Tutorial: Mari - Node Based Texture and Lookdev for Production

Welcome to my latest Tutorial: Mari - Node Based Texture and Lookdev for Production

This in-depth tutorial will go over my node-based texturing workflow in Mari. This process has been iterated on for the last year, tried and tested in a feature film production environment.

I also show you how to quickly and easily test your textures in Maya Arnold, so you can see them in context to continue to refine and iterate on them.

I finish by showing you some techniques to set dress your environment to help sell the textures. This is something I often do in production to help my supervisor imagine how the final asset will look in shot.

This process has not only sped up my workflow but is also lighter in memory usage in Mari, which allows me to generate more complex and higher resolution textures with ease.

Even though I am texturing a hard surface vehicle in this tutorial, my process for texturing an organic character uses the same principles and step-by-step procedure in getting great results.

The final output of this tutorial is done in roughly an 8 hour day, but many more days would then be used to finesse and refine things or address notes in a production environment.

I go over every step of the process, only skipping parts where I would be repeating myself, for example, I only texture a single tire, and then do the others off-camera.

Chapters:

Bonus Chapter - Intro to Mari

Chapter01 - Intro to Template

Chapter02 - Baking Utility Maps and Blocking out Materials

Chapter03 - Adding Scratches

Chapter04 - Texturing the Lights

Chapter05 - Adding Displacement Detail to Tyres

Chapter06 - Adding Rust

Chapter07 - Adding Disp and Spec Roughness to the Rust

Chapter08 - Adding Dirt Pass

Chapter09 - Refining the Dirt Pass

Chapter10 - Adding Variation to Black Paint and Disp to Radiator

Chapter11 - Adding Dust Pass

Chapter12 - Adding Dust Pass

Chapter13 - Bake Out Maps and Final Touches

Chapter14 - Lighting in Maya and Initial Lookdev

Chapter15 - Updating maps after First Pass Lookdev

Chapter16 - Adding final Details

Chapter17 - Adding Dirt Disp and Adding a Texture to the Ground Plane

Chapter18 - Creating and Scattering Set Dressing

Programs Used:

- Mari

- Maya

- Arnold

- Mighty Bake

Thank you for your support and I hope you enjoy the tutorial.

tom.newbury.cg