How to EASILY Create Stylized Stone Using Zbrush & Substance Designer

Summary

In this tutorial, game artist Jaco Takalo shares his process of creating a stylized brick wall material. He discusses the inspiration drawn from Overwatch and how he used ZBrush to generate the base brick shapes and height maps. By blending these height maps in Substance Designer, Takalo explains how he achieved a unique, stylized texture, highlighting both the challenges and rewards of working with non-procedural textures. The tutorial also covers color techniques, with tips on creating hand-painted textures and enhancing the overall look of the material for use in game environments.

Takeaways

• 😀 Jaco Takalo shares his process of creating a stylized brick wall material using **Substance Designer** and **ZBrush**.
• 😀 Inspiration for the project came from **Overwatch**, specifically the stylized brick walls in the game.
• 😀 Jaco uses **ZBrush** to sculpt the brick shapes, focusing on creating variation in the edges and forms.
• 😀 The key to stylizing the bricks was using the **Trim Dynamic Brush** in ZBrush for controlled, less realistic detail.
• 😀 After sculpting, Jaco renders depth maps in ZBrush to generate height information for the brick shapes.
• 😀 The depth maps are imported into **Substance Designer** where they are used to create the basic tiling brick texture.
• 😀 To add variation and realistic imperfections, Jaco blends additional renders from different angles to achieve protruding or crooked bricks.
• 😀 For color, Jaco utilizes a **clouds generator noise** and a **gradient map** to create variations in the brick hue.
• 😀 To give the texture a hand-painted look, Jaco uses the **slope blur node** to add artistic randomness and smooth transitions.
• 😀 Jaco adjusts the texture further with a **directional warp** to refine brick alignment, adding highlights and shadow for a dynamic look.
• 😀 The final result is a stylized material that holds up with just the diffuse map, even without normal or roughness maps.
• 😀 While the material works as a good starting point, Jaco acknowledges that further refinement of the detail and color could improve it.

Q & A

What is the primary focus of this tutorial?

The tutorial focuses on creating a stylized brick wall material using a combination of ZBrush and Substance Designer, with insights into texturing techniques and workflows.

Why did Jaco Takalo choose to use ZBrush for the brick shapes instead of traditional methods in Substance Designer?

Jaco used ZBrush to create the brick shapes because it allowed for more detailed and unique edge work, which gave the bricks a more stylized and irregular appearance, resembling the crooked and protruding bricks from Overwatch.

What specific technique did Jaco use in ZBrush to create the brick shapes?

Jaco started with a simple brick shape and used the Trim Dynamic brush to refine the edges, ensuring the bricks looked different from all angles to create variety in the texture.

How did Jaco generate height maps from the brick meshes created in ZBrush?

Jaco rendered the brick meshes in ZBrush at 1k resolution and used the 'Depth' button in the render menu to create depth maps, which he then exported as height information.

How did Jaco bring variation to the brick pattern in Substance Designer?

Jaco blended different height maps from various angles of the bricks into the Tile Generator in Substance Designer, allowing him to create a more dynamic pattern with protruding and crooked bricks.

What is the purpose of using the Tile Generator in Substance Designer?

The Tile Generator in Substance Designer is used to create repeating patterns or textures, like the brick wall texture, by tiling the input shapes or height maps across a surface.

How did Jaco handle the color creation for the brick texture?

Jaco used the Clouds Generator noise and a simple gradient map to create base colors, then blended two versions of the colors to add randomness and visual interest.

What method did Jaco use to achieve a hand-painted texture feel?

Jaco used the Slope Blur node in Substance Designer to blur the texture in a way that mimicked the appearance of a hand-painted texture, enhancing the stylized look.

What role does the diffuse map play in the final texture, according to Jaco?

The diffuse map is the most important aspect of the final texture, as it defines the color and visual quality of the material, even though normal maps and roughness maps are also used.

What is one of the challenges Jaco faced when creating the stylized brick texture?

One of the challenges was balancing the level of detail in the bricks, as Jaco felt the bricks were too detailed for a stylized look, and the colors could have more definition.