SciFi Shotgun/Rifle

Brygelsmack

Hey guys. First post in P&P!

Anyway, this is my first real attempt at a larger weapon, and I would like to hear some feedback before I proceed with a low poly and baking. Any additional details I should add? I don't know anything about real life guns so if anything sticks out as weird just give me a shout.

The weapon is based on a concept by Robin Chyo, his picture is pretty hard to read but I gave it a shot. You can find the concept pretty easily on his site, just Google him, but anyone who compares the model with the concept will see that I deviated somewhat, just to give it somewhat of a personal touch.

Anyway here's a couple of renders (I suck at rendering btw).





Thanks in advance.

AlexCatMasterSupreme

I am watching you VULTURE. YOU CAN'T ESCAPE.

Well, I feel like it's kinda simple, not really showing off your sub-d skills, It just feels like a bunch of generic shapes at the moment. I still think you need to re-do that handle as you said you'd do, once you do that, it might feel less blocky, that was something I struggled with too. I would make sure the gun is functional, It doesn't look like it would be that comfortable to hold right now. And where does the shell come out? Those are questions I got asked on my gun, and hence why I don't make them...

As for rendering, for this kinda thing just use the defualt renderer, drop in a skylight, and some omi lights and make it look cool (realistic veiw mode), thats what I'd do if you wanna save time, also turn up the spec in your material settings so it's metal.

Racer445 has a good render setup in this scene he has for download of an RC car he made from this thread http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=87971&page=2.

And the scene file. http://dl.dropbox.com/u/1725586/RC/polycount_car_dontstealplz.rar

I hope youre using max.

ArqusZed

Looks pretty darn awesome at first glance.

However, like Alex says, it's not really clear where the shell gets ejected from. As for the handle, I actually things it's nice, just not really fitting with the rest of the design.

I do have a question about the upper back side of the gun. You hollowed out a part of the body, looking as though it is a part of the gun that can slide (like when the barrel is extruded from a Desert Eagle). However, looking at the model, I can't figure out what the part is supposed to slide in or out of. (And if it's just for esthetic purposes - remember, it's a gun, form follows function.)

Also, it might be nice to add some form of iron sight. From the looks of it, it's a type of shotgun, meaning a scope isn't the most useful of things, but most of them still have an iron sight.

MrDreadnought

I think the model needs some more detail on it, right now some areas are very empty (like the part behind the drum, some large flat areas on the side). You could put some ribbing on the grip to make the gun more real too. It looks like a good start otherwise!

Brygelsmack

@ AlexCatMasterSupreme:
Stalking me are you? Suppose you're AsianNoodles at CryDev? Anyways, all very good points. Completely forgot about the handle, I was eager to get this up here.

Looking at the concept I have no idea where the shells eject from, that's definitely something I missed out on. This is where my lack of knowledge for guns comes in, I just followed the concept blindly.

And no I use Maya.

@ ArqusZed:
Thanks! I actually have a different design for the handle in mind, we'll see if I get around to doing that. I probably should.

And as for the hollowed out part, I have no idea. That's how I interpreted the concept but like I said, I thought the concept was hard to read so I might be wrong. It's probably for esthetic purposes and doesn't have a specific use. And I thought about an iron sight. I'll look into that, thanks!

@ MrDreadnought:
Okay. More detail... First gun, gotta start somewhere I suppose. I tried to follow the concept, which all in all is pretty clean. Do you have some links or something I can get inspired from? Because the concept won't help me with that anymore.

Thanks for the feedback guys, much appreciated. (:

Brygelsmack

Hey there,

I went back to this now after some busy weeks in school. Just added a few things, like a flame thrower mode at the bottom. Stuff that still needs fixing:
- Handle/Grip.
- Overall flatness.
- More details, such as fire mode switch, maybe more holes, screws etc.
- Scope.

+ Whatever crits I get here!





Thanks! (:

fragfest2012

Awesome looking!

Brygelsmack

Thanks! Would still love some crits if anyone have anything.

I've tried another grip design, but I'm not sure how I want the two other outer parts (see pic) of the grip to look like. I kinda like what I have but with this new grip design in the video below I have to re-design other parts, or maybe simply remove them.

What do you guys think?



[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sa_G09H8l74"]Grip - YouTube[/ame]

Thanks.

AlexCatMasterSupreme

That new grip looks hold-able. So I'd go for it.

ZacD

The gun is way to flat, it looks like you just designed a sideview and made that into a model. I bet it looks boring and box from a FPS view. Look at some real guns and guns in video games and try to figure how you can vary the width and angles on the gun.

Shrike

I think the handle looks pretty cool, but I strongly dislike the front part with that L-Shape, it just looks very unaesthetic and I would do something completely different there

Brygelsmack

ZacD wrote: »

The gun is way too flat, it looks like you just designed a sideview and made that into a model. I bet it looks boring and box from a FPS view. Look at some real guns and guns in video games and try to figure how you can vary the width and angles on the gun.

Like mentioned, I'm going off a concept. I didn't link it before so here it is. By Robin Chyo.



I just read the concept as very flat, so I made it so. I agree I did the initial grip wrong, it's way more rounded in the concept. That's why I'm re-doing it. But overall I think the concept is pretty hard to read, but imo the majority of the weapon is definitely flat. Or do you think the model is off in one way or another compared to the concept?

I suppose it looks a bit big in FPS view. Looking at it from this angle makes me want to add more details to the back, which is where you'd actually see it most of the time in an FPS game.

Shrike wrote: »

I think the handle looks pretty cool, but I strongly dislike the front part with that L-Shape, it just looks very unaesthetic and I would do something completely different there

Alright. I just modeled it the way I interpreted the concept.

What would do you then? Ideas are always appreciated.

Thanks for the crits guys. This isn't easy.

Brygelsmack

Hey guys. I'm making a new scope for the weapon. It's still WIP but I'll try to finish it up ASAP. I've learnt a few things while making this which is cool.

I really appreciate the feedback but at this point I'm gonna focus on just finishing this up and moving on to something else, even if I have to sacrifice a few crits. I did remove the L-shape mentioned above but I think I'll keep the old grip etc. Been working on this for too long and I just want to do something else now.





As for this scope, the bottom part that attaches to the weapon is still missing. There's also some kind of rubber band that I'll try to make.

While I'm at it, does anyone know how I can reduce the amount of grain in the renders (Maya)? Always seem to get it even though I crank up the samples and stuff.

Thanks for reading.

Brygelsmack

Third time's the charm, I guess...?

Anyway, skipped the lights for this update. Had some problems with them lighting up the entire model instead of just the shader. Oh well.

I deleted the L-shape, added some new stuff on the barrel (I think it's called)... Now I have big flat shape I have to do something about. Considering some kind of power core or coils or something.



Here's a couple of shots of the scope. I'm going to do a pass with floaters to add some more detail. I tried putting it on the weapon and it looks ridiculous, but I'm gonna go for it.





Now I'm just gonna finish this off and get back to some level/environment art. This hard surface stuff is clearly not for me.

Thanks.

MisterSande

Now I'm just gonna finish this off and get back to some level/environment art. This hard surface stuff is clearly not for me.

dude! what are you talking about, your hard surface modeling skills are fantastic and this gun is shaping up really well!

Brygelsmack

Thanks I appreciate that.

Anyway, just messing around. It's not a weapon if it doesn't have the Greentooth.



Thanks all.

Brygelsmack

Hey guys. Got a new render and some wires at the request of vassili_zaytsev. I've never done wire renders before so I apologize for the choppy quality. I would love an isoline display option when I render with mental ray, because it subdivides the mesh from the smooth preview in two iterations, which makes the render really messy with all the wires all over the mesh. So instead I had to smooth the mesh manually just once.

And if vassili_zaytsev reads this: Yeah you can see the way I model pretty easily here. Lots of floaters and stuff like you asked about, so you're absolutely correct. I could probably model some of that in but it works either way.







And here's just a part I'm happy with. Turned out clean despite of the messy topology.