Gas Pump

Dobbler

Hey everyone!

I'm starting my second semester of game design stuff at the local community college and decided to shake off the winter break cobwebs with the model below. A ways back a friend gave me a little assignment to model a vintage gas pump, but it was a bit too difficult for me at the time. I've made a little progress since then, so I wanted to see if you internet folk have any critiques or insights on the mesh. I can barely UV a cube right now so that'll be step 2



I also figured I could knock the poly count down ~100 by removing the edge loops around the meter, and that leaves me with a lot of big squished triangles to stitch back in. Will those negatively affect the texture down the road, or would it be best to leave it all quads?

Before:


After:



Thanks for looking!

DWalker

That top vertex in your "really long triangles" can be remover entirely - it doesn't contribute anything.

The first segment of the hose where it connects to the nozzle should be vertical.

The nozzle itself looks a bit odd, but it's hard to be more precise without a reference.

Arkana

The polycount before seemed perfectly reasonable unless you would be building this for a mobile device, and even then the place you'd first remove them first pump head.

Looking good so far. I hope the textures will be as nice as the model.

Dobbler

Thanks DWalker and Arkana! I couldn't figure out how to fix those triangles without leaving a bunch of ngons so I'll just stick with the extra edge loops. I took another crack at hose, hopefully it looks a bit better. Also attaching references, cheers!

Nosslak

You really need to smooth out the the main forms (circle at top and base) as the silhouette is very jagged right now. The rectangular insets could perhaps use a bit more geo as well.

The black circle above the big rectangular inset could probably be removed and be faked with the textures as it doesn't change the silhouette. The same could be done for the fuel nozzle as well. The top circles inset could probably be faked as well (it's far too deep on your model as compared to the reference).

Dobbler

Hey folks, thought I'd put in a baby update. I took Nosslak's advice and added some more resolution for for the circular sign and top edges of the pump. This is my first attempt at texturing, so I've started by blocking out the main diffuse colors and then added the text and a little rust. It's pretty ugly and needs a lot more work, but I guess there's a first time for everything

I've been checking out some threads with metal objects, so I think my next course of action should be to take a whack at making a spec map and a normal map in ndo2 to bring out most of the information on the metal bits. Specifically I'd like to get some cast iron-like bumpiness on the pump handle and add some bangs and scratches around for some believable wear. Feel free to critique away, it's your feedback that helps me get better! Thanks for looking.

silkroadgame

Awesome polycount!

Pope Adam

Just commenting to add this to my subs. Looks like you've got a lot more entropy to add to this asset. I've sent you some paintovers in your email detailing some ways to optimize your UV layout and add more visual interest to the broad surfaces.

there's a lot of good modelling here that's being hidden by not calling out the forms - crannies and corners can be filled with some AO or grime build-up. The outer silhouette is strong but the interior silhouettes are flat. Take another pass at your texturing and update again soon.

Dobbler

Hey everyone, I decided to rekindle this project! My goal here is to make a really high quality prop for my portfolio, get a sexy render in UE4, and eventually make a little environment for it to live in I started the high poly with traditional subD modeling, but since Modo supports PSubs I've been using edge weighting with a lot of the smaller hardware to speed things up.





There's a really cool abandoned gas station in Scipio, Utah that I would like to incorporate the final prop into. Luckily its a popular photo-op for tourists so I have lots of reference with different angles and lighting conditions.




The pump is a Model 39 Tokheim. The handle came in a few varieties so I picked and chose a few different combinations of hardware, all that's left is to add a chrome windup handle and finish the circular sign up top.

I've done a few really basic Zbrush tuts, so the next challenge will be to sculpt some bangs and dents into the thing



The topology of the pump handle was very challenging, I think 70% of my modelling time was spent figuring that puppy out. Thank Dog for the bridge and soft move scuplting tools :poly122: I don't have a lot of retopo experience beyond your basic cylinder reduction and edge loop deleting, so if anyone has suggestions for how to tackle the handle for the low poly please chime in!





Thanks for looking, all crits and advice are much appreciated!