Treasure Chest

Jack Ryan

Hello Polycounters

Me and a friend have decided that a great way of learning to model would be to work on the same project at the same time - I'm calling it dual modelling, and we literally sit at the same computer, taking it in turns to use the software and over time slowly develop something. It's a great learning experience, as we're also noticing methods that we wouldn't even mention due to the assumption of it being the "norm".

Here's the screenshots so far. Any crit is welcomed!

Pre-Detail



Some detail was then added to the front and the back of the chest. The front detail being the latch mechanism and the padlock itself, and the back are hinges. The chest is hollowed out, and when rotated the hinges and lock/latch are affected along with it.





Close Ups of the detail





Then the padlock was added, and the bar that supports the padlock was smoothed, going off of peer feedback.



And finally, a close up of the padlock



We plan next to add some more details such as handles on the sides of the chest.

As for texture plans, we haven't finalised a style yet but we have a few in mind. We will likely try a few different styles of diffuse before deciding (and I'm sure they will show up here for feedback!).

Thanks for your time

Jack Ryan

a shameless bump, but also we plan to have the handles done today! Time to get cracking!

Blaisoid

that lock looks quite tiny.
also, i think the cross shaped holes in screws weren't used until late XIX or early XX century so if chest's supposed to be older you might want to change that.

Jack Ryan

Thanks for the tips! Glad that you pointed out the size of the lock, definitely gonna have a fiddle with that! And we shall look into the screw thing you pointed out, as we are still unsure of the style but that doesn't sit as an excuse to keep elements that do not go with the model

Fastcarver

I'd agree with Blaisoid. The lock and the metal loop it goes through seem way to flimsy for such a large chest carrying such valuable loot. Are you guys plannig on texturing this too? Would be interesting to see what you come up with.
I'd definately agree that buddying up and watching other people work is a great way to learn new techniques.

Good Stuff

Jack Ryan

Hi Fastcarver, thanks for your reply!

Yes we are planning on making a low version of this and then texturing it with a normal and spec map too. We were originally planning on having an asset that would go into an engine (such as replacing a chest in Skyrim) but it might just end up in UDK for final shots. We may also end up making a small island scene with a palm tree and a lump of sand in the middle of the sea, but we are undecided on that yet, this project has been going pretty smoothly so far though.

Here's an update from the feedback so far, hopefully making this chest look a bit more secure and beefy:

Jack Ryan

Handle detail has been added, quite happy with it but as per please critique where necessary



Close up:

RogerP

Lock could still be thicker , but progress is looking good....keep it up

Example

keelhauler

Looking good, but I would also make the hinges at the back stronger. The size of the hinges should be bigger for a chest of that size and it's hard to think those small screws would hold on to the wood if one would try to force the lid open.

Could the hinges support the weight of the lid well when the chest is open?

Jack Ryan

As always thanks for the feedback.

When you say thicker do you mean bigger in general or actually thicker?

As for the hinges, making them bigger would provide the problem of going over through metal superstructure of the chest and hanging down looking a little odd.

We could redesign the hinges as sideways mounted though.

Suggestions welcome

RogerP

yes thicker, the shackle and the body of the lock


Agree about the hinges too, the thing is if it looks like if you kicked it you would be able to open it then it just doesn't look right.

Jack Ryan

Going to work on the chest some more tomorrow hopefully, me and my partner in crime here are actually moving in together in our Uni town, so we will be able to make constant progress on stuff like this until we start getting assignments again.

Until then, keep the feedback coming, I'm glad there seems to be nothing immediately wrong yet. My tutor actually gave us some feedback on Facebook, saying something about 90 degree edges and how that might cause a problem with baking the normal map.

Could anybody shed some light on what he meant?