Week 4 & 5 - Pumpkin Texturing and Presentation

Having the bake done, I set on to texture the pumpkin. 

I colour picked my base from the pumpkin references I saved into my moodboard. Then I started building onto it. I added some texture to the pumpkin using a fill layer with a black mask set on multiply, on which I applied a charcoal procedural. I found this method in this pumpkin texturing tutorial on YouTube: https://youtu.be/4GcZMBsLdEs

I then made some lighter edges using the mask editor generator. I used the same technique for the cracks, but using the Cavities option in the Curvature tab. I used an Ambient Occlusion generator for the Ambient Occlusion and tweaked it a bit using Levels. 

I then drew the parts where the pumpkin is supposed to be cut, where the light flesh shows, on a paint layer. I then duplicated the layer and used a black mask and the fur procedural in order to get some texture that would somehow indicate the pumpkin has been cut with a knife, leaving behind some lines. I modified it further and controled the contrast using Levels. 

I tried to give it a put together look by using a base colour fill layer set to linear dodge, with its opacity turned down. I also added another layer with a black mask for the ambient occlusion created by the ground, using a mask editor generator. I also got in a bit of colour variation using a layer with a Light generator set to Divide. I tighetened the edges and darkened the cavities using another layer for each of them, tweaking the from the mask editor in order to make them sharper and more detailed. For the edges one I used a lighter one then the original, of course, and for the cavities a darker one. 

I used mostly the same process with the stalk and the vines and leaves, paiting manually the even lighter accents that the generator didn't produce using a paint layer and using it to paint over other errors that the mask editor might have produced or things that didn't quite fit. 

Almost at the end of texturing, I noticed a polygon missing, so I had to go back in 3DS Max and add it. When I opened the Unwrap Editor I noticed that the only thing that happened after adding it was that one of the verts from the polygon has extended out of the shape of the object, so I only pulled it back in to keep the position of the unwrap the same.

I then simply replaced the low poly in the Substance Painter file with no other complications. The textures I had already done fit perfectly on the updated pumpkin. 

Since I had already painted over the artifacts from the Normal Map and Ambient Occlusion bake and I didn't really want to do it again, I copied the former maps over the new ones and cut the top off the older ones so I would have the updated version where the polygon wasn't missing. They merged perfectly so there wasn't any problem there. 

There were also some problems with the Albedo Map, since I couldn't make it bake perfectly in any way: the small vine at the top of the pumpkin left some green traces on the orange surface. Also the candle had some artifacts at the bottom. After exporting, I opened the textures in Photoshop and painted over the errors. 

Having done the textures and fixed the mistakes, I exported my textures and assembled the asset in UE4. 

I opened an empty level and followed this tutorial for some guidance in establishing a proper lighting for presenting my asset: https://youtu.be/Y2ro27Xw-lw

I used three main lighting sources: one from the back (the rim light) one from the front and one from the side. I also placed the skylight and set all of them to movable to build the lighting. 

Following the tutorial, I also used a Post Process Volume actor and a Sphere Reflection Capture. I must admit at the moment I didn't quite understand what they were used for, so I searched for an explanation and found the Unreal Engine site, where the function of every actor and more is explained: https://docs.unrealengine.com/4.27/en-US/Resources/ContentExamples/Reflections/1_4/ 

So I started managing to wrap my head around how the Sphere Reflection Capture is used and from my understanding, it helps blend the lighting better into the scene, while the Post Process helps achieve effects like flares, blur and more. 

I used an Exponential Height Fog to achieve the grey gradient effect in the background.

Now seeing my pumpkin in a new light (pun intended), I noticed some weird whiter spots around the edges of the pumpkin, where I had painted the lighter edges on the paint layer in Substance. They showed up only in the normal map, so the normal was clearly the problem. When I went back into Substance Painter to check, I went into Normal mode and noticed I had accidentally painted normal information with my paint layer, since I forgot to turn off the normal and height. Even when I turned them off now in the layer, they wouldn't disappear, so I had to quickly paint them again. Thankfully, it wasn't a large surface, so it didn't take very long. 

I forgot to take a screenshot of the faulty texture maps, but it manifested as some weird lighter dots where the painted normal information was supposed to blend into the map. 

And this is how it looked in substance:

A mess. 

Anyway, after reimporting the textures and remaking the materials, this is the final outcome:

I am quite pleased with my presentation and textures. I think I improved quite a bit in this regard, so I consider this and achievement. I will continue to improve and do my research, especially when it comes to presenting my work, since I now understand better how important it is. 

Making this Pumpkin was quite a ride. I made a lot of mistakes, but as Thomas Edison said: "I have not failed. I just found 10.000 ways that won't work". And, in the end, this mistakes led me to success and helped me learn more than I would have if the path had been smooth.