Oh boy it's an AKS74U w/ Kobra Sight
polycounter lvl 9
Hey guys, long time no post! I decided I needed to get back in the saddle as far as personal work goes and jump back into Polycount, so I made this guy.
Since I've been doing sensible current-gen models (chunky convex bits with a minimum of discrete moving parts) for some time now, I thought it would be fun to go beyond that and make this thing more fully functional than your average model. I love when games capture mechanical details, like Far Cry 2's engine repair or the way you can swap out the gun's mechanism in GRAW 2, so I figured I'd do the same with this model and make all of the little fiddly bits under the dust cover.
I used 4k maps for the rifle and 2k for the accessories (Kobra and PBS-1 silencer, which I haven't included here because it's kind of boring). I'm using Diffuse, Specular, Exponent and Normal maps. 9765 tris total. It's probably all a bit excessive, but let's pretend it's next gen and call it good.
Without further ado, here are the images:
Sorry if the images are too big! I personally love it when people post massive images, so I figured I'd dish up some of my own. Let me know whatcha think!
Since I've been doing sensible current-gen models (chunky convex bits with a minimum of discrete moving parts) for some time now, I thought it would be fun to go beyond that and make this thing more fully functional than your average model. I love when games capture mechanical details, like Far Cry 2's engine repair or the way you can swap out the gun's mechanism in GRAW 2, so I figured I'd do the same with this model and make all of the little fiddly bits under the dust cover.
I used 4k maps for the rifle and 2k for the accessories (Kobra and PBS-1 silencer, which I haven't included here because it's kind of boring). I'm using Diffuse, Specular, Exponent and Normal maps. 9765 tris total. It's probably all a bit excessive, but let's pretend it's next gen and call it good.
Without further ado, here are the images:
Sorry if the images are too big! I personally love it when people post massive images, so I figured I'd dish up some of my own. Let me know whatcha think!
Replies
If so, can't tell, really well done. And if so, makes me want to learn it.
Pedro: No, I didn't use dDO. 100% hand textured baby!
Any chance of you posting the texture sheets? Always fun to look/learn a bit from it.
But no problem if you don't want to
joeriv: Here dem sheets:
Weapon
Accessories
Ignore the top left of the accessories sheet, I never got finished the silencer since it was kind of boring.
1. the fire selector being a bright tone detracts greatly from the impact of the shiny silver bolt material. it's not a great material and makes the gun look flat and strange. consider making the fire selector a different material. really dark glossy black with a silver screw could be cool here.
2. your texture is mostly micro wear. your primary metal material is carried entirely by the micro edge scrapes and the huge blotchy gloss overlay. the blotchy is pretty accurate to a "clean" version of the real material, but in CG art it could be pushed a bit more.
in general you're lacking localized low frequency wear and specular map overlays, giving it a really flat look when the blotchy gloss map overlay isn't kicking in. i see you already have some localized low frequency wear, but it's not strong enough and could be added to the specular map for a nice boost in contrast. for the specular map overlays just grab some photos and get to work. you don't have to overdo it and make the gun super worn if you don't want to, but it needs some low frequency to break up the flat surfaces.
3. more color! you could get some awesome oily color variations going on the specular. check these out:
4. the sight and mount are getting lost into the main body as they're the same exact tone and material as the main metal. consider doing something to differentiate them from the main metal, as well as the sight from the mount. different wear type, tonal/material change, anything really.
5. mask off your little screws, rivets etc and make them much darker on the gloss so they attract more light. trust me, this is hugely worth it. do the same with your cavity map so the edges catch more light as well.
good work on the model btw, the internals are sure to impress on a portfolio. edge treatment is very consistent, maybe a bit tighter than i'd personally like but consistency is a huge deal and you got it.
1. I see what you mean, though I'm kind of partial to it myself. It's supposed to be a really rough unfinished aluminum or something really cheap. I wanted to give the appearance of a weapon that has had parts replaced over the years, hence the mismatched bolt carrier, safety, and upper handguard. There's no reason it couldn't be another color, however. Maybe even just a darker less shiny gray would work (or black, as you suggested).
2. You are totally right! I don't want a worn looking gun, but it definitely needs some low-frequency shifts so that it has surface variation when it's not directly catching the light.
3. Those are some sweet refs. This seems to be a recurring problem of mine, probably because I don't usually get colored spec at work :P
4. Good point. The sight+mount really needs a different color.
5. I actually did do the edge treatment, but that you didn't notice it means that I need to bump it up! Good idea with the screws.
The edges are fairly tight for a game asset, but I wanted to make it more realistic since I knew it would never go into a game (and that I'd do megarenders), and it would be a nice break from the really soft stuff I'm doing at work. If I were doing this for a game, I would definitely soften those bevels.
The internals are a very nice touch (personally, I’ve never bothered modeling more than the most visible parts) – definitely a thumbs up! :thumbup:
Some small details could be improved, though, for accuracy’s sake.
- You’ve marked the auto fire “ДВ” (which would read DV in Latin), it should be “АВ” (AV).
- The pistol grip looks a bit squashed, it should be slightly larger. The base is usually almost as large as the receiver (sometimes just as large): http://i182.photobucket.com/albums/x21/clutterbugg/84%20Izhmash%20AK-74%20clone/ak-74n_left_side_close.jpg
http://i408.photobucket.com/albums/pp161/avtomatkalishnikov_47/P1300016.jpghttp://www.neverenoughguns.com/Bulgy74SF/3.jpg
My other remarks are maybe more of a personal opinion / taste / “accuracy obsession”
Also, technically, it's an AKS74UN, since it has a sight rail.
PS: Hadn't seen your last post, hence the remarks on the bolt carrier and stuff. It does make sense, then (although I still haven't ever seen a chromed bolt carrier on that weapon).
The rivets are flat because I baked them down; I could have added some geo though. I've never seen a chromed bolt carrier on an AKS74U either, but I think it looks rad
Thanks for the feedback on the accuracy - I generally try to be as accurate as possible whenever I make anything, especially for something which gets made as often as an AK.
As for the mount, you chose wisely I modeled the new version, only because it somehow looked better on the AK74M (in my opinion). However, on the AKS74UN, the older mount looks much better.
Yeah, I agree on that. It does look cooler.:)
Actually, speaking about chromed bolt carriers, on TOZs website, there is an AKS74U with what looks like a chromed one (but no one I know seems to have any idea why ). Maybe theyre making these as spare parts, or something
http://www.tulatoz.ru/en/production/detail.php?ID=66&SECTION_ID=6
Btw, not an important detail, but the serial number on the bolt carrier is always composed of only the last four digits in this case 0094 (or a mismatching serial, if its from another weapon / spare part).
awesome work!