3004 Character Brief: Soothsayer Pt. 2 - Texturing in Substance Painter

UV Map Layout and Texture Budgeting:

At first I tried give the coat its own 2k texture square, but with how much surface area it has, it was impossible to arrange a UV layout with a passable texel density. So I made the decision to arrange all the clothes (basically everything except for the skin) in one 4k texture square, which did end up equating to the standard 1024 by 1024 pixels/m.

The head and eyes share a 2k texture, as do to the two hands. I prefer not to make the hand UV's symmetrical just in case I choose to add asymmetrical textures. The eyes, however, do have a merged UV island, because that area is less consequential as far as mirrored texturing is concerned.

Coat:

Coat Texture Reference

I began the texturing by first baking the mesh maps of my hi-poly sculpts of the Soothsayer's Hands and Face, and subdivided versions of her clothes.

As a base layer for the coat's felted wool look, I used the Burlap smart material, but removed the pattern layer. I know that there are blankets made of a material I want to mimic here, but I need to research it briefly to find the reference I need.

After asking around and searching online for my desired reference, I've discovered that the material is 'washed wool', which has this great fluffy layer of fibres. I'm going to try to combine the texture of the Hungarian coat reference with this material.

To create that recognisable blanket fibre fluff just with texture, I'm going to used one of the procedural texture images in Substance Painter 'cloth folds', which I've also previously used to create melted flesh/tissue for my Firefighter Captain. I think it resembles the pattern of the blanket bobbles if I implement it correctly.

I first applied the cloth folds image as a mask for a height fill layer, which by itself looks unnaturally uniform. I fixed this by adding a warp filter to the mask (with a very low intensity). To finally make it resemble a more fluffy and diffuse layer of fibres I added a low intensity blur filter.

Now with the layer of 'bobbliness' as seen on washed wool fabrics having been combined with the burlap material underneath, I'm quite satisfied with the result. I think it looks like a mixture of both cloth types and definitely looks like a warm material to make a coat out of.

Tackling the Embroidery and Patterning:

^ Embroidery Ref.    ^ Alpha made with ref.    ^ Applied as hem edging

I'd really like to have some woollen-looking embroidery work, both to echo the 'cold Mongolia' cultural origins for the character and to emphasise how warm the clothing looks. To create a convincing embroidery pattern quickly, I fashioned a custom brush that utilised the default stitch alpha in Substance Painter, added low intensity angle and position jitter with a constant angle offset and moderate spacing, and applied it using a height and base colour fill layer. I then painted the embroidery stitching onto the hem edging and I think it definitely achieves the effect of embroidery sewn with thick woollen thread.

Patterning Experimentation and Iterations:

I tried several ideas for the embroidery pattern and arrangement on the lapels - some from reference, some from imagination, and some repeating or not repeating - but nothing I tried with that line of experimentation jumped out at me as a promising idea. 

Custom Alpha Ideas and Iterations

I know I want to make the icons with the same custom stitch brush I made, but the question is 'what icons?' and 'how to arrange them?'

I took me a while and several iterations to find a fitting and visually appealing patterning for the coat lapels, but after brainstorming icons that would symbolise how she performs truth-seeing (i.e. with embers and ash) I designed a simple icon to symbolise fire and a spark/ember.

Layout Iterations and Roughing Out:

First using the alphas I fashioned as coloured stamps, I roughed out some arrangements on the coat to see would work and what I really didn't think elevated the Steppe-style culture of the clothing.

I decided to mainly alternate the icons of fire with the smaller and less intense spark icon because I thought that having several fire emblems too close together made the pattern too visually busy and noisy.

To add that all-important touch of age and wear to the coat, I added two layers for sun-bleaches areas of the coat (like the sleeves, shoulder)

Boots:

The aesthetic I was aiming for with the boots was a rough suede or unpolished animal hide-type material. I first added the rough leather smart material and customised each layer according to my intended result, particularly removing the roughening height layer and making my own with a less intense pre-set texture as a mask. I then added a layer to mask in dust around the sole (instead of dirt) and finally added stitching around the front and back seams as seen in my original modelling reference. At the end I also decided to add a darker leather sole with a stitched edge to vaguely resemble traditional Siberian boots and footwear, which is often lined with fur. I hope that this similarity with make the boots appear thicker with an implied lining.

Head-wrapping:

For the head-wrapping pattern, I turned to Tibetan fabric patterns, I wanted something that was a repeating pattern that would realistically be seen on long and linear fabric that head-wrappings are typically made from.

Face and Eyes:

To begin the face, I used the 'Skin Face' smart material to customise and use as a canvas to texture on top of. I altered the base colour of the face and subsurface layer so she didn't look too Caucasian. I also added a fill layer with a noise texture as a mask fill to create sun damage and freckle-like skin weathering.

Eyes:

I want to start the eyes earlier in the process than I did previously with my second character so I have a clearer idea of how the whole face is going to look as I develop it. Although my initial concept sketch didn't have eyes, I'm aiming for a wizened look but with a hint of emotional fatigue or melancholy.

Cataracted Eye Reference

I used the fine marble pre-set texture with a blur filter to create a procedural layer of blood vessels in the sclera as I did with my second character, as well as utilising the method I discovered through experimentation for creating the contracting iris fibres. Since she's of vaguely Turco-Mongolian origin, I'm going to make her irises a rich brown, which will also make the cataracts have more contrast once added. 

Once I added the cataract just over the pupil of the eye, I realised it just wasn't conveying the character I described boldly enough, so I've made the choice to completed cloud over the iris as well as seen in the other images of my texture reference.

^ Melanin Pigment ref        ^ Addition with a new fill layer and mask

Among my reference library for sculpting the face, I decided to pull from the above reference as I found the excess melanin pigmentation visually unusual and interesting. I used an default, uneven, speckled alpha as a brush to apply is as additional colour.

I felt that the wrinkles could stand to be bolder, and more skin-like (as they currently look quite harsh). I decided to use the baked curvature map to add some selective redness in all the creases, which I think really helps emphasise each contour and make them look more natural.

Finished Face texture and testing under a variety of lighting conditions in Substance

Hands:

Hands Texture Reference

As with the face, I initially applied a skin smart material to build on. I used the baked curvature map to add redness within each crease as I did for the face. I also hand painted some redness onto each knuckle.

I think feel like the hands looked old or withered enough, so using the curvature map as a mask, I added contours. For the age spots, I used the 'Grunge Pebble Spots' texture on a brown base colour fill layer and adjusting the tiling scale and reset the randomness seed until I was happy with it.

The final touches were adding colour to the already baked vein details, detailing the fingernails and ultimately adding the ember-made scars on her palms.

The fingernails were textured with a base fill layer with low roughness and a skin-tone base colour. I then hand-painted striations with a separate height layer, and thirdly airbrushed the paler edges and the darker nail roots.

Neck Wrapping:

^ Neck Wrapping Reference            ^ Texturing stage by stage

To create the base texture for the neck wrapping's fabric, I used the Burlap smart material with an extra base colour fill layer (with a cloud texture mask) to add some age-ridden discolouration. I then applied the Tartan smart material and stripped it down to just the tartan pattern itself, altered the warp filter to fit the level of weave distortion I wanted and masked in three copies of the pattern at different orientations to achieve the illusion of the wrapping being coiled around her neck.

Final Result:

I'm really happy with the how the eyes visually jump out from a distance, and I think the face texture is reasonably accomplished as a product of the reference I used. I'm still a little concerned about the simplicity of the coat's pattern design, but I do believe that it reflects the Soothsayer's culture and the climate she lives in (that being a Mongolian Steppe with cold winds). 

While most designs of Soothsaying characters are very ornate, jewelled and decorated, I wanted this Soothsayer to be from a community that didn't really value status expressed through fashion or wealth through jewellery, which has already been done. Her functional importance also doesn't warrant fashion accessories in my mind either. Rather than telling the future or spouting prophecies, this Soothsayer is more of a 'Truth-Seer'. People go to her to find out things that they feel they must know, but don't want to know. Her character narrative of feeling burdened by this truths would also be conflicted with by any weighted adornments to her outfit.

Regardless of this aspect, I think that the face and hands are the stars of the texturing, and the detail I've achieved hopefully compensates for the relative simplicity of her clothing.

3004 Character Brief: Gaia Pt. 2 - Texturing in Substance Painter

UV Maps:

Here are the final versions of my UV map layouts for materials. The papoose, footwear, drainage tube, and plant pot all share one map, the hair and plant have their own map to optimise how much of the mesh would have an alpha or back-face culling enabled.

Despite wanting to use as few individual materials as possible, I have ended up with 5, which is now 6 with the addition of the tools. If I'd merged some of the maps, I could've ended up with less, but I chose to prioritise sorting the types of material (i.e. skin, cloth, accessories). The tools could also be equipped or unequipped in-game so their separate map is just about justified.

Tools:

I utilised mainly smart materials to block out the textures for the tools, and changed the scale, texture and effect of masks as I saw fit to create the right level of wear, especially on the rubber secateurs handles and the wooden handle of the trowel.

Footwear:

I want the socks to look like plain white cotton socks, I used the knitted wool material and scaled it down as far as I could before the texture resolution failed to render the pattern, filled it white and made a few different layers to align the pattern in each so all the UV seams were hidden.

To create the base texture for the slippers, I used the baseball cap material and changed the colour to my preference. I made the stitching with the standard straight stitch brush after maxing out the length of the stitches so each were in kissing distance (making it all look machine stitched). As for the dirt, I used a brown-coloured fill layer a pre-set dirt smart mask and then grouped the layers. This was so I could mask out the dirt higher up the socks.

Gown:

After browsing my gown reference again, I constructed an alpha pattern that resembled the repeating motifs present in most of my collated images and split it into two pieces so I could make one half of it a different colour to the other without having to colour it manually. After a quick test on two different colour fill layers, I realised that the thin cross in the middle of the pattern were too fine for the texel density to display appealingly. I made the decision to remove that piece of the pattern and the motif is all the better for it and doesn't appear muddy or pixelated anymore.

Since I took the time to make sure the original flat UV layout of the retopologised gown was preserved after being deformed, I'm able to apply the pattern with UV projection and have absolutely no texture distortion.

To emphasise that her clothes are not practical for rugged out-door exploration, I want to add some frays to the hem of the gown. I decided to look through Substance Painter's alpha library to see if there were any pre-existing alphas I could repurpose. The 'drips' alphas felt like promising ones, but the 'drips high' was doubly useful because I could either paint in subtle fraying with one side of the alpha, and more aggressive tears with the other.

To finally add dirt staining to the gown, I copied the dirt layers I used for the footwear and masked it all in by hand. The areas I focused on were around the knees where would've knelt on to dig in soil, under the dirty blade of the trowel where it will have shuffled around and smeared soil on, and anywhere around the papoose straps where she may have touched it with soil-covered fingers.

Head and Hands:

Tired and Ill eye reference

Above all other factors, I want this character to be visibly fatigued and subtly sickly, so it's more visually obvious that her body is clearly fighting an illness and not doing very well.

I started with a pale base colour layer and added some purple and pink discolouration layers with cloud texture masks.

I then added some redness/irritation around the eyes.

I applied the same discolouration and redness to the hands, particularly around the knuckles.

I added some freckles as well, but was sure to keep them subtle as she's not only quite pale but has been mainly inside and away from sun for a while. I also added some light skin creases around her eyes, nose and forehead, just so she looks more late 20's than early 20's.

To add some finer details to the hands, I used one of the marble pre-set textures as a mask for a height layer, which achieved pretty good effect of the tiny wrinkles visible on the hand. I also painted some veins on the back of her hands, her wrists and the inside of her elbow.

The final touch was to add an IV track mark. When fluid is filling your lungs you're going to become dehydrated quickly. After some research, I found that it's apparently standard to have an IV needle closer to your heart depending of the severity of one's condition, and usually ICU patients have their injected inside their elbow. I added mine in 3 layers to resemble my reference images: a red spot of irritation, the needle hole and some minor bruising around the injection site.

Texturing the Eyes and Adjusting their Proportional Size:

I've previously hand-drawn the webbed contracting fibres in the iris, but I felt determined to find a more efficient, more modular and less destructive way of generating them. I browsed the textures in Substance Painter and found a tiling fabric texture that I thought might work. I applied it as a spherically projected mask, changed the layer attribute to overlay and lowered the opacity. The the crucial step was to add a wrap filter.

I think this definitely works was a method and the best part is that I can change any factor of this effect non-destructively and without wasting time making hand-drawn alterations.

To add some fine blood vessels to the eyes I again used the fine marble cracks pre-set texture as a mask for a red base colour layer.

After finally starting to texture the eyes, I realised they were entirely too big to be at all realistic. So I proportionally scaled them and the eyelids down and re-imported the mesh into Substance Painter, and they look much more naturally sized.

Papoose/Baby Carrier:

Papoose Texture Reference

Beginning with a muted blue base colour, I set about creating the iconic mesh surface of baby carriers and backpacks by using the 'Fabric Medieval Flower' alpha pre-set in Substance Painter as the mask for a height-fill layer (this alpha felt like the perfect one to use in creating the holes in this kind of fabric). I also applied a blur filter to make the holes softer.

Drainage Tube Last Touches:

Medical Drainage Tube Reference

To flesh out the tube, I added some blue dyed lines down the its column as well as filling the ribbing on either side of the conduit. I've also finally chosen to add some labelling to the conduit's edge that reads 'Pulmonary Drainage'. 

Hair:

To create a foundation for the hair cards to merge naturally with, I used the Substance 'hair lines dense' brush that comes with the software, enlarged the minimum brush size and set to combing in a hairline on the base-model.

Instead of attempting to texture the hair cards in Substance Painter, I chose to create each tress alpha in Photoshop as I had more control and more tools to create them. Once I completed each, I imported them as alphas and stencilled them on an opacity fill layer in Substance.

The final stage to the hair was to add some colour (to make the hair colour less uniform and more natural) and roughness (to make the hair look not quite clean) variation with a fill layer and a mask. 

Plant:

To create the shape of the leaves, I imported one of my reference images of maidenhair fern into Photoshop and adjusted the histogram levels until it was a stark black and white outline. I then imported that image into Substance Painter as I did with the hair cards and used it as a stencil.

 ^ alpha from reference        ^ Applied as stencil                ^Reference   ^ Plant in Substance with alpha 

I drew in the stems by hand on their own layer and added some colour variations to the leaves as I previously did the hair.

Final Texturing Results:

I do wish that the texturing was more realistic overall, I'm worried that her textures look too bare in places like the papoose straps or areas of her face, hands and legs. I think it's definitely a solid attempt at realistic textures, but I think still I lack some of the the skills and experience in Substance Painter I need to fully achieve my goals with this character.

The footwear, gown and tools are more convincing since there was true to life reference, but I think that the skin, plant and hair should have been given just a bit more texture budget as well.

Overall, she is at least textured to a level that I'm minimally happy with, and I'm happy that she's been brought to life to any extent.