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The next stage is a fun one, and that is sculpting the character. In the days of Fallout 1 and 2, these characters were actually hand-sculpted using clay and posed in stop-motion to get the animation down. In our more digital era, we use digital sculpting tools like Zbrush to create a super high poly model. Again, this is a stage where we are adding a lot of fine detail and iteration is key. The modeler and art director look at proportions, look at 3D elements not caught by the concept art, and add detailing that fits in the overall style.
After this, we move to the low poly breakup meant for use in the game (our polygon target for the final art is 20-40K). We need to ensure the character will rig correctly, so at this stage the animator is involved to inspect the model and inform us if there are any issues. Sometimes, problems with the mesh will only become apparent once it comes time to animate. For example, anything that moves needs to have the appropriate polygon layout so it can deform without looking bad.
Once approved, it is on to texturing and materials. A character like Fish-Lips required PBR (physically based rendering) materials and subsurface scattering to achieve the quality of the skin and details. Texture maps are created for the models, checked to see if they work in our tweaked realism style. A key element during this step is the eyes, they take a lot of work and detailing but they are very important to create a convincing, living character.
