Description

In this exercise, you will render your sculpted creature by configuring Cycles render settings and using color, normal, and specular maps to increase realism.

Instructions

  1. Continue your work from the previous exercises. You should have a hi-res sculpt and a retopologized base mesh.
  2. You can duplicate and subdivide the base mesh to increase its resolution.
  3. Add a material to the base mesh.
  4. Unwrap the base mesh UVs if you have not done so already.
  5. Create and apply a detailed normal map from your hi-res sculpt and configure it to work on your base mesh.
  6. Create a base color texture map for the base mesh and apply it to the material’s base color channel.
  7. Create a roughness texture and apply it to the material roughness channel.
  8. Create a 1920px by 1080px (Blender’s default) Cycles render of your creature with high sampling (250 or higher).
  9. Save your render to the project folder and name it LASTNAME-rendering.png
  10. Save your blend file in a project folder LASTNAME-rendering.blend.
  11. Compress the folder once you’ve completed the tutorial and rename it LASTNAME-rendering.zip.
  12. Upload the .zip file to the assignment dropbox.
  13. Ensure you’ve included everything properly. Failure to ensure that you’ve uploaded the file will result in your exercise being graded according the grading criteria.
Learning Objectives

  1. Become familiarized rendering workflows for principled rendering
  2. Gain understanding of the impact of normal maps, specular maps, and other settings for principled materials.

Sculpting and Retopology Tutorials

To get a deeper understanding of how Blender's sculpting tools work, have a look at the following tutorials.

    Sculpting an Octopus Follow Along Tutorial

    Blender Sculpting Workflow

    Intro to Sculpt Brushes

    Retopology Using New Polybuild Tool in Blender

    Retopology tutorial

    Blender Hotkey poster

    Rubric

    Criteria Description Assessment Weight
    Attention to Detail This criteria looks at if the assignment was submitted on time, if each step was completed to a high degree of accuracy, and if file naming conventions were followed. 5 pts
    Learning by doing (Completed all steps) This criteria assess whether you completed the assignment's given set of instructions. This indirectly infers how well you acquired foundational skills and theory. 5 pts