Firestorm - Old Revolver
polycounter lvl 12
Hey! I've almost finished this revolver that I'm basing off of a concept created by Keith Thompson. I'm following the concept pretty closely but have changed some smaller parts around to make it more my own and to make it look more functional.
Here's what it looks like right now (rendered in the awesomeness that is Toolbag 2):
I feel that the revolver is mostly done. Maybe it could use some stronger random damage/dirt to break up some of the flat areas better. Also I'm not too sure if the grip reads well as ivory, so some opinions on that would be great as well. There are a few smaller baking problems that I'll have to look into fixing too.
The mount far from done as it is just the highpoly model loaded in with some quick (read crappy) materials. I want it to be reminiscent of the pistol so I tried to take some design cues from that (ivory frame, same materials as the gun and similar shapes). I think I'll have to make the bevels between the pieces of the frame bigger so they'll bake better but otherwise I'm pretty satisfied with how it looks. I'll also try out making the wooden plate out of several different planks and see how that looks.
If I manage to figure out how alpha mapping works in TB2 I might also add a piece of wallpaper that fades out as it goes further and further away from the plaque to make the background a bit more interesting.
I'm looking forward to hearing what people think!
Here's what it looks like right now (rendered in the awesomeness that is Toolbag 2):
I feel that the revolver is mostly done. Maybe it could use some stronger random damage/dirt to break up some of the flat areas better. Also I'm not too sure if the grip reads well as ivory, so some opinions on that would be great as well. There are a few smaller baking problems that I'll have to look into fixing too.
The mount far from done as it is just the highpoly model loaded in with some quick (read crappy) materials. I want it to be reminiscent of the pistol so I tried to take some design cues from that (ivory frame, same materials as the gun and similar shapes). I think I'll have to make the bevels between the pieces of the frame bigger so they'll bake better but otherwise I'm pretty satisfied with how it looks. I'll also try out making the wooden plate out of several different planks and see how that looks.
If I manage to figure out how alpha mapping works in TB2 I might also add a piece of wallpaper that fades out as it goes further and further away from the plaque to make the background a bit more interesting.
I'm looking forward to hearing what people think!
Replies
The embellishing K. Thompson added to the grip also help to sell the material as something more ornate. Adding some detailing will defiantly help.
IMO, the amount of wear you currently have on this is very nice, not over the top like what seems to be the norm for weapon renders now-days. I say keep the wear as it is.
I look forward to the finished image.
I did try making some scrollwork right around where the concept has it but it looked like crap as it was the first time I've ever tried making it. I tried making it directly in Photoshop with Lazy Nezumi (a godsend for this kind of stuff) and nDo but it might be easier to just model the curve in my 3D app and project that over. I guess I'll just have to try, try and try again until it works!
Alright, I didn't want it to look new but not too over the top damaged either, so it sounds like I hit the right spot.
Thank you, I do too! Also thanks a lot for the critique, I'll try to rectify what you mentioned!
Here's a closeup the new scrollwork I made for the grip:
And here's the whole thing:
I'm pretty happy with how the scrollwork ended up (especially considering I've never done anything like that before). If anyone's curious I ended up modelling the outline for it in Blender, rendered it out (as a flat shape) and used nDo2 to convert it into a normalmap and generate AO and cavity from that.
The glossier ivory feels a bit too glossy IMO, but after looking at some references that's what it looks like (in some cases even glossier, but that wouldn't match the rest of the gun).
I also improved the plaque by sculpting the wood, making bigger bevels on the frame and changing around the metal parts a little. I forgot to make the ivory frame glossier but it's just a temp material so I'll fix that in the final texture. It's still just the highpoly but I'll see if I can do anything to fix that tomorrow.
Another avenue to look at its the inclusion of a brand such asn the manufacturer, date, etc. As for the plaque you've pointed out above that you're still in the process but the frame is look a tad chunky.
Just keep working on it and it'll turn out to be a great addition to your portfolio.
You're right! Adding a brand and date would be a great addition. I've got just the right spot for it as well on the flat part of the block before the barrel. That piece is mirrored, so that's a real pity as I'll need to re-organize my UVs to fit in both sides. I don't think it'd be too much work to re-texture (mostly need to just re-texture that whole part) and it'll definitely be worth it as that part really need to be broken up with something.
I did consider the plaques HP to be pretty much finished, but now that you mention it I think the frame could be redesigned to look better. I'll look into making a much flatter frame similar to the edges of this plaque (in that it will bulge inwards):
Yeah, thanks! I'll keep pushing it for sure! Thank you for the great critique!
The frame looks a lot better and more interesting now, that's for sure. Haven't fixed any of the other stuff just yet.
Just my 2cents.
Posting a new shot tomorrow after I've fixed some stuff.
Thanks to all the great critique it's looking a lot better. Here's what I changed:
- Fixed the mirroring (and re-textured where necessary)
- Added a brand, date and other stuff
- Improved the wear on the grip
- Toned down the saturation and shininess of the copper
- Tweaked the plaque (removed nameplates as they were fugly and improved the materials, still no lowpoly though)
- Other fun miscellaneous stuff
I'll try to finish the guns texture tomorrow and maybe start working on texturing the plaque as well.
Changes since last time:
- Fixed all the baking problems I had (mostly small but still)
- Made the damage and dirt more consistent
I'll start working on baking the plaque next unless someone finds a problem with the gun.
I'd almost just present the gun by itself.
cool work either way, you could push the handle/grip on the gun more as stevston is saying tho.
keep it up :thumbup:
Minor nitpick, Remove the paint from inside the text, and just leave the text and a metal imprint
I agree with Sardu on the plaque, maybe try a crimson velvet ?
I were planning to make some cracks in the ivory with nDo but that didn't really work out. I think I'll try sculpting some cracks in zB instead. For now I've brightened/desaturated the ivory though.
I thought the plaque looked pretty good
I could try a crimson velvet but I wanted to keep the plaque feeling kind of simple and rustic (not sure if that's the right word) and like something that could hang in the homes of a a 19th century man or something. I could try making some velvet similar to this instead, but I think I'll need to redesign the whole plaque more into a dsiplay case for that to look good (as I don't want to make very flat cloth like this as that looks very boring IMO).
Haven't sculpted much cloth before so that'll be a bit of a challenge as well, but I believe it's important to leave your comfort zone if you ever want to improve.
It would be more realistic, but I'm not really sure I like how it looks as without the paint the text is a lot harder to read. I did fill in some light dirt instead but it didn't help much.
Here's how the gun and plaque looks right now:
Most of the changes are mentioned above. I plan on improving the scratched edges (on the gun) more as well as some of them look a bit boring. I were considering the plaque pretty much finished, but it sounds like I might need to go back to the drawing board with that.
Again thanks for all the feedback, I really appreciate it all!
how do you want to present this?
As a prop?
or
As possibly a gun you can use (first person shooter quality or something?)
Are you showing off the gun? Or are you showing off the gun and the plaque?
If the latter, then it's a prop and the whole thing needs to be badass as a whole.
There's nothing wrong with the plaque it's just not adding anything, it's kind of taking away from the gun.
You need to complete the story of the plaque (lol I know :P)
heres what I mean tho
get those little details in that tell the story of the thing. Why, what when where, blah blah. It doesn't take much but it completes the thing when you do. It is now, as a game artist looking at this image; a complete prop.
If your intention to show off the gun model, get rid of the plaque, and show off the gun! Put your energy where you want people to look.
Thanks a lot for the paint-over that does indeed look a lot better. I'll try to add some more interesting details to future props for sure as my props often tend to look a bit uninteresting. For this I'll just drop the plaque as I think I should focus more on the gun.
Anyways here's the latest update:
Changes:
- Tweaked the SSS settings for the ivory
- Made some heavier scratches that also contributes to the normalmap
I might try adding some blood on the front (on the part below the barrel) as to suggest that it's been used for pistol-whipping (or buffaloing to be precise) to add a little bit of interest and story.
Here's todays (and perhaps the final?) update:
Can't say I changed a lot this time:
- I added some hard dirt in addition to the softer dirt I already had.
- Added some blood on the part beneath the barrel.
I wanted the blood to look old and dried so I made it's sitting somewhere in between red and brown ATM. I'm not sure if the blood is appropriate as this bloodied part is pretty blunt so to be realistic it probably wouldn't open many wounds. Should I keep the blood or just remove it?
That's what I was going for so thanks a lot, dude.
I never got around to it posting it before but here's final shot of the lowpoly that I'll use for my portfolio:
Any and all critique regarding the presentation would be appreciated.
I also started a new, more organic shellfish gun over here if people are curious. Crits and comments are always appreciated.
I also used occlusion and cavity maps as well as an SSS mask, but they're nothing special so I didn't include those. Also many parts are overlapping so in some places the dirt and scratches looks way overdone.