I worked with Made Plus on improving the renders of their Genesis shoe and, to achieve a more realistic photographic quality to the renders.
What I worked on:
1. Retopologizing the Entire model with the exception of most of the tread. (Most in Maya, Some in ZBrush)
2. UVing the model (Most in RizomUV, A little in Maya)
3. Texturing - I was lucky enough to be provided with a sole and knit upper parts of a shoe. I used a microscope to get a good view of the textures on the sole which allowed me to recreate, by hand, the 3 different texture patterns. I was also provided with really great photo scans of the knit upper, which allowed me to create a great displacement map for the upper. (Substance Painter and Photoshop used)
4. Lighting - First round of renders was done with legacy lighting the rest I used HDRI (Created with HDR Light Studio)
5. Shaders and Renders - These were done with Arnold in Maya. Renders were done at 8K and then reduced to 4K.