Viking props [Marmoset Toolbag 3]

19ulrich90

I did this environment few months back http://polycount.com/discussion/171746/ue4-tavern-by-the-road-wip#latest , wasn't really happy with the quality of the props at the end, so this time I concentrated on leveling up my modeling and texturing skills.  So here it is, a little viking diorama. C&C are welcomed









Link to the artstation project: https://www.artstation.com/artwork/xKmQX

Eric Chadwick

This is very nice. Love the texturing detail. 

A couple things that stand out to me:

1) The ends of the wood slats at the top of the barrel look like they have stretched UVs, the wood grain is very linear there compared to the wood pattern on the sides.

2) The texture resolution is very different between the sword and the rope/wood of the barrel, though the metal hoops seem OK. It could be the horizontal striping pattern on the rope that makes it look lower-resolution, maybe if you twisted the pattern to follow the rope flow better?

ArNavart

Very, very nice, I like that kind of staff a lot, that column looks gorgeous, shield wood is very nice! But I think the sword is the weakest piece, as much as I know viking swords were forged with technology called pattern - wielding, which gave blades special look.

Here's the description of an ancient author on the matter:

Chimp

the renders are pretty washed out / lacking in contrast, here's a quick n dirty fix but sort it out at the source ideally - fix ur post:

19ulrich90

@Eric Chadwick yes, the tops of the staves have a little stretched uvs because it is a combined shell. I wanted to add little more geometry at the top. Here's wireframe + uvs. I agree it could be done better

 
Regarding the rope, detailed pattern's normals are made from photo in Bitmap2material, so I guess i could do better job creating normals there. And the staves also have some photo textures in them so it's probably that. Also in general texel density on the barrel is lower in comparison to the sword's. I assumed because in games you hold the sword closer to you compared to other objects it has higher TD? 

@ArNavart thanks for the comment, I admit, I didn't do that much research on the blade, just went with the style of the whole scene + the look of the swords which is portrayed in today's games/films  

@Chimp I believe the fog from the Marmoset Toolbag gives the renders washed out look, and I was actually going for more greyish/washed out look of the scene. Thanks for the comment anyway  

Eric Chadwick

Yeah, higher texel density depends on usage. But in this case it's not in a game, but rather it's being used as a portfolio piece, so it doesn't look great. Sharpness vs. blurriness. I would recommend either changing the composition so they're aren't right next to each other, or increasing the resolution for the barrel. My 2 cents though, up to you of course.

19ulrich90

@Eric Chadwick I completely agree, that render is the least nice looking...but I finished the project, made a flythrough, turntables for every prop etc., uploaded everything on artstation so I'm going to leave it as it is. I should have made the thread before, so things like this could be addressed before. Will keep in mind to differentiate between game ready props and portfolio props.  

So here's a flythrough + turntables video, had trouble pasting video in first post for some reason.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tYMOqMU_bKs

Chantal_Pernet

I really like that you have different wood textures for the post and barrel. It shows the different care they would have used when creating each object. The sword however seems a bit off. It looks like it has been made out of stone rather than metal. Also the positioning of it makes it look rather flat compared to everything around it. Maybe you could try sitting it on the top of the barrel along side the helmet?

19ulrich90

@Chantal_Pernet I tried positioning it on the barrel, but it looks very awkward since it's a lot longer than the width of the barrel so it's going over the edge on both sides

barmyg

Great work but i want to ask a question , 
is there a way to make a low-poly version ( like the shield ) but has not only the wood but the nails also baked into it ?
@Eric Chadwick @19ulrich90

19ulrich90

@barmyg sure, just assign different material to the high poly nails and wooden parts, bake ID map, and assign iron material to nails' ID color when texturing