Yep, it's another AK47.
polycounter lvl 11
Hi all!
This is an AK47 I've been working on lately.
I just baked and started texturing today, so the texture is in no way final.
I've excluded some details on it that won't be visible in first person view, seeing as it's only going to be used for that.
I'd love some crits on the material defining as I go along texturing this.
The only areas I'm more or less done with (I think) are the wooden handles and stock.
I'm aware that this is one of the most common weapons to be modeled, and there are tons of awesome ones, so I'm almost afraid of posting mine but....
Looking forward to getting crits from you!
This is an AK47 I've been working on lately.
I just baked and started texturing today, so the texture is in no way final.
I've excluded some details on it that won't be visible in first person view, seeing as it's only going to be used for that.
I'd love some crits on the material defining as I go along texturing this.
The only areas I'm more or less done with (I think) are the wooden handles and stock.
I'm aware that this is one of the most common weapons to be modeled, and there are tons of awesome ones, so I'm almost afraid of posting mine but....
Looking forward to getting crits from you!
Replies
I won't be able to work a lot on it today, seeing as I'm home with my sick son, but here are some updated shots from last night.
I have started incorporating some of the things you mentioned, and will continue to do so tonight.
My one crit is that the modeling on the whole gun is so polished and smooth, and then you come to the clip in which I can clearly see five straight angles on the silhouette contributing to the curvature. It kind of breaks the illusion of it being a real gun for me.
Here are two pictures I used for reference:
Thank you very much for the feedback Kitteh!
I understand what you are saying, and I agree. My version is basicly a kitbash between different versions of the AK.
It's mainly based on the older versions, but I found it very hard to find good references from just that one, so I went with having similar versions as refs. However, there are some differences between the ones.
This is another one of my refs. You can see the metal band in front of the stock there.
My goal was to create an AK that looks like an AK. I wanted to viewer to think immediately "That's an AK47!".
I'm not saying it's OK to model without references. I'm a ref-freak, and I can spend days just building a ref library.
And I'm not trying to defend my model saying you're wrong, because you're not. It's just a choice I made to take some details from different versions in order to make it look like a generic AK47.
Again, thanks for the detailed feedback!
I'm not sure what you mean. What do you mean with milled and stamped reciever?
Will see what I can do about it.
EDIT: Will make the reciever stamped. ^^
Nothing major.. Just fixed the reciever, added some text and added a.. hanger? for the strap. I am aware of the fact that there is no second hanger (?), but it wouldn't be visible anyways.
Hope you like the progress.
What's the tri count?
Can anyone fill me in on what "milled" versus "stamped" means?
I'll see what I can do!
I can't use color in my spec though. Don't ask me why. -_-
I'll see if I can make a quick fix of that when I get back home.
Cheers!
Yeah, dirtying it up is next on my agenda, after fixing the stock up a bit.
I guess it also depends on context. If you want to represent it as being used by a military force of some sort, or by organized crime (e.g. large drug cartel, mafia, etc.), then I vote to keep it as it stands now. Conversely, if you want to represent it as being used by a small terrorist organization, or by a member of a street gang, I guess you could age it a bit and make it look more worn, but I wouldn't use the word "dirty" and I wouldn't overdo it. Just make the metal areas around moving parts look worn (around the bolt, rear folding sight, ROF selector, etc.), scratch and ding the wood stock and forearm, etc., but be subtle. And even in that context, you don't necessarily have to age it. It's not unreasonable to think that a member of Al-Qaeda or crip or blood could have a pristine example... they're not that rare or expensive.
[edit] also, a post-apocalyptic context is another scenario where a more aged/used/worn example might work better
At first I was going to keep it as it is, but after looking at references and talking with friends I've decided to add some wear and tear to it.
I definately don't want to overdo it, just add some sand/dust in the crevices and some tear on the steel here and there.
I really appreciate the input!
Maintaining a pistol
If you look closely at the images on that website even (especially on the slide) though the gun is obviously very well maintained you can still see wear that occurs on any firearm that is handled semi-regularly. Slight blemishes that cause a distortion in the spec/gloss maps. Racer has gone over this a lot, but its one of those things that can never be said enough.
Unless a gun is taken fresh out the box it'll have those inconsistencies in the specularity/gloss, just at varying levels depending on how often its cleaned, used, and where its held. As I mentioned before, even the guns finish will start to fade in spots towards the metal (causing a whitening), which is why after a lot of use/time most personal firearm owners I know will have a gun re-blued/nickeled/finished. Generally the better care thats given the longer the time it takes before that is needed.
Anyway looks cool, but I'm not a fan of the current wood texture you have on the grip it catches my eye and distracts me. Not saying that, that grain doesn't happen on grips, I just personally find it odd and distracting, granted you'd never really see it in game since its covered by the shooters hand 90% of the time.
I'll go over the spec map a few times before I call it done.
Flattened the stock as it reaches the reciever.
Also dirtied it up a little bit and changed the presentation a bit.
Hope you like it!
the wood is looking a lot better but along with more gloss work, properly representing how they made the wood parts for many of these weapons will pull it way closer to the real thing. having the lines from the wood paneling will help add some direction to the gun as well. here's a tutorial on how someone achieved this look using projection: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1200008&postcount=45
since the gun is dark, some hue changes in the diffuse may prevent parts from blending together. some easy to make dirt may help too.
also the scrapes in the diffuse should be the same tone as whatever the surface underneath the coating is (generally not brighter.) making the scratches bright on the diffuse is a very old-gen technique, and was done to emulate the light shining on them, which there's no need for because now we have proper specular!
Do you mean something along these lines?
I'm happy with it, and I don't have any more time to work on it unfortunately. I have other projects I need to deal with.
Thank you all SO, SO much for helping me achieve this final result! Couldn't have done it without you!
Cheers!
I used Marmoset. A real-time render engine.
You can check it out here: http://www.8monkeylabs.com/tech/toolbag
@kinetic: I'll check out your thread ASAP!
@Brygelsmack: Thank you! I'll see if I can find them when I get back home.
@SouthpawSid: Thanks.
I really appreciate all your kind words, but maybe we should let this thread go back to its slumber?
Are you home yet? ^^