All of my renders were done in Maya using the Arnold Renderer. The lighting that I used in my renders was three point lighting as shown in the image below.
When texturing the character, I opted to try and make the textures look as realistic as I could achieve. This was for the same reason I wanted to keep the character’s proportion accurate to a human as I wanted my character to be based somewhat in reality even though the narrative behind my character is very fantastical.
High Poly ModelLow Poly Model
Before starting the texturing process, I used the ZRemesher tool to create low poly versions of all of the sub tools as the model had very high poly counts which would cause issues when rendering the model later. Detail was lost but I could also use the high poly models to bake this lost detail back onto the models in Substance Painter within the textures. This was important to do as my high poly count was 4758365 total polys which was lowered to 402580 total polys for the low poly model.
Head Model UV
UV Master Protect and Attract
To create the UV maps of the models I used the UV master tool within ZBrush. I’ll use the head mesh as an example to explain the process of what I did as I used the features within the UV master tool to be able to mitigate the seams being visible as much as possible and keep them away from any important geometry especially on the actual face. I was mostly successful in stopping the seams from being on the front of the face, but the UV seams didn’t go where I intended to try and place them.
Head Texture
Eyes Texture
Mask Texture
Body Texture
Under Armour Texture
Armour Texture
Hand Texture
Pants Texture
Leg Texture
I started the texturing process by first baking in the high poly versions of the model to add that lost detail mentioned earlier back in. This significantly helped to improve the final model as it looked very smooth even though the overall poly count of all the meshes was lowered by a significant margin. To texture the models, I used smart materials as the procedural generation from them really helped me take advantage of the projected detail from baking. The smart materials I used were: Skin Face and Steel Painted Scraped Green for the head texture, Glass Visor for the eyes texture base, Steel Painted Scraped Green for the body, Plastic Glossy Scuffed for the under armour, Steel Ruined for the armour, Steel Painted Rough Damaged for the hand texture, Fabric Denim Washed Out for the pants and Steel Painted Scraped Dirty for both the leg and mask texture.
Most of the texturing was relatively straight forward as I just had to apply the smart materials and adjust the values and colours of the materials. The face texture required more than this though as I had two smart materials to apply to the face. I used a black mask on the Skin Face smart material to set what should be textured as skin and what should be the other smart material. To texture the eyes, I used alphas from within Substance to change what the brush was painting which allowed me to create the interesting shape on the eye. I did this by using another black mask on the Glass Visor material to reveal a blue colour underneath. I had some issues texturing the legs and the mask but changing some of the settings in the Steel Painted Scraped Dirty smart material mitigated this issue.
This was another character design that involved an accessory that I tried to make but was unfortunately not able to figure out in time. I was attempting to use NCloth within Maya to create a dynamic cloak around the character model but I kept encountering crashes as well as it not working exactly how I intended so I decided to cut my losses and move on.
Mask Model
The accessory that I did make for the character is the mask. It was supposed to compliment the cloak as a way for Wyatt to remain somewhat under the radar but it’s still a cool accessory for the character even without the cloak. I made the mask within Maya by manipulating a cube using the extrude and bevel features to achieve the end result displayed above. I could’ve spent more time on making the mask more complex but this design matches what I was aiming to create so I decided to keep it like this.
The first thing to do was to model the base mesh of my character as I wanted to model as much of the character I could to the best of my ability.
Head Base Mesh
The head was made accurate to the proportion of an actual human using a reference image labelled Figure 9 (pacificgraphicdesign, n.d.). It was created by manipulating a sphere with different sizes of the move brush.
Figure 9 – head anatomy proportions 1 (pacificgraphicdesign, n.d.)
Character Proportion Blockout (8 Head Method)
To create the rest of the base mesh, I manipulated a cylinder and spheres also using the move brush to deform geometry into a proportioned shape using another reference image: Figure 10 (Shafigina, n.d.). The eight head method was useful in getting the location of the body parts but the reference helped get the actual body shape.
Figure 10 – Ideal Proportion Male (Shafigina, n.d.)
Base Mesh Creation
Dynameshed Base Mesh
Head Model Time-lapse
Damaged Arm Model
Head Reattached to Body Model
Hand Time-lapse
Hand Reference
Jacket and Pants Models
I masked the part of the area that each respective clothing item would be covering and used the extract modifier. I manipulated the clothing using the move brush so that the clothing was damaged.
Cybernetic Leg Model
To create the cybernetic leg, I manipulated basic cubes within ZBrush and then dynameshed them together. The foot was then edited with the smoothing brush.
Final Parts Time-lapse
To create the hair and beard, I used fibremesh and changed the settings to make sure the length and number of ‘fibres’. I adjusted the shape of the hair using the move brush so that I could style the hair.
Second Attempt:
I wasn’t happy with my first attempt so I redesigned some aspects of the design. I could then adapt earlier versions into a version following the redesigns closely while avoiding earlier mistakes and issues.
Character Design Version 2
Most of the first model I made while experimenting without a clear plan so for the second design I thought up how I wanted the character beforehand so that it would inform the second model better. The end look probably was going to change but I had a better start with this approach. I redesigned the face and majority of the upper body as I removed the jacket and exposed inner elements of the face.
Head Model Version 2 Time-lapse
The head of the first model I liked the most but I decided to still change the damage on the left side to match the new design. I reverted to the point before I added the damage and subdivided so I could add more detail as an issue with the first was most of the facial details were lost. I used the dam standard brush to indent into the face, to bring out the lip lines and to create the face border. I turned off symmetry when making the border so it was messy as a straight border wouldn’t fit the character narrative. The damage around the eye was done by indenting the area using the inverse clay brush so that it would take away from geometry. I used the rake brush to create geometry here as this looked like exposed parts within the face and was like the new design sketch. The top-side of the head was masked so that I could use the move brush to indent this area without affecting the rest of the head. I then used the move brush to add more smaller damage.
Body Model Front
The new base model is based off the original as the undamaged side of the body was mirrored so I could get the other arm back as I wanted to make the damaged arm differently. Inconsistencies with the geometry of both sides was fixed but a seam along the middle was created. This would be an issue if it was a human character, but I think the seam added to manufactured feel of my character which is part of the narrative. In any case it would be mostly covered up by the time this variant of the character model is finished.
Body Model Back
I wanted the armour to be segmented and separate from the base mesh this time so I used the extract tool to get geometry from masked parts of the base mesh and manipulated them using brushes such as move and dam standard. I prefer how this looks compared to the original as it is a more complex design. The pants were created using the extract tool again as the original pants couldn’t be used as they didn’t match the new model.
Head recombined with the Body
Last time, I ended up losing all the detail on the face so I kept the head separate from the base model this time. There was a way to combine the meshes and keep the detail but I preferred keeping them separate. I manipulated the neck geometry using the different sized move brushes to seemingly make the head connected.
Hand Version 2
Base Shape of the Leg Model
To create the leg model, I decided to use Maya as I thought it would be easier to create the look I wanted. I started with a simple cube mesh and then extruded to create the shape of the leg.
Leg Model Front
To add more complexity to the model I further used the extrude tool to allow me to scale extruded faces down.
Leg Model Back
Fibremesh Hair and Beard
Left Side Damage Front
The new version of the damaged arm was done by severely deforming the arm model with the move brush. To create the rest of the damage on the left side of the character, this time I used the rake brush to deform the different elements. I think this method was more effective as this result was like the design this time.
I knew from the start that I wanted to do some kind of cyberpunk inspired character as I was really keen on the idea of a futuristic theme for my character design. To start to conceptualise what my character was going to look like, I first gathered some inspiration images of cyberpunk character designs.
Figure 1 – Cyberpunk Male Character (Cornet, 2016)Figure 2- Sci-fi/Cyberpunk Characters Concept Art (Germán, 2019)Figure 3 – Character (Lim, 2015)Figure 4 – hero (Giraud, 2015)Figure 5 – Pelleas Warrior Armor (Bonhotal, 2020)
One of the designs I found referred to as Figure 5 (Bonhotal, 2020) had a face design that gave me one of the main aesthetics for my character as it had some machinery visible on only one side of the face. This reminded me of some of the early experimentation period in ZBrush that I had done as I attempted to create a Two-Face model using one of the base models within ZBrush.
Two-Face Sculpting Experiment
Although not originally part of my character idea, I decided to incorporate the idea of having two different looking sides of my character. as I came to the conclusion that it would make my character design more interesting. This is where the idea of Wyatt getting damaged in their escape came from as it allowed me to explore this ‘Two-Face’ aesthetic within the narrative of my character’s backstory. The two-sided design also helps to further link with my character’s narrative as it shows how Wyatt had their humanity ripped from them with no justifiable reason but also shows how Wyatt is still trying to cling on to the humanity they have left. To further develop this visual theme for my character I also got some reference images for the kind of aesthetic I was seeking.
Figure 6 – Two Face / Arkham Knight (JPGraphic, 2015)Figure 7 – Ultron Mark 1 in the Party Fight sequence (Gartler, 2015)Figure 8 – First Ultron Form (DWolf, 2015)
I chose the two images of Ultron from Avengers: Age of Ultron, Figure 7 (Gartler, 2015) and Figure 8 (DWolf, 2015), for reference images as I wanted to mimic the visual look of how the first iteration of Ultron is visibly damaged with vital components visible but in the visual format of Figure 6 (JPGraphic, 2015). This is so there is a clear distinction between the two sides of my character design and also to make it more intriguing.
Character Design Version 1
My first iteration of my character design took heavy inspiration from Figure 4 (Giraud, 2015) as that was my favourite reference image out of the cyberpunk references. I wanted to make a similar design to it but with the two-sided visual theme and with some inspiration from the other cyberpunk references namely the leg design of Figure 2 (Germán, 2019) and the left arm design of Figure 1 (Cornet, 2016). The body style that I aimed to go for was as realistic as possible. Obviously I would have to take some liberties with the cybernetic parts but I wanted the proportion of the character to match or be similar to realistic proportions. This meant that the silhouette of my character would be harder to recognise but the fact that have of the body is damaged causing an arm to also be missing helps to mitigate this.
I chose a dark and drab colour scheme for the concept drawing of the character as I wanted the colours of the character to match with the dark narrative I crafted for their backstory and the dystopian nature of the cyberpunk genre in general. These dark colours also contrast with the bright blue cybernetic colour that I used for certain aspects of the design to further show how these superhuman augmentations aren’t natural and were forced upon Wyatt. This also plays into how they have been forced into an exile of sorts as they won’t be able to comfortably be around people, at least at first, as the cybernetic differences will be a lot for many individuals to take in and could be the cause of contention or distrust.
My character has a designation of Y-@347 as they are a product of a military experiment intended to revolutionise the battlefield with enhanced human soldiers. They have taken the name Wyatt as a twist on their designation in an effort to keep their humanity as they are unable to remember anything from their life before the experiment including their actual name.
They used to be a male soldier who was in the wrong place at the wrong time which caused them to come across military secrets that were highly classified and illegal relating to their current condition. In an effort to expose these secrets, Wyatt was caught in a very severe ‘accident’ and was subjected to the very experiments they sought to expose.
The majority of Wyatt’s human body was replaced with cybernetic parts enabling Wyatt to perform superhuman feats when at peak efficiency. The experiments resulted in the loss of Wyatt’s memory as the people in charge of the experiments wanted to keep any knowledge of their misdoings being revealed to the public.
While undergoing routine testing, a glitch within the programming of Wyatt’s subsystems allowed Wyatt to regain control of their body. Taking advantage of all of the enhanced abilities they now had Wyatt was able to escape the military installation where he was being held but suffered significant damage in the process.
Now on the run, Wyatt is seeking answers on what actually happened to him before the experiments as well as seeking some way to achieve retribution on the people responsible to stop it from being done to anyone else. However, Wyatt’s first priority is to seek somewhere to be able to repair the damage received from the escape so that their full potential can be restored allowing them to have a better chance at finding the answers they seek.
The world that Wyatt lives in is a near future version of our world where they cybernetics have advanced to the point of being able to replace the majority of a human being. However, usage of this cybernetics for military usage is heavily criticised which is why the illegal military experiments that Wyatt encountered were so secretive in the first place.
Personality:
Although Wyatt is unable to remember their past, they carry a strong sense of justice. Perhaps this is due to the injustice done to them or is an echo of the person they used to be. To that end they dedicate themselves to countering any injustice to the best of their newfound abilities even if it halts progress towards solving the conspiracy behind the horrific experiments done to them.
Wyatt tends to keep to themselves as forming any kind of relationship with anyone could put said people into danger. Alongside that the augmentations to Wyatt’s body makes it hard to seem approachable to anyone. Although they are a loner, they do care deeply about the safety of innocent people which is why they are hesitant to form relationships and is one of the main driving points for stopping the illegal experimentation they were subjected to.
I decided to make a spider using ZSpheres during the Week 3 lab using the reference image below. I didn’t do anything particularly complex as I just moved and scaled various ZSpheres.
When I used adaptive skin on the ZSphere spider, the results weren’t exactly what I expected. The legs looked more like french fries than actual spider legs and there were some unexpected deformities on the rest of the spider.
