The great thing about substance painter is it’s not destructive so when I realised I just wasn’t getting the texel density I wanted and I wasn’t happy with the initial UV layout it’s no big deal to fix if you are clever how you go about it.

Starting to come alive now, finalised textures on front suspension and body and added more detail and decals

The first thing I do before getting deep into texturing is do a quick check to look for shading and UV issues, there are always some on the first pass. The model shading looked fine with mat cap when modelling but you can see as soon as there a real texture on it there are some issues.

Well I won’t lie, this is always a bit of a slog but it’s done and I do quite enjoy it weirdly!

I’ve finalised all the meshes, removed any extraneous edge loops and back faces etc and generally tidied it up.

This is going to be highest level of detail, so I’ve got the mesh at a level where it’s visually acceptable at all but the closest viewing distance.

I’ve worked around the rest of the model using the block out as a reference and creating a high poly version. In the main I’m doing subdivision modelling but I will be applying that at a level that’s visually acceptable as I unwrap and will tidy up extra edge loops etc as I go.

I thought long and hard about it but made this design decision for two reasons.

In the cartoon the front steering has full wheel covers but that just wont work in reality especially because I have created real world viable front suspension. They are going to have to have some cut-outs.

I have always been a fan of Akira, and Kaneda’s bike is one of the most iconic.

The plan is using the cartoon and other sources as a reference reimagine the bike in high detail ready for animation keeping the aesthetics while making it mechanically viable and bringing it up to date.