Concept to finish, crate edition!

biofrost

I know, another person making a crate. While boring I feel it is a good way to practice high poly modeling and texturing(which are the two places I feel I am lacking in) I am putting my own spin on this concept from Quake 4, I really want to take this with a more blade runner style. So with the sharp eye of all the polycounters out there, crit away.




[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjazC45Qkww[/ame]
In order to spice up the post here is some exciting music to go with the crate!(Castlevania Bloody Tears)

biofrost

Not sure to be exact, I had a daylight system set up in maya but after I deleted it every render has had a black background.

biofrost

I added some buttons, they would be used to open the crate, I want to have them glowing some sort of color but I have not yet decided what color scheme I want to go with yet.

MrHobo

In your concept triangular bits at the base don't appear that squared at the top. Not sure if you're trying to nail the concept or it's just for inspiration but you might want to fix that.

MikeF

Its hard to see things clearly in these renders
ditch the reflective material, get some viewport shots including wireframes, and if you absolutely need to render for some reason, change the background to something lighter by selecting your renderable camera in the outliner and changing the environment color in the atribute editor

ajv3d

Nice work, it's always nice to see someone post work from concept to finish... If you want to change the color of your render background back in Maya select your camera, go into attributes, scrub down to 'environment', and change the color to what ever you'd like the render background to be.

biofrost

MrHobo thanks for pointing that out! I am using it more as a base, I actually am in the process right now of drawing my own version of it, I just really want to get the basic details down then finish up my own concept of it.

biofrost

Two more renders, I think I have the final shape done and I can move on to little details then start the low poly.

italian1x

It looks like you left out all of the most important aspects from the concept to make this crate look like it has a function. For instance, on the front of it, you left off all the bolts and latches.

biofrost

Bolts and things of that nature will be added tomorrow. I just really wanted to get the shape and larger objects done first.

toxic_h2o

looking good. I feel like some of your edges could be sharpened up a bit. Keep it up!

SnaFuBAR

You've lost some of the shapes that make it really interesting, specifically in the base. It's looking more like a trapezoid on a coffee table now, especially with those random cylinder shapes and the couch-feet on the base. Take a look again at the silhouette.
Would yours be recognizable if it were just a silhouette at the 3/4 perspective view? No.
Would the original concept? Yes.

The base is probably what's throwing the whole thing off for me. It's destroying the proportions badly.

biofrost

Thanks for the input guys! I did change a bit of the base but for my version of the model it is not really the base of the crate but of a carrier that floats above the ground for transportation. Keep the crits coming(sorry for the horrid handwriting) !

SnaFuBAR

I like that idea. but make it look more tech instead of rocket booster. boosters are so 40's, so leave that behind!

Now the crate itself needs a base. you're off in an interesting direction. continue >>

biofrost

Due to my animation class this week I only have a tiny update, I have a base to the crate and some floating geo for extra detail.(Not quite happy with it though, still seems a little plain) I have a few ideas for the anti gravity devices but I should draw out a few different variations before re-modeling them.

biofrost

Some more work done on the anti gravity device for moving the crate around.

ZacD

In a normal game that prob would most likely get a 512x512 at most. Doing high poly detail that's going to be smaller than 1px on a normal map is pretty much a waste of time.

biofrost

Update, I have the low poly done and I am currently working on the first pass of the texture, there is also a basic normal map applied.

biofrost

Well after some issues with the unwrap of my model(got that cleared up in the technical talk) I have started again with the texturing.

biofrost

Decided on going with a slightly different color scheme, closer to what is in quake 4. No spec yet, just a wip diffuse and normal. Still seems like something is missing but im not quite sure what.

MrHobo

Good progress so far. I see a general amount of wear and tear, but I dont really see any dirt build-up.

keres

I do not really understand the scratches on it. The parts that are most likely to receive wear are the parts sticking out the farthest, like the corner in the bottom-left or the corners on top of the crate. The handle could use some messing with. Check out some of the beds used to cart around stuff at a home improvement store, they are made of metal and would probably receive similar wear.

Good job on the modeling, keep it up on the texturing and get a specular in there! Subtle scratches in on the specular and not the diffuse make all the difference.

danjohncox

Agreed, careful with the scratches. Form follows function. The shape and location of those just doesn't make sense. Think more specifically about the location of elements like that and you'll be much better off. Lay them out in specific places on the model. Not just in emptier areas.

biofrost

Thanks for all the input, I have been working more on the scratches and after work tonight I should be able to get to grime it up a bit with dirt. (also applied the spec map.)

n88tr

I think this is the best one yet
might want to see some mud/dirt near the bottom of the cart

biofrost

Got it dirty a bit, just don't want to go overboard on it though. A little can say a lot.

passerby

the texture seems to have too big a scale, and the normals on the scratches and dirt are too intense.

also try playing with putting some unique detail into your specular and gloss maps.

biofrost

I understand I need more detail in the spec, but im not sure what it should be. Would it just be more scratches? Does anyone have a example spec map I could look at, to understand better what I should be aimimg for?

chrisradsby

is it supposed to look like concrete? What material are you aiming for?

MaVCArt

i would suggest not putting the dirt in the normal map, it's generally a thing not done, and it really disturbs the surface of the crate. also, your material definition is still unclear; i would suggest laying down a basic color, and then using textures or source materials that corresponds in material to what you're looking for. then you have a base to start from, and you can work further from that.

right now it looks like it's made from concrete, and i don't think you're going for that.

just my 2 cents

passerby

biofrost wrote: »

I understand I need more detail in the spec, but im not sure what it should be. Would it just be more scratches? Does anyone have a example spec map I could look at, to understand better what I should be aimimg for?

take the dirt and scratches out of your normal map and some of them out of your diffuse, and have it only in your specular map.

in the specular map you can have things like scratches, and slight variations in the metal tone, and darker areas of grunge, and in the gloss map you can give those same scratches a higher exponent than the rest, and add things like finger smudges and oil stains.

take some time to study some metal in RL and think about what you are seeing and how it can be replicated in a texture map.

there are a lot of things like small scratch, and grease and oil that dont really effect the colour/diffuse at all but we can still see cause they have a different highlight/gloss, or there highlight is more intense or less intense than the rest of the surface.

biofrost

Did a lot of work on the spec map, also trying to add some more color to the bare metal but I am not sure what or where it should go, right now it is just some green that is warn off in the middle.(green was a main color for crates in quake 4)