Sea Fish with Algae | Real-Time Material

This project explores organic surface detailing and procedural texturing through a stylized-realistic sea fish covered with layered algae growth. The focus was on creating a believable underwater material with depth variation, subtle color transitions, and natural surface irregularities.

The asset uses tileable seamless textures, allowing flexible application across multiple meshes and scalable environment usage. Special attention was given to micro-surface breakup, roughness variation, and organic blending between fish skin and algae layers to enhance realism in real-time lighting conditions.

Workflow

Blockout in Maya
High-poly sculpting in ZBrush
Texture creation in Substance 3D Designer and Substance 3D Painter
Material setup and shader refinement in Unreal Engine 5
Final presentation rendered in Marmoset Toolbag 5

Sphere mat render

Cylinder mat render

Textures breakdown