Chapter 4 – Final Packages – Sarah Clarity Studios

Chapter 4: Final Packages: What to Include for 3D / Rigging / Cloth Sim / UI / Marketing

Created by Sarah Choi (prompt writer using ChatGPT)

Final Packages: What to Include for 3D, Rigging, Cloth Sim, UI, and Marketing

From the outside, a “final costume concept” often looks like a single polished painting. Inside a production pipeline, though, a final isn’t one image—it’s a package: a structured, readable bundle of information built so that 3D, rigging, cloth sim, UI, and marketing can all do their jobs without guessing.

This article walks through how to think about final packages for costumes as part of the larger From Brief → Ideation → Iteration → Finals → Handoff pipeline. It’s written equally for:

Concept‑side costume artists who own exploration, ideation, and the big visual decisions.
Production‑side costume artists who refine, clean, standardize, and prepare the actual handoff material.

We’ll focus on how you grow from loose sketches to a disciplined final package that answers the downstream teams’ real questions.

1. What a “Final Package” Actually Is

At a high level, your final costume package is:

A compact, self‑contained instruction set for how this costume should exist and behave in the game and across media.

It’s not just about beauty. It’s about:

Clarity – A 3D artist or rigger can open your file and understand what to build and how it should move.
Consistency – The costume looks and reads the same across in‑game, UI, marketing, and cinematics.
Constraints – The design respects budget (poly count, texture usage), rig limits, gameplay readability, and brand rules.
Traceability – Key decisions (like color, material breaks, or variant choices) are visible in a compact way, so no one has to dig through months of Slack history.

Think of your final package as the bridge between ideation and production. During ideation and iteration, you’re answering: “What could this costume be?” In finals and handoff, you’re answering: “What exactly is this costume, and how do we build it?”

2. Working Backwards from the Consumers of Your Package

Before detailing the contents, it helps to visualize who is going to open your files:

3D character artists – Need clean forms, orthographic views, material and construction clarity.
Rigging & animation – Need to know how the costume moves, deforms, and connects to the skeleton.
Cloth simulation / tech art – Need to know which parts simulate, how they behave, and what collisions or constraints exist.
UI / UX – Need iconic shapes, emblems, portraits, and color cues for icons, HUDs, and menus.
Marketing / cinematics – Need high‑impact, on‑brand visuals and clear details for close‑ups and promo material.

For each group, your goal is: they should not need you in the room to understand the costume.

As a concept‑side costume artist, your job is to bake intent, story, and design logic into the visuals and notes.

As a production‑side costume artist, your job is to enforce consistency, readability, and standard formatting so every package feels familiar and usable.

3. Pipeline Overview: From Brief to Package

Let’s quickly anchor where the final package sits in the pipeline.

3.1 From Brief to Ideation

You receive a brief: role, class, faction, rarity, gameplay hooks, platform constraints.
You do research and moodboards: genre references, functional references, fashion references, previous in‑IP designs.
You create silhouette banks, A/B/C sets, and proportion explorations to map the space.

At this stage, nothing is “final.” You’re building possible worlds.

3.2 Iteration and Narrowing

You test multiple designs against the brief: readability, genre, faction dialect, role clarity.
You get feedback from art direction, design, narrative, etc.
You refine chosen options: improving structure, simplifying noise, and resolving problem areas.

By the end of iteration, you have one primary direction (plus maybe a few controlled variants) to take to final.

3.3 Finals and Package Building

You produce a polished key visual that sells the costume.
You build turnarounds, callouts, material breakdowns, and behavior notes.
You structure your PSDs / files so downstream teams instantly see what they need.

The final package is the artifact that moves from the concept column to the production column. Now let’s dig into what goes inside it.

4. Core Components of a Final Costume Package

Different studios have different naming conventions, but most effective final packages contain these core elements.

4.1 Hero Key Image (Beauty + Readability)

The hero key image is usually a 3/4 front view in a neutral or light action pose. Its job:

Communicate the overall read: silhouette, role, faction, and fantasy.
Show primary materials and lighting intent without over‑rendering micro‑details.
Provide a first impression for everyone who opens the file: “This is what we’re building.”

For the hero image:

Keep lighting simple and consistent with your project’s style.
Avoid dramatic lighting that hides the design; you’re solving construction, not doing a poster.
Make sure key gameplay reads (team color, class iconography, power source) are visible.

4.2 Turnarounds (Orthos and Construction Clarity)

Turnarounds translate the fantasy into buildable views. At minimum, aim for:

Front, side, and back orthographic views.
Extra angles if necessary (3/4 back, top view for complex headpieces, under‑view for tails or skirts).

Their job is to:

Show true proportions without perspective distortion.
Make clear layering (what sits on top of what) and how pieces wrap around the form.
Remove ambiguity around shapes that were foreshortened in the hero image.

Whenever possible, keep turnarounds:

Clean and line‑driven or flat‑color with minimal shading.
Annotated with small notes when shapes are complex.
Consistent scale (e.g., all characters fit the same height grid).

4.3 Layer Order & Dressing Logic

Costumes rarely exist as flat shells. They’re layered: undergarments, mid‑layers, armor, accessories. Your final package should include a clear layer order:

Show a small exploded view or stacked diagram: base body → under suit → tunic → belts → armor plates → accessories.
Clarify what can be removed or swapped (for skins, damage states, modular pieces).
Note how the character is actually dressed: which pieces lace up, buckle, or strap over others.

This is critical for:

3D (they need to know where to separate meshes or how to build modularly).
Rigging and cloth sim (they need to know which layers collide or overlap).
Marketing and cinematics (so continuity is preserved when a character changes outfit states).

4.4 Material & Shader Breakdown

A costume is partly defined by its materials and surface behavior. Your final package should identify:

Each major material zone (cloth, leather, metal, fur, hard plastic, emissive, holographic, etc.).
The intended gloss/roughness, reflectivity, and wear.
Any special shader behavior: emissive patterns, animated textures, parallax details, rim light behavior.

Useful ways to present this:

A small material legend: numbered swatches next to the character, with labels (“M1 – matte canvas,” “M2 – oily leather,” etc.).
Zoomed‑in callout crops of tricky areas: embroidery, pattern direction, trims.
Notes about material relationships: for example, “all gold trim uses the same metal as ‘Faction Gold A’ reference.”

This helps 3D, tech art, and marketing all stay on the same visual page.

4.5 Color Keys and Variants

If the costume has multiple skins, rarity tiers, or faction variants, your final package should include:

A primary (canonical) colorway clearly marked as the default.
Thumbnail color variants shown in uniform lighting, focusing on large‑shape color distribution.
Notes on what cannot change (e.g., faction color always on shoulders; ultimate ability color lock).

This is especially crucial for:

UI, who will rely on consistent colors for team reads, minimap icons, and portraits.
Marketing, who needs to know which palette matches brand campaigns or seasonal events.

4.6 Callouts for Function and Story

Finally, your package should capture why certain design choices exist:

Explain major functional decisions: “This strap is load‑bearing,” “These plates slide,” “This fabric is padded for recoil.”
Tie in lore and story: “Color and sigil indicate rank,” “These beads mark each victory.”
Highlight gameplay hooks: “These glowing lines echo cooldown,” “Skirt opens to reveal rocket boosters at ult.”

These notes don’t have to be essays. Short, focused annotations near relevant areas keep everyone aligned.

5. 3D / Modeling: What They Need from You

3D character artists turn your flat shapes into sculpted, textured, game‑ready assets. To make their lives easier, your final package should give them:

5.1 Clean, Trustworthy Orthos

Your orthos should:

Match the proportions in your hero art (no surprise changes).
Avoid inconsistent shapes between views.
Use a neutral stance compatible with the default rig (slight A‑pose or T‑pose, per studio standard).

If your hero pose is dynamic and your ortho is neutral, note any major shape differences explicitly: “Bracer shape is the same; pose in key art exaggerates foreshortening.”

5.2 Construction and Modularity

3D cares a lot about how the costume is built as a mesh. Help them by clarifying:

Which pieces are separate objects vs. fused: belts, pouches, armor, jewelry, hair accessories.
Any modular or swappable parts: helmets on/off, cape variations, shoulder armor sets.
What must be solid (no cloth sim, maybe rigid) vs. what can deform with the body.

If your project uses shared base bodies, note whether components should be built to fit that base; if there’s a unique body, include that proportion sheet.

5.3 Surface and Detail Priorities

You can’t sculpt everything at the same fidelity. Help 3D prioritize by indicating:

Which areas get hero detail (camera‑close or marketing‑relevant zones: chest piece, face frame, weapon grip).
Which areas can be simpler or macro‑detailed only (back of boots, inner thighs, areas rarely seen).
Which patterns are baked into normal maps vs. painted in diffuse/albedo vs. represented by tileable materials.

Production‑side artists often formalize this with a brief priority map: a simple grayscale or color overlay indicating high / medium / low detail zones.

5.4 Tech Constraints and Optimization Notes

While you’re not a tech artist, you can still reflect constraints:

Mention if this costume must fit a specific tri / poly budget range (if known).
Flag any risk areas: tiny dangling bits, complex collision‑heavy shapes, etc.
Suggest simplifications if a design choice is high‑risk: “If needed, this chain can be baked as a textured strip instead of individual links.”

Concept‑side artists initiate this thinking; production‑side artists usually align it with actual budgets.

6. Rigging & Animation: Designing for Motion and Deformation

Rigging and animation teams care less about how beautiful your materials are and more about how the costume moves.

Your final package should help them answer:

Where can this bend, twist, or stretch without breaking the design?
Where are problem zones that may need special rigs or corrective shapes?
Which parts are rigid and must follow bones, and which parts are secondary motion (cloth, straps, tassels)?

6.1 Mobility Maps

Create a simple mobility overlay on top of one of your orthos, where you:

Mark zones that require big ranges of motion: shoulders, hips, knees, elbows.
Show layer overlap in these zones so rigging knows what collides.
Note any designed breaks: for example, “Shoulder plate is hinged, can rotate up 30° without clipping.”

This doesn’t have to be a perfect tech spec—just enough to show you’ve thought about motion.

6.2 Deformation‑Sensitive Designs

Some designs fight the human skeleton: belts that cross joints, armor that locks knees, corsets that violate breathing. Highlight:

Areas where you expect minimal deformation (corsets, rigid collars) so animators know not to push too far.
Areas where you expect extreme deformation, with suggestions: “Heavy gathered fabric here to hide stretching,” “Panel breaks follow muscle lines.”

Production‑side artists often do a second cleanup pass specifically to soften problem joints—rounding shapes, adjusting seam lines, or simplifying overlaps.

6.3 Attachment and Anchor Points

Call out clear anchors for:

Capes, cloaks, and tails.
Holsters, weapon sheaths, and backpacks.
Hanging props like lanterns, scrolls, charms.

Use small symbols or arrows to mark attachment points on the body and on the costume piece, with notes: “Cape attaches under pauldrons here,” “Scabbard anchored to belt ring on left hip.”

7. Cloth Simulation: What Needs to Flutter, Fold, or Settle

Cloth sim and tech art teams decide which parts of the costume become simulated, which remain skinned, and how they behave in motion. Your design can make or break their lives.

7.1 Identify Sim vs. Non‑Sim Cloth

In your final package, clearly indicate:

Which garments are intended to be simulated: long skirts, capes, banners, loose sleeves, veils.
Which garments are rigid or skinned: tight leggings, structured corsets, stiff armor skirts.

A simple annotation like “Sim candidate” vs. “Skinned cloth” on the turnaround can be enough.

7.2 Fabric Behavior and Weight

Cloth sim isn’t just “cloth.” It’s canvas vs. silk vs. leather vs. chainmail. Help tech art by describing:

Per piece: relative weight (light, mid, heavy) and stiffness (flowy vs. structured).
Per edge: how it should react: sharp, crisp folds vs. soft draping; fluttery vs. weighty.

You can include small, exaggerated drape sketches: the same cape posed in wind, jump, idle stand. These are extremely helpful to communicate intent.

7.3 Collision and Layering Complexity

Where multiple sim layers overlap (cape over skirt over tunic), call it out:

Indicate which layer is visually dominant and should “win” in collisions.
Suggest possible simplifications: “Inner tunic can be rigid; only outer skirt simmed.”

Production‑side artists may build a simplified cloth sim map overlay: color‑coded regions for different fabrics and sim priorities, based on your initial notes.

8. UI & UX: Icons, Portraits, and Readability

UI teams look at your costume through a very different lens: small icons, class badges, loadout screens, portraits. Your final package should give them clear, scalable reads.

8.1 Iconic Shape and Role Read

UI often needs:

A clean, high‑contrast silhouette for role icons or minimap markers.
A simplified bust or head/shoulder read for character portraits.

Include a small graphic in your package:

A solid black silhouette of the hero pose or role‑defining pose.
A simplified bust crop showing what UI could use as a portrait template: clear face framing, key headgear, and major color read.

8.2 Palette and Swatch Information

UI needs consistent color data. Provide:

A compact swatch bar of primary, secondary, and accent colors.
Label each swatch with hex / RGB values (if your studio tracks those), or at least “Primary faction blue,” “Ultimate ability accent.”

Note any UI‑critical colors that must remain stable across skins: team colors, health color coding, class icons.

8.3 Iconography and Emblems

If your costume includes symbols, logos, or heraldry, UI may reuse these. Include:

Clear, flattened front views of the emblem without distortion.
If possible, a clean vector‑ready version or at least a high‑res, flat rendering.
Notes on allowed variations: can this symbol be recolored? Simplified for tiny icons?

Production‑side artists often coordinate with UI to make sure emblems are delivered in the correct formats and resolutions.

9. Marketing & Cinematics: Selling the Fantasy at High Resolution

Marketing and cinematics teams push your design to its most visible form: key art, trailers, splash screens. Your final package should help them:

Understand the character’s attitude and role.
Trust the details (no last‑minute redesign surprises).
Stay within brand tone and visual story.

9.1 Beauty Poses and Attitude Sheets

Beyond the neutral hero image, consider including:

1–3 attitude sketches: relaxed, battle‑ready, victorious, etc.
Small expression thumbnails if the costume interacts strongly with face (masks, visors, war paint).

These don’t have to be fully rendered; well‑designed linework and flat color with clear body language can be enough for marketing to imagine shots.

9.2 Detail Callouts for Close‑Ups

Marketing materials often zoom in on chest, face, hands, or emblem zones. Provide:

Macro callouts of high‑story areas: chest emblem, belt buckle, weapon handle, jewelry, fabric pattern.
Notes on story beats: “These tally marks represent missions completed,” “This scar across the pauldron is from X event.”

This allows copywriters, trailer editors, and cinematic directors to tie visuals into narrative moments.

9.3 Alternate Lighting and Mood

While your main package keeps lighting neutral, you can add a small panel of lighting/mood sketches:

Dark dramatic lighting for villain reveal.
Warm, soft light for friendly or victory scenes.
Backlit silhouette for iconic posters.

These aren’t binding but give marketing and cinematics a palette of moods that align with the costume’s identity.

10. Structuring the Package: Files, Layers, and Naming

Both concept‑side and production‑side artists should treat file structure as part of the design. A typical costume package might include:

10.1 Folder Structure

A clear folder layout could look like:

01_KeyArt – final hero image(s), attitude poses.
02_Turnarounds – ortho views, layer stacks.
03_Callouts – materials, construction, mobility, cloth sim notes.
04_UI_Assets – silhouettes, emblems, swatches, bust crops.
05_Marketing – high‑res close‑up details, mood sketches.
Docs – a short notes page or one‑pager summarizing constraints and critical decisions.

Even if your team uses proprietary tools or asset management systems, a logical structure in your local files makes everything easier.

10.2 PSD / Layer Hygiene

Inside your main working files:

Group layers by function: Body, Costume_Base, Armor, ClothSim_Candidates, FX_Emissives, UI_Icons, etc.
Name layers in a way that 3D and production artists can understand at a glance (“Chestplate_Metal_BrushSteel,” not “Layer 47”).
Keep unnecessary experiment layers either hidden in an Explorations group or moved to separate files, so the final PSD feels clean.

Production‑side artists often create a standard PSD template for all costume packages to reduce friction.

10.3 Export Formats

Plan your exports with each team in mind:

High‑res PNG/TIFF for marketing and 3D reference.
Smaller JPEG or PNG for easy preview in documentation or engine tools.
Vector or high‑res raster files for emblems and icons.
A compact PDF summary that compiles key pages in a linear order (hero → turnarounds → callouts → UI → marketing notes).

11. Concept‑Side vs. Production‑Side Roles

Both sides are working on the same costume, but your focus shifts.

11.1 Concept‑Side Costume Artist Focus

As a concept‑side artist, your emphasis is on:

Solving the brief visually: role read, faction, story, uniqueness.
Exploring enough options to make confident decisions.
Producing a compelling hero design that everyone wants to build.

When you move into finals, your job is to:

Lock down design decisions and stop inventing new versions.
Produce clear turnarounds and initial callouts.
Seed the file with notes and structure that production can refine.

11.2 Production‑Side Costume Artist Focus

As a production‑side artist, you inherit the approved design and focus on:

Cleaning and standardizing: consistent line weights, orthos aligned, grid usage, annotations.
Expanding technical clarity: mobility maps, cloth sim candidates, material legends, optimization suggestions.
Building a coherent package that passes internal checks (3D, rigging, UI, marketing).

You’re not re‑designing the costume—you’re making sure the design is buildable, consistent, and future‑proof.

11.3 Collaboration and Feedback Loops

Healthy pipelines let concept‑side and production‑side artists talk:

Production artists can flag pain points early (“These tiny chains are a performance nightmare”) and collaborate with concept on alternatives.
Concept artists can provide intent behind choices so production knows what’s essential vs. flexible.

The final package becomes a shared artifact, not a one‑way ticket.

12. Checklist by Discipline (in Paragraph Form)

To make this usable as a habit, let’s phrase the checklist as a set of paragraphs you can mentally run through.

12.1 For 3D

Before you call the package final for 3D, ask yourself: does the character have a consistent hero image and matching front, side, and back orthos in a neutral pose? Are all major forms readable without guesswork, and have you clearly shown where one piece ends and another begins? Do you explain which pieces are separate mesh elements and which are fused, and do you indicate modular parts or variants that might share geometry? Have you provided a simple material legend so they know what’s metal, leather, cloth, or emissive, and have you called out high‑priority detail zones where sculpting time should be invested? Finally, did you flag any risky or complex areas with notes on possible simplifications if budgets require it?

12.2 For Rigging & Animation

For rigging and animation, ask: have you shown, even with a simple overlay, which areas need large ranges of motion and where layers overlap at joints? Have you warned them about any rigid or minimally deforming zones like corsets or armored collars, and suggested how to handle them visually when the character moves? Are attachment and anchor points for capes, holsters, tails, and props clearly marked? Do they know which straps, tassels, or ornaments should be secondary motion versus stuck to the body? And have you avoided designing impossible deformation scenarios without at least flagging them as potential rigging tasks?

12.3 For Cloth Sim / Tech Art

For cloth sim and tech art, ask: have you clearly separated which garments are intended to be simulated and which are skinned, and did you describe how each fabric should feel in terms of weight and stiffness? Have you shown how long garments like cloaks or skirts should behave in wind, fall, or jump poses through small drape sketches? Did you highlight overlapping cloth layers and specify which ones visually dominate to help with collision decisions? If your design includes complex hanging details like chains, scarves, or tassels, have you suggested which could be simplified or baked instead of fully simmed to protect performance?

12.4 For UI / UX

For UI and UX, ask: did you include a clear silhouette and a readable bust crop that they can use as a base for portraits or minimap icons? Have you provided a small color bar with identifiable primary, secondary, and accent colors, and flagged any colors that are locked to team, faction, or class conventions? If your costume includes emblems, badges, or unique symbols, did you flatten them into clean, distortion‑free views that can be reused as icons, ideally with a high‑res or vector‑ready version? And have you avoided overcomplicating headgear or shapes that will become unreadable when shrunk to tiny icon sizes, or at least made notes about how they can be simplified?

12.5 For Marketing & Cinematics

For marketing and cinematics, ask: beyond the neutral hero shot, have you provided at least a couple of attitude sketches that show how the character occupies space and expresses their personality? Are critical story‑rich details like emblems, jewelry, weapon grips, and fabric patterns captured in close‑up callouts suitable for high‑res crops? Have you written brief notes about what those details mean in the world, so copywriters and cinematic teams can turn them into narrative moments? And did you suggest any lighting or mood variations that, while not binding, give marketing a sense of the emotional range this costume can support?

13. Putting It All Together: From “Cool Design” to “Production‑Ready Package”

A costume can be visually stunning and still fail the team if the final package is weak. Conversely, a solid, well‑structured package can elevate a good design into a beloved, robust in‑game asset that works across gameplay, UI, cinematics, and marketing.

As a concept‑side costume artist, your evolution is learning to think not only in terms of shapes and mood but in terms of information transfer. Every iteration is not just about cooler ideas; it’s about converging toward a design you can explain cleanly and hand off confidently.

As a production‑side costume artist, your craft sits at the intersection of art and systems. You translate the approved fantasy into a precise set of instructions that 3D, rigging, cloth sim, UI, and marketing can all read—without guessing, without panic, and without reinventing the design.

The final package is where those two worlds meet. If you treat it as a core art form, not an administrative afterthought, your costumes will move through the pipeline more smoothly, stay truer to their original intent, and leave you more time and energy for what you love most: designing the next great look.