Daddy Long-Arms: Texturing A Horror Character

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Music:
Basement Racks - Dusty Decks.mp3
Floweret - Dusty Decks.mp3

[@doubi-ixi]

me: waiting day by day to watch Boro make more weird scary creatures. it is a lot of fun.

[@GP-vh6sg]

Saaame!

[@mortal1s88]

Im waiting for him to animate the hand

[@josh-lz5fb]

I think the arm should get skinnier as it comes count of the ground. This could be a mechanic where that arm has to crawl on the ground when it gets to week to stay supported in the air.

[@spoookley]

or maybe it doesn’t get skinnier but is just equally thick forever, so the concept of infinity is consistent, but it would still make sense since it’s still using human flesh as a basis, and humans are inherently flawed, so anything that is made from us would be as well. it’s just an interesting dynamic

[@nadinne1088]

The repeating fingerprint texture, I think, also gives the "touch of infinity" vibe you want 👌maybe doing spirals with the brush?

[@BoroCG]

Cool idea!

[@y.t.d.7912]

@@BoroCG When do you think the whole game is gonna be released, October of next year?, or a little sooner? I'm assuming you are developing the game as well the sculpting of the characters

[@MarshallisLazyToo]

@@y.t.d.7912 I think it will be longer than October. The amount of work that still needs to be done is going to take a long time.

[@BoroCG]

Having a 1-hour demo level by then would be great. There will be some fun action soon that'll improve and speed things up a notch, too. So, will see!

[@caiocabral7504]

Boro, there's an add-on called "UV Packmaster" for Blender, it's the greatest add-on of all time. It has a mode called "Heuristic" that uses AI and to search the best positioning for your uv islands, you can also check an option to keep uv islands stacked if you need to. It's truly amazing!

[@spoookley]

if it’s killable, there should be a chance that it flips you off as it retreats into the mud

[@MarushiaDark316]

You could try hiding the seams between the hand and the arm with some kind of decal, tattoo, vine, or bracelet as a separate object. That would be an easy way to cover mistakes while adding interest.

[@BoroCG]

Yeah that's a cool idea, I'll keep it on the table

[@themanwithoutaplan5626]

I'd like to make a suggestion, i have no knowledge of 3d modeling or sculpting but when you decide eventually to do the repeating looping model of the rest of the arm, i think it'd be a good idea to consider in what way an elbow restricts the arm from moving, obviously we can't bend our arm in both directions since the point of the elbow is to stop our arm after a certain point while also allowing our forearm to turn. So i have a few suggestions of the way you could implement this. You can make 2 sections, one for the forearm and the upper arm and make it reverse to the direction you have the arm facing now making that zig zag pattern feel more natural then alternating the direction with every repetition. or you can make all sections a single forearm with an unnaturally shaped elbow that can bend in both directions like a hinge

[@sumsun006]

Love the video Borodante just so you know in Blender you can literally do calculations on values for example for your textures you do not need know how much 2048*2 is you can just type that in and Blender will calculate it for you. Keep up the good work!

[@BoroCG]

Oh yeah that's right. I know that, but always forget about it when I actually need it haha

[@jenkem4464]

For the fingerprint section you can also mask that texture with a cavity mask since you wouldn't really see any of the fingerprints or micro ridge detail inside finger creases and folds. That's more of a nitpicky polish thing though. Looking very good! I'm also very familiar with the "we'll just use this as a base=end result" workflow. :)

[@ProfessorBuge]

I cant believe you manage to put out these banger videos so fast! Its amazing, keep up the great work

[@FandomTOBY]

really makes me want to draw again! your art, including 3d, is super inspiring! it's just an arm. but cooler!

[@3polygons]

I love to see how much he is enjoying this :)

[@TiagoTiagoT]

Maybe to increase perceived resolution you could overlay additional detail textures with higher resolution, a few different ones using different scales and rotated at different angles to make it hard to see the tiling?

[@nova6253]

Also, you can have more resolution if you have multiple materials (eg: lambert 1 and 2) painter will allow you to work on multiple UDIMS (UV sheets) so you could have one texture sheet for the cylinder arm part and more res on the hand. Unreal will have no problems with that either just make 2 materials.

[@autonk6217]

20:35, by toggling "blur wrap" you can get rid of those seams

[@purplevxakanitzan9548]

i imagine this arm dragging across the forest and creating paths to lead people closer to it

[@bigbrushtony4770]

Hi, you'll hate it, but I have nice disgusting idea for this arm: you can add some broken nails here, as this arm going through some roots and stones in soil...

[@onionspace78]

Awesome! Looks like a creating one of the creepy character from Little Nightmares💀👍 Thank you for your work and videoguide

[@mariam19554]

I never even realised how the fingerprint texture aligns with the nail until I saw how strange it looked on the thumb when it wasn't aligned!!

[@o-negative5940]

First time watching your channel and I love it how in the elbow creases it looks like a face

[@aarondraws7699]

Hi boro, love your work as always. To deal with the texture resolution issue, I would use udims at least to start, because then everything is one object and substance painter allows you to paint across udims in one stroke. When uv unwrapping, put the arm in one udim tile and the hand in another udim tile. How I do this usually is with uv toolkit addon (its free, and I think pre installed with blender, you just have to activate it) there is a transform option that will move selected uvs one udim tile over so unwrap as normal and then select everything you want on a new tile and use the transform tool. Then, when setting up project in painter check the use uv tile workflow, painter should do the rest. You will be able to paint across tiles without any seams. To follow up on what you where saying about udims it is true, they are used pretty much exclusively in film and not games. However, doing it this way prevents seams when texturing and when you export your just getting two sets of pbr maps anyway so what I would do is after the maps have been completed separate the hand and arm and just use two objects and materials like you where doing and just move the udims back to the 0,0 square. Then, when you apply the maps it will still be seamless, but now it will import into unreal without much issue. Another suggestion is use smart uv project to auto create seams they are usually going to have less stretching than manually doing it although the seams will be a bit all over the place. I usually begin unwrapping with a smart project, and them fix any seams manually that I think are weird, or if I know I plan to do something specific to a certain section of the mesh ill unwrap that manually too. After the smart project this way all the tiny less human friendly sections of the mesh are handled by the computer, but I still have manual control. The last suggestion I would make is use the auto pack function from the uv-packer addon this is going to use more of the udim tile than a human could create. its basically free resolution the tighter you can pack, the more pixels in the texture are actually being used in the final object. I would also recommend exporting your high poly sculpt as a separate fbx and add it to the high poly meshes section before you bake any maps in substance because with your current setup when you bake your cavity and AO are being created only using the low resolution mesh, when adding the high poly it does some magic and actually uses the full detail mesh which will make your generators more accurate. Hope some of this helped

[@BoroCG]

This is very helpful, thanks!

[@gloriouslumi]

Loving these videos! Couple things: It seems like you would benefit from a UDIM workflow for this character. It would let you use various texel densities, with each component on separate UV tiles. The arm UV tiles could be at lower resolution, like 1k or 2k, while the fingers and palm areas could be at higher 4k resolutions. Unreal does support UDIMs, and Substance and Blender both support Udims as well. The other thing I noticed you doing is manually scaling individual islands on the same UV tile. This is what causes the pixel discrepancy across islands you were describing. When you Unwrap, all islands on a single UV tile with connected geometry should be at the same scale. This is easily automated by using a packing tool like UVPackmaster. I'm curious why you didn't just export your max resolution Multires mesh and use it as a high res proxy to bake all your maps in Substance. Personally, I don't ever bake normals in Blender anymore, especially if using UDIMs, when it's just a couple clicks in Substance.

[@BoroCG]

I'll give it a try to bake normals in Substance, but the problem I predict to have is having glitches in tight cavity areas. Not with Daddy Long-Arms, but with previous characters, it would be definitely an issue. And multi-res is immune to any issues because it doesn't require shooting rays at the surface

[@gloriouslumi]

@@BoroCG When on the Bake Mesh Maps window in Substance there is an option under Common>Match. By default this is set to "Always", but if you change it to "By Mesh Name" Substance will bake each separate mesh individually, resulting in much more accurate AO and Curvature bakes that would otherwise encounter ray depth noise. By "Mesh Name", Substance is referring to unique object names in Blender, so "Single Object" needs to be disabled when exporting from Blender. This won't affect material names, only mesh separation.

[@SelfGloom]

GET IT BORO! You are a pro sculptor! 😁

[@brendarodrgs]

I need 40 minute videos pls 😂 Great work!

[@user-gk9ut9qc1o]

it's kinda cute how PHAT the base of this hand is. it really reminds me of a thicc spider

[@nisakinty8038]

I absolutely love 💕 this

[@Mortom83]

Boro you need UDIMs in your UVW workflow. With them you don’t have to do 2 UVW maps. And yes, in games UDIMs is common thing in texturing. 8k texture containe four 4k maps, so better do two 4k maps then one 8k - it's better for memory optimanization. And one more thing - you need add LOD system to your all character models - without you will have sirous problem to optimaze your game.

[@Mental_Mike]

Chillest dude i've ever seen btw

[@Yanae44]

Ello Boro! I just want to say, UDIM-s are the easiest and best things when you are texturing something like a human body, when you need to paint through texture sets. Im a texturing artist, working on movies, and ingame assets using tons of udims too. Substance can handle this udim situation really good, I reeeaally recommend to you to try it out in the future!

[@BoroCG]

Oh yeah, thanks! I actually did try udims in the next video on this arm: kzbin.info/www/bejne/ZniahamqZp2sibs

[@Yanae44]

@@BoroCG Cool, you are doing really good things!! :) I was watching your videos a few years ago, when you were painting in 2d, because I was an illustration artist too. Than I stopped to watch what you do, because I started to work in 3d insted 2d. Its so so heartwarming to see you do what I do too! Substance is a really good program for texturing, just need a lot of practise. Keep going! I love your work! :)

[@electricbungaru9245]

this is really great, but I don't get why you didn't just use blenders smart UV project? It does all the tedious work of aligning quads for you.

[@MippiTheDork]

We do use UDIMs in video games, and unreal engine supports them as well, along with substance painter ^_^

[@vuurtoorn]

this kind of reminds me of the L4D arm, looks great!

[@BoroCG]

Oh that was a good arm

[@R0w4nH0pk1ns]

I don't use it but I've heard that Substance's auto unwrapping is pretty good. Did you remember to apply scale before unwrapping? You could use tiling textures for the arm and then use decals in unreal engine to add details. You can use UDIMs in unreal but it doesn't make much sense tbh

[@BoroCG]

Thank you! Yeah I had to apply scale while sculpting - had issues with one of the brushes. Will give that auto unwrapping in Substance one day, though I'd have to then re-import the mesh back into Blender to bake the mulit-res object. I prefer baking multi-res in Blender, but may be I'm wrong to think it's the best? Should give Substance a chance at baking normals sometime

[@R0w4nH0pk1ns]

@@BoroCG that is true, though i think you would be able to import into blender and copy over the uv map to the original mesh. If I was going that route id bake the normals in substance too because afaik it will also use the high poly one for all the other maps too. Personally I like to mark seams myself still but I've started experimenting with substances auto unwrap and it seems to be a lot better than blenders auto unwrap

[@wilted_kale]

lookin good !!

[@Clases3d]

Therese an addon named uv squares that may be what you want, take a look at it, hope that helps and as always Im loving this series, im learning a lot

[@SeanPetitt]

Anyone can correct me if I am wrong. Would it be better to lower the poly count needed to create that tertiary form in the wrinkles? If you make the low poly low enough to just effect the silhuette then the UV mapping process would be easier cause while modeling you are pre planning the uv map process. This also re confirms that auto mapping is a good start but if modeling without considering the uv map as part of the process we all can run into these odd stretching or crunching of textures. Good luck! Love the stuff!

[@user-qp9zf3wg4l]

Seems to be missing veins and I suggest some yellow cracks at the tips of the nails (spooky 👻)

[@Mr.GuyFromThere]

I think that daddy long arms nails should grow as the game goes on. (edit) the arm could get skinnier if he does not "eat"

[@Scarlov87]

You can use triplanar to help with the stretching too :)

[@infectioussneeze9099]

I love the render

[@thecardboardconsumer420]

I think there should be numerous arms or at least somewhat of a body. i think more arms would make it more creepier.

[@s.owl9]

Big question in terms of gameplay. How does the arm perceive the player character (besides touch)? What things would the player have to avoid doing to not be detected? I was thinking it could detect vibrations on any surfaces it touches but that would be very omni-directional and difficult to avoid; unless it can only detect a certain level of vibrations, limiting the player to slow, soft movement while walking & climbing and definitely no jumping. If it can only detect physical touch, it would only limit the player to avoiding direct contact & the arm would blindly chase, swing & grasp.

[@creamyco.4562]

It is going to take a beast of a computer to run this game.

[@nova6253]

Boro, don't forget to delete the faces at the bottom if the player isn't gonna see them.

[@boltimoore]

I think the sound effects for this arm should be cracked knuckles.

[@shlup6239]

12:25 wait why dont you just shrink down the arm uv islands and make the hand islands larger? since they wont be as detailed it wont be as noticable right?

[@cameron9292]

I'm considering entering the field to be an illustrator or concept artist, but I'm worried about job prospects because of AI. I was hoping to do this part time and in the horror genre to make some money on the side and feed my creativity, should I be optimistic about putting a portfolio together over the next year, or is the field doomed for newcomers because of emerging technology?

[@azza_weak]

Hi! For what I've been seeing, there isn't much indication of the field falling apart, especially on bigger companies. Mostly because even tho it generates things fast, the machine still makes a lot of "generic" designs due to how it is trained - making it necessary for someone to work over them anyways. Adding to that AI art still has a lot of troubles attached to how it's trained without filter of other artists permission and all, some companies might not want to be involved on that. AI made the bar higher for sure, as smaller authors and devs might not care about all that compared to the financial and time benefits, but it didn't made concept artists obsolete,and I'm sure a lot of people would prefer to hire an actual professional artist for the ease of communication and experience. Best of luck in your work!!

[@azza_weak]

Adding to this. Recently had the experience of receiving an AI generated image as reference for the character in a commission (the "draw this body with this head"), and it's atrocious for concepts and model sheets. The AI's mishmash of finalized art makes a good render and somewhat borrows composition from original pieces, but all details are fuzzy and blend with each other - the image they sent me had the sword curving around into a belt and the armor becoming a skirt - it was hell to try and reproduce, took a lot of talk to the client about what areas to keep and what to not. I'd rather have received a stick figure with arrows saying "armor here" or something. I'm confident that any competent art director would find the same issues, when you add the fact it's all in a single layer and you can't easily change color/size/shading of a single area, yeah, pretty art but mediocre concept at best, and the more precision, samples and uniqueness the client wants, the less AI seem to help. I wouldn't worry too much

[@kelseu5156]

Does anyone know what addon he uses for remeshing? I never caught the name

[@lawncrow]

I don't recall seeing Boro ever straighten and pack his UV Islands, not really sure if that would help with this model in particular but it's something I'd like to throw out there, I have barely done any texturing myself so really no idea if that would help, but it feels like something that might work.

[@BoroCG]

I did straightening on the Grandma's dress laces. I think it's usually done for something hard-surface or precise?

[@duffydan26]

@@BoroCG really is a case by case thing. If you need a UV island to be straight for texturing or optimisation in a game. Keep in mind that straight island will always pack better than a curved island.

[@swindleriii2152]

don't forget to Like the video before you leave

[@BoroCG]

Um, okay will do!

[@icedbun101]

Hi Boro

[@thatnoname]

Have you met Mommy Long Legs. Now, prepare for... DADDY LONG ARMS

[@badjano]

use triplanar mapping instead of uv for generators

[@der_da7982]

I think really broken and disgusting nails would work better like just taking out chips of the nail in the front of something

[@maikeru01]

8:51, dare i say: based?

[@juhor.7594]

Boro! My finger nails have looked exactly like that in real life! No need to smooth them.

[@husamminawi]

i’m here because the profile picture 😂

[@LarsWilms]

Funger

[@bobjog4]

mommy long legs has a husband now

[@hik.creative]

That's a big ass wrist. Thin down that wrist, otherwise great work as usual.

[@Spoiled_Malk]

Mommy long legs😂

[@sometimesthereisnocoloraro108]

I think, the wrist is too thick...

[@BoroCG]

Yeah, it should be! And fingers too skinny

[@galaxytuber100]

wait what the fuck

[@FredrikEriksson556]

Vhhhy