Creating Traditional Japanese Weapons with ZBrush & Substance 3D

Introduction

Hello everyone! My name is Nelia Butsko, and I’m a 3D Artist at the Ukrainian company Ulysses Graphics. I’ve been working in 3D for three years now.

My journey into 3D was quite simple. I’ve been passionate about art since childhood – it all started with traditional drawing, specifically portraits. Later, I became interested in 2D character art, and it was around that time that I stumbled upon an ad for 3D courses. That moment changed everything.

I began diving deep into everything related to the game industry. Once I gathered enough information, I started my 3D path with three courses at the Ukrainian ArtCraft CG School (which took about a year). After that, I dedicated another year to intensive self-study. Instead of focusing on job hunting or writing resumes, I devoted all my energy and time to creating a strong portfolio with quality artworks, and it paid off: I got hired.

To achieve this, I worked every single day with strict discipline, constantly challenging myself with more complex tasks to improve faster. At Ulysses Graphics, where I currently work, I’ve already gained over a year of commercial experience and contributed to the Hunt: Showdown 1896 project.

References

The first important stage of my workflow is building a solid reference board. I always gather a large number of references; this significantly helps during the modeling process. Usually, I break down references into three key stages:

1. Base Mesh – references that help create the main structure of the model.
2. High-poly (attachments, details, shapes) – for this particular project, I collected a bunch of tiger and dragon references since it was my first experience sculpting animals.
3. Texturing – various images of wear and tear, dirt, and old materials with imperfections.

While collecting references, I also watched various videos about the traditional crafting process of the tanto to get a better understanding of its components and structure. The reference board ended up quite extensive, covering all the materials and details: the handle, blade, small knife, saya (scabbard), menuki (metal fittings), maki-e (traditional Japanese pattern), leather, varnished wood, silver, brass, and more.

Blockout, High-poly, & Low-poly

For the base mesh, I watched a couple of videos showing how a tanto is traditionally made. This research helped streamline my process. I created the blockout in Maya, then moved on to detailing and attachments in ZBrush.

The main focus of this project was sculpting and texturing, so I didn’t spend much time optimizing the low-poly mesh – I simply decimated it in ZBrush. Then in Maya, I cleaned up the mesh, unwrapped the UVs, and baked everything in the usual way.

Here are a few highlights from the high-poly stage:

• The dragon’s body was built using ZSpheres, curves, and IMM brushes. ZSpheres helped create the curved and organic shape quickly and comfortably. I then converted the ZSphere to a curve, applied the desired IMM, and adjusted everything.
• The head, hands, and tail were sculpted separately and later attached to the body.

• For the leather handle, I used the Surface tool to apply the desired texture, masked it, and then used Inflate/Inflate Balloon deformation to achieve the result quickly.

Texturing

My approach to texturing begins with creating clean base materials. Once those are done, it’s much easier to add story and surface details. I work with Diffuse, Specular, and Gloss Maps – each with multiple variations to make the textures feel rich and natural.

Since the model had several metal parts, I used pre-made rust and patina textures to speed up the process. This not only made the materials look better but also reduced the number of layers. I applied these textures mostly to the diffuse and gloss channels, then fine-tuned everything as needed.

Here you can see some layers of different parts of the tanto.

One of the most interesting parts for me was working on the wooden pattern — specifically the maki-e decoration.

A Few Words About the Maki-e Pattern

“Maki-e (literally “sprinkled pictures”) is a representative lacquerware technique that originated in Japan around 1,200 years ago. Maki-e is done by painting lacquer motifs on the surface of a piece using a fine brush and then sprinkling gold powder onto the lacquer before it hardens, producing luxurious decorations.”

After reading several articles and watching videos about this craft, I started painting the main elements of the pattern by hand and used stencils for additional detail. To add the glittering effect, I used procedural texturing methods.

With this knowledge in mind, I could freely experiment during the process. Once the pattern was done, I added the wood base texture, metal-induced darkening, cracks, damage, and more.

In Substance 3D Painter, I set up the scene to closely resemble the final render during the texturing process. I used ACES tone mapping, Studio White Soft HDRI, and set the exposure to 1.3 for better lighting feedback.

Rendering

The rendering setup was fairly simple. Instead of using an HDRI, I applied a plain white 512x512 texture. I created multiple scenes, each with custom lighting setups that included 3-4 directional lights, several omni lights, and a few spotlights (some with a warm yellowish tint).

I also used focal distance, vignette, and a bit of sharpening to enhance the final look. Below, you can find my camera settings and light setups. 

In post-production, I added cherry blossom shadows in Photoshop to give the image a more lively and atmospheric touch. The end!

Conclusion

I learned a lot from this project. Even though my primary focus was sculpting and texturing, I gained valuable experience in every stage of the process. Big thanks to Artur Kramarenko for the help and feedback! And thanks to 80 Level for the opportunity to share my workflow and experience.

Thanks for reading!

Nelia Butsko, 3D Artist