Okay, so today I want to talk about making a wood-textured shard, something I’ve been playing around with for my “Wuthering Waves” project. It’s been a bit of a ride, let me tell you.
Getting Started
First off, I gathered some reference images. You know, just Googled “wood texture” and “shards” to get a feel for what I was aiming for. I wanted something that looked realistic but still had that stylized game art vibe. I spent a good chunk of time just staring at pictures of wood grain and broken pieces, trying to figure out how to combine the two.
The Messy Middle
Next, I fired up my 3D modeling software. I usually use Blender, but this time I decided to try out something new just for kicks. I started with a basic shape, a sort of jagged, pointy thing that would eventually be my shard. Then came the fun part – sculpting.
I pushed and pulled vertices, trying to get that rough, splintered look. Honestly, it was kind of a mess at first. I ended up with something that looked more like a melted candle than a piece of wood. But hey, that’s part of the process, right? I kept at it, using various sculpting brushes, trying to mimic the natural cracks and grooves you’d find in real wood. Also, I kept looking at my references, and then it took me hours, but I finally started to see something that resembled a wooden shard.
After sculpting, I moved on to texturing. This was another beast altogether. I played around with different wood textures, trying to find one that fit the style I was going for. I layered different textures, adjusted colors, and added some hand-painted details to make it look more unique. This part took forever, I swear. I kept tweaking things, going back and forth, until I was somewhat satisfied with the result.
The Final Stretch
Once the texture was মোটামুটি (mò jǐ mò jǐ – roughly) decent, I did some test renders. You know, just to see how it looked in different lighting conditions. I noticed a few areas that needed fixing, so I went back and made some adjustments to the model and the texture. This back-and-forth continued for a while until I finally had something I was happy with.
Finally, I exported the model and imported it into my “Wuthering Waves” project. Seeing it in the game environment was pretty cool, I have to admit. It wasn’t perfect, but it definitely added to the overall look and feel of the world I was building.
Wrapping Up
- Gathered references for wood texture and shards.
- Modeled a basic shard shape.
- Sculpted the shard to give it a splintered look. (This was tough!)
- Textured the shard using a combination of procedural and hand-painted techniques.
- Rendered and adjusted until it looked good enough.
- Imported into the game and felt a little proud.
So yeah, that’s basically how I made a wood-textured shard. It was a challenging but fun little project. Hope you found this somewhat interesting or helpful. Let me know if you have any questions, or if you’ve tried something similar yourself. I’m always up for a good chat about this kind of stuff!