The topical purpose of the post is to outline the reference images I have used for the Flatscreen TV asset, the journey in which I made the asset, and my thoughts and improvements if I was able to undertake something like this again.
References Images
A simple shape of how the tv asset should look like. I really adore how it’s reflection captures the image location perfectly. I want to attempt something like this, even if it’s not in the way I hope it’d be.
Of course, having a wall mounted TV also means having one of these. I really like how it’s shaped, primarily with the small, circular holes both small and long to capture the appeal of the image. I’m going to try and replicate that further into my asset if possible.
Again, I really like how the reflection bounces from the light source coming from the window, even if the TV is turned on. It captures the balance of location and quality. The curves on the TV is also something I like, taking notes from those points to model my version.
Process
I started with a basic rectangle polygon and created edge loops that follow the sides of the shape to create additional faces. I then selected those faces to extrude just a little bit to make the front side of the asset to look something like this.
On the backside, I created four more edge loops to make a face in the center, ensuring I created more around the sides. I selected the face and hit extrude, then I scaled the asset so all corners diagonally met. It should look something like this.
Now it’s time for me to make the support mount that will be attached to the TV, I started with another rectangle polygon, scaling the size down to something like this.
I created an edge loop on the top side of the asset and extruded outwards. Another edge loop had to be created for the parts that would head downwards, so I ensured I follow that. I selected the polygon in Object Mode and mirrored the asset, making sure I select Bounding Box and the Y axis, both on the positive sign to sculpt something like this.
Next I made the width of the wall mount longer by selecting its vertex and dragging it until it meets the requirements of mirroring the polygon again and matching it up with the rest of the polygon. I also made a rectangular polygon in the middle so it would be able to show off a little more detail.
I also made another additional polygon acting as the stand to hold the wall mount up, making sure I attach it to the TV. It’s just a matter of creating another one by mirroring it and aligning it up with the other side. Now it is time to texture the asset. Before I export the asset as an FBX however, I had to check the outliner and separate the polygons to name each individual one. I also had to assign the whole asset into one material so it would be easier to paint in Substance.
Substance Painter
Upon bringing in the FBX file into Substance, I began to think of what texture would be best suited for the asset. I had to think about what the front and back will appear as, so I checked out every individual material that was appropriate, like a plastic or steel material. In the end, I chose a plastic grainy type for the backside since the stripes sort of blend in with the colour of the asset, and it looks cool and realistically like what I’m trying to make out of this. Before any of this could be applied, I baked the asset with the ambient occlusion channel included for a more realistic approach.
I applied the plastic diamond material onto the screen and scaled it down so it’s incredibly subtle, making it look like it hasn’t been touched. I also applied the same texture to the wall mounts and its supports to give it character. There really wasn’t a whole lot to do with this design, so I exported the textures and ensured I included the Mixed AO output map along with the default maps. Now I’m ready to plug the textures into the asset.
Bringing Into Maya
I selected the asset and applied a new shader, searching for AiStandardSurface and went straight to plug in the BaseColour texture map. I then repeated the process with the Metalness, Roughness and Normal maps, the latter of which I had to check Tangent Space Normals. Only the BaseColour had its color space set to sRGB, the rest are set to Raw., an example of which is seen below.
The process of plugging them in was fairly easy and simple, as did getting used to figuring out how to add in the ambient occlusion, which was also as simple as it could get. I went into the hypershader and added an AiMultiply utility to convert the BaseColour and AO maps. Once that was done, it was time for the lighting to begin.
Evaluation
All in all, I think I did a pretty good job at modelling and texturing the TV asset. If there was one thing I could improve on, it would be on the wall mount, as I didn’t create holes in the rectangle polygons. That would boil down to me not knowing how to create said holes, and leaving the mount as it is. That could be improved on in the future as I attempt to learn more about Maya.
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