Creating the "Baker's Son"
- nekiristailgame
- Feb 17, 2020
- 2 min read
Updated: Feb 23, 2020
Aubrey Edinger
In the game, players can walk around and interact with the world as either a cat, or as a human. The first humanoid character we created was the baker’s son. Creating him was a multi-step process. One of the artists created the concept art for the boy, which was then expanded upon as the modeling process continued. First, a low poly base was created in Maya, which is a 3D computer graphics program that allows artists to model, animate, and render their creations. The model was very primitive and was primarily used to establish proportions.
The form was flushed out and finished in Zbrush. Since it is a digital sculpting tool, it allowed me to really refine the form of the baker’s son and to create more intricate details that I would have been unable to achieve in Maya. It would have been possible to have sculpted this character completely in ZBrush, but I’m more comfortable with using Maya to create a base to then build upon.
After ZBrush, the model was brought back into Maya for retopology. The quad draw tool made it easy to ensure good edge flow and to create a model with a poly count that was appropriate for use in Unreal. I had never retopologized a character before, and there was a little bit of a learning curve. When that task was completed, it was time to prep him for texturing, and Maya was used to create the UV layout. From there, it was a simple task to use Substance Painter to create his texture and for him to be ready for the animation process.
The baker's son is only one of three human characters that are being developed for the game. As we move into the second half of game creation, more characters are being modeled for Nekiri's Tail. When the game is completed, the team expects to have three levels, one for each of the characters and their individual backstories.
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