Mood Board
References
Escalation Baine
TB Baine & Rune Spear
Baine 3D Model
Troll in Might Armor
Tauren race from Warcraft
Modeling Process
UV Layouts
Fur Material Test
Texture References
Xgen Groom Test
Animation Tests
Software Used
Insights
This is a work in progress character that I started a long time ago and but now I decided to finish it. I always wanted to see a Tauren hero getting focused on Blizzard's main story arcs, so I decided to recreate one of my in-game characters into a high-resolution 3d model to tell a story of my own. However, back then, my organic modeling skills weren't polished. So I started modeling the armor based on my character's Battle Gear of Might set.
I managed to get the rough shapes and even did a previz animation to see how the armor would look when moving. At some point, I stopped working on this project because of work & life balance issues. Fast forward the present day; I have gained now considerably more knowledge on organic modeling and in other areas such as rigging and texturing. Eventually, I want to rig and animate it to import it into a game engine and create some hack&slash gameplay while telling the original story I had planned.
There are a few new things that are worth mentioning. I changed the overall character body shape, I was using old vanilla wow Tauren body type when I made the armor, but I like the more upright design of Baine in the Escalation promo art. So I retrofit the armor to-
match the new Tauren body type. So far I think it looks cool and more imposing.
Right now, I’m experimenting with fur, there are a few techniques I am exploring, such as hair poly cards, texture painting, and Nvidia Hair works simulations. However, since Warcraft has a particular style to it, this is where I’m facing the most challenge. I want to create a bridge between the current in-game warcraft graphics and high-end cinematic visuals.
Along with the fur experiments, I am also tinkering with the Allegorithmic program suite and now Mari. While I am used to Photoshop and ZBrush painting approach, I know substance eventually will provide a faster method in some types of painting techniques. For substance painter, I managed to feel more comfortable after I found out that substance painter does indeed allow to paint UVs that are beyond 0 to 1 space by using proper settings. Without this, It would be harder to achieve the quality I was looking for.
7-30-2020
Work in Progress
