During the optional 3D Texturing II course, we will teach students everything they need to develop a solid technical and artistic foundation, enabling them to confidently create high-level 3D textures for characters, assets, and environments within a demanding professional pipeline. While not neglecting the artistic aspect, special attention will be given to the technical and organizational aspects involved in managing a professional-level project.
Solid knowledge of character and asset texturing with Substance Painter.
This course focuses on deepening students' knowledge of texturing characters, assets, props, and environments—both interior and exterior—within a high-level CG pipeline.
Students will have had an introduction to texturing in a previous course in the second year. This acquired knowledge will be used not only to improve the texture quality of models but also to tell a story and emphasize storytelling, which supports the emotions of the character and their surrounding environment.
In addition to mastering the technical aspects of texturing and its pipeline, students will practice and develop the skills necessary to become professional CGI artists and will be prepared to enter the industry.
By the end of the course, students will be fully equipped to work on a professional project, adapting well to the technical and artistic complexities of a scene with a character and environment that professionally tell a story.
1. Introduction to the world of USD, Houdini, and Solaris, as opposed to older Maya/Arnold-based methods for generating lookdev scenes of our texturing work.
2. How to create hand-painted textures for both characters and hero assets using Substance Painter. Hand-painted textures on 3D assets are a texturing technique where the artist directly draws the colors, lights, shadows, and details onto the 3D model, rather than generating them through algorithms or photographic scans.
- Stylized Style: Produces an artistic, handcrafted, or "storybook" look, popular in games like World of Warcraft or League of Legends.
- Direct Painting: Primarily applies paint to the diffuse (color) map, simulating volume and lighting instead of relying entirely on the game engine.
- Optimization: Highly performance-efficient, as it often only requires a single texture (color map) for the object to appear detailed. -Tools: Programs such as Substance 3D Painter or Mari by Foundry (Arcane) are used to paint on the mesh.
In short, it's a workflow that combines 2D painting skills with 3D modeling to achieve a unique and intentional artistic finish.
3. Introduction to texturing an asset hero, prepared for professional productions. For this, we will introduce students to the use of Mari software. Mari, developed by Foundry, is a high-end 3D painting and texturing software, recognized as the industry standard for film productions, VFX (visual effects), and highly complex video games. It was initially designed to handle the immense number of textures required in films like "Avatar."
4. Creation of digital doubles using non-destructive workflow techniques in Houdini, capable of generating topology and UV transfers. Topology transfer (or "topo transfer") in Houdini is the process of deforming a base mesh with a clean topology (e.g., quads) to fit the shape and volume of a target geometry (3D scan, disordered sculpture, etc.). With Houdini Solaris (a USD-based LOPs environment), this workflow is integrated into a procedural production pipeline, allowing the geometry to be prepared for final rendering. UV transfer in Houdini Solaris (USD/LOPS) focuses on manipulating USD attributes (st or uv) to map two-dimensional textures onto three-dimensional geometries. Solaris allows both the transfer of existing UVs and the procedural projection of new coordinates.
5. Creating the texture of a hero character using Mari's Paint Through projection technique and high dynamic range multi-channel photographic resources from xyz. Texturing.xyz is a leading company that provides ultra-high-quality textures (4K-16K) and displacement maps for 3D artists, focused on achieving extreme photorealism in human skin, creatures, and surfaces. Their resources, used in film and video games, include microscopic details such as pores and wrinkles, facilitating workflows in ZBrush. Projecting textures in Foundry Mari is one of their strengths, allowing you to paint directly onto high-resolution 3D models using 2D images (photographs) as a reference. The fundamental process is based on the Paint Through tool and the use of a Paint Buffer.
6. Creating the texture of a character hero in Mari, using the VFace technique from Texturing.xyz. VFace by Texturing.xyz is a high-level digital asset library designed to create hyper-realistic 3D human faces. It provides scanned models, detailed skin textures (16K albedo, displacement), and micro-detail maps (cavity, normal) that allow for adding extreme realism to 3D characters, compatible with tools such as Character Creator and MetaHuman.
7. Creating the texture of a hero character in Mari, entirely hand-painted. Painting a Hero Asset in Foundry's Mari is a high-end texturing process designed for VFX or cinematics, focused on extreme realism and detailed resolution (usually UDIMs). Being able to tackle a challenge of this magnitude requires mastering the technical and artistic concepts of high-end software like Mari.
Use of AI tools: AI tools can be very useful to help us with the activities proposed in this course, provided they are used responsibly and in compliance with specific regulations.
In order to assess whether students have achieved an adequate level of understanding of the course objectives, various continuous assessment activities are used, approximately weekly.
Objectives of continuous assessment:
- The main objective is to help students keep up with the coursework and develop effective work methods. We aim for students to progressively assimilate the material and achieve good academic results.
- Another important objective is to value the work students do on a daily basis, without their grade depending solely on the practical exercises.
- For the instructor, it provides more information about the work done by students and a better understanding of them, both academically and personally.
There are four exercises in continuous assessment mode; the sum of these exercises will be subject to a correction factor based on the student's progress and behavior during the course.
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This bibliography and webliography focuses on advanced texturing techniques for Hero Assets (the main elements of a scene, with high detail) using Adobe Substance 3D Painter for procedural/PBR workflows and Foundry Mari for high-resolution texturing, UDIMs, and cinematic photorealism.
1. Webliography (Tutorials, Courses, and Documentation)
Foundry Mari (High Detail and UDIMs)
Foundry Learn - Mari: The official source with basic and advanced tutorials on 3D painting, UDIM workflows, and handling complex textures.
- "Creating Production-Ready Hero Assets Using Mari": A specialized tutorial on creating high-quality assets for film.
Zak Boxall - "Texturing Tutorial in Mari and Substance": An advanced VFX tutorial demonstrating the construction of complex procedural masks in Mari, emulating Painter's logic but with greater precision.
Mari VS Substance Painter - VFX Texture Artist Perspective: A professional comparison of when to use Mari (for film hero assets) versus Substance Painter (for game/background assets).
Adobe Substance 3D Painter (PBR and Efficiency)
Adobe Substance 3D Painter Official Tutorials: Introductory and advanced guides, including Smart Materials and generators.
"How to Texture Realistic 3D Characters in Substance Painter": Key tips on using procedural textures to break the monotony of realistic characters.
Texturing an Asset Beginner Walkthrough (YouTube - Timestamps): The complete process of texturing an asset, covering everything from baking to final PBR touches.
Substance Painter Tips & Tricks (Reddit r/Substance3D): Technical discussions on anchor points and advanced effects.
Combined Workflow (Mari + Substance)
Texturing/Surfacing Artists: Do you prefer Mari or Substance? (Reddit): Professional discussion on using Substance for bakes and base coats, and Mari for final consolidation and high-resolution textures.
Substance to Mari Workflow - Meshmen studio: Technical explanation of how to transfer materials from Substance Designer to Mari using the Extension Pack.
2. Bibliography (Books and Technical Articles)
"Texturing and Modeling: A Procedural Approach" (David S. Ebert et al.): Although technical, it is the fundamental basis for understanding how to create procedural textures (necessary for Substance Designer/Painter).
SIGGRAPH technical articles: Search for presentations on "Digital Human League" for skin texturing (Mari) and PBR hard surface texturing (Painter).
Foundry Mari Documentation: Official manual detailing color management, UDIMs, and the use of nodes (Node Graph) for complex texturing.
3. Key Concepts for Hero Assets (Summary)
For a Hero Asset, the literature and web resources agree on the following points:
UDIM Workflow (Mari): Essential for maintaining high resolution (4K/8K) across multiple UV patches.
Photorealistic PBR (Painter/Mari): Precise handling of Roughness and Metalness maps to react correctly to light.
Procedural + Hand Painting (Hybrid): Using Substance Painter to generate base dirt (Smart Masks) and Mari to hand-paint unique details (skin pores, specific scratches).
Color Management: Use of ACES color spaces in Mari for cinema.
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