This model has no unique textures!

After I created concept art of the new Dragonkin character, I just couldn't go back to the old model - I like the new design so much more! Despite that they're similar, I remodeled it from scratch and in the process I significantly improved my workflow.

I've already done similar posts about character modeling and shown various models (that I ultimately left behind and never spoke of them again). Some of them were alright, some good looking, and at least one of them was quite hideous... But the reason for my many experiments was that with each model I've been moving towards a goal: to not just to make sexy creatures (I've done that before). My goal was to do it much faster. 

When I started it required me 2-3 months to make a character model. That is too slow for a solo-artist project, so I had to to find a way to output models much quicker than it is reasonable to expect for one artist to do. 

Indie game devs make low-poly models, pixel/voxel art, all for the same reason; but the problem is - the results are not sexy! Like you wouldn't want to go to bed with a character made out of blocks or jagged polygons!

It is a reoccurring theme all across my projects in general to learn how to make things look sexy quickly, but this time I think I just scored a critical hit!

The modeling process

Aside from figuring out the design of the character (through concept art or sketches as shown in previous post), I start modeling the character in VR (Gravity Sketch).

( I found it much faster to model in VR than the traditional sculpting+retopology approach, thus saving a lot of time but with the drawback of adding additional polygons, which Unreal Engine can handle thankfully. )

From there, I import the model into Blender and adjust it, correct proportions and silhouette.

After this, in previous workflow I'd start UV mapping and sculpting high details, then "baking" them which would take me minimum 4 days of work. I now just skip this part entirely!

Using a lot of trickery, all my technical art skills and an awesome Blender addon Hopfel has scripted just for me, I have created a process that allows me to make that gray guy above look like this in just 30 minutes:

The script helps me to create a mapping that describes various areas of the body to my texturing system: where is the back and the belly? Where is the tip of the tail and where is the head? It's all encoded into the mesh.

Then that encoded stuff is used to look-up color information from a texture that looks like this:

This texture is tiny, 256x256 pixels, it is trivial to create and light as a text document. I can have thousands of these textures in-game, each for a unique skin that can be applied to any character. These palette textures will be compatible with every creature in the game, no matter the species, anthro or feral.

Normally, such a small texture would be as blurry like it's from a game that came out in 1998, but in combination with procedural effects that add scales, patterns and color areas (like maw or paw-pads) on top, it looks like a smooth, hand-painted stylized model, very similar to avatars people use in VRchat.

I also worked a bit more on eye shader to get that pixar/disney look. Although it looks simple, it's a very complicated shader, with lots of math involved.

I put a lot of love into the area under the tail. There is a lot of polygons bunched up around the sphincter and the slit - I needed them to make sure the model still looks smooth even when they're stretched wide. 

I'll also give the model full mouth-to-tailhole internals soon, because it is actually needed for our gameplay (for the inventory system, which takes place inside the character).

I haven't rigged the model yet, but I already have the full skeleton created. I will play a bit more with the skin shader and improve the workflow just a little bit more in the upcoming week, after that I'm planning to finish rigging him, and make a bunch of poses for some lewd pictures. Any ideas for what I should make him do?

I also made a ton of optional fins to use on the model later for additional customization. With this workflow/art-style I can just keep adding new customization parts at any point (which wasn't possible before, I had to create all parts from the start and it was a nightmare - it was also another reason why the previous models would take so much time to plan and make).

With this, hopefully, I will be able stay true to what I promised and start making custom character-bodypart models for Patrons soon!

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Overall I'm very happy with the results. It is quite a gorgeous model for the effort/time required to make it. I think I achieved what I was aiming for. Hope you like it too! And if you don't - just you wait until I do lewd stuff with these models!

With lots of Dragon love,
  - Salireths.