Men in Black: Most Wanted — Comic Style Texturing

At the start of the project, we focused on defining a clear, repeatable comic-style art direction that the whole team could follow. The goal was to achieve a clean, stylised look suitable for VR, while staying within performance constraints.

Instead of using expensive outline shaders I developed a fully baked solution using just Albedo map. To ensure consistency across the team, I created a Smart Material and structured layer system in Substance Painter, allowing artists to quickly achieve a unified comic-book look.

UV & Texture Strategy

• Prioritized high texel density with consistency across assets
• Allocated more UV space to gameplay-visible areas
• Used texture sizes based on asset importance and size (512 / 1024 / 2048)
• Kept textures square for reusability and pipeline consistency
• Used mirroring where possible to maximize UV efficiency
• Leveraged minimal UV space for flat black areas to save resolution

UV shells were kept as straight and square as possible, even at the cost of slight distortion. This helped maintain clean, anti-aliased edges, which is critical for achieving sharp black linework and a crisp comic-style finish.

Baking Strategy

• Baked low poly to itself (no high-poly required for this style)
• Generated key maps: Ambient Occlusion, World Space Normals, Curvature, Position

Thickness map used selectively for organic or subsurface-style assets

Grayscale Foundation (Smart Material Setup)

• Established a grayscale base to drive the stylised look
• Defined values by material type:
  • Plastic / Wood → mid-gray
  • Metal → darker with higher contrast
  • Fabric → lighter, matte tones
• Baked lighting information directly into the albedo to simulate depth
• Focused on readability and shape definition over physical accuracy

Base Color Application

• Applied base colors on top of the grayscale foundation
• Used consistent color codes (hex values) to match concept and maintain asset consistency
• Added fill layers with Color channel only enabled
• Used blending modes (Overlay / Multiply) to preserve grayscale-driven values
• Ensured color intensity is controlled by the underlying grayscale

Base Color Workflow Tip

• Used Polygon Fill tool to quickly assign colors to specific mesh areas

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Color Gradients & Stylisation

• Applied linear gradients to enhance stylisation and visual depth
• Focused gradients on larger surfaces (warm ↔ cool shifts)
• Adjusted value rather than hue on smaller elements
• Added subtle gradients across multiple axes (X, Y, etc.) for variation
• Used Overlay blending (~50% opacity) to integrate with base values
• Tuned intensity per asset to maintain readability and style consistency

Grunge & Surface Detail

• Added stylised grunge to enhance depth and visual storytelling
• Defined three main types:
  • Dirt → high-contact and worn areas (AO-driven)
  • Paper → posters, stickers, surface overlays
  • Greenery → moss and organic buildup
• Focused on simple, stylised application rather than realism
• Used grunge to reinforce shape, contrast, and visual interest

Each grunge type followed a defined visual language to maintain consistency across assets. Reusable masks helped speed up the workflow, while strict control over brush stroke style ensured a cohesive “marker pen” look. This was critical, as inconsistent strokes became very noticeable once assets were combined in the scene.

Brush Setup & Stroke Control

• Used default brush with alpha removed for sharp, full-pixel strokes
• Maintained clean, straight lines for the stylised look
• For softer curves, used high hardness and point-to-point painting (Shift)
• Focused on simplicity to preserve clarity and consistency
• Ensured stroke quality aligned with the defined “marker pen” style

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Projection & Decals

• Projected 2D elements (prepared in Photoshop) onto 3D assets
• Used decals selectively to avoid visual clutter
• Applied contrasting colors to enhance readability and focal points
  • e.g. blue base → yellow/orange accents
• Blended projections using opacity and layer modes for seamless integration
• Maintained balance so decals support, not overpower, the base material

Hue Variation

• Introduced subtle hue shifts using block-based strokes (10–50% opacity)
• Used simple rectangular shapes to add controlled color variation
• Avoided full hand-painting to maintain production speed
• Added variation to break uniformity and simulate a hand-painted feel
• Balanced efficiency with stylisation for fast asset turnaround

Black Line Work

• Added stylised black line work to define shape and reinforce the comic look
• Refined baked edge lines manually (clean-up, thickness control, adjustments)
• Maintained consistent line thickness relative to asset scale and resolution
• Used line variation (breaks, softening) to achieve a hand-drawn feel
• Avoided uniform outlines; introduced controlled irregularity for stylisation
• Used line work to enhance depth, wear, and high-contact areas
• Painted solid black in tightly packed or low-importance areas for efficiency
• Planned UVs accordingly to support black-filled regions
• Worked with flexible guidelines rather than strict rules, using references and feedback
• Used paint layers for non-destructive adjustments and faster iteration