Good start capturing the overall forms/proportions of the concept. Do you intend to try and sculpt details such as the "rivets" on the knee or will you be using insert mesh to insert a pre-modelled element ?
Good question, my PC is a little on the low end for ZB and I've always found the inserts and Dynamesh to be a fast way to crash, so Im using the original sketch done in ZB to replace sub-assemblies with a retopod version and then sculpting detail on, mostly using custom brushes made for the job. In some places however, Ill use my own Max made mini tools like rivets etc which I guess is essentially inserts, to cut down on the poly count. Question though, I intend on dub Div to about 2million per sub assembly so that I can sculpt in the scratches and paint texture etc, I feel this is probably the wrong approach though and best done post in PS/Crazybump Etc and overlaid onto the texture sheets.
Does that sound sensible? Keep in mind this Wasnt intended for game use, just as an exercise in as many Zb features as possible with the intended result being a nice vignette posed on a faux wooden base.
Quick update - this is one lot of changes behind mind you, mostly proportional changes now to make the concept artist happier - damn him .
Sorry about image size and quality but these are linked from fast FB uploads - big one wills follow for texturing and posing etc now all the boring stuff is out of the way.
Thanks konstruct, glad you like, you a fan of Bjorns work in general? He has some new stuff coming very soon - Diesel Punk that is.
Thanks nathdevlin - sorry been net absent for a while trying to get many things done Yeah know what you mean - Trouble with personal projects is they have no deadline so when do you decide to call it done!> always a tricky one for me - I dont really do much texturing and I need to badly so Im going to play about with assets and things homing in slowly on the Armour as I get more confident. Thanks Ill come take a look at your thread after this.
[Updates]
Some assets for the vignette/dio I intend for presentation - been playing with Keyshot so some of those images will follow - this is just ZB captures and a marmoset for now.
Another update of the Armour - proportions more or less in stone now.
Time to get the textures sorted - a little bit at a time, as I suck at texturing.
C and C welcome and tutorial links etc for texturng and brushes - been having trouble finding decent airbrush type alphas for ZB and paint chips brushes/alphas.
Some polypainting tests, the Chest Armour hasn't been painted yet but the inner suit and shoulder armour has, well to a certain degree. I'm trying to get a consistent and fast workflow, Mmm trying
Thanks, go right ahead Xenier, Id love to see another take on it, or maybe one of Bjorns other designs? He has a new Diesel Punk one coming very soon I'm told.
Polypainting with much UV adjusting and general ZB tomfoolery, never could get to the bottom of a strange UV cluster invert, something to do with a vert order problem? but Ill be darned if I could figure it out. Anyway enough blathering.
Low Poly model with the HP diffuse/polypaint applied. Much to do still but an end in sight. Need to tie the pieces together with one last pass of mud, wear n tear etc and add a few pieces here and there, mostly pipes and the ammo feed/containers. Then onto the stand and dio.
Fantastic high polygon character with amazing design, but let down by noisy normal maps and lack of surface definition, your metal really doesn't feel like metal. I personally would remove all the low level noise from your normal maps and fall back to a much cleaner specular/gloss. You have some great forms in the character that are all currently been lose.
The only thing I could recommend for reference might be some of the vehicles they use in the middle east wars. It seems like your going for that rugged war torn look. But don't want it to look abandoned?
Look closely at a lot of the metal and paint on these vehicles bellow. It could be useful for reference. It also illustrates what I was talking about above.
Thanks for the input IchII3D, and the refs, always good to add to my collection. Just a quick one though, there aren't any normal maps on it yet
Re: refs, lovely that they are, Im going for a more CAST metal look rather than sheet metal and alloys, a few of the plates and the canopy might be given a more aluminium feel though, so thanks. Hopefully once I put a metal shader on and play around with making some materials itl start working more, and also pull it together in the PS post and last pass on diffuse. Many thanks.
Well, to be honest it seemed like a good piece with enough similar but 'maybe' slightly different materials to use as a polypainting exercise so its a bit fudged, I used aviation refs for the sculpt to a large degree so your totally bang on with your refs of sheet metal, but when I got to texturing I felt the pieces thickness and function lent themselves to a more cast approach, so a bit of a barsteward (sic) in that respect
Yes its all Diffuse detail atm, I'm hoping my heavy handed approach can now be pulled together with a final ZB polypinat pass, where amongst other things Ill be filling the Subtools with a low opacity Green so things should get a little less noisy. Yup treated or anodized, or just simply painted are all possible for Cast Iron.
It served its purpose of getting me to explore Polypainting and making some new brushes, scripts and menus etc, and it was fun to make.
I think you are running with a great idea making it from cast iron. Could really make it feel unique and heavy, very in line with the theme of the character.
If you can nail that cast iron look its going to look fantastic.
Looking at ref there seems to be a lot of options in terms of how glossy, rusty, bumpy you want as cast iron seems to vary greatly based on how its cast.
Some great refs there IchII3D, very much appreciated and thanks for the kind words.
I'm such a light weight when it comes to texturing and am really out of my depth when it comes to making choices. For instance how much of the specular highlights, (the most white and shiny areas of exposed metal); I should paint in white or should I go at most light grey and let the white come from the specular map. Also how much of the metal effect can be captured from the texture bake of the materials Ill assign? and how much can come from the shader afterwards, any and all suggestions and info greatly accepted Not really knowing the answer to that I chose to paint them in white as I figured when it came to making a spec map and bump map I could at least easily grab a selection from them off the diffuse map that way, and also replace the colour.
Thanks and hopefully get the time to bake AO an Normals tomorrow then check results before that final texture pass.
Replies
Good question, my PC is a little on the low end for ZB and I've always found the inserts and Dynamesh to be a fast way to crash, so Im using the original sketch done in ZB to replace sub-assemblies with a retopod version and then sculpting detail on, mostly using custom brushes made for the job. In some places however, Ill use my own Max made mini tools like rivets etc which I guess is essentially inserts, to cut down on the poly count. Question though, I intend on dub Div to about 2million per sub assembly so that I can sculpt in the scratches and paint texture etc, I feel this is probably the wrong approach though and best done post in PS/Crazybump Etc and overlaid onto the texture sheets.
Does that sound sensible? Keep in mind this Wasnt intended for game use, just as an exercise in as many Zb features as possible with the intended result being a nice vignette posed on a faux wooden base.
Quick update - this is one lot of changes behind mind you, mostly proportional changes now to make the concept artist happier - damn him
Sorry about image size and quality but these are linked from fast FB uploads - big one wills follow for texturing and posing etc now all the boring stuff is out of the way.
Heh Adam,
I did not use too much ref other than images found here, this was mainly for surface/material reference:
http://www.primeportal.net/artillery/david_lueck/m2_90mm_aa_gun/
I've plenty of polish and final texturing to do on this model. So far it was just getting the model done and materials working.
Thanks nathdevlin - sorry been net absent for a while trying to get many things done
[Updates]
Some assets for the vignette/dio I intend for presentation - been playing with Keyshot so some of those images will follow - this is just ZB captures and a marmoset for now.
Another update of the Armour - proportions more or less in stone now.
Time to get the textures sorted - a little bit at a time, as I suck at texturing.
C and C welcome and tutorial links etc for texturng and brushes - been having trouble finding decent airbrush type alphas for ZB and paint chips brushes/alphas.
C and C welcome
Some polypainting tests, the Chest Armour hasn't been painted yet but the inner suit and shoulder armour has, well to a certain degree. I'm trying to get a consistent and fast workflow, Mmm trying
C and C always welcome.
Polypainting with much UV adjusting and general ZB tomfoolery, never could get to the bottom of a strange UV cluster invert, something to do with a vert order problem? but Ill be darned if I could figure it out. Anyway enough blathering.
C and C welcome.
C and C welcome.
The only thing I could recommend for reference might be some of the vehicles they use in the middle east wars. It seems like your going for that rugged war torn look. But don't want it to look abandoned?
Look closely at a lot of the metal and paint on these vehicles bellow. It could be useful for reference. It also illustrates what I was talking about above.
http://milinme.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/syrpta-001.jpg
http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/syria121912/s29_56590352.jpg
http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/syria022712/s24_RTR2XF7P.jpg
Re: refs, lovely that they are, Im going for a more CAST metal look rather than sheet metal and alloys, a few of the plates and the canopy might be given a more aluminium feel though, so thanks. Hopefully once I put a metal shader on and play around with making some materials itl start working more, and also pull it together in the PS post and last pass on diffuse. Many thanks.
Is all that detail in your diffuse? Also is it possible to have green cast iron or is it painted?
Yes its all Diffuse detail atm, I'm hoping my heavy handed approach can now be pulled together with a final ZB polypinat pass, where amongst other things Ill be filling the Subtools with a low opacity Green so things should get a little less noisy. Yup treated or anodized, or just simply painted are all possible for Cast Iron.
It served its purpose of getting me to explore Polypainting and making some new brushes, scripts and menus etc, and it was fun to make.
If you can nail that cast iron look its going to look fantastic.
Looking at ref there seems to be a lot of options in terms of how glossy, rusty, bumpy you want as cast iron seems to vary greatly based on how its cast.
http://p2.la-img.com/1171/37793/16055323_1_x.jpg
http://cdn.sweatband.com/York%202.5kg%20Hammertone%20Cast%20Iron%20Olympic%20Plate_York_2.5kg_Hammertone_Cast_Iron_Olympic_Plate_2000x2000.jpg
http://image0-rubylane.s3.amazonaws.com/shops/ogees/14727.7L.jpg
http://dobraszczyk.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/4.jpg
http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/attachments/f19/16266d1255544006-butterfly-type-d-die-filer-cast-iron-repair-help-needed-picture-006.jpg
I'm such a light weight when it comes to texturing and am really out of my depth when it comes to making choices. For instance how much of the specular highlights, (the most white and shiny areas of exposed metal); I should paint in white or should I go at most light grey and let the white come from the specular map. Also how much of the metal effect can be captured from the texture bake of the materials Ill assign? and how much can come from the shader afterwards, any and all suggestions and info greatly accepted
Thanks and hopefully get the time to bake AO an Normals tomorrow then check results before that final texture pass.