Learn to Create Gory, Infected Surface Material in Substance 3D Designer

Introduction 

Hello, my name is Vadim Tougeron, I’m 27 years old, and I work as a Material Artist at Ubisoft, mainly specializing in creating architectural and biome textures for open-world games.

I first began my artistic journey with drawing. Having always been passionate about video games, I later pursued generalist studies in video game design and fell in love with 3D creation. 

After finishing my studies, I started working at Ubisoft Bordeaux as a Level Artist intern. I then transitioned into the role of Material Artist because I had some foundational knowledge, and there was a strong need for materials in production. I was given a lot of trust and responsibilities, and I developed most of my skills during my first production thanks to the support of my team, as well as through personal projects where I continued to improve on my own. 

Over the course of my career, I’ve worked on Assassin’s Creed: Mirage, Assassin’s Creed: Shadows, and other confidential projects. 

Infected Surface

Lately, I've been playing a lot of horror games and games with 'gory' environments, and it made me want to work on a material in that style. I was also inspired by some elements from the Stranger Things series. 

My goal with this project was to work on something very organic and to convey a gory and viscous aesthetic as accurately as possible. 

Substance 3D Designer 

When I start working on a material, I always begin by focusing on the height map. In the case of this material, the idea was to first create a base layer that conveys the general intent, onto which I would then add the various elements that will make up the final material. 

I used only a few nodes to achieve a result; the goal here wasn’t to go into detail, but rather to quickly establish the general intent: something organic yet structured. Simple noises and warps are enough. 

My aim was to have a fairly uniform base, since the elements I would add later are what would break that uniformity and create the overall flow. 

One technique I like to use for this is blending the height map with itself using a bit of offset and rotation. This helps maintain the overall uniformity while filling in empty areas.

Once I'm satisfied with the result, I equalize the grayscale values so I can manage the height and the addition of elements more easily.  

Base Layer

To add detail to my base, I once again use very few nodes. My goal here is to add volume and detail to the overall base.

Veins

The large veins are the most important element of this material – they define the overall flow and bring structure and readability to the whole. My goal was, therefore, to have maximum control over their placement and shape. 

Using splines was the best solution for this. First, I created different splines and applied a warp to give them a more organic look. I then merged them and split them into two groups so I could work on the details separately. This gave me full control over all the veins. 

My goal here is to add volume, grain, and a bit of deformation to the veins. To do this, I simply use a bevel, a slight warp, and blend in some noises with the veins once again. I keep it fairly simple. The key is to be subtle with the blends; the idea is to add light surface details without affecting the main volumes. 

Vein Variations

Here, I’m going to use the method I mentioned earlier, which allows me to quickly create new variations of my veins using simple transforms (offset/tiling/rotation), which I will then blend with the overall composition. I’ll also be able to extract masks from this process that will be useful for my albedo and roughness. 

Albedo & Roughness

For the albedo, I generally use the same process across all my projects. I start by assigning the main colors to my different elements. To do this, I begin with a base using a gradient map, and then I blend different colors by using the various masks I have at my disposal. 

I use a node by Ben Wilson to speed up the process by adding grain to the different colors, but this can also be done by blending noises for each color. 

I usually use the 'dirt' node and slightly blend in the curvature information to tie everything together. I use the 'soft light' blending mode and make sure not to overdo it, to avoid having too much lighting information in the albedo – it should remain subtle 

A small tip for creating a more appealing albedo: using an HSL node and a mask, I add random touches of color. This helps bring richness and visual interest to the overall result. 

For the roughness, I simply use a grayscale version of my albedo as a base. Then, I use my masks to control specific areas, and I finish with a Levels node to fine-tune the overall result. 

Final Notes

For my renders, I wanted to create an organic and horrific environment. To do this, I modeled a fairly simple mesh with some volume, onto which I applied the material with tessellation 

This project took me about one evening to complete. As I’ve explained throughout this article, I kept things fairly simple overall. In general, it's always important to keep things simple; there's no need to go into unnecessary detail or overcomplicate the graphs without a clear reason. 

To create high-quality materials, the key is to focus on the main intentions, be subtle, and ensure that all the elements are cohesive and readable. 

Vadim Tougeron, Texture Artist

Interview conducted by Gloria Levine