HARITHA UPPALAPATI
Look Development | Modeling
Tiled Floor
I think I had the most fun creating this material and find it to be the most successful. I especially like how the roughness and the dirt on the edges of the tiles turned out. I also used a tile sampler node to create very subtle tone variations in the tiles.
The pattern was not very difficult to create even though it did take a chunk of time. I am very pleased with how closely I was able to match the colors and pattern with the reference.
Brushed Gold
Although the patterned materials were challenging, this material was the hardest to match with the reference. I think the metallic and color values match, but would change the completely smooth areas and add more bumps to catch the specularity like it does in the reference. I really like how the roughness makes it look like paint though.
Katan Silk
For this material, I had most difficulty with getting the fibers correct. In Substance Designer the intensity looked subtle but easy to see. When I brought it into Unreal; however, the normal map was too miniscule. I would go back an increase the intensity for the normal map and also work on the golden fibers more to make them look more like rounded thread.
The pattern took the longest amount of time, but I wouldn't say it was the most difficult. It was hard to position each section of the pattern correctly, but I eventually figured it out with the tiling and transformation nodes. For the leave, flower, and outline shapes, I used SVG nodes to draw my own shapes. This process taught me about how powerful Designer is and the amount of work and practice it takes to create good materials, especially ones that have to match a reference.
References
Inspirations
The first reference is of a tiled floor originating for a home in India. I love the bright colors, the patterns, and the roughness and specularity variation it displays when interacting with the light.
The second reference is of thick brushed gold. This is a more simple material that will give more experience with normal, height, and metallic maps.
The third reference is of katan silk which is a fabric specific to India and is used in sarees. I really like the complex pattern that it will push me to create as well as the subtle fiber variations and metallic thread.