Daimyo Roofs Kit

You’ll find here all the data I put together for the Mansion Daimyo Roof Tiles. This was the first baked roof created for the project, and it was an exciting challenge to push the quality while developing a simple workflow and helping test the in-house Micropolygons tech.

Kevin Kok and I were the owners of this Daimyo kit, and he did an outstanding job on all fronts. As always, the final in-game result was a huge team effort.

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The workflow was fairly straightforward. I sculpted two sets of Kawara (traditional Japanese clay roof tiles)—one for the interior sections of the roofs and another for the edges featuring Mon (ornamental designs). These were sculpted in ZBrush and then baked/textured in Substance Painter to achieve the final glazed look.

To add variety, I created a sun-bleached version and a custom black dirt variation using the LUT system we had in the project. I also enabled a moss layer for additional environmental effects. This setup allowed for a wide range of scenarios while relying only on vertex blending.

Using the same ZBrush assets, I also created a tilable trim material for the Mune Kawara (ridge roof tiles). I applied the same blending system to this material so that all elements could be painted consistently and feel cohesive.

To complete the kit, I sculpted an Onigawara (large ridge-end demon tile) along with a decorated base.
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This kit of roof tiles was then used to build the final modules in a kitbash workflow. Thibaut Reimel developed an amazing tool to streamline the process, while many elements were also built by hand.
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It was an incredible subject to work on, and I’m deeply grateful to my colleagues for their support, collaboration, and challenges along the way. Be sure to check out their work to see some fantastic takes on Japanese roofs!

Lastly, huge shoutout to our vendors, without whom these kits wouldn’t have been as cool as they are.
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Art Direction, Thierry Dansereau
Lead Architecture, Dominic Gladu-Despatis
Lead Texture, Dimitri Alexis
Lead Props, Antoine Barbot