AK 47

SaferDan

Hey guys, I know it's been done to death but I do love a good AK!

The main thing I am looking for is accuracy crits. I think some my ref but be different ones. The one I am aiming for is the AK-47 which has a sloped gas block instead of one at 90 degrees, right?

I don't want to move on until its pretty close to the real thing so yeah, Any help would be awesome!

theSixtyEight

hey, from pic you provided you cant really tell if the model is good or not..now I can only see that handguard and dustcover has not a very realistic shapes/proportions

SaferDan

Hey so I updated the image, hopefully it will be clearer?

Polygoblin

Hey Dan, looking very nice already and I got some pointers that might help clean things up.

1. The square hole in the back of the dust cover should be a cut-out. I realize you may be doing that for the bake, but you're going to want to get the rim baked for that "shell" feeling.
2. Easy fix, add the sight post to the front sight block.
3. Grip's edges are way to hard. Smooth it out so it's more ergonomic.
4. The holes in the hand guard are too sharp where they meet. I realize some handguards have sharper holes, but those shapes are coming off blobby. The rest of the hand guard could use some more geo to clear that blobbyness up. You can see from the side view that the top edge has a slight hump in it.
5. You forgot the trigger
6. This part looks strange to me. Can we see the reference you got this from?

Hope this helps! Keep it up, this is a nice AK

SaferDan

Dude! Thank you so much!

as for 6 I got this here but its pretty vague

http://i.imgur.com/fTzVni7.jpg

I shall take another look at it!

This is super solid crit thanks a lot!

And yeah probably shouldnt have forgotten the trigger! :P

Polygoblin

No worries, glad to be of some help.

About that thingie in the stock. I see what it is, but it still looks weird. I'd suggest going with something else that doesn't stand out. Maybe it's just me... tigheten up the geo on that stock too, you got some blobbyness going on there as well.

SaferDan

Thanks to Polygoblin for all the crits!

I have finished the high and will now move onto the low, though that doesn't mean I can't change the high!

Stoy79

Well, it’s not bad as a start; most of it is quite well done. However, in addition what has already been said, I’d just add a few more observations:

First of all (and most importantly), you need to decide what AK you’ll be modeling. There are literally hundreds of variations of the rifle and there are combinations that are possible and others that aren’t. Currently, your model has an AKM stamped receiver, but from the hand guards onward it looks like an AK type 1 or type 2 (which is technically not possible) and the stock is very, very weird…

Now, about details:

• The reloading lever looks a tad too big, it should be somewhat shorter.
• The locking lever on the rear sight block is always on the right side, not on the left, where you’ve put it.
• The rear sight leaf is missing the sight itself – whoever is using that weapon will never be able to aim
• The mag is actually quite well done, but why have you modeled the rear rib so thick, when you have a very good reference on how it should look like (http://i.imgur.com/fTzVni7.jpg) ? It should be about 2 to 3 mm wide, no more than that…
• I’d advise you to redo that stock. Depending on whether you decide to keep a stamped AKM type receiver, you should model the stock accordingly, for this type of receiver (http://www.rusmilitary.com/images/akm_parts.jpg). Previous receivers had 3 different kinds of stocks, incompatible with AKM & later stamped receivers. Example of a type 3 stock (the last and most widespread version of what westerners call the “AK-47” ) http://browningmgs.com/T2T3/Photos/T3_fullstock.jpg
• Trigger & mag catch both look a tad too wide.
• Ribbed covers, have ribs on the top as well. http://www.combatdepot.com/images/AK-08.jpg

If you need some further reference on early AK versions, here’s a very detailed source on the subject: http://browningmgs.com/T2T3/Kalashnikov.htm, including blueprints of the 4 main types of receivers.

Btw, the “90 degrees bas block” is not found on the “AK-47” – only on the AK74 and later.

SaferDan

Hey dude! Thanks alot for the crits, seems I have confused in places! Cheers for pointing those things out I think I will go back and fix this stuff! I am not looking for a millimetre perfect representation but something close would be good!

Thanks a lot for that link btw seems super useful!

Stoy79

Btw, a small correction : when I said “(the last and most widespread version of what westerners call the “AK-47”)”, I meant it’s the most widespread version for the milled receiver variant (that was produced up until 1959). Otherwise, the most widespread version of the 7,62x39 caliber AK is incontestably the AKM. :)That’s for the Soviet/Russian rifle, though, the Chinese have kept producing a milled receiver copy for a bit longer, known as type 56 (typically with a foldable bayonet), but they’ve also switched to a stamped version without changing the designation. Not to mention some other exceptions, like Bulgarian AKs… Basically, a very vast subject…


Anyway, my advice, if you’re modeling a Soviet version - either switch to a Type 3 AK or modify the un-matching parts to the AKM version. If you want to make a “mélange” to make a bit more unique, swappable parts are the receiver cover and bolt carrier (chromed and no lightening cuts on the type 3), eventually, the handguards can be left as-is too.

SaferDan

Thanks so much for your help dude, just to say, I am making my AK an AKM so I am changing my hand guard and stock. The stock is kicking my ass atm but will have an update soon!

Thanks again!

SaferDan

Wow long time no post ¬_¬

I have baked down the low poly now. Pretty sure I made things more in line with the AKM. A couple of AO issues but nothing major.

Its 6400 tris, I inculded a wireframe. It felt a bit excessive but it was for a first person shooter. Have I used too many tris? Next up is texturing!

DrunkShaman

Nice!! Nice!!

Its just missing the lens flare.

Polygoblin

Looks great, dude. I don't think that is too many tris. Looks well distributed. I'm looking forward to seeing those textures! Kick ass!

SaferDan

@Nitewalkr ahaha cheers dude, I will add some Lens flare next time :P Maybe...probably not :P

@Polygoblin cheers dude, I wasnt sure. Good to know! On to texturing!

sulzbunny

nice dude! super solid execution! can't wait to see the textures as well. the only thing I thought when I saw it was that the grip was a little boring looking but then I looked at an AK 47 and the grip was boring on there too. Maybe you can spice it up with some texture lovin. looking forward to it!

Oniram

no way is it too many tris. looks fine to me. see if you can clean up the AO created from the floating geo, as it looks like they're still floating in your bake.

SaferDan

sulzbunny - cheers dude! I agree about the handle, I am pretty sure I have seen a pattern on the grip on some. I will add that in via ndo2! Cheers dude.

Hey Oniram, thanks for commenting! Massive fan of your work. Yeah I actually went back last night and rebaked with ignore backfaces ticked. This helped out a ton! Polycount!

Dont have an update right now but should have one for the weekend!

SaferDan

Quick update! After mirroring my stock like a noob and rebaking, this is where I am with the texture. I seem to be super slow at texturing. Need to get quicker.

Yilativ

Looks, great, I loke how that wood looks, great job. keep it up

katana

Lovely...really dig the stock and silencer.

SaferDan

Cheers guys!

So I have finished the wood now? Maybe? And am moving onto the metal.

Rumkugel

Suppressor is wrong.
Out of Shape and Proportions.

Google PBS-1

Stormfreek

Hey man, good job with the wood! Maybe try a more interesting light set up? The wood looks really awesome at the front, but very flat on the stock, having more light hitting it to show of the details in the normals and specs would be sweet!

Also what was your reference for your silencer? Would help understand what Rumkugel meant! Keep up the awesome work, can't wait to see the metal

SaferDan

Yeah looking at my reference I droppped the ball a little, this was my reference



Honestly, I think I have come to far now to change things as big as that.

Stormfreek - Yeah I agree the lighting setup is a bit rubbish, I will create my own instead of relying on Marmosets!

Thanks a lot guys

ivanzu

Silencer is a bit small.

woot

for some reason your floaters on the sides seem to show as floaters in the render, might want to fix that.

other than that, nice work

SaferDan

@ivanzu Yeah, I realised that, just going to go with it now though. Thanks a lot for the crit though. I really dropped the ball on the silencer!

@woot Do you mean you can still see the shadow around them? I will give them a look over. Cheers!

Not a massive update but now I have a result for the metal that I like, it should go a lot quicker. Think I may need to up the spec for the metal?

enoki

This is looking great! The material definition of the wood looks believable, but the material for the metal could use more tweaking. Right now it almost reads as hard grey plastic.

Abrvpt

Looking good ! One crit I'll add is that the wood looks quite a bit too reddish at the moment.

Polygoblin

Coming along great, Dan. Metal has a ways to go, but keep tuning it. It's not matching wear w some wooden areas that are worn. I assume that is coming though. Btw, yes, I do think the spec base level should be raised a bit. Wood has come along nice. The handguard looks great, but there's something different that happened with the wood's rings on the stock. The rings look much sharper and darker, not blending w the rest of the wood as well as the handguard. Perhaps the layers are out of whack on one of the maps? I don't know exactly, but the stock's wood doesn't look as good as the handguard.

SaferDan

thanks so much for the feedback guys!

enoki - thanks, yeah I have uped the spce and should now be reading more like metal!

Abrvpt - I am getting this alot. You can get red stocks like this - http://i21.photobucket.com/albums/b280/Sycoil/AKTable.jpg

But not many people seem to know. I might change it, im not sure!

Polygoblin - Thanks so much man appreciate the comments. I have made more rpogress on the metal, I think its more worn now? Might have gone to far though. Totally agree with the stock. tbh I dont like it that much. I used a different wood texture for the stock hence the difference. I will fix it up though! Cheers man

And progress!

SaferDan

Quick update, want to get this wrapped up as I really want to start something new!

SaferDan

Messing around PBR, think I have this down!

Polygoblin

Looks hawt, dude! Get some better lighting on the first person shots for your folio and wrap this puppy up

Shrike

Hmm there are many problems with proportions that could have been avoided by taking a closer look and paying more attention

you made a nice bake there with fine edges but your proportions are below unacceptable and if this was a test you certainly would fail



those are only the things i could tell on the fly and god knows I can not tell a 47 from a type 56


there are some really sweet spots in your metal texture, but you gotta keep that up for the rest, the barrel the mag and the cover dont really have anything going on, you have to tweak the values a bit still, its too reflective currently
the wood is pretty cool, a little exaggerated but really nice pattern

SaferDan

Shrike, you are totally right about some of the proportion issues. Its annoying but probably not something I can fix now. But I will def take a closer look in the future! Thanks dude! and sorry for the late reply!

So I have been getting some feedback from work and am getting closer to finishing! PBR is fun!

SaferDan

So I am ready to call this finished minus a few tweaks. It has been fun and been a nice intro to PBR!





I used a metallic workflow, so the maps are Albedo, Metalness, Roughness and normals!

Polygoblin

Nice result, man. Overall wear is a little grainy-looking to me but that's mostly opinion.