Elkanah's Improvement Thread

Tzur_H

Guess it's about time for me to create this type of thread as well!  Long overdue to be honest.
My folio can be viewed at https://elkanahh.artstation.com/

I'm currently following the monthly environment & prop challenge, making the grenade.
Here's my progress on the high poly.  I think I'm done with it, but any critique is welcome.
I took liberty in changing the safety mechanism and adding some details not in the original concept art.
http://payload151.cargocollective.com/1/5/186185/5322430/elysium-concept-7_o_905.jpg
Concept art by Ben Mauro.

Tzur_H

Got feedback regarding the height of the grenade and the size of the text on the handle, fixed these issues and got the low poly and bakes done.
Low poly sitting at 3.8k tris.
Clean version of the high after fixing the issues above and softening the edges a tad in ZBrush.

Bake test:

Wires:

Tzur_H

Back from a camping trip and started working on the textures.
Got the body pretty much done, also worked on lighting in TB3.  C&C are welcome.

Tzur_H

Calling it done!

Tzur_H

Moving onto the Sci-Fi scene by Sam Brown


I've put a few hours today blocking the room.  Need to figure out the entrance, and block the bathroom seen through the side.
Not quite sure why the need for stairs here.  I mean, they add some visual interest and breakup, but it seems wasteful to me. it's like.. 1 step haha.
Also, not quite sure how the side door / window would open.. if it's the whole vertical slice sliding to the side, or just the part of the glass.

Tzur_H

Progress on the scene.  Moving on to create the trim textures next.  C&C welcome.

Tzur_H

Having some difficulties wrapping my head around authoring and using trim textures.  Doing some research on the matter for now.  In the meantime, I've polished all of the assets to use weighted normals and broken down the modular pieces.

Also, started working on this prop.  Fusion 360 for the modeling.  This is the high poly, missing the connectors to the battery, I wasn't able to figure how to do that part in Fusion and it's easy to just get done in poly modeling so will add that later.  And, I did the threading that connects to the gas thing but forgot to render the casing as transparent, so.. yeah! C&C welcome!

ZacD

The biggest issues I see are following the concept and modeling things in a realistic and true to life way.

The handle of the knife is pretty different, the blade of the knife should be much thinner around the top and bottom. The spike on the blade should be the same width until the tip. I'd expect the top and bottom bars of the mid section to be much slimmer. 

The grenade has a lot of details that are the wrong shape and angle. The material looks like the red and blue colors on the base are being treated as a metal, which they shouldn't be. Typically only anodized metals look like that, and a grenade wouldn't be 

I understand tweaks to concepts to make it read better, or work better as a 3d model, but the variations on the concepts here aren't beneficial. 

Tzur_H

Thanks for the feedback @ZacD.  I tweaked the knife, I still kept the frame around the gas component quite chunky, I like the look of it.  Here's a grab from ZBrush

ZacD said:

The grenade has a lot of details that are the wrong shape and angle. The material looks like the red and blue colors on the base are being treated as a metal, which they shouldn't be. Typically only anodized metals look like that, and a grenade wouldn't be 

What's wrong shape and angle exactly?  Mind painting over comparing to the concept?  Apart from changing the safety lock mechanism and adding a bit of detail, I followed the concept pretty close I believe.  Guess I'm wrong, though...
The materials are metallic because I personally think it looks more advanced, and also, it renders better.  I'm well aware today's grenades have a paint coat, making the outer surface non metallic.

Tzur_H

Back to the SciFi scene.  Started assembling the scene in UE4, also mocked up a door design.  Will try few more designs and see which I like the most.

Tzur_H

The bathroom is in + all assets in these screenshots are ready to be textured. Big changes in lighting, am now using real-time GI (LPV), I've never used it, good opportunity to learn.  I know there are few more real-time GI solutions? Will have to try them on future projects!
C&C welcome.


And started working on the smaller props.  For the books, my plan is to create 1 batch for the ends, and 1 for the middle, so I can build all sorts of variations - is that a good way to go about it?

Tzur_H

Getting some more work done on the smaller props

Wasn't quite sure how to go about the low for this, due to the zipper.  I went with a 512x1024 bake and I retopologized the low poly in such a way that the polygons with the zipper bake data would get double the resolution of the rest of the pillow.  I'm going to overlay a tileable fabric detail in the shader.


Johnnie Walker gold label special edition.  Because, I think everyone could use some whisky from time to time, in space too! :]

Tzur_H

Back on this!  I took a break to better learn how to author and use trim textures since it's a technique I've never used before.  A lot of failing haha.  I've watched Alex Senechal's tutorial, which helped me immensely though - thanks, dude!



Some work on the shaders. Trying to re-use as much as possible.  I currently have parameters for roughness, color, overlay diffuse mask (in the example below I'm using a scratch mask), metallic on/off using alpha vertex color and POM.  I'm still trying to figure out how to control color per detail category coming from the trim sheet.

Tzur_H

I've worked on the stairs and the glass floor today.  I want to put something under the glass floor, to get some more details and interest - I've tried pipes but.. dunno, not quite feeling it.

I've also started to work on the entrance floor piece.  Trying to use some lines and repetition to lead the player.  The vents are still a WIP, I'm not a fan of the placement right now. I might make use of the panels in the middle for that, but with just plain glass so the strips won't be too distracting.

Tzur_H

Didn't get much time to work on the scene today.  I've reworked the entrance floor piece and started to refine the door frame.

Tzur_H

A friend of mine suggested I focus on the environment as seen through the concept, and then expand once I'm finished if I'd like.  So I'm putting the entrance area aside for now and getting back to the main area.
Finished modelling this asset today.

Tzur_H

first lighting pass.  feedback is more than welcome, I suck at lighting!