Over the summer I experimented with the MatFX Oil Paint filter in Substance Painter, and since the start of the fall semester I have done texture tests and some layout fixes for a couple of shots.
I stumbled across the filter while watching a video about achieving a hand-painted look in Substance Painter, without doing any hand-painting. Beyond that video I couldn't find much in the way of documentation or tutorials so I took to playing around with the filter in combination with practicing some hand painting. The result was great, but the filter was finicky and it's been difficult to achieve this look again.
I did some texture tests on a couple of assets, a vase and a couch, to see how the filter could be used and found a variety of issues with it, as well as a way to fix those problems. For one, the filter can't be used over fill layers. It simply won't show up. I did a version of the textures with realistic materials and the filter laid over top. It gave some interesting effects, but doesn't make assets look painted.
The other problem was that hand-painting shadows confused the filter, so any height or normal maps would make the shadows look like holes on the texture. Originally I though this could be used as an advantage for weathering, but when I'd try to paint stuffing into the holes the height and normal maps would change and the hole would disappear. This lead me to how to fix the weird height and normal maps. To fix this issue all I had to do was paint over the darker colors with the base color and a low opacity and the the holes would disappear without completely destroying the hand-painted shadows.
Currently the only issue is getting the textures into Maya for a proper look. I need to brush up on how to plug textures into the materials, as well as make the colors, and height/normals more intense since Maya tones them down.
In the last week I've also worked on some layout changes. To better match current storyboards, I've changed camera angles from being pretty straight on to different angles and positions. I added some lighting to better bring the audience's focus to where it should be, as well.
For some of the shots that are still in the most recent animatic, like the one in the middle, I will need to go in and make some adjustments to lighting and composition, but that won't happen for a bit until the shots have been looked over.
In the coming week I'll be working on some more texture tests on different assets, as well as finishing up the ones I have currently.
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