How I Made It: "Demonic Mask" by Alessandro Biolcati Rinaldi

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Hello, my name is Alessandro Biolcati Rinaldi! "Demonic Mask" is my first personal project, made in my spare time at the end of my CGI studies.

What was your inspiration for this piece?

My main goal was to create a game-ready asset characterized by its distinctive shapes and colors that fit the stylized style, which reflects my main area of artistic interest. The inspiration for the demonic mask came from the influence of east asian culture, which has always played a significant role in my creative growth, combined with my passion for folklore myths and legends.

The goal was to create a unique, expressive mask by mashuping two types of Yokai: Oni and Tengu. The reference that most influenced the overall style and which I wanted to achieve was the "Dai-Tengu Hanzo". Like in any project, the first essential step for me was the collection of reference images. I used materials from different contexts, such as illustrations, 3D printing prototypes, video games, and anime.

I created a mood board of references with key elements I want to use for the concept, modelling, and color palette. To create the moodboard, I used PureRef, a particularly user-friendly software for artists that makes it easy to organize the workspace while keeping it "always on top" of the other software in use.

Shapes Blockout

What tools did you use to design and make this render? What was your process?

I started modeling the mask in ZBrush using a Demo Head in DynaMesh, proceeding with a quick initial blocking. Using brushes, I modified the initial proportions until I achieved the desired result. At this stage, the combo of ClayBuildUp and DynaMesh was fundamental, as it allowed me to add layers of geometry without paying too much attention to the model's clean-up. Maintaining the silhouette efficiently is often the main challenge, so it is one of the main aspects I seek during the initial blocking; I often apply a flat black shader to test how effective the shapes are.

Once I'm satisfied with the basic blockout, I move on to the sculpt refining phase, focusing on cleaning up the model and enhancing the main lines to make it more recognizable. This process begins with a ZRemesher at a low polycount to achieve an even distribution of the geometry. Then, I subdivide the model, and by having a better edgeflow, I use brushes to redefine the main shapes, adding details with more accuracy.

Sculpting

For secondary geometries, I used a method that is particularly efficient on ZBrush. I start with basic primitives and define shapes using the ZModeler tool. With Dynamic Subdivision, I can preview the subdivided mesh while maintaining more control than a direct subdivision.

By applying creases to the desired edges, I can keep them harder; then, I apply Dynamic Subdivision while keeping the crease level one or two subdivisions lower than the overall level, resulting in a smoother, softer look on the edges.

Due to their complex, vertical shape, I chose to use ZSphere for the smoke trails that emerge from the mouth of the mask. With just a few clicks, this approach allowed me to image the structure of the geometry in a non-destructive way while remaining instanced to the spheres that compose it.

Retopology & UVs

For the retopology and UV process, I used Maya. After exporting the decimated high-poly model from ZBrush, I set it up as a Live Surface, which allowed me to create a clean topology using the Quad Draw tool, working poly by poly.

Once the topology was completed, I manually defined the hard edges, which were used as the main seams for the UVs. This step is essential to prevent any problems during the texture-baking phase. Since the model is symmetrical, I could overlap part of the UVs, moving them to a separate tile. As a final check, I verify the orientation of the UV shells to ensure that they are not flipped (except for the mirrored ones), using the colors blue or red as a reference.

To facilitate the texturing process, I also export an ID mask, assigning colored materials to the common parts of the model so they can be selected and masked more quickly during the texturing phase.

Texturing

For the mask texturing phase, I used Substance Painter, baking the high-poly model onto the low-poly created in Maya to obtain the necessary maps for the contributions I wanted. When texturing stylized models, I mainly focus on the Base Color channel, which allows me to judge the impact of the various layers on the initial color palette. I mainly exploit the Curvature, Ambient Occlusion, and Position Maps to create light and shadow contrasts, highlight areas, and bring out details from the high-poly model.

For the smoke trails in this project, I also created an Opacity mask with a vertical gradient, which I later tuned in the shader to achieve the desired effect.

Lighting & Rendering

For real-time rendering, I used Marmoset Toolbag 4, setting up the scene setup in the engine. I placed the model in the center of the frame and set up a three-light set, with the addition of a rim light to better define the outlines.

I used Omni lights, changing the shape to a rectangle to control the width and height parameters. This allowed me to fine-tune the spread of light on the model and achieve more or less sharp lighting.

For the mask, I created two separate materials. For the main material, I plugged in the textures exported from Substance Painter. I created an unlit material for the smoke, assigning the Opacity map created earlier and setting the transparency to Dither mode.

To complete the project, I chose a monochromatic background to create a sharp contrast with the bright colors of the mask, emphasizing its visual impact even more. I also added two additional views, both to optimize the space composition of the image and to provide a more complete view of the shapes and silhouette, including a side perspective.

*This article was previously published on AREA.autodesk.com on September 24th, 2024*