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SMUGLER'S RUN- STAR WARS JEDI KNIGHT
Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy is a game released in 2003 for computers and later ported to consoles such as Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 among others!
Follow my process of creating the smuglers run skin for this game below!
The client came to me with references to a real existing model, a Star Wars attraction in the Disney parks, the references were very useful, they reveal the most relevant parts of the pieces, pieces that most brought the personality and individuality of the model, some other parts I used extra references to compose the look of the model.
Having everything in hand we discussed optimizing the model for STAR WARS™ Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy which is a game from 2003, a time when there were many limitations for games, so it was necessary to work very carefully in this aspect, it is something that I really like it, working with limitations, this is where professional growth is greatest, 12000 triangles was the limit for this complete model, hat, vest, shirt, shirt sleeves, pants and shoes, however I only needed to use half of that.
references send by the client
The basemesh was the female character from the game, my pipeline is to start with sculpture and then proceed to retopology, etc., other artists can do the opposite, working first on topology and then on sculpture, this depends on affinity, however I work better this way, with the sculpture everything went very well, as we had already talked and discussed a lot about the model before we started, so I already understood what he wanted.
zbrush turntable - highpoly
​Moving on to retopology, the idea is to always save processment in game, never waste edges on elements that are not useful, thanks to my large experience in second life meshes, everything went perfectly well and above expectations, 2600 Vertices and 3646 Triangles, (Since the limit was 12000 triangles or less, and 9000 vertices or less)
The texture was a very interesting part, I had no experience in this type of game and texture, I already did a project before that used a lot of hand painting, but my base is more semi realistic and stylized, I would say it was a challenge , it was necessary to study new things and try to understand more about the texture style that the STAR WARS™ Jedi Knight - Jedi Academy game used, regarding texture I already have good notions, the most challenging part was simulating the lighting and shadows in these textures, with some study, After some practice and certainly some mistakes I managed to understand how the texture should be made, I had to redo it at least twice to find the way.
But after finding it, everything went smoothly and this is something that makes me very proud, the client simply loved the texture and the final result of our project, I put enough effort into it to exceed expectations!
The client loved the final result of the project and also asked me for a men's version, and some changes needed to be made in shapes and proportions. In addition, I also repainted the shirt because this t-shirt is feminine, using Substance Painter I created a new painting design. Using the women's shirt as a base, this was the result of this adaptation for men!
This was the result of the male and female versions of t-shirts and shirt sleeves, notice different proportions in both element formats!
FINAL THOUGHTS AND GALLERY
This was a very interesting challenge that I received, something completely out of my comfort zone, always working on projects for second life and my personal projects, projects that are always realistic and semi realistic in style, so when this one came up I decided to face it head on. , especially because I have a great love for games from the 99s-10s era, as it was where I played video games the most I have a passion for this aesthetic, doing this work was a great experience as well as an incredible learning experience, I like working with new people and different tastes different because this is where we evolve the most and learn different things that will be very useful in the future!
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