Day of The Dead Inspired Ghost Shell
Programs used: Maya 2023, Substance Painter, Unreal Engine 5
Modeling the Ghost
Learning how to make a ghost shell from scratch was an interesting process, using the default ghost shell from Destiny as a reference.
As for the concept itself, I wanted a ghost shell similar to previous solstice events which had hats, but to have dangling engrams to fit the Dia de Los Muertos aesthetic.
I then added lines to make quads on the shell, and triangulated the engrams.
Texturing the Ghost
After importing the game ready mesh and baking on the high-res mesh inside Substance Painter, figuring out the color theme was the next hurdle. I eventually settled with a black and white base, common for a matador look.
The threading of the hat had a few renditions, several stitch brushes, and flow density until I had a look I liked.
The next pictures will show the following steps I took, initially giving the engrams color and glow, then drawing details on the ghost that would then glow.
Final Render Inside of Unreal Engine 5
After making some finishing touches on the ghost shell, I imported the model and textures into Unreal Engine, connecting the nodes to display my work with the glow emissions having a variable to control the intensity of the light.