single cylinder thus seemed like a fair trade and usage of Polys.

Once baked in painter I followed the already established workflow of layering fill layers with masks and generators to overall create a look similar to that found on the reference object. The gilded trim elements on the cover were created by me in photoshop, redrawing each element with particular attention given to the AS crest in the centre. I will then follow this exact process with my other "Sidekick assets" (Binoculars and Phone)

MARVELLOUS DESIGNER

One element of my scene that truly caused me some grief were my curtains. These looked visibly much lower quality than the rest of the scene (having originally created them using Maya's NCloth systems) however after a workshop and speaking to Tom Copp I was directed towards Marvellous Designer, a program used in the creation of fabrics, from clothes on characters to fabric sims (for example hanging curtains or dropped laundry in a laundrette as seen in my fellow peers works)

For a new program I had no previous experience with Marvellous was surprisingly self explanatory.

The workflow for creating these curtains goes as follows:

Create a simple polygon that acts as the top curtain rail (The transformations of which are frozen) [See Top Blue Rectangle]

A larger polygon is created below being wider than the previous.

Half way through the shape create an elastic edge (This will help with pulling them to the side) [See Red Line]

Sew the top of the curtain to the top rail and tie elastic edge to third polygon [See Left Rectangle]

Simulate and drag around to create a desired appearance...

Overall these curtains look much more believable and Marvellous will absolutely be a program I use more in the future, the ease of use combined with quality outputs makes it clear to see why it has become the Industry standard.

To finish my prop rampage I created a selection of vases (All textured using a modified trim sheet/ atlas allowing me to use these textures on further props for example more small desk objects that would be seen on a small metal box.

The chair was textured using another William Morris pattern:

Wmorrisandco.com. (2024). Golden Lily Wallpaper. [online] Available at: https://www.wmorrisandco.com/uk/golden-lily-wallpaper-indigo-43980-dmi1g3101/ [Accessed 08 Dec. 2024].

A unique texturing technique that I utilised on the footstool was found on the damaged fringing. This was achieved in substance painter using a Designer informed workflow. Taking a picture of a line of fringing (editing to ensure it tiled in photoshop) as a texture into Painter. Applying this to a separate plane (exported alongside the main footstool) when combined with a black and white masked copy acted as an opacity mask, resulting in removing the background plane; leaving only the main fringe. When combined with an offset antistrophic noise also effecting the opacity channel ultimately created a believable effect. Being enhanced by a modified gradient grunge texture that further broke up the straight edge making it look as if the fringe has been worn/ decayed with time.

As for the tablecloth this was created using another cloth simulating technique found in ZBrush. Importing the table and applying the cloth simulation tools gave me a speedy result that I was ultimately very content with (even if it still cant quite compete with Marvellous) was a useful exercise in discovering which method works best for future reference.