Maya Texturing and Concept Rendering

Introduction

This blog post aims to create a custom texture for the space-based escape pod in Adobe Substance Painter.

U.V Unwrapping in Maya

Before I could create and apply textures to the escape pod it had to be U.V unwrapped. This process creates 2D unfolded versions of the pod which make it easier to apply colours and textures to the 3D model in Adobe Substance Painter. Below are images showing the process of U.V unwrapping using the automatic unwrap tool in Autodesk Maya. Once the model was unwrapped it displayed the 2D pieces in a composition which needed to be adjusted so that the pieces didn’t overlap. This was achieved by using the layout tool, which automatically finds the most logical layout composition. Once the U.V unwrapping process was complete I exported the file as an OBJ and imported it into Adobe Substance Painter.

Figure 1 – This image demonstrates a UV unwrapping technique, and experimentation used to prepare the space pod for texturing in Substance Painter.
Figure 2 – Exploring UV unwrapping in Maya.
Figure 3 – Exploring the different UV unwrapping tools, such as unfolding to determine how unwrapping works.
Figure 4 – Automatically UV unwrapped the space pod and selected the layout tool to better arrange the pieces for texturing.
Model Texturing in Adobe Substance Painter

The images below show the process of painting the 3D escape pod model in Adobe Substance Painter. I experimented with the interface and added different textures to the model. Once I had chosen the base texture of the model, I began to paint the surface using different brush techniques which produced different outcomes. I added rust and dints to the model to make it appear old and battered, which helped make the model look more realistic.

Figure 5 – Importing the UV space pod into Substance Painter ready for texturing.
Figure 6 – Exploring different base textures and the Substance Painter interface.
Figure 7 – Applying base colours and painting the space pod to create a custom texture.
Figure 8 – Adding rust using different brushes in Substance Painter to create a more realistic design outcome.
Figure 9 – Adding texture to the steel to make the space pod look older and more realistic.
Figure 10 – Importing the finished textures into Maya and wrapping the space pod model. The UV was imported into the design software with automatic unwrapping ticked, which distorted the texture of the model in Maya.
Figure 11 – Adding the Arnold plugin to fix the texturing on the space mod model.
Figure 12 – The final model with the correct texturing applied.
Final Four Renders
Figure 13 – Final render of the front of the space escape pod.
Figure 14 – Final render of the side of the space escape pod.
Figure 15 – Final render of the back of the space escape pod.
Figure 16 – Final render of the perspective view of the space escape pod.
Reflection

The U.V unwrapping and Substance Painting was difficult; it took me a long time to understand how U.V unwrapping works. I messed up a few times when trying to manually unwrap the model as I couldn’t understand how to cut certain edges and distinguish between the parts that needed to be separated. This led me to automatically unwrap the model for painting. Once I had to import the painted model back into Maya, I couldn’t understand why the model paint looked distorted when applied (as seen in Figure – 10). I later realised it was because I had ticked the automatic unwrapping box in Substance Painter. 

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