Introduction
Hello! My name is Elliott Wang and I am a Character Artist who recently graduated from Vertex School's Game Arts Program. My journey into 3D art began a year ago at the start of Vertex School – I had been completely new to the field before then. However, as a huge consumer of video games my entire life, I’d often entertained the thought of contributing to the games that I enjoy so much. Learning all the tools of the trade was challenging, but practicing art as a hobby prior to Vertex made things a little more manageable.
介绍
你好！我的名字是Elliott Wang，我是一名角色艺术家，最近从Vertex School的游戏艺术课程毕业。我的3D艺术之旅始于一年前的Vertex School成立之初- 在此之前，我对这个领域还完全陌生。然而，作为我一生中电子游戏的巨大消费者，我经常想到为我非常喜欢的游戏做出贡献。学习所有交易工具是具有挑战性的，但是在Vertex之前将艺术作为一种爱好来练习，使事情变得更加易于管理。



Before Ebon Fang, I created two greatswords and a knight of the Ebon Fang (please forgive the lack of creativity here). I planned at the start to have a unified body of work, and thankfully Ryan Kingslien let that plan come to fruition.
在埃邦方之前，我创造了两把大剑和一把伊邦方骑士（请原谅这里缺乏创造力）。我一开始就计划有一个统一的工作体系，谢天谢地，Ryan Kingslien让这个计划实现了。

Vertex School
The first step was committing to a transition from 2D to 3D for more work opportunities. I looked up a bunch of bootcamps, and Vertex stood out to me with its affordability and choice of mentors. I went through a short interview process, and the rest is history. As an online school, Vertex is flexible for people working part-time or full-time simultaneously and for people all across the world.
顶点学校
第一步是致力于从2D过渡到3D，以获得更多的工作机会。我查了一堆训练营，Vertex以其可负担性和导师的选择而脱颖而出。我经历了一个简短的面试过程，剩下的就是历史了。作为一所在线学校，Vertex可以灵活地为同时兼职或全职工作的人以及世界各地的人们提供服务。

Term 1 was an introduction to 3D, which follows a typical university class structure. There’s a syllabus and a set of assignments that hone in on the fundamentals. The second and third terms are where things get really fun: we split into character or environment paths and began our mentorship with artists working in the industry. The cohort that I belonged to was small, so I felt connected to all my peers and mentors in the program. Omar Aweidah and Anthony Musich are phenomenal teachers who were with me every step of the way from concept to render with my last two projects. The insight that these artists offer into the industry along with their assistance with each student’s individual problems is critically valuable. For someone with no connections trying to get started, there is no better opportunity.
第一学期是3D的介绍，它遵循典型的大学班级结构。有一个教学大纲和一组作业，可以磨练基础知识。第二和第三学期是事情变得非常有趣的地方：我们分成角色或环境路径，并开始与在该行业工作的艺术家进行指导。我所属的同龄人很小，所以我觉得与这个项目中的所有同龄人和导师都有联系。Omar Aweidah和Anthony Musich是非凡的老师，他们和我一起走过了从概念到渲染的每一步，完成了我最后两个项目。这些艺术家为行业提供的洞察力以及他们对每个学生个人问题的帮助至关重要。对于没有关系的人来说，没有更好的机会。

Everyone knows that there is an abundance of amazing free learning resources online, but without guidance from Vertex, I wouldn’t know what I needed to know. I wouldn’t be confident that what I was doing was ‘right’ or an industry standard.
每个人都知道网上有大量惊人的免费学习资源，但是如果没有Vertex的指导，我就不会知道我需要知道什么。我不会相信我所做的是“正确的”或行业标准。

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The Ebon Fang Project
The Diablo and Final Fantasy franchises are a great source of inspiration for me. My work is mainly fantasy themed, and as my mentors jokingly said, "A dragon is an inevitable subject that every artist will work on in this genre." Naturally, I had to get this dragon out of the way. I wanted to incorporate more eastern elements like fur, a mammalian nose, feathered wings, and a serpentine body. Hraesvelgr from Final Fantasy XIV is my favorite depiction of a dragon in any media, and I wanted to try to make something similar. My research also led me to reference lions and raccoons for anatomy and various birds and reptiles for the wings, mouth, and scales.
怡邦坊项目
《暗黑破坏神》和《最终幻想》系列对我来说是一个很好的灵感来源。我的作品主要是幻想主题，正如我的导师开玩笑说的那样，“龙是每个艺术家都会在这种类型中工作的不可避免的主题。当然，我必须把这条龙赶走。我想加入更多的东方元素，如皮毛，哺乳动物的鼻子，羽毛翅膀和蛇形的身体。《最终幻想XIV》中的赫雷斯维尔格是我最喜欢的任何媒体对龙的描绘，我想尝试做类似的东西。我的研究还使我参考了狮子和浣熊的解剖学，以及各种鸟类和爬行动物的翅膀，嘴巴和鳞片。

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All of my projects at Vertex were original concepts, and I felt more comfortable starting out in 2D. In this case, I did a quick sketch and moved on as I wanted to make many adjustments and design decisions in ZBrush. As you can see, the sculpt ended up being quite a bit different, with the only remaining detail being the line of action. It’s rare liberty to play both the role of concept artist and character artist, so I took the opportunity to enjoy it.
我在Vertex的所有项目都是原创概念，从2D开始，我感觉更舒服。在这种情况下，我做了一个快速的草图，然后继续前进，因为我想在ZBrush中做出许多调整和设计决策。正如你所看到的，雕塑最终变得相当不同，唯一剩下的细节是动作线。扮演概念艺术家和角色艺术家的角色是难得的自由，所以我借此机会享受它。

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Modeling
I started off with the dog base mesh native to ZBrush. I adjusted the proportions and separated the primary forms into major groups such as horns, head, arms, etc. This would make sculpting more manageable since the high poly would eventually reach around 60 million polys. Working with many subtools is also generally simpler and more flexible than working with less. Custom brushes were used for the sculpted hair and feathers, but otherwise, the scales were all made using brushes native to ZBrush. We arrive at the end result through multiple layers of detailing across the whole model. Some scales got actual geometry in the low poly to match the high poly silhouette, but most were baked into the normal map.
建 模
我从ZBrush原生的狗基地网格开始。我调整了比例，并将主要形式分为主要群体，如角，头，臂等。这将使雕刻更易于管理，因为高多边形最终将达到约6000万个多边形。使用许多子工具通常也比使用较少的子工具更简单，更灵活。定制刷子用于雕刻的头发和羽毛，但除此之外，鳞片都是使用ZBrush原生的刷子制成的。我们通过整个模型的多层细节来得出最终结果。一些比例尺在低多边形中具有实际的几何图形以匹配高多边形轮廓，但大多数都已烘焙到法线贴图中。

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I knew that the wings would be the most annoying part to work on. Areas, in particular, that would give me trouble without adequate planning were the wing parts. Square Enix's artist(s) modeled their wings on Hraesvelgr by splitting them into multiple thin slivers rather than thick blocks. The pivot point of these parts needs to be thin to prevent undesirable clipping when the wing folds. I took a similar approach, though my blocks are thicker to give the wing a full look in any pose.

Ideally, I think it would animate and look best, and even be easiest to model, if each feather were a separate mesh, but it’s all up to your budget. Also, I keep calling my wings feathered but they’re more like hardened hair. The tertiary details don’t match actual feathers, the secondary form of the wings is just in the shape of feathers.
我知道翅膀是最烦人的部分。特别是，在没有充分规划的情况下会给我带来麻烦的领域是机翼部分。史克威尔艾尼克斯的艺术家在Hraesvelgr上模仿他们的翅膀，将它们分成多个薄片而不是厚块。这些部件的枢轴点需要很薄，以防止机翼折叠时出现不必要的夹落。我采取了类似的方法，尽管我的积木更厚，以使翅膀在任何姿势下都能充分看到。

理想情况下，我认为如果每根羽毛都是一个单独的网格，它会制作动画和看起来最好，甚至最容易建模，但这完全取决于你的预算。此外，我一直称我的翅膀是羽毛状的，但它们更像是硬化的头发。三级细节与实际的羽毛不符，翅膀的次要形式只是羽毛的形状。

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I sculpted the wings in their maximum spread pose, forelimbs in A pose, and mouth open. Layers are an excellent tool to work non-destructively, and I also used them to preview and work the model in different positions. Crocodiles have divots in their jaws for larger teeth to slide into when closed, and a major divot can be seen in the lower jaw of my dragon for the upper fang. There is also an indent in the roof of the mouth for the lower teeth to move into, while the upper teeth slide into the space between the gums and lips. I think it’s important for details to appear intentional, even if you don’t thoughtfully plan for them. I apply this philosophy across the entire model.
我以最大伸展的姿势雕刻翅膀，以A姿势雕刻前肢，嘴巴张开。图层是非破坏性工作的出色工具，我还使用它们在不同位置预览和处理模型。鳄鱼的下颚有凹陷，当闭合时，较大的牙齿可以滑入，在我的龙的下颚中可以看到一个大的凹陷，用于上牙。口腔顶部也有凹痕，供下牙移入，而上牙则滑入牙龈和嘴唇之间的空间。我认为让细节显得有意是很重要的，即使你没有深思熟虑地计划它们。我将这一理念应用于整个模型。

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Retopology
I actually enjoy retopology to an extent. I mainly use Quad Draw in Maya and incorporate strategies that are more efficient than drawing one face at a time. I establish face loops first, then cover large areas in between and add edges to them where appropriate. It’s a welcome phase change where things become predictable and you just have to put in the time. It’s rewarding figuring out how to retopologize cleanly for deformations and for pride. To prevent Maya from stalling, I Quad Draw the decimated mesh in parts, then connect them all together at the end.

I used a UDIM workflow and stacked UV shells for the wings. In order to cut down on the number of UDIMs and awkward cuts, my wings are at 8k resolution while the rest of the body is at 4k. At 4k resolution, the massive wing parts would have to be split into many UV sets if I wanted to keep a consistent texel density across the model. There was also a bit of wasted space at 4k resolution, and going to 8k allowed me to utilize the spaces in between.
重新拓扑
我实际上在一定程度上喜欢重拓扑学。我主要在 Maya 中使用 Quad Draw，并采用比一次绘制一张面更有效的策略。我首先建立人脸环，然后覆盖中间的大面积区域，并在适当的时候向它们添加边缘。这是一个受欢迎的阶段性变化，事情变得可预测，你只需要投入时间。弄清楚如何干净利落地重新拓扑变形和自豪感是值得的。为了防止 Maya 失速，我对抽取零件中被摧毁的网格进行四次绘制，然后在最后将它们全部连接在一起。

我使用了UDIM工作流程，并为翅膀堆叠了UV外壳。为了减少UDIM的数量和笨拙的切割，我的翅膀分辨率为8k，而身体的其余部分为4k。在4k分辨率下，如果我想在整个模型中保持一致的纹理密度，则必须将巨大的机翼部件分成许多UV集。在4k分辨率下也有一些浪费的空间，并且转到8k允许我利用两者之间的空间。

For baking, I love using Handplane 3d. For larger projects with tons of parts, I don’t need to spend a ridiculous amount of time decimating down my high poly. I run two passes at different cage values, 1% and 5%, and composite the maps in Photoshop to clean up any baking artifacts I get. Handplane 3d does not support UDIMs though, which is slightly problematic. For the purpose of baking, I’ll just move all the UVs into the 0-1 space temporarily. At the same time, parts of the mesh contained in a UV set will be split off into separate objects and the vertices at the border will be averaged.
对于烘焙，我喜欢使用Handplane 3d。对于具有大量零件的大型项目，我不需要花费荒谬的时间来摧毁我的高多边形。我以不同的笼子值（1% 和 5%）运行两次传递，并在 Photoshop 中合成贴图以清理我获得的任何烘焙工件。Handplane 3d不支持UDIM，这有点问题。出于烘焙的目的，我将把所有UV暂时移动到0-1空间中。同时，UV集中包含的网格部分将被拆分为单独的对象，并且边界处的顶点将被平均。

Texturing
I follow the PBR approach, and all texturing is done in Substance 3D Painter. It supports UDIMs and allows me to paint across UV sets that would otherwise be different materials in Maya. If I were to assign a different material to each UV set, I would then have to copy and paste any textures shared across all the different materials used.  
纹理
我遵循PBR方法，所有纹理都在Substance 3D Painter中完成。它支持UDIM，并允许我在UV集上绘画，否则这些UV集在Maya中会是不同的材质。如果我要为每个UV集分配不同的材质，那么我必须复制并粘贴在使用的所有不同材质中共享的任何纹理。

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The curvature map I get from baking is essential for speeding up the texturing process, otherwise, I’d be painting everything by hand which is absolutely nuts. I use curvature generators to get a quick base, then hand paint from there. To reduce the number of layers, I combine base albedo, roughness, and metallic together, then add variation when needed. Many folders and layers have paint modifiers added for masking purposes. I did not make a clown pass my dragon because it wasn’t necessary. There weren’t any parts that needed clean color id selections besides the claws and sculpted fur.
我从烘焙中获得的曲率图对于加快纹理加工过程至关重要，否则，我将手工绘制所有内容，这绝对是疯狂的。我使用曲率发生器来获得快速底座，然后从那里进行手绘。为了减少层数，我将基本反照率、粗糙度和金属性组合在一起，然后在需要时添加变化。许多文件夹和图层都添加了用于遮罩目的的绘画修饰符。我没有让小丑通过我的龙，因为没有必要。除了爪子和雕刻的毛皮之外，没有任何零件需要干净的颜色id选择。

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The crevices between the scales (the exposed skin parts) are lighter than the scales themselves, and you can see this in many reptiles. I overemphasized this detail to make the scales stand out more. A cavity map will add any illusion of depth necessary to the crevices during render.

Ultimately, the texturing process is also a bunch of mostly small, simple changes stacked together to produce something much more complex.
鳞片之间的缝隙（暴露的皮肤部分）比鳞片本身更轻，你可以在许多爬行动物中看到这一点。我过分强调了这个细节，以使鳞片更加突出。空腔贴图将在渲染过程中为裂缝添加所需的任何深度错觉。

最终，纹理加工过程也是一堆大多很小的，简单的变化堆叠在一起，以产生更复杂的东西。

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Rendering
I typically start with a three-point lighting setup – key, fill, rim – and add more as needed. Marmoset makes this process a breeze, though Unreal Engine works just as well. When presenting, I usually plan for a cover shot, detail shots, then a few breakdowns. Dramatic lighting can make your render look more realistic and eye-catching if that is your goal, but showing detail is usually expected. Here is a comparison of lighting changes for the sake of presenting detail. I was told to think like an illustrator during this phase. I mainly use light to emphasize depth in my render rather than use it to show or hide detail.
渲染
我通常从三点照明设置开始 - 键，填充，轮辋 - 并根据需要添加更多。《狨猴》让这个过程变得轻而易举，尽管虚幻引擎也同样有效。在演示时，我通常会计划封面镜头，细节镜头，然后是一些故障。如果这是您的目标，戏剧性的照明可以使您的渲染看起来更加逼真和引人注目，但通常期望显示细节。以下是为了呈现细节而对照明变化的比较。在这个阶段，我被告知要像插画家一样思考。我主要使用光来强调渲染中的深度，而不是用它来显示或隐藏细节。

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For the cover shot of my dragon, there was a lot of editing done in Photoshop. The final result is the 5th iteration, with previous attempts being too red overall, poorly lit, or just nonsensical. I rendered the dragon with a transparent background, placed it into a blurred sky background, adjusted the color balance of the background to match the lighting, and added embers to the foreground. Noise and motion blur filters create a sense of motion – as if the shot was a frame taken from a cinematic.
对于我的龙的封面照片，在Photoshop中做了很多编辑。最终结果是第5次迭代，之前的尝试总体上太红，光线不足，或者只是荒谬。我用透明背景渲染了龙，将其放置在模糊的天空背景中，调整了背景的色彩平衡以匹配照明，并在前景中添加了余烬。噪点和运动模糊滤镜营造出一种运动感，就好像镜头是从电影拍摄的帧一样。

Conclusion
I originally planned on using sculpted fur like Hraesvelgr’s model but decided hair cards would look better during the texturing phase, so I added them after everything was done. Laying hair cards over the sculpted fur somewhat reduced the coverage needed, though not needing to account for sculpted fur would have made the retopology process much, much simpler. To generate the textures for the hair cards I used Fibershop, to place the hair cards I used a Maya plug-in called GS CurveTools.

If there’s one thing I would do differently, it would be to not sculpt the hair with the main body as one contiguous mesh. I cannot overstate how bad of an idea that was. It only served to make retopology complicated. Better yet, I shouldn’t have even sculpted hair if I was going to do hair cards. I also spent a while figuring out how to best approach modeling the wing. While the low poly clumped the feathers together, there was no reason to sculpt the high poly the same way. Making each feather its own subtool would have saved a ton of time and effort.
结论
我最初计划使用像Hraesvelgr的模型这样的雕刻毛皮，但决定在纹理阶段看起来更好，所以我在一切完成后都添加了它们。在雕刻的毛皮上铺设发卡在一定程度上减少了所需的覆盖范围，尽管不需要考虑雕刻的毛皮会使重新拓扑过程变得更加简单。为了生成发卡的纹理，我使用了 Fibershop，为了放置发卡，我使用了一个名为 GS CurveTools 的 Maya 插件。

如果有一件事我会做不同的事情，那就是不要将主体雕刻成一个连续的网格。我不能夸大这个想法有多糟糕。它只会使拓扑变得复杂。更好的是，如果我要做发卡，我甚至不应该雕刻头发。我还花了一段时间来弄清楚如何最好地对机翼进行建模。虽然低聚将羽毛聚集在一起，但没有理由以同样的方式雕刻高聚。让每根羽毛都成为自己的子工具将节省大量的时间和精力。

Fortunately, some would-be problems were avoided thanks to active feedback from my mentors. As this was also my third project, some mistakes were avoided because I’d learned from my previous work. I should be careful calling approaches mistakes as they might just be a method that I don’t prefer. A recurring observation I’ve made on my 3D journey is that there are many ways to arrive at an end result. How you choose to get there is up to you.

Thank you, Vertex School and 80 Level, for the opportunity to show my work!
幸运的是，由于我的导师的积极反馈，一些潜在的问题得到了避免。由于这也是我的第三个项目，因此避免了一些错误，因为我从以前的工作中学到了东西。我应该小心地调用方法错误，因为它们可能只是一种我不喜欢的方法。我在3D旅程中反复观察到的一点是，有很多方法可以得出最终结果。你如何选择到达那里取决于你。

谢谢你，顶点学校和80级，让我有机会展示我的作品！

Introduction
Hello! My name is Elliott Wang and I am a Character Artist who recently graduated from Vertex School's Game Arts Program. My journey into 3D art began a year ago at the start of Vertex School – I had been completely new to the field before then. However, as a huge consumer of video games my entire life, I’d often entertained the thought of contributing to the games that I enjoy so much. Learning all the tools of the trade was challenging, but practicing art as a hobby prior to Vertex made things a little more manageable.
介绍
你好！我的名字是Elliott Wang，我是一名角色艺术家，最近从Vertex School的游戏艺术课程毕业。我的3D艺术之旅始于一年前的Vertex School成立之初- 在此之前，我对这个领域还完全陌生。然而，作为我一生中电子游戏的巨大消费者，我经常想到为我非常喜欢的游戏做出贡献。学习所有交易工具是具有挑战性的，但是在Vertex之前将艺术作为一种爱好来练习，使事情变得更加易于管理。



Before Ebon Fang, I created two greatswords and a knight of the Ebon Fang (please forgive the lack of creativity here). I planned at the start to have a unified body of work, and thankfully Ryan Kingslien let that plan come to fruition.
在埃邦方之前，我创造了两把大剑和一把伊邦方骑士（请原谅这里缺乏创造力）。我一开始就计划有一个统一的工作体系，谢天谢地，Ryan Kingslien让这个计划实现了。

Vertex School
The first step was committing to a transition from 2D to 3D for more work opportunities. I looked up a bunch of bootcamps, and Vertex stood out to me with its affordability and choice of mentors. I went through a short interview process, and the rest is history. As an online school, Vertex is flexible for people working part-time or full-time simultaneously and for people all across the world.
顶点学校
第一步是致力于从2D过渡到3D，以获得更多的工作机会。我查了一堆训练营，Vertex以其可负担性和导师的选择而脱颖而出。我经历了一个简短的面试过程，剩下的就是历史了。作为一所在线学校，Vertex可以灵活地为同时兼职或全职工作的人以及世界各地的人们提供服务。

Term 1 was an introduction to 3D, which follows a typical university class structure. There’s a syllabus and a set of assignments that hone in on the fundamentals. The second and third terms are where things get really fun: we split into character or environment paths and began our mentorship with artists working in the industry. The cohort that I belonged to was small, so I felt connected to all my peers and mentors in the program. Omar Aweidah and Anthony Musich are phenomenal teachers who were with me every step of the way from concept to render with my last two projects. The insight that these artists offer into the industry along with their assistance with each student’s individual problems is critically valuable. For someone with no connections trying to get started, there is no better opportunity.
第一学期是3D的介绍，它遵循典型的大学班级结构。有一个教学大纲和一组作业，可以磨练基础知识。第二和第三学期是事情变得非常有趣的地方：我们分成角色或环境路径，并开始与在该行业工作的艺术家进行指导。我所属的同龄人很小，所以我觉得与这个项目中的所有同龄人和导师都有联系。Omar Aweidah和Anthony Musich是非凡的老师，他们和我一起走过了从概念到渲染的每一步，完成了我最后两个项目。这些艺术家为行业提供的洞察力以及他们对每个学生个人问题的帮助至关重要。对于没有关系的人来说，没有更好的机会。

Everyone knows that there is an abundance of amazing free learning resources online, but without guidance from Vertex, I wouldn’t know what I needed to know. I wouldn’t be confident that what I was doing was ‘right’ or an industry standard.
每个人都知道网上有大量惊人的免费学习资源，但是如果没有Vertex的指导，我就不会知道我需要知道什么。我不会相信我所做的是“正确的”或行业标准。

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The Ebon Fang Project
The Diablo and Final Fantasy franchises are a great source of inspiration for me. My work is mainly fantasy themed, and as my mentors jokingly said, "A dragon is an inevitable subject that every artist will work on in this genre." Naturally, I had to get this dragon out of the way. I wanted to incorporate more eastern elements like fur, a mammalian nose, feathered wings, and a serpentine body. Hraesvelgr from Final Fantasy XIV is my favorite depiction of a dragon in any media, and I wanted to try to make something similar. My research also led me to reference lions and raccoons for anatomy and various birds and reptiles for the wings, mouth, and scales.
怡邦坊项目
《暗黑破坏神》和《最终幻想》系列对我来说是一个很好的灵感来源。我的作品主要是幻想主题，正如我的导师开玩笑说的那样，“龙是每个艺术家都会在这种类型中工作的不可避免的主题。当然，我必须把这条龙赶走。我想加入更多的东方元素，如皮毛，哺乳动物的鼻子，羽毛翅膀和蛇形的身体。《最终幻想XIV》中的赫雷斯维尔格是我最喜欢的任何媒体对龙的描绘，我想尝试做类似的东西。我的研究还使我参考了狮子和浣熊的解剖学，以及各种鸟类和爬行动物的翅膀，嘴巴和鳞片。

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All of my projects at Vertex were original concepts, and I felt more comfortable starting out in 2D. In this case, I did a quick sketch and moved on as I wanted to make many adjustments and design decisions in ZBrush. As you can see, the sculpt ended up being quite a bit different, with the only remaining detail being the line of action. It’s rare liberty to play both the role of concept artist and character artist, so I took the opportunity to enjoy it.
我在Vertex的所有项目都是原创概念，从2D开始，我感觉更舒服。在这种情况下，我做了一个快速的草图，然后继续前进，因为我想在ZBrush中做出许多调整和设计决策。正如你所看到的，雕塑最终变得相当不同，唯一剩下的细节是动作线。扮演概念艺术家和角色艺术家的角色是难得的自由，所以我借此机会享受它。

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Modeling
I started off with the dog base mesh native to ZBrush. I adjusted the proportions and separated the primary forms into major groups such as horns, head, arms, etc. This would make sculpting more manageable since the high poly would eventually reach around 60 million polys. Working with many subtools is also generally simpler and more flexible than working with less. Custom brushes were used for the sculpted hair and feathers, but otherwise, the scales were all made using brushes native to ZBrush. We arrive at the end result through multiple layers of detailing across the whole model. Some scales got actual geometry in the low poly to match the high poly silhouette, but most were baked into the normal map.
建 模
我从ZBrush原生的狗基地网格开始。我调整了比例，并将主要形式分为主要群体，如角，头，臂等。这将使雕刻更易于管理，因为高多边形最终将达到约6000万个多边形。使用许多子工具通常也比使用较少的子工具更简单，更灵活。定制刷子用于雕刻的头发和羽毛，但除此之外，鳞片都是使用ZBrush原生的刷子制成的。我们通过整个模型的多层细节来得出最终结果。一些比例尺在低多边形中具有实际的几何图形以匹配高多边形轮廓，但大多数都已烘焙到法线贴图中。

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I knew that the wings would be the most annoying part to work on. Areas, in particular, that would give me trouble without adequate planning were the wing parts. Square Enix's artist(s) modeled their wings on Hraesvelgr by splitting them into multiple thin slivers rather than thick blocks. The pivot point of these parts needs to be thin to prevent undesirable clipping when the wing folds. I took a similar approach, though my blocks are thicker to give the wing a full look in any pose.

Ideally, I think it would animate and look best, and even be easiest to model, if each feather were a separate mesh, but it’s all up to your budget. Also, I keep calling my wings feathered but they’re more like hardened hair. The tertiary details don’t match actual feathers, the secondary form of the wings is just in the shape of feathers.
我知道翅膀是最烦人的部分。特别是，在没有充分规划的情况下会给我带来麻烦的领域是机翼部分。史克威尔艾尼克斯的艺术家在Hraesvelgr上模仿他们的翅膀，将它们分成多个薄片而不是厚块。这些部件的枢轴点需要很薄，以防止机翼折叠时出现不必要的夹落。我采取了类似的方法，尽管我的积木更厚，以使翅膀在任何姿势下都能充分看到。

理想情况下，我认为如果每根羽毛都是一个单独的网格，它会制作动画和看起来最好，甚至最容易建模，但这完全取决于你的预算。此外，我一直称我的翅膀是羽毛状的，但它们更像是硬化的头发。三级细节与实际的羽毛不符，翅膀的次要形式只是羽毛的形状。

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I sculpted the wings in their maximum spread pose, forelimbs in A pose, and mouth open. Layers are an excellent tool to work non-destructively, and I also used them to preview and work the model in different positions. Crocodiles have divots in their jaws for larger teeth to slide into when closed, and a major divot can be seen in the lower jaw of my dragon for the upper fang. There is also an indent in the roof of the mouth for the lower teeth to move into, while the upper teeth slide into the space between the gums and lips. I think it’s important for details to appear intentional, even if you don’t thoughtfully plan for them. I apply this philosophy across the entire model.
我以最大伸展的姿势雕刻翅膀，以A姿势雕刻前肢，嘴巴张开。图层是非破坏性工作的出色工具，我还使用它们在不同位置预览和处理模型。鳄鱼的下颚有凹陷，当闭合时，较大的牙齿可以滑入，在我的龙的下颚中可以看到一个大的凹陷，用于上牙。口腔顶部也有凹痕，供下牙移入，而上牙则滑入牙龈和嘴唇之间的空间。我认为让细节显得有意是很重要的，即使你没有深思熟虑地计划它们。我将这一理念应用于整个模型。

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Retopology
I actually enjoy retopology to an extent. I mainly use Quad Draw in Maya and incorporate strategies that are more efficient than drawing one face at a time. I establish face loops first, then cover large areas in between and add edges to them where appropriate. It’s a welcome phase change where things become predictable and you just have to put in the time. It’s rewarding figuring out how to retopologize cleanly for deformations and for pride. To prevent Maya from stalling, I Quad Draw the decimated mesh in parts, then connect them all together at the end.

I used a UDIM workflow and stacked UV shells for the wings. In order to cut down on the number of UDIMs and awkward cuts, my wings are at 8k resolution while the rest of the body is at 4k. At 4k resolution, the massive wing parts would have to be split into many UV sets if I wanted to keep a consistent texel density across the model. There was also a bit of wasted space at 4k resolution, and going to 8k allowed me to utilize the spaces in between.
重新拓扑
我实际上在一定程度上喜欢重拓扑学。我主要在 Maya 中使用 Quad Draw，并采用比一次绘制一张面更有效的策略。我首先建立人脸环，然后覆盖中间的大面积区域，并在适当的时候向它们添加边缘。这是一个受欢迎的阶段性变化，事情变得可预测，你只需要投入时间。弄清楚如何干净利落地重新拓扑变形和自豪感是值得的。为了防止 Maya 失速，我对抽取零件中被摧毁的网格进行四次绘制，然后在最后将它们全部连接在一起。

我使用了UDIM工作流程，并为翅膀堆叠了UV外壳。为了减少UDIM的数量和笨拙的切割，我的翅膀分辨率为8k，而身体的其余部分为4k。在4k分辨率下，如果我想在整个模型中保持一致的纹理密度，则必须将巨大的机翼部件分成许多UV集。在4k分辨率下也有一些浪费的空间，并且转到8k允许我利用两者之间的空间。

For baking, I love using Handplane 3d. For larger projects with tons of parts, I don’t need to spend a ridiculous amount of time decimating down my high poly. I run two passes at different cage values, 1% and 5%, and composite the maps in Photoshop to clean up any baking artifacts I get. Handplane 3d does not support UDIMs though, which is slightly problematic. For the purpose of baking, I’ll just move all the UVs into the 0-1 space temporarily. At the same time, parts of the mesh contained in a UV set will be split off into separate objects and the vertices at the border will be averaged.
对于烘焙，我喜欢使用Handplane 3d。对于具有大量零件的大型项目，我不需要花费荒谬的时间来摧毁我的高多边形。我以不同的笼子值（1% 和 5%）运行两次传递，并在 Photoshop 中合成贴图以清理我获得的任何烘焙工件。Handplane 3d不支持UDIM，这有点问题。出于烘焙的目的，我将把所有UV暂时移动到0-1空间中。同时，UV集中包含的网格部分将被拆分为单独的对象，并且边界处的顶点将被平均。

Texturing
I follow the PBR approach, and all texturing is done in Substance 3D Painter. It supports UDIMs and allows me to paint across UV sets that would otherwise be different materials in Maya. If I were to assign a different material to each UV set, I would then have to copy and paste any textures shared across all the different materials used.  
纹理
我遵循PBR方法，所有纹理都在Substance 3D Painter中完成。它支持UDIM，并允许我在UV集上绘画，否则这些UV集在Maya中会是不同的材质。如果我要为每个UV集分配不同的材质，那么我必须复制并粘贴在使用的所有不同材质中共享的任何纹理。

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The curvature map I get from baking is essential for speeding up the texturing process, otherwise, I’d be painting everything by hand which is absolutely nuts. I use curvature generators to get a quick base, then hand paint from there. To reduce the number of layers, I combine base albedo, roughness, and metallic together, then add variation when needed. Many folders and layers have paint modifiers added for masking purposes. I did not make a clown pass my dragon because it wasn’t necessary. There weren’t any parts that needed clean color id selections besides the claws and sculpted fur.
我从烘焙中获得的曲率图对于加快纹理加工过程至关重要，否则，我将手工绘制所有内容，这绝对是疯狂的。我使用曲率发生器来获得快速底座，然后从那里进行手绘。为了减少层数，我将基本反照率、粗糙度和金属性组合在一起，然后在需要时添加变化。许多文件夹和图层都添加了用于遮罩目的的绘画修饰符。我没有让小丑通过我的龙，因为没有必要。除了爪子和雕刻的毛皮之外，没有任何零件需要干净的颜色id选择。

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The crevices between the scales (the exposed skin parts) are lighter than the scales themselves, and you can see this in many reptiles. I overemphasized this detail to make the scales stand out more. A cavity map will add any illusion of depth necessary to the crevices during render.

Ultimately, the texturing process is also a bunch of mostly small, simple changes stacked together to produce something much more complex.
鳞片之间的缝隙（暴露的皮肤部分）比鳞片本身更轻，你可以在许多爬行动物中看到这一点。我过分强调了这个细节，以使鳞片更加突出。空腔贴图将在渲染过程中为裂缝添加所需的任何深度错觉。

最终，纹理加工过程也是一堆大多很小的，简单的变化堆叠在一起，以产生更复杂的东西。

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Rendering
I typically start with a three-point lighting setup – key, fill, rim – and add more as needed. Marmoset makes this process a breeze, though Unreal Engine works just as well. When presenting, I usually plan for a cover shot, detail shots, then a few breakdowns. Dramatic lighting can make your render look more realistic and eye-catching if that is your goal, but showing detail is usually expected. Here is a comparison of lighting changes for the sake of presenting detail. I was told to think like an illustrator during this phase. I mainly use light to emphasize depth in my render rather than use it to show or hide detail.
渲染
我通常从三点照明设置开始 - 键，填充，轮辋 - 并根据需要添加更多。《狨猴》让这个过程变得轻而易举，尽管虚幻引擎也同样有效。在演示时，我通常会计划封面镜头，细节镜头，然后是一些故障。如果这是您的目标，戏剧性的照明可以使您的渲染看起来更加逼真和引人注目，但通常期望显示细节。以下是为了呈现细节而对照明变化的比较。在这个阶段，我被告知要像插画家一样思考。我主要使用光来强调渲染中的深度，而不是用它来显示或隐藏细节。

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For the cover shot of my dragon, there was a lot of editing done in Photoshop. The final result is the 5th iteration, with previous attempts being too red overall, poorly lit, or just nonsensical. I rendered the dragon with a transparent background, placed it into a blurred sky background, adjusted the color balance of the background to match the lighting, and added embers to the foreground. Noise and motion blur filters create a sense of motion – as if the shot was a frame taken from a cinematic.
对于我的龙的封面照片，在Photoshop中做了很多编辑。最终结果是第5次迭代，之前的尝试总体上太红，光线不足，或者只是荒谬。我用透明背景渲染了龙，将其放置在模糊的天空背景中，调整了背景的色彩平衡以匹配照明，并在前景中添加了余烬。噪点和运动模糊滤镜营造出一种运动感，就好像镜头是从电影拍摄的帧一样。

Conclusion
I originally planned on using sculpted fur like Hraesvelgr’s model but decided hair cards would look better during the texturing phase, so I added them after everything was done. Laying hair cards over the sculpted fur somewhat reduced the coverage needed, though not needing to account for sculpted fur would have made the retopology process much, much simpler. To generate the textures for the hair cards I used Fibershop, to place the hair cards I used a Maya plug-in called GS CurveTools.

If there’s one thing I would do differently, it would be to not sculpt the hair with the main body as one contiguous mesh. I cannot overstate how bad of an idea that was. It only served to make retopology complicated. Better yet, I shouldn’t have even sculpted hair if I was going to do hair cards. I also spent a while figuring out how to best approach modeling the wing. While the low poly clumped the feathers together, there was no reason to sculpt the high poly the same way. Making each feather its own subtool would have saved a ton of time and effort.
结论
我最初计划使用像Hraesvelgr的模型这样的雕刻毛皮，但决定在纹理阶段看起来更好，所以我在一切完成后都添加了它们。在雕刻的毛皮上铺设发卡在一定程度上减少了所需的覆盖范围，尽管不需要考虑雕刻的毛皮会使重新拓扑过程变得更加简单。为了生成发卡的纹理，我使用了 Fibershop，为了放置发卡，我使用了一个名为 GS CurveTools 的 Maya 插件。

如果有一件事我会做不同的事情，那就是不要将主体雕刻成一个连续的网格。我不能夸大这个想法有多糟糕。它只会使拓扑变得复杂。更好的是，如果我要做发卡，我甚至不应该雕刻头发。我还花了一段时间来弄清楚如何最好地对机翼进行建模。虽然低聚将羽毛聚集在一起，但没有理由以同样的方式雕刻高聚。让每根羽毛都成为自己的子工具将节省大量的时间和精力。

Fortunately, some would-be problems were avoided thanks to active feedback from my mentors. As this was also my third project, some mistakes were avoided because I’d learned from my previous work. I should be careful calling approaches mistakes as they might just be a method that I don’t prefer. A recurring observation I’ve made on my 3D journey is that there are many ways to arrive at an end result. How you choose to get there is up to you.

Thank you, Vertex School and 80 Level, for the opportunity to show my work!
幸运的是，由于我的导师的积极反馈，一些潜在的问题得到了避免。由于这也是我的第三个项目，因此避免了一些错误，因为我从以前的工作中学到了东西。我应该小心地调用方法错误，因为它们可能只是一种我不喜欢的方法。我在3D旅程中反复观察到的一点是，有很多方法可以得出最终结果。你如何选择到达那里取决于你。

谢谢你，顶点学校和80级，让我有机会展示我的作品！