New to 3D Art, what do you guys think?

Leonvb

Hello Guys,

I am 21 years old and didn't really have any plans for my future. About a month ago I started watching videos and 5 Days ago I started 3D modeling to see if I really have interest in it or just like what it looks like(I did not follow a tutorial). I have been interested in 3D since I was very young but never took time to try it out.

I want to share my first 3D model with everyone and get some feedback. (Model and UV unwrap only. No texturing, lighting, camera setup etc. Renders are only to show my "work" and not supposed to be impressive in any way.)

Also I would like to know if anyone can give me the rough process from start to finish of a 3D model. Ex. 1)Model 2)Unwrap 3)Texture 4)Lighting 5)Render. Or whatever the process may be. (No details required.)

Thanks for any feedback, suggestions or other comments.

Tobbo

Cool start!

Basically my workflow for a hard surface prop is:

1. Gather plenty of reference images! 
2. Block Out
3. High poly (from the block out) (Could also include sculpting)
4. Low poly (from the high poly)
5. UV Unwrap
6. Bakes (normal, curvature, AO, color ID, etc.)
7. Texturing (Materials and colors defined before adding details)
8. Presentation

The workflow could be slightly different if you are just doing hand painted textures on a low poly mesh.

Hope this helps!

Leonvb

Tobbo said:

Cool start!

Basically my workflow for a hard surface prop is:

1. Gather plenty of reference images! 
2. Block Out
3. High poly (from the block out) (Could also include sculpting)
4. Low poly (from the high poly)
5. UV Unwrap
6. Bakes (normal, curvature, AO, color ID, etc.)
7. Texturing (Materials and colors defined before adding details)
8. Presentation

The workflow could be slightly different if you are just doing hand painted textures on a low poly mesh.

Hope this helps!

Thank you for the info. This will really help me as I had no idea about the workflow. I will definitely follow these steps to help me in the future.

daniellooartist

That's pretty good for your first model (hell of a lot better than my first). Try to start with a high poly. The high poly won't need to be unwrapped. The low poly that follows will. Keep updating this thread. The unwrap could utilize more space in the future, but again, you won't have to worry about that until you reach the low.

Here are some completed pieces from Artstation I thought were neat. See how closely you can match the quality without directly copying them

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/2dGDe
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/295Ge
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/2z0Pe
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/422mn
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/ol45W
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/oKlJ4
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/OGVg8
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/GVv1V

Leonvb

@daniellooartist Thanks for the feedback. For the high poly, I see many people using Zbrush for high poly models, should I also be using Zbrush or for now just get comfortable using Maya? And thanks for the links. I will start working on that.

And I plan to post something at least every week.

Youshi

Really impressive for an early model, just try to pin point your methodologies and your target, is this for films or games? I feel you made your life harder with the inconsistency of what you declared to be floating geometry and what you've extruded.

If you wan't to be a hard surface artist, look into optimal Edge flow, that's my biggest crit for your piece, overall it was pretty good. Just the triangles coming off the extruded part of the main body, which is fine for a low poly games asset, but unacceptable for the most part anywhere else.

Another thing is to definitely optamise your UV space, just so there is no wasted resolution in future texturing. For example, all those bolt UV's can go inside any circular Islands, then you can scale them up as a whole for more efficient lay out.

Tobbo pretty much nailed a pipeline for you. Really awesome work, keep it up

Leonvb

@Youshi Great, thank you. In the future I will keep all of this in mind. I will have a look at Edge flow and next model I will focus more on the layout for the UV's.

Brian "Panda" Choi

Those UVs can be packed better.

I tend to use whatever autopacker is on hand, and then move the islands around to make it a little more logical when I bring it into Substance Painter.  

Leonvb

Thanks for all the feedback so far. I found this which I am sure will help a lot with learning about topology. http://imgur.com/a/dEWXP

Youshi

Leonvb said:

Thanks for all the feedback so far. I found this which I am sure will help a lot with learning about topology. http://imgur.com/a/dEWXP

Great source you have there, but be careful with some of those, the topology is specific for some shapes, not guide/lines or rules.

A good rule to follow (most of the time), is your topology should allow for the insertion of an edgeloop which follows your current flow without abnormal behaviour. this is dictated but lack of triangles and clever implementation of 5point vertices. So you can always test your topolgy by trying to insert an edge loop, if it starts traveling in an unpredictable way, your topolgy is most likely (not always) questionable.

At the same times, sometimes you have to do what gets the job done as long as there is no normal artifacting or pinching.

Leonvb

@Youshi I started making a new model but something went wrong again (See render). I was able to insert a edge loop in all the places and they did exactly as they should have. I also have no triangles in my mesh. I am sure it is a simple solution that I can't think of.

hectorsdors

If the problem is the lines appearing on the render, that's because the normal surface is not the same in this faces. In Max you could apply the same smoothing group to these area. In Maya don't remember how to fix it, but there should be an easy way to smooth the normals ; )

Leonvb

@hectorsdors Awesome, I got it fixed now. Thanks for the answer!

hectorsdors

@Leonvb ; )

Youshi

I believe In Maya it's the smooth edge/harden edge function, The topology is much better in this! If you're planning on making a high poly, look into supporting edge loops and smoothing, try to understand what it's actually doing also. I always believe it's more useful to understand how and why something works as opposed to "that's just the way it is". It will strengthen your problem solving skills a long the way!

I'm not sure if those two extruded points are supposed to be touching, but if they're not, you could layout the topology like this.

But i've long since moved away from this kind of modeling, so not sure how optimal this is. And that's only if you wanted a gap between those two parts.

Leonvb

@Youshi Yeah it was the smooth edge/harden edge function. I will have a look at that. It is true, always better to actually know what you are doing and why things are happening.

They are supposed to touch. I was wondering if this is acceptable to have them touch like that. But sounds like it is no big deal really? Thank you anyway for explaining how to fix it. I can definitely use that in the future.

Leonvb

Hey everyone. So I started over with the Fire Hydrant and tried to follow all suggestions as good as I can and did some research. I believe this model is better than the first one but let's see what the fellow people say! Let me share some screenshots.

Screenshots:
#1.Mesh for testing smoothing
#2.Mesh with smooth (modifier?) applied. The triangles are because I messed up the edge loops?
So I tried to fix it. Just welded the vertices of the edge loops. (I don't know (don't believe) this is the correct method to solve this problem?)
#3.Welded vertices to fix the smoothing
#4.Mesh after smoothing
#5.Render of smoothed mesh. (Again, nothing fancy, just showing the model.)

Brian "Panda" Choi

@Leonvb
if you're gonna be doing more hard surface elements and items in the future, you're gonna really want to read this.

So you don't have to SubD model everything.

http://polycount.com/discussion/168610/proboolean-dynamesh-hardsurface-workflow-tutorial

It's in Max, but I'm going to tell you to find the Ktools or AM Tools (I think it's the name?  Look for Adnan Chaumette) and install those scripts for more stable Boolen tools in Maya

Leonvb

OK I had a quick look at the link you shared. Is it a good idea for me to jump right into this type of modeling? This seems like a easier way of doing modeling, and obviously I have never tried it and don't know the process. But is it not better to build a "foundation" first and then trying to move on to the "easier/quicker" modeling techniques? I feel like this is used by more advanced artists who already have a firm grasp of the basics of modeling? Where if I start doing this I will have no idea or background about, for example, edge loops?

Please do tell me if I am looking at this in the wrong way. Maybe it is just because of my lack of knowledge and experience.

But, it is definitely something I can use in the future, so thanks again for the link.

Youshi

Brian is correct really, A lot of hard surface modelers have moved away from subdiv modeling, the problem solving can be very intense, taxing and time inefficient. There is just a lot of better alternatives out there, Zbrush has been a game changer for me, which is the reason I haven't done the above kind of modeling for... A long time ahaha.

But that is for games modeling! And I know polycount is really for games art, but I think all artists should look at the possibility of working in films.

It's nice to know both right? It's the same principle of knowing how to texture in photoshop even though there is software such as Substance, Quixel and Mari.

But as far as being professional is concerned, the best results in the fastest time is the most employable.

Brian "Panda" Choi

You're not losing high concept stuff to the point where it becomes detrimental.  I've stopped purely subD modeling because there's too many instances where booleaning out what I need is just simply faster.  I do both depending on the need and the set up I want in the end. 

Foundational stuff is elsewhere, like composition, values, form language, etc 

Leonvb

OK! This is great! Thank you for explaining to me. I will start spending some time on that as soon as I have some time.

A week ago I was only trying to see if I have a real interest in this. And at the moment I really feel that this is something I can enjoy and build a future with, thanks to all the feedback.

Next I will get those scripts you mentioned and get into using boolean and also start getting use to Zbrush.

Leonvb

I was unable to get hold of the ktools and an modeler tools for boolean, simply because I don't have the money for plugins or scripts at the moment. However I used 3ds Max and Zbrush and within a few minutes I got beautiful results on a simple model.

I was extremely busy so far this week so I did not have much time to work on a new model. I should be able to start tonight though.

At the moment I am considering to keep going with the fire hydrant until I get a good result? Or should I look into something else? Maybe guns? Any suggestions?

Thanks everyone!

Leonvb

I will try to keep the thread up to date with what I am currently busy with. I am sure other people who are absolute beginners(just like me) can get some value by reading some of the posts.

I didn't have much time to work on a new model, but I bought and started following a tutorial on gumroad.com (Ultimate Weapon Tutorial - Complete Edition by Tim Bergholz) (Youtube trailer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MYGCdf9VHs ).

An absolute amazing tutorial which takes you through the Modeling, Unwrapping and Texturing process. I am sure this will be of great value to anyone else who is new to hard surface modeling just as it has been for me(so far).

I will try to complete it by next week Monday or at the very least post some pictures of the completed model.



This is what I have so far