Troll Bridge: The Lettering
From the get go it was clear that the standard "extrude, 3 surface bake, texture project" wasn't an option. Paying homage to the classic letterings from the age of high adventure, it needed to be more. A lot more. A properly built model. That's also why only a direct subdivision modelling approach made sense here. To get that nice flowing surface from peak to valley that only subdivs will give you.
To get the caved look right I looked at how that used to be done. You chiseled the base design into a rock, poured a liquid metal into it and hoped it wouldn't crack too bad. Then you started detailing the result. The sediments in the stone would create imperfections in the metal itself while salts and silica affected the colour.
All of that went into modelling, texture design and detail sculpting. This was one of the jobs where I was so well prepared I could answer my own questions when I got stuck. 😉
A great book that helped me a lot with getting the shapes right was "Letter Carving in Stone" by Tom Perkins.
Sculpted Details Showcase
Rendered in Keyshot, composited in Nuke, finished in DaVinci Resolve.
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The lettering used in the film's key art.
The lettering used in the film's opening.
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Subdivision tracing of the 2D logo designed by Mark Gilliland.
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While not matching the final model, it gave me a good understanding of how to approach modelling it. It also provided good guides for building the final model.
The final base model. All quads subdivision surface.
Tip: I used the book "Letter Carving in Stone" by Tom Perkins as reference on how to model the chiseled body.
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Modelled Knotwork on the sides most prominently seen by the main camera.
Again all quads subdivision surface.
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Modelled a sheath into the "O" for the sword to plausibly sit in.
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An early full texture pass using the materials I've shown here before.
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An early full texture pass using the materials I've shown here before.
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An early full texture pass using the materials I've shown here before.
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Remodelled the sword for an exact match of the physical prop.
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PBR render of the new digital blade compared to the photographed film-used prop.
I stitched a photo series of the physical prop that Daniel Knight shot into a panorama for maximum detail and a distortion free base image.
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Short fully textured and lit showcase clip for the remodelled version of Cohen's sword to match the physical prop.
Handle and decorations only needed minor touch-ups and adjustments, so I didn't highlight that part.
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Full logo render v01: This became the version that was used for print.
Film version also had the displacement maps.
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Full logo render v02: Although it showed more of the logo heritage, it didn't read as well as v01.
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Rotary controller I did in Modo to prep the logo for a classic fly-through reveal animation.
Video shows the possible extremes.
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Sculpted Details: E
This illustrates my approach to detailing nicely. Place hero details only where they are seen but don't leave out supporting detail.
Rendered in Keyshot from the full, heavy ZBrush mesh.
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Sculpted Details: G
Knotwork sculpted on with an alpha extracted from the knotwork model with exaggerated edges to read better in context. The knotwork on the big curve won't be seen directly but will influence how the light bounces off the surface.
Sculpted Details: R1
The first R has the camera peeking into it slightly from the right inwards. Hence all hero details are sculpted with that in mind.
Again, a "mock sculpt" of the main knotwork on the left stem to bounce light into the "T" correctly.