The BRAWL² Tournament Challenge has been announced!
It starts May 12, and ends Oct 17. Let's see what you got!
https://polycount.com/discussion/237047/the-brawl²-tournament
It starts May 12, and ends Oct 17. Let's see what you got!
https://polycount.com/discussion/237047/the-brawl²-tournament
Best Of
Re: How to use Polycount
Chapeau to all those sharing their projects and/ or techniques 
To people who want to get their hands dirty or look to engage with others, I recommend checking out the Bi-Monthly Environment Art Challenges run by Pinkfox (thanks!). What I like about the format is that it encourages exchange, always cool to see some constructive feedback given and then implemented, and the set timeframe hopefully helps people to not draw out projects for too long and burn out.
Another good way to track thoughts, experiments and other small stuff would be to keep a Digital Sketchbook.
Since a lot of posts are on re-occuring themes, I'd also like to highlight the Search function!
On the topic of Search generally: I think there is a wealth of content here, but sometimes hard to come by, if there is not someone remembering an old thread and pointing towards it. What could we do to improve the experience, making it easier to find threads related to ones question? Are there already mechanisms in place of which I'm unaware? Adding tags? Is there any way to control the weight of threads so they appear on top even though they're old (perhaps filter by amount of plusses or stickied)? Would be crazy if even entries of the Polycount wiki would show up. Is there a particular reason why the timeframe of the search is limited?
To people who want to get their hands dirty or look to engage with others, I recommend checking out the Bi-Monthly Environment Art Challenges run by Pinkfox (thanks!). What I like about the format is that it encourages exchange, always cool to see some constructive feedback given and then implemented, and the set timeframe hopefully helps people to not draw out projects for too long and burn out.
Another good way to track thoughts, experiments and other small stuff would be to keep a Digital Sketchbook.
Since a lot of posts are on re-occuring themes, I'd also like to highlight the Search function!
On the topic of Search generally: I think there is a wealth of content here, but sometimes hard to come by, if there is not someone remembering an old thread and pointing towards it. What could we do to improve the experience, making it easier to find threads related to ones question? Are there already mechanisms in place of which I'm unaware? Adding tags? Is there any way to control the weight of threads so they appear on top even though they're old (perhaps filter by amount of plusses or stickied)? Would be crazy if even entries of the Polycount wiki would show up. Is there a particular reason why the timeframe of the search is limited?
Fabi_G
3 ·
Re: The Bi-Monthly Environment Art Challenge | January - February (94)
Hymil said:Progress on the hard surface prop, starting with a sub-d high poly model, which I'll then take into ZBrush for a damage pass. Creating a low-poly from the high-poly shouldn't require too much work with just deleting support loops and other similar decisions.
Though my high poly isn't quite to a point I'm satisfied with, I've taken some liberties with the reference like adding a cushion under the handle, car battery on the interior, etc. Though I have a nemesis with the handle... It doesn't look comfortable to hold with the sharp edges that the reference shows, and the cushion I added only serves to weaken the wielders grip. So, I plan to rework that area with help from the references @Eric Chadwick shared (thanks again).
It felt like such a waste to not do an interior for the flashlight, which is why instead I decided to do a mini car battery inside. It's still in the works, but I'm liking how it is shaping up.You've got a pretty nice composition going on there! I like the car battery idea, it's a nice personal touch to the project. I can't wait to see the texturing on this piece, it's coming along well.A very nice composition overall! I see we took similar apporaches in connecting the flashlight handle to the wires. That part was quite tricky. I'm looking forward to what you'll do for the inside.ATaylor96 said:Great work so far everyone! Quick update from me, things have been going slowly due to an illness the other week but I'm almost done with blockout out the main shapes - more of a mid poly at this point. Here's a quick render inspired by the orange renders @Hymil made.I realised after posting this that the charging contact is facing the wrong direction and has since been fixed)
crayz4pnutz
1 ·
Re: The Bi-Monthly Environment Art Challenge | January - February (94)
Hi! My name is Gwenyth and I'm a recent graduate looking for work. Everyone's props look so nice! I've blocked out the basic shapes and am trying to add the required details beofore adding my own personal touch to the piece. I still need to add holes so the wires connect. I haven't worked on the inside, but that is my next step. I have the bevel modifier added, but I am going to bake that into the lowpoly to optimize the mesh. Any critique on proportions or general composition?
crayz4pnutz
9 ·
Re: Brutal Knights - Game Project/Learning Experience
Well... been a while.
Finally got around to finishing the redesign of the player character for this project. He ended up going through a number of changes since the early concept was done.
Finally got around to finishing the redesign of the player character for this project. He ended up going through a number of changes since the early concept was done.
Bolovorix
14 ·
Re: Pixyz, does it work
Have a look at Maya's reduce polygons tool. That seems to give the most control without simply creating a holy mess of triangles (you can restrict it to keep quads as much as possible and mask areas or weight paint the effect. It's pretty good for recreating the quad topology of subdivided meshes. But it can also work like other tools and simply output triangulated meshes.
Blender's decimate sadly is nothing special in comparison.
thomasp
1 ·
Re: Pixyz, does it work
I don't have personal experience with Pixyz, so I can't tell you about any possible shortcomings, but I know people who tested it some years ago and were pretty impressed. However, it's quite expensive even for bigger studios, so they opted against it in the end. Might be worth it if you use it a lot, though. There is a trial available.
CAD stuff often comes with expliclit normals. For a quick and dirty reduction, you'll want a decimation tool that can preserve those. But that's usually like 50% to 75% until stuff gets funky, depending on source file format and model and still a pretty high polycount. "Very low poly" will still need (ideally manual) retopology or reduction and possibly projection/baking, especially if fidelity is important.
I think Eric Chadwick posted tipps for similar stuff recently, so he might be able to say more.
There are dedicated scripts to restore the control cage of subdivided meshes for various pieces of software out there, possibly for Blender as well.
CAD stuff often comes with expliclit normals. For a quick and dirty reduction, you'll want a decimation tool that can preserve those. But that's usually like 50% to 75% until stuff gets funky, depending on source file format and model and still a pretty high polycount. "Very low poly" will still need (ideally manual) retopology or reduction and possibly projection/baking, especially if fidelity is important.
I think Eric Chadwick posted tipps for similar stuff recently, so he might be able to say more.
There are dedicated scripts to restore the control cage of subdivided meshes for various pieces of software out there, possibly for Blender as well.
Noren
1 ·
Re: Does it even matter anymore when it comes to what 3D app to use for portfolio?
Studios use Maya because (practically speaking) it's the best DCC to build an asset pipeline around.
Max is basically a dead end despite being objectively superior to both as a modelling tool (fight me
) - it's unpleasant to build tools for, the animation toolset has barely progressed in 20 years and they resolutely refuse to drop the price.
Blender is difficult to manage for larger organisations - open source software is a legal minefield and handling all the addons and crap you need to make it actually useful is a huge pain in the arse if you're working at scale.
For smaller studios that don't have a 20 year old pipeline it would be mad to not adopt it IMO - it's not awful to develop for and most of the legal issues don't come into play
If I was starting out now I'd work with Blender and try to get at least some Maya experience.
fwiw, I never paid a lot of attention to the software people used when I was hiring artists - you can teach tools, you can't teach talent
Max is basically a dead end despite being objectively superior to both as a modelling tool (fight me
) - it's unpleasant to build tools for, the animation toolset has barely progressed in 20 years and they resolutely refuse to drop the price. Blender is difficult to manage for larger organisations - open source software is a legal minefield and handling all the addons and crap you need to make it actually useful is a huge pain in the arse if you're working at scale.
For smaller studios that don't have a 20 year old pipeline it would be mad to not adopt it IMO - it's not awful to develop for and most of the legal issues don't come into play
If I was starting out now I'd work with Blender and try to get at least some Maya experience.
fwiw, I never paid a lot of attention to the software people used when I was hiring artists - you can teach tools, you can't teach talent
poopipe
5 ·
Re: Kevin Johnstone has passed
I haven't posted here in years, but when I heard I wanted to post my experience with Kevin.
Back some, 13 years ago. Polycount had a 24/7 Google Hangout shared between some members of the community here. Everyone there was so wonderful, and kevin was apart of that. I remember he spent a few hours with me teaching me his practices on his intricate work done with the Gears of War models, and even showed me how to model it. I was maybe 18 years old at the time, still new and fresh and yet to make a real jump into the industry.
I valued his time, and admired his work, his care and willingness to show me how to do things was invaluable. I am where I am now, because of his work and because he gave me the time of day.
Back some, 13 years ago. Polycount had a 24/7 Google Hangout shared between some members of the community here. Everyone there was so wonderful, and kevin was apart of that. I remember he spent a few hours with me teaching me his practices on his intricate work done with the Gears of War models, and even showed me how to model it. I was maybe 18 years old at the time, still new and fresh and yet to make a real jump into the industry.
I valued his time, and admired his work, his care and willingness to show me how to do things was invaluable. I am where I am now, because of his work and because he gave me the time of day.
Sythen
5 ·
