Japanese inspired stone lantern
polycounter lvl 10
Hi all! Just made this Japanese inspired lantern, of stone, and now I want some feedback. The piece is meant to be a game asset so I had that in mind when modeling and creating the texture. This is my first time uploading my work so please keep that in mind but don't hold back. I want to improve!:)
Replies
-White object on white background isn't flattering.
-The lighting is too uniform, try throwing this in marmoset to have a more interesting lighting setup, cause right now there is barely a difference between the normal mapped and the first.
Other than that, try having some color variation and model-wise the smoothing groups are making the model mushy, if you look at your wire image, if there weren't the edges you 'd think this is cylindrical or something. Maybe start with chamfering the edges where it's supposed to be sharp.
Hope this isn't too much, I 'm subbing so do some stuff and we 'll talk again
The normal map doesn't work at all. It looks like you just threw you diffuse in Crazybump and that was it. At least make a clean highpoly and bake it on your low to have nice edges and then generate the small details with Crazybump/nDo.
Now about the diffuse, it's quite hard to tell what the lantern is made of. When texturing ask yourself "What does make stone look like stone?". Don't just slap some stone texture from CGtexture without tweeking it.
No Spec map?
Popol -> Thanks for your advices! I'll follow your advice and create a clean highpoly and bake it. Also, I'll find the answer to "What does make stone look like stone?" and post it ASAP, with a spec map ofcourse
Here's a render without nMap and three with from different angles.
Can you show your reference images for this?
Every edge on the model looks like you rounded it uniformly. Such wear and tear is usually applied by patterns according to how its used or what weather it is exposed to.
Model in larger cracks, areas of heavy wear, or heavier soil and vegetation.
Make those edges only worn in areas where they would normally be worn, and push that variation in edge even more to increase contrast and interest.
Model a base and ground for the prop, just to place it in a tiny scene, doesn't have to be much, just ground, some stones, a bit of grass or other foliage.
Don't just paint on some green splotches and call it moss, research how and where moss and other vegetation grows. Also also include that in the normal maps, or model it in where it is especially thick.
Toss in an ambient occlusion map as well, to better define that the stones are sitting on each other, instead of where the top looks like its floating above the lantern section.
Maybe I should've added the moss details straight onto the n-map in photoshop?
There were some thought behind the placement of the moss, like spore will latch onto cracks, but now after I've gotten some sleep maybe the base look more sick than covered in moss.
Thanks for your advices! I'll add a small scene, and an AO until next time. Also, I'll give the edges more character
My internet connection was awful yesterday so I couldn't post my maps, but here they are.
Also, your diffuse is smeared out. A property of stone is that while it can have little in the way of color variation, there are often well defined shifts in that color.
For example take a look at the middle column, then at the base. Those are two distinct colors, and you can reasonably see where the change happens.
Likewise, the roof is almost entirely overgrown with moss, except for the very top. The base also has a lot of moss. And there is almost no moss anywhere else on the model.
I agree with Vetrucio, copy the weathering from your reference, 'cause right now it's pretty random.
Also look at finer details and shapes:
-your chamfer is too wide, on the real lantern it's barely noticeable.
-The "tit" on top is shaped more naturally on the real object which points to the material it's made from, where as yours is more pointy and artificial, if you sculpted a rock like that it would probably break soon. It's little things like that, that you normally subconsciously notice and know it it's right or not.