Nira's VFX Blog
A journey through my master

Tag: Shaders

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Advanced & Experimental Group

Week 8: Hologram Reduction of Model Subdivisions in Maya, & Radio Textures in Substance Painter

This week I had to remodel the base of my hologram and make the hologram effect to test in in final scene, along with finishing the radio textures.

Hologram remodelling

After Martyna and Roos tested the hologram in the master render, they were having some issues with the hologram as it was too heavy for the scene. Then they figured that the particles used for the particle effect had too many subdivision and asked me to redo this with simple cubes instead (it will not have that polished effect, but it will lower the poly count of he model considerably). Apart from the particle effect, Roos also recommended me to delete any unnecessary subdivisions, so I deleted most of them from the constellations cylinders, from rings, rivets, and base of the hologram. After reducing the poly count, I also had to redo the hologram’s UV maps.

Hologram’s new UV maps after amending subdivisions

Radio Textures

I also carried on with the radio textures this week so the CG lead could have most of the final objects with textures to test the illumination with them in the master render. In Substance Painter, I chose a wood texture for the base and main body of the radio and mixed it with some metallic textures to give that futuristic look to it. I also, found two pictures online about the channel dial of retro radios, so I created an alpha and a normal map version of these and added them to the radio. I made the normal map to add some texture to the typography in it and the alpha map to add some emission to the screen (focusing on the typography only) as if the radio was turned on.

Top channel screen base colour (Cobalt)
Top channel screen alpha
Top channel screen normal map
Middle channel screen base colour (Pilcher)
Middle channel screen alpha
Middle channel screen normal map
Top channel switchers with bronze texture in the centre – also added some scratches and damaged edges with some masks
Cobalt material added for the sides of the top channel switchers – also added stains and scratches with a mask
Bronze texture added for top shell decoration – added some rust effect with a mask coloured in dark red
Same bronze texture with rust effect added to middle channel switcher as for the top shell
Middle channel screen left blank in the middle to add channels texture later on in Maya – borders textured as damaged cobalt
Rusty edges added to middle channel screen with mask coloured in dark red
Copper texture was added for the decoration with a dirt mask that has high contrast and has been placed only in the parts were the decoration is joining the wood texture
I also added a rust mask in dark red/brown
Radio handle textured with damaged cobalt for the overall parts and then with bronze for the rings – it also has rust effect
Top speakers had a circular patterned texture that was coloured with a subtle ochre tone for the base and a cobalt texture for the circles edges and the speakers edges.
The top speakers also had a wood preset texture with the colour changed to a darker/reddish brown – I also added a scratched texture to the edges
Main body has also a wood preset texture with the colour changed to a darker/reddish brown
A scratched texture was also added in the edges and some bits of the main body.
On the sides of the main body, I added a damaged cobalt texture to give a futuristic look to it. I also softened the damaged level of the preset texture as it was looking too pronounced.
The bottom speakers have also a damaged cobalt texture with a red rust mask
Inside the bottom speakers I added the same texture I made for the top speakers
The base of the radio has also the same wood texture as the main body but with a higher level of scratches and dirt (base parts of furnitures are usually more wore off)
Once I finished with the textures I baked them and exported them for Arnold aiStandard

In Maya, I linked all the textures as I did with my spaceship, by using the Substance plug-in to automatically link and group the different layers and maps into shaders. Then these shaders were connected to the correspondent parts of the radio. I also linked the channels screens to the radio and added a bit of emission (as previously mentioned) to give the feeling that the radio is turned on. However, after I uploaded this textured model to FTrack, Gonzalo mentioned that this emission was too bright and should be turned down slightly. Therefore, I corrected this and uploaded the final version to FTrack.

Radio model with emission levels too high in the middle channel screen
Final radio model with textures

References

Cobalt. Vintage radio dial (online). Available at: https://stock.adobe.com/gr_en/search?k=radio+dial&asset_id=55983088 [Accessed 3 June 2023]

Pilcher, G. Vintage radio dial face (online). Available at: https://id.pinterest.com/pin/740279257483290061/ [Accessed 3 June 2023]