THE BIRDS WORK FOR THE GOVERNMENT
AKA, A sci-fi, futuristic, grungy drone based off a hawk and the idea that the Big Brother is always watching.
With this model, I experimented with multiple modeled parts, duplicated UVs, and smart filters within Substance painter to give the sci-fi hawk drone a worn, weathered, and edgy look.
BLOCKING AND POLISH
I started by creating paper sketches from the top, side, and front views of what I wanted my final project to look like. After importing these blueprints into my scene, I began modeling, making sure to include a centerline and to use symmetry when applicable.
While the entire model looks complex, many of the parts were duplicated and repeated, making the work load and polygon much lighter and more efficient.
After the blocking pass, I went through and created a polished pass. here, I edited my edge flows, eliminated unnecessary face, and reduced n-gons and triangles for smoother topology. I used the cleanup tool to double check my work.
CREATING UV MAPS
Once the model was finished, I used the cut, sew, and unfold tools within Maya to create clean UV maps for later texturing. The previous set up of a centerline made this much easier to accomplish. I then arranged the UVs into the UV grid (shown in separate squares here for legibility, but usually they all are within one grid). I also made sure every part of the model that I wanted to be a different material was set as such.
I learned from this process that if you are going to duplicate parts of the model, you should absolutely do the UVing aspect of that piece first. Since I had forgotten to do this, I had to delete, UV, and then replace every metal joint in the model. It's a mistake I won't make again!
SUBSTANCE PAINTER
Next, I selected and exported all of my Maya mesh as an obj file for substance Painter. Within this program, I set up the base colors, smart filters, stencils, and paint effects to create the final image.
FINAL RENDERS
After exporting the textures back into Maya and setting up the appropriate maps (normal, metallic, color, emissive, etc), I added a 360-degree HDR image file to an Arnold Skydome. I performed several test renders and saved out my favorites. Voila! A sick hawk drone, sent from government spies.
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