The Duke

Dank

Hi everyone,

First timer here, I need to start playing with the big boys and get some creative input.

I was looking at "Vidars" low poly work posted the other day (and many others on this board's) and trying to figure out the steps I need to take to get my work up to his standard.

My viewport image (max DX standard shader) probably isnt helping matters but I wanted to show its current state without any beautifying. Its a single 1024 for the face the same but its just a throw on for now, it the face thats my concern.

Ive tried to paint into the diffusse map like I would a traditional low poly and add more form but It didnt seem to help much. The normal map seems to overpower the secondary forms I add. Should I just go back to the hi res and let the normals do more of the work and perhaps up the resolution.

Cheers

poopinmymouth

Getting the diffuse map to work with a good volumetric normal map is tricky. You want to compliment the forms, not break them. The easiest way is to start with a light bake from the high poly, since that will assure your details are 1:1 in the right area. Since you now have "real" volume that lights in the engine, the need to fake it with strong directional light in the diffuse isn't as necessary as before, but it can still help make it pop if everything lines up. I know a few artists start with a greyscale version of the normal map to get a properly layed out diffuse. I myself put a greyscale normal map layer above my diffuse on a light overlay mode to use as a guide when painting details below.

Dank

Thanks for the pointers "poop". Ill go back and try to make everything work together and get the details to pop out as you said. I did start with a cavity map converted from the normals map but I strayed quite a bit as ive painted the diffuse and everythigns ended up looking really flat.

I think Im just not getting how everythings works together, Ill give it another crack.


cheers

Rhinokey

the lightin in the pic confuzzles me. under the chin nose and uper lip is dark, which leads me to believe its being lit from above and front. But there is no shadow from the hat, which makes it look really just tacked on. adjust your lighting to be more realistic. and it may help the normals pop a bit more. also the hair line on the side of the head is way too dark where the hair meets the skin.