Making Of 'Haohmaru'

Victor Hugo Sousa uses ZBrush, 3ds Max, Photoshop and his brain to create his homage to Samurai Shodown game character, 'Haohmaru'

Haohmaru is a character from the game series Samurai Shodown and I created this version for the 3D Fan Art Facebook Challenge.

References

As Haohmaru is an iconic character, finding references was not that hard; the most difficult thing was to find the right style for him as I wanted to keep the anime look and yet still make a cinematic character.

Some of the images consulted in order to create the image

Some of the images consulted in order to create the image

Modeling the body

As with most of my projects, I started with a base-mesh – sometimes I use all the loops (although ZRemesher would be great for this still image), and sometimes I use a very simple one. In this case I had a short deadline because of the concept so I tried to get his shape and silhouette down as fast as I could, in order to send it to 3ds Max and model his accessories.

The base mesh…

The base mesh…

Modeling accessories – bandages

For the bandages I did the following: I extracted areas from the body where there would be bandages, and some meshes from the topology, and sent a single OBJ file to ZBrush where I used the Move Topological brush to place them the way I wanted.

Later I detailed them using Clay Build Up and Dam Standard brushes.

Creating the bandages by extracting and adjusting parts of the mesh

Creating the bandages by extracting and adjusting parts of the mesh

Modeling accessories - hair

The base mesh for the hair was done using the Loft technique from 3ds Max as you can see in the picture here. The rest of the accessories were modeled inside 3ds Max.

Hair created using the Loft technique in 3ds Max

Hair created using the Loft technique in 3ds Max

Accessories created in 3ds Max

Accessories created in 3ds Max

Clothes

For the clothes I used Marvelous Designer 2 and divided it into 3 meshes; the upper kimono, lower kimono and his pants. I then exported them to ZBrush and used ZRemesher with default settings to get a nice topology.

Importing and assembling the meshes

Importing and assembling the meshes

Using Marvelous Designer 2 to create 3 meshes

Using Marvelous Designer 2 to create 3 meshes

Textures

All my textures were done in MARI, using photos and creating tileable textures as bases for the clothes, bandages and body. I also used some dirt maps as multiply to create the used/old appearance.

I unwrapped my entire model using UVLayout for seams (you can use any software you prefer) and then I imported it into ZBrush and used UVMaster with Using Existing Seams option enabled. This is the fastest way that I've found for unwrapping and with a better result.

Unwrapping and creating textures

Unwrapping and creating textures

Light and render passes

For the lighting I used a studio setup and placed the light using the realistic viewport in 3ds Max (very handy!) I used V-Ray with an HDR image for reflections. I also rendered Specular and Reflections from Render Elements and an Occlusion pass.

Creating the lighting using the realistic viewport

Creating the lighting using the realistic viewport

Composition

I always test which passes I will need for the final composition. In this case I rendered 3 passes – the Beauty pass, Occlusion pass (using V-Ray dirt) and Specular pass from Render Elements and rendered them in TIF 16-bits 300-dpi with a matte background with no Alpha contribution, so I could use it to make my masks.

Testing and using the passes of the scene

Testing and using the passes of the scene

Blending passes

In Photoshop, I blended all the passes, did some color corrections and got 2 images for the background.

Setting up the scene

Setting up the scene

Conclusion

I hope you guys like it and that this help you with your projects. Thanks so much for the support of my wife and friends and thanks a lot to 3dtotal, you guys have been very kind to me.

The final image…

The final image…

Related links
Click here for Victor Hugo Sousa's website
Check out Samurai Shodown, Victor's inspiration for this piece

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