Hand Painted battle hammer

brenly

Throwing this out there to get some feedback. Am I on the right track or not, love to hear some constructive criticism. Its more or less just for fun painting a super duper low res model.
thanks!


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brenly

After some feedback from a friend I tried making the centre a little more angry and the overall design a bit more spider like.
Any thoughts?



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oxblood

the texture itself is really impressive but it almost looks like its been stretched across the hammer, also the handle doesn't have as much detail as the rest of the mesh, it just looks like flat color. hope this helps

Haftoof

I feel like the hammer needs a normal map. Judging from the focus on the head I assume the handle probably will continue to be worked on. Good Highlights. I do feel like the purple swirls could be improved.

Xelan101

I feel like it could benefit greatly from some additional geometry. You texture's coming together but for something like a weapon, that can easily be seen from every angle, you need some major forms modeled in to help the texture fake the rest.

I would definitely add geometry to the wide pale band on the outer edges of the center. That way it looks like has mass and when it breaks silhouette at the top where it wraps around, it'll looks more like it continues on, instead of looking like the texture is oddly stretched or projected around the model as it does now.

I'd also change the geo, at the "fingers" coming off from the central skull as well. The designs look interesting from the front, but as soon as you look at a 3/4 view things are turning corners very abruptly which breaks the illusion of more complex 3 dimensionality you're trying to create.

tldr; Texture work is decent, plenty to push but on it's way, you main issues right now is the model. You need to make sure your geometry supports you texture and vice versa. it's a potentially interesting design slapped onto a very generic 2-hand hammer model that doesn't fit.

Look at some weapons from WoW or Dota etc and see where they choose to spend their polygons for maximum silhouette value. You can do a lot with barely any polys if you understand where to put them.

Haftoof

And that's the way I feel. It has all this great color and shading, but there is no depth to trick me into believing it. The stretching is very obvious on the side of the hammer (where the gold metal plate meets the darker rock) and the top (especially the point).

Justin Meisse

It needs more lighting info to sell the actual geo - like highlights along edges and maybe some AO baked into the texture. The haft also feels a little too small making the weapon feel very top heavy and weak, like it would snap off if used. Thicken up the handle and pommel to balance things a bit

brenly

Oxblood .. thanks for the feedback, yeh Im still working my way down the handle. Thats next for sure.
Haftoof .. Im trying to keep away from normal maps for this one. Purple swirls gone. May come back later
Xelan101 .. I was trying to not alter the model. The model was given to me. Screw it, it needs altering! Youve just made my mind up for me, thanks
Justin Meisse .. Id like to alter the geo design but Im restricted as it was given to me.

This is what I did before reading your feedback .. will definitely update with feedback next round. Thanks!!

deleted .. sketchfab model .. sorry

Haftoof

Without a normal map to define parts of it, you're gonna run into the same statements, that because you don't have poly to support it, it is going to look unbelievable at certain angles.

I think the biggest offender imo is the "spider legs" that cross geometry.

As far as the texture goes I'm jealous of your painting... Goals... hehe

brenly

Haftloof .. thanks for the feedback. I tweaked the geom a bit but I'm too far gone to make any real changes that will fix the distortion problems, next weapon Ill definitely fix the geom. I just want to finish this one

So far.


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CarlK3D

Just an idea but perhaps a few Edge Lines & gradients could help fix the distortion.
It still looks great regardless



Does give it a very different look though

brenly

Thanks for the paint over CarlK3D .. You have given me some ideas. cheers for that!

Haftoof

Yep, I love the texture, the new detail on the shaft looks awesome. So I suspect, once its rendered, depending on how close you get to it, it'll look good no matter what. I think it dpeends on the background, if you have something that breaks up the eye's outline of the hammer, its far more believable.

Overall jealous of the painting, did you do any particular reading for the texture style?

Imasho

Thats a nicely painted texture brenly I also would like to know if you used a particular method or tutorial for the hand painted map.

brenly

Imasho .. If I ever get the time I want to do a video tut showing how I texture in Photoshop using the 3D tools.

Here is an update .. I work on it whenever I get some free time.


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brenly

Here is a render .. some more work needs to be done but ill leave it for now.
what do you guys think?

MattyWS

Still lacks any edge definition and lighting info. Overall the areas you would expect to be more worn/damaged from battle are the spikes but they look less worn than say, the middle part of the hammer.

The texturing is looking good but it doesn't work with the geometry at all. You may want to consider some kind of functionality pass.

EDIT: Also depending on the style I'd say the handle is too thin.

dragonxxxv

overall, i think this thing looks pretty damn good, just needs some minor touches to make it feel like its been used, so just some worn parts on any edge that might come into contact with something's head

Nosslak

For the most part I think it looks great, but the spikes and the pommel (bottom of the grip) are way too dark IMO. If this piece were to ever be lit those spikes would remain black no matter how bright the light.

klamp

MattyWS wrote: »

Still lacks any edge definition and lighting info. Overall the areas you would expect to be more worn/damaged from battle are the spikes but they look less worn than say, the middle part of the hammer.

Definitely agree with this. It looks like you understand lighting based on the details you've painted on the hammer (all the metal work and whatnot), but it looks like you're fighting the geometry of the model. Instead, embrace it and use the geometry to help accentuate the form of the hammer.

Excuse the crude paintover, but take a look here:



All I've done really is establish those planes of the model by painting lighting info into the model (what several people in this thread have suggested doing). I feel like you could take it even further than this, really. But as it is now, that form is lacking on the model, and it instead of looking like a hammer made out of stone and metal, it looks like a painting of stone and metal has been wrapped around a vaguely hammer-like shape.

Another thing I added on the paintover is a bit more light color information. That lava-like glowing bit at the top looks like it should be affecting the color of things around it, so try adding color information based on how intense the different light sources are looking.

Just my two cents. Hope it helps!

KyleJensen

I think the design could benefit from some areas of rest and a better focal point. My eyes aren't really drawn to one particular thing on here. I would think that the focal point would be the skull shape on the head of the hammer. You have tiny little spikes pointing towards the skull in the center, but then you have these huge claw shapes that are pointing away from the skull to the spikes on the sides of the hammer, which are unremarkable.

I think if you just made the skull bigger and removed some of the elements drawing the eye away from it, it would help it out a lot.

I did a quick paintover to show you what I mean.

brenly

Thanks guys for the awesome feedback .. just when I thought I could just give up on it I feel obliged to finish it off

MattyWS Definitely going to fix up the edge detail, more damage on its way, altho the symmetrical UVs make it a little hard to go too crazy.
dragonxxxv mm some splattered brain material could work
Nosslak Spikes and pommel definitely need finishing .. on it.
klamp Thanks heaps for the paint over! Thats given me some great direction, much appreciated!
KyleJensen Sorry man .. Im going to steal that design Yeh, I haven't made the focal point very clear. I just got too carried away with the detail.
By the way, love your latest character work.

brenly

Here we go .. Im done.

Thanks heaps for the feedback, you guys rock. Maybe some time later Ill give it another pass.