Decided to hop into this challenge as well. Chose to model the second concept because I really like the design and really want to sculpt all that fur/hair (even though retopo's probably going to be a nightmare. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ) Started a couple days ago so still blocking everything out / building all the forms out. Already feel like I need to make the hands/feet bigger...
Hey guys, I am not sure if I will have time to finish this or not but I've wanted to do one of these forever so I figure no time better than now. These concepts are totally different style from anything I've done so I think that's a good challenge for me.
I am going to do the heavy viking guy - first concept. Just cause nobody else has chose him yet.
The first thing I want to do to get started is make my plan. Because I am short on time I need to maximize the amount of time I have to iterate on the design - I want to honor the concept as well as possible. So I have to be careful not to spend too long noodling with the sculpt in a fruitless way.
Because the concept is very blocky and angular, I think I can build 90% of this model in Maya. I think I can keep it relatively low poly. Because the concept has a nice simple style to the color and lighting, I think almightgir's cell shader in Toolbag will fit the bill perfectly.
So the first thing I like to do is get my whole pipeline setup and verified. I don't want any surprises. What I'll do first is use Daz studio quickly get out a base mesh that is roughly the right proportions. I send this over to Toolbag where I will make my final renders. I want to get the shader setup so that as I am working on my model I can keep checking it out under the same conditions it will be rendered in. I find that working on gray sculpts in zbrush or texturing in Substance Painter is always misleading. So it's better to iterate with the model in it's final render engine the whole time.
So I know what the shader is going to look like and within just a few minutes Daz studio has given me a base mesh I can start from. Now I'll return this posed mesh to the A pose and take it into Maya. I'll build a new, extremely low topology over the Daz model. The concept kind of looks like one of those Asaro head style things where the body planes are greatly reduced. That is great - a low poly model should work well to reproduce that in 3d.
Once I get the new base mesh blocked out I will go ahead and setup UV's and transfer the albedo texture from the Daz mesh to my new mesh. That's just so that as I am tweaking and working on the model, I have a bit of color on it and I can keep checking it in Toolbag. I want to keep it as close to finished at all times as I possibly can.
Once I have the visible upper body portion of the model satisfactory, I won't go straight into finishing the modeling. First I will go through the rest of the pipeline - texturing and rendering. I want to discover if there is any surprises before doing all that modeling work. Maybe the way I make angles on the model will play important role in the way the shader will display things? Maybe I'll need to go higher poly than I expect. Who knows what problems I might face, so I think finishing a vertical slice of the model will be a good plan.
So in a nutshell my plan is:
Low poly, angular, and blocky mesh
Render in Toolbag 4 with AlmightyGirs cell shader
Minimal materials with probably only an albedo map
Complete a vertical slice of the model first before modeling all the clothing and gear
I also want to make some "improvements" on the original concept. Just my opinion of course, but I think the contrast between the materials isn't as interesting as it could be. I like the shapes but I will take a little liberty with the colors and values. We'll see if I do better or fuck it all up, but this isn't a job so I think it's a good time to push boundaries and have some fun.
Update:
A couple more hours work. New topology.
Some sculpting and polypaint.
The highest subdivision level right now is 40k verts. I might need to go
up one more for where the muscles tie in together because it's so
exaggerated, but maybe I'll just send the mesh back to maya and retopo
so the low geo follows those contours more. May be easier to get those polished edges if the topology is working with me.
@Pinkfox You nailed it, the renders are looking dope and you've been crazy fast on this project !
It took me forever but I'm starting to have a decent mid/high poly, it still needs some cleaning. I wanted the handle to be big and blocky and along the process it became quite wide. It made the transition between the handle and the metal butt of the rifle look weird and I had to make two more iterations before finding something good enough. Here's how it looks right now.
@Mahelix Nice progress, that looks really clean! And yeah I chosed the "pull the lever and the shell jumps out because steampunk" approach
Recently uploaded this old fan art based on a door in the game Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch! A small animation can be found here: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/zOWkzd
The finishing treatments and protective coatings for metals like
iron and steel aren't strictly limited to dielectrics like paint,
varnish, wax, epoxy, etc. Two common finishes for firearms of this
vintage are bluing and parkerizing. Under harsh lighting, a fresh
example with a good surface finish could be mistaken for some other kind
of coating.
Bluing is black iron oxide Fe₃O₄
and parkerizing is generally manganese
phosphate Mn₃(PO₄)₂, zinc phosphate H₄O₁₂P₂Zn₃ or iron phosphate FePO₄.
Both coatings can be derived from iron. Black iron oxide coatings are conductive
and phosphate coatings are non-conductive but aren't barriers to galvanic
corrosion. Color variations in the coatings can be influenced by the
conversion process, materials, contaminates, byproducts, dyes, etc.
They're
both used as protective coatings because they resist further
oxidation and hold a thin coat of oil, which helps protect the
underlying metal. The type, color and saturation of the oil can also
have an effect on the appearance of these coatings. Certain oils and oil
contaminates also have conductive properties.
The
quality of the starting surface finish also has an effect on the
appearance of the final surface finish and can influence how a coating
will behave. Fine machining and polishing will produce a smoother,
richer and uniform surface finish where rougher machining without
polishing will produce a rougher, patchier and uneven surface finish. In
more contemporary production there's also stipple patterns and micro abrasions
from shot blasting and tumbling processes that produce more surface
texture.
All of these factors can be
manipulated to produce finishes of varying quality. Everything from a
deep glossy sheen to a rough matte finish. Add the color variability
from different coating processes, material quality, machining quality,
etc. and it produces a wide range of real world examples to choose from.
Compare
WWII production from early to late and the effects of surface finish
and treatment processes becomes more apparent. Early in the war there's
more of an emphasis on quality. Late in the war there's more of an
emphasis on quantity.
It's relatively common to see late
war examples with severe surface finish problems like chatter marks from
dull tools, gouges and scratches from improper machine settings and all
kinds of other surface imperfections that no one really had the time to
care about. Over the course of the war there's also a wide swing in
finish color, quality and luster for both bluing and parkerizing.
Towards
the end of the war, if the parts passed the go / no go tests then they
were good. Almost all of the prewar cosmetic stuff was a waste of time
and effort. A good example is Singer: they tried to tool up to produce
M1911's but did such a good job with the fit and finish they were told
it was a waste of manpower and they should produce something more
complex instead.
Reference images are great but
they don't always provide these details. Older stuff is usually pretty
easy to figure out because it has patina but newer stuff or new old
stock with pristine finishes can be a bit trickier to figure out. That
said: bluing and parkerizing are still fairly common coatings.
For
that particular asset, it looks like the material values are mostly
correct, relative to the real world properties of the materials being
represented.
If an artist is following the basic guidelines and
principles of the PBR system it still leaves a to be decided by personal
taste. There's a similar discussion about the importance of PBR and
material values here:
https://polycount.com/discussion/comment/2711887/#Comment_2711887