MLRS M270 Low Poly

WhiskyDelta

Hi Guys and Gals

Been knocking around this forum for a while now, some awesome work but i managed to develop a model which i feel is just about worthy to show, but only you can be the judge of that.

All C and C welcome, was an opportunity to try out my new Wacom Tablet, the renders are screen grabs in max using the infamous Xoliul shader.

Let me know what you think

Regards

Whisky

WhiskyDelta

Hi

I see what you mean, i have applied a general metal scuff and scratches layer but i think after the dusting of the model it is lost a bit in the diffuse layer. The second image from the rear shows it up well in the spec but your right it doesn't show in the diffuse.

i am wanting to maintain a realistic level of weathering as opposed to a rusty heap of which its commander would loose his commission

Regards

Whisky

felipealves

Give us some wireframe screenshots.

Shrike

You could have used a lot more polys there, baking the rockets on a plane per example is really cheap especially considering the size of the object. Its for portfolio right ? why save on polys ?

It looks good, but it follows more the specs of a modern RTS model if you ignore the chains and rims that obviously use a lot.
Also please use a upload service, nobody likes thumbnails : P

WhiskyDelta

Just reformatting and installing the PC, will get wires up ASAP.

For your info, this version of the model with full 3D tracks is around 90k tris from memory. I did also do a box profile spline tank track with the idea of using a moving texture which made the model come in at closer too 30k tris, just didnt look as good.

A single texture atlas 4096 x 2048 was used (diffuse, spec, normal and gloss). Its sort of for my portfolio/ hobby modelling/ keep up modelling skills. I work in the sim and training industry so i always orientate my models towards being usable in that sort of industry, so while this is current/ old gen to game standards, it is uber next gen in the sim and training world . 100k tris for a single model is a bit OTT so even for a portfolio piece i dont like to go too mad with polys, so i am treading an "interesting" line with this sort of model.

I have put this into a "model viewer" type application in Unity which i may try and take some screenshots, but the shaders in Unity are not as advanced as Xoliul's.

Cheers for all the comments, may not be able to implement them all on this model as this was more of a quick, simple model to put together while i am finishing off my High Res Challenger 2 Theater Entry Standard Tank, but i shall take them on board when doing that one. Hoping again for around 100k tries but the tracks will can be simpler geometry so more tris on the rest of the tank.

Regards

Whisky

WhiskyDelta

As requested, some wires, my tri count estimate was a little off, 60k with the high detail tracks

Any more C and C welcome

Whisky

woot

id seriously consider removing some of the tris from the tracks and adding them to the rockets instead. it looks really odd having them baked in like that.

Dethling

Have to agree with woot
The rocket baking looks odd compared to the other details.
As the rockets will be the eye catcher of this model I would defenitly model them.

Havoc89

Looks pretty good for a low poly model minus the tracks, but if you're planning on going high quality like the tracks, why not do that every where else?

WhiskyDelta

Fair comment re the tracks and the reason is ad follows.

Originally I modeled the tracks as a box profile using a spline and then a tile able texture which notionally would be animated to move around the spline object. Typical way of doing it. I modeled the whole vehicle with this in mind and to have a tri count around 20 and two textures, main one for the body and one other for the track.

The problem was once I finished baking and did the basic texture block out, this design of track just didn't look right projected onto a four sided spline. As there are a lot of air gaps in the track link where you can see through it it didn't quite look right. I tried adding more alpha in those areas but it didn't look right. So as a test I modeled a low res a track I could, unwrapped and squeezed it into empty space on my main atlas. I preferred the results so finished off the texture like that. I do agree with you all but this was a little last minute test which I stuck with. If I used the spline tank track with the tiling texture I imagine polygon detail density would be more consistent across the model so wouldn't be so jarring.

Will upload a standard track version, but it won't be a completed texture.

Whisky

WhiskyDelta

As i promised, even though the texture is not finished, IMO it just doesn't work as well as the separate links, due to the amount of empty space (i left it as pure black in the texture) in the link. IF the links were more like ones on M1a2 or Challenger you can get away with this style track a lot easier.

Like i said, track texture is just base colour diffuse, and normal

Whisky

dpadam450

Please render with AO on or bake an AO map on the model. It will look much much better.

WhiskyDelta

dpadam450 wrote: »

Please render with AO on or bake an AO map on the model. It will look much much better.

Am AO map has been baked in the model and I was using AO in the max viewport although when using legacy direct x9 drivers it's rubbish.

Whisky

DWalker

The amount of detail you need for the treads to look good really depends on your viewing distance & angle, but spending 2/3 of your polygon budget on the tracks is a little crazy. If you really do need that level of detail, then you need to include that level of detail throughout, probably pushing the total towards the 250k range. As others have noted, the rockets could use some more detail, as could the hydraulics, and the shutters really should have individual louvers; a bunch of little details, really, which tend to swell the poly count but which you'll need for a uniform level of quality & detail.

That's all assuming, of course, that this is a hero vehicle in an FPS, or it's being used for beauty shots in a vehicle selection screen. For almost any other use, the 30k version is more than sufficient, and can probably be dropped to 20-25k without any noticeable loss in quality for a typical 3rd person perspective (e.g. World of Tanks). For an RTS, 5-10k is probably a better upper limit.

WhiskyDelta

Evening All

Completely forgot about closing off this project, so here goes. I decided to try out Marmoset Toolbag for the final presentation. Most of the above criticism in regards to the tracks were applied to my next model as i didnt wish to go back into modelling, UVing and Texturing the MLRS





Whisky

WhiskyDelta

Afternoon All

Thought i would just post an update, as i decided to re-factor my MLRS. I in short remodelled certain parts to increase detail and resolution, re-unwrapped so rather than  single 4K atlas, the MLRS is now spread over 1 4Kx4K and 1 4kx2K. All texturing has been re-done, now with Substance Painter.

All C & C welcome.....warning....Image Heavy!