M1911 (Critique Wanted!)

James Ordner

Hey Polycount! This is my first critique thread ever, and really my first time ever posting my work on the internet. Exciting! Anyways, I've been working on an M1911 for a third person shooter me and some friends are making. I've reached the point to where it looks decent, not really finished, but I don't know how else to improve it. I'm happy with the modeling and the normal map, but not so much the texturing. Here's where I'm at now (1874 tris):

Some UDK screenshots-







Diffuse:



Spec:



UVs:



Any and all critique is welcome!

Bek

Was there any reason you didn't mirror the sides of the gun? You could've saved a lot of texture space by doing so.

Are you using a gloss map? Is there any reason why your diffuse and spec are 2047^2, not 2048? Or was that just an error in uploading?

Despite using extra geo for the wooden grip it still seems rather flat, and you might also consider connecting the handle (spending a few extra verts) but you'd be wasting less texture space. 2048x2048 might be excessive for a third person game as well. The scratches seem a little too random and there doesn't seem to be much going on in your textures aside from a texture and AO overlay.

Have you see Millenia's texturing tutorial? It might give you some ideas. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL925958D31D8D30C7

DWalker

The grip could use some more work. The front of the grip should be smoother, and both the grip safety and the rear of the grip seem too thick. The base of the magazine also extends a bit farther beyond the grip. I don't care for the color of the grips, nor for the lighter area on them. The screws are also typically inset rather than resting on top of the grip. Of course, with a weapon that has been in continuous production for well over a century, there is a wide variety among M1911 models, including this monstrosity:

So, in other words, trust your reference materials...

If the game engine is in a working state, try adjusting the size of the texture and rendering it in-game. Depending upon how close you can get, a 512, 256, or even 128 texture might be more than sufficient. Just keep shrinking things until you notice a difference, then go back to the next larger size. The same also applies to the model itself - for an FPS, 1900 polygons is low-enough (some games are in the 5-10k range for player weapons), but it might be overkill if the weapon takes up a tiny amount of the screen. I generally like to enable wireframe mode in the game - if the object looks solid, it probably has too many polygons.

If you have something like a weapon selection screen or an inventory screen, you could certainly have a second model & texture just for these screens.

While the design and appearance are both in the public domain by now, the Colt name and horse trademark are NOT. Using somebody's trademark requires their permission, and usually a payment. Companies are very aggressive about protecting their trademark because they have to be - if they fail to protect the trademark, they can actually lose the trademark. Companies are also nervous about anything that can damage their image - this is one reason name brand cars in racing games would never suffer damage.

Hobbyists can usually get away with it, and suffer nothing more than a cease-and-desist notice if they're caught. Commercial products, however, can be hit with fines and might even have their products pulled. So, to play it safe, don't identify it as a Colt 1911, and replace the text & symbols with something that is close, but doesn't infringe. (Bolt with a stylized lightning bolt in a circle is a personal favorite. )

A final note on the presentation - the wireframe looks a bit cluttered, primarily because it shows triangles rather than the more common quads. I'd recommend setting the extra edges invisible. The wireframe also seems to show the magazine, which should have been hidden by the grip.

James Ordner

Bek: My main reason for not mirroring the sides was for the different AO from the thumb safety and the slide catch. Now that I think about it, it's probably better to save on texture space rather than have barely noticeable AO in that area. What do you think? I'm not using a gloss map. The 2047^2 must be an error in the upload, it's supposed to be 2048^2, and smaller in the final game. Thanks for the link, I'll definitely check it out! You're right about the texture, I couldn't think of much more to add to it. I'm hoping the tutorial will give me some ideas. Thanks for the advice!

DWalker: I'll see what modifications I can make, and I hadn't even thought about insetting the wooden grip screws. I love that 1911! Haha I'll lower the texture resolution to at least x1024, and probably much lower for the final game. I'm not worried about going over my poly budget with a 1900 poly weapon, and this is a personal project so there's no strict budget I have to follow, but the wireframe trick is good to know for the future. I'll change the official Colt stuff so I don't run into any trouble later on. I most likely won't get in trouble for it, but it's best to be on the safe side. The messy wireframe is due to taking the screenshots inside UDK, which does not occlude backside edges. I'll be sure not to be so lazy with my wires in the future. Thanks for the feedback!