Mudbox preps

Before I take the models in to mudbox I need to make sure everything is in order. All of the UVs need to be properly layed out and everything need to be properly aligned. All of this is done but I also noticed something else. When you smooth something in Maya or Mudbox the program will average out the edges like you'd expect but sometime it can get rid of any hard edges to want to keep on your model. This could be a problem because when I got to create the normal maps in Mudbox I will be sculpting on a mesh that isn't exactly the same as the original mesh, this could cause the normal maps to not line up correctly. To fix this I added extra edges in Maya before taking it into Mudbox. These edges are positioned very close to any edge that I want to remain sharp, so that when you smooth it, the edge won't be completely smoothed out.

Here's an example.

 Original model

 

Model smoothed without extra edges added

Model smoothed with extra edges added

You can see that there is a big difference and that the one with the extra edges is much closer to the original. 

Mudbox?

So, I recently used Mudbox in my professional project to add high quality details to a lizard, like scales and wrinkles, etc. I then used a feature that creates a normal map from the high poly version so you can apply it to the low poly version and keep all of the details but still have something useable in Maya. I found that it worked really well and I think that I am going to do the same thing for all of the armor parts. It's the best way to have full control over the normal maps. It also seems to be what all the professionals do, you always see on their portfolios a high poly sculpted model used to create normal maps for the low poly model. I think this will also make my models to extremely better. It also might be quicker than trying to create normal maps from random textures I find online.

Here's an example of normal maps being created in Mudbox and being applied to a low poly model. Click to enlarge.

This will hopefully help me catch up on texturing because time is running out and I'm going to have to put in a lot of hours in order to finish. The same thing happened last semester but I managed to finish in time so I'm not to worried.

Cape Addition

I decided to add a cape to the armor similar to a Spartans cape. I made it out of a plane that I shaped to fit as tho it was attached to the armor. I then converted it to ncloth so that it would react like a real cape would with movement or wind. I made the vertexes at the top static so that they wouldn't move and would hold the cape on the armor.

UV Maps

Since all my other projects have cooled down I have finally been able to focus my time on Self Directed to get myself caught up. Last time I posted I needed to get all the UV maps done, and I have, well all except the the helmet. They took a little longer than I thought because of the complexity of the models, they required lots of planning to get them mapped out properly. Here's all the UV maps I have gotten done.

 Breastplate

Arm guard

 Shoulder armor

 Belt

 Sandals