BIONIC FISH

3D asset created for Ultraviolet

Modeled in Maya and textured in Substance Painter.

PROCESS BREAKDOWN

I was told to create an asset for our under-the-sea-themed digital collectibles. We had just finished working on a space collection, and I wanted to see if I could create an asset that served as a thematic transition between our more sci-fi collectibles and our oceanic ones.

I thought the mouth shape of Arp from the Webtoon, Castle Swimmer was super cute. So, I took inspiration from his design and drew out a quick fish concept sketch.

I brought this sketch into Photoshop and began to lay out some panels and bolts.

Built the first draft of the geo in Maya, using quad draw to speed up the panel creation process. However, at this point, the model looked a little flat.

So, I took a screenshot and went back to Photoshop to plan out fin details.

Back in Maya, I incorporated these details and reworked the mesh a bit further. Alas, the top and bottom fins still felt too round so I added ridges to create more variety.

It was then time to move to Substance Painter. While I love the look of using geo to create bolts, to keep polycount low, I painted on bolts with normal detail.

But plot twist: at this point in iteration, my team shifted focus completely away from collectibles and I had to stop working on the model.

So let’s move on to project reflection.

Looking at this now, I wish I would have painted the bolts silver. I initially thought it looked better all orange, but have grown to disagree.

Also wish I had thought about the geo as panels that linked together rather than just plastering them on a fish shape. I had started some initial animation explorations. This led to the realization I had only considered aesthetics and didn’t factor in how the fish should move mechanically.

It’s alright but it doesn’t look robotic and the bendiness is a little strange. I would love to explore how I could redesign with rigging/animation in mind.

But, no going back and changing the past. I will learn from my mistakes as I continue to create, new, better assets.

And my grumbling aside, I still like this fish.