Homeworld - Taiidan Scout

waedoe

Hey guys just taking a 3d modeling course over at my local community college and our assignment is to make something we like. I chose to do the Taiidan Scout from home world 1. It's not 100% to concept but I like it so far that and I'm coming up on my deadline to have it in.

Alright enough about that. I'm currently working in ndo2 to add more detail to the normal map but have ran out of ideas to do for the normals. I feel like there is more I can do though. Any way if any one has any suggestions on the normal I'd love some feedback. Until then im going to begin texturing. Thanks for looking!

waedoe

Turn table video to go along with this


http://tinypic.com/r/ivbgw7/7

theSixtyEight

looks nice, big fan of Homeworld here btw ^^

Nistrum

yeah. massive fan, nice normal mapping BTW very clean.

waedoe

Texturing update, haven't done this in forever but I think the base is turning out nicely. I'm not going to over damage it but I want to go for a convincing newish look. Let me know what you think C&C welcomed!

dpadam450

Specular power is too high making it look like plastic. Obviously needs a spec map but you said it was diffuse only at this point.

waedoe

dpadam450 wrote: »

Specular power is too high making it look like plastic. Obviously needs a spec map but you said it was diffuse only at this point.

Yeah thanks! just a temp spec on it right now, I'm working on adding some decals and little lights then making an emmisive!

Overmind5000

At the moment, it has that TF2 feel to it. Nice model by the way.

waedoe

Done for the night! Got most of the decals and stickers on. Tomorrow I'm going to start working on the spec map to get it on par with everything else.

urgaffel

Looking good, only crit is that the concept (and game) is a lot more saturated than your version. Doesn't look like you need any more detail in the normal map, too much and it will just become noise

OddEyes

cool dude .. looking good. Can't wait for your texture progress

theSixtyEight

base colors are great, however I would use that teeth thing, also it would be very interesting if u would make it like old, with lots of wear so it would fit into homeworld junkyard

waedoe

Alright took into consideration the lack of saturation I had and turned it up on the paint! I think it looks quite a bit better!

I too am not sure about the teeth but for some reason something tells me they are right and they do look pretty damn good in place to me!

Also worked on the emmissive a little more, I think im going to get it set up so that blue engine light glows through the side vents an the bottom vent. also a little bit of light glowing out of the top engine, it will all be that cool blue i have on the engine.

well here the update let me know what you think, I was trying to add some more detail to the front!

waedoe

Here's some more work I think I'm going in the right direction what do you think?

Overmind5000

Very nice, although red paint around the engine would be incinerated instantly if you think about it. That aside, very good.

waedoe

actually i did want to make scorch marks im just unsure of how to do them well. I learned alot with this so far but i still feel like hte materials need better definition right now it seems so generic : /

Selaznog

Looks great! But you know what would help? Overlaying a gradient, from the bottom of the ship to the shop of the ship. Maybe a dirt colour?
Scorch marks will help. More grunge/damage would help, but being subtle enough with it that you keep the clean look.

waedoe

what does a gradient do? yeah i need to do a dust and color as well! hmm lots left to do !

Selaznog

waedoe wrote: »

what does a gradient do? yeah i need to do a dust and color as well! hmm lots left to do !

I think a gradient would fit the style of your artwork here. Basically just adds subtle variation. I use gradients a ton, as they help to separate assets and help add a focus area.

Here's a picture of a value gradient used on characters.




Also maybe figure out a base material. Like maybe it was red, and had yellow stripes painted on. Then you'd be able to chip away at the yellow stripes.

waedoe

so value gradient is for the spec map? how do you maintain uvw integrity? wont it get all chopped up with the islands?

Selaznog

waedoe wrote: »

so value gradient is for the spec map? how do you maintain uvw integrity? wont it get all chopped up with the islands?

What you could do is have it on a separate layer (make a layered shader or texture)

urgaffel

You can also map a gradient in a separate uvw channel and bake it out.

waedoe

Cool thanks for the heads up guys, so here's some more work on the spec map, its been going real slow taking my time trying to understand all the lighting settings, basically just got the main spec materials down and am now working towards the dirt and dust pass and then an oils type layer, im excited I already feel like this has helped tremendously working on the spec.

waedoe

I'm having a bit of trouble creating a convincing matte texture for the black paint on the forward guns any insight into how to go about pulling this off in the spec and gloss map?

dpadam450

One thing I liked to do (not sure how many others do it or if you already did it as well), is on the panel lines, I apply an overlay right down the seam that is around 50% black, maybe less, so that at a distant, the wing panels and all show up more. It is hard to see your panels by just using the normal map. Doing this adds in a bit of occlusion to the very middle low part of the seam.