Game Asset Creation: A Simple Crate Part 2

 

A Simple Crate Model

This week continued my progress on my crate game asset.  After creating a crate in Maya, I exported it and imported it into ZBrush to start my process of adding on detail.  When I started sculpting, I sculpted both the top and bottom part of the crate separately.  After looking at multiple boxes I decided to go with an old box design that is soft on it's edges and uneven on some of the edges but with detail on the main wooden parts.  For the brushes I used, I mostly used the DamStandard.

Old Crate Look

From here I created a high and low resolution crate using decimation.  The high resolution crate took longer to decimate than the lower resolution and it was definitely a lot of playing around with the decimate values to make the lower version still have enough detail from the high resolution. 

High Poly Resolution

 After I decimated my crate, I exported my crate out of ZBrush and into Maya to create game resolution on my model.  

Crate Model in Maya

In Maya I did explore quadrawing, I ultimately did not use quadrawing but I though the process of quadrawing was interesting.

Crate Lid with Quadraw

To create my game resolution crate I took my high resolution crate from ZBrush and made a poly cube the same size and placement and began to shape it into the high resolution model.  To do this I used the extrusion tool, multi-cut tool, and I worked with a lot of the faces for clean up and for quick duplications.  To make sure that the game resolution was the same as the high resolution crate I looked at them side by side. 

Creating Game Rez of my Crate

Once I checked my model up against the high resolution model, I began to create my UV's. The UV process did show some issues with my model that I cleaned up using the mesh cleanup.   The UV process was a lot of cutting and sewing the geometry and then I adjusted the layout in the UV editor. To UV I UVed the top and bottom crate separately and then selected both to layout the pieces together. 

Crate UV's

Once I created my UV's I exported my game resolution crate into Substance Painter.  I made sure to rename my export into CrateTop_low and CrateBottom_low before I exported because I will be baking my geometry. 

Crate in Substance Painter

After I exported the game resolution into substance, I opened up my high resolution in ZBrush.  I first named my two parts CrateTop_high and CrateBottom_low to match the naming convention on the low resolution crate.  I also created a color ID on my model for future easy selection.  To do this I simply shift selected the individual pieces and added a color to them.  In the Decimation settings I turned on Use and keep Polypaint and then re-decimated and exported my pieces as FBX files. 

Crate with Color ID

I then I baked my game resolution model and my high resolution model in Substance painter.  With the baking setting it allowed me to select my high resolution pieces and bake out several different maps.  I then checked the different maps to see my result!

Crate Checking Baking Maps