The scar tests

Ok, here is the two different ‘scar’ designs I'm playing with for Deadland Chronicles. Since this is taking place in a war-strewn future the 'heroes' of the day will be pretty beat up. So, scars are necessary!

The original. Easy to so – but doesn’t look overly convincing that it’s a scar. I just used the pen tool, drew the line and added a handful of effects to try and make it look .. scar like. Not the BEST look but – not bad. Takes me about 5 minutes to do the scarring here.

Pros: Fast, easy and doesn’t eat up  a lot of resources.

Cons: Not the most effective scar, may not be consistent in design

This one I used a ZBrush sphere, drew a quick gash and exported it as an OBJ file. I then imported that into Photoshop (which takes a few minutes) and rotated it to where I wanted it. I changed the 3D object to a flat layer, masked and erased around it and added a little red tinge – only too about 5 minutes (well, 10 with the load time and making the sphere). Yes, I'm aware that this scar looks .. lame. But the feel is more realistic than the pen-tool method.

Pros: Looks better and has more possibilities. I can take the same sphere, rotated for where ever you look and add a pre-defined action for the coloring as needed, so it would look more consistent – and I could probably get it looking  more realistic

Cons: Takes a while to load (high poly count), the reflections may not always look natural, which CAN be fixed in Photoshop, but adds another step.  If not done right simply look clayish.

Out of the two I like the second better – I can make it look more gashy and stuff in Zbrush, then I’d have a changeable 3D object ready for placement which – in the future – could save some massive time.

What are your thoughts?