Home› 3D Art Showcase & Critiques

Sci-fi Matter Gun

Nosslak
Nosslak
polycounter lvl 12
Offline / Send Message
Nosslak polycounter lvl 12
Hey! I'm back with a new project, this time a sci-fi gun based on a concept by Fightpunch (used with permission).

I got some feedback on my portfolio thread that most of the work was too similar (a lot of it is fantasy/steampunky) and that I needed to diversify it. So therefore I am revisiting a sci-fi gun I made back in April (I believe), but for one reason or another never actually finished, as that model showed a lot of promise IMO.

Here's what I had back in April:
Anti-Matter_Gun_HP_9.png

And here's where I'm at with it right now:
Matter_Gun_HP_11.png
Not a whole lot of changes yet, but I'll get to that.

Todo:
- Redesign the grip as the current one honestly don't make much sense and looks a bit unergonomic.
- Rework and/or add more details on the black parts at the front of the gun.
- Various other small detailing.

I'd appreciate any and all feedback of course, but some thoughts on the black parts in the front would be very much appreciated. In my opinion that is the weakest part of the gun at the moment, but I'm not sure what needs to be done to fix it.
· Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Replies

  • RailbladerX
    Offline / Send Message
    RailbladerX polycounter lvl 8
    Id say that its definitely on its way to becoming very cool. And this is a good start. So, right off the bat I see a few design problems, take them as you will:

    So first off, I had no idea that this was a gun, until I scrolled my eyes back up and saw the title. I thought this was a space ship ( wtf right?). The handle is not clearly designed to be held by any humanoid that could easily carry it. it is too boxy, and doesn't look like anyone would want to hold it for very long.

    You also have a lever of sorts that is directly in the way of the off hand position.

    It may also, help to follow the guide "Form Follows Function" when it comes to some of your model. I am noticing a phew armor-plated-like-sections that have no real purpose, and its making it look odd in certain areas; like the very front, where you have plates almost floating in front of what I'm guess are energy capacitors.

    I would also take a step back and really look at the "capacitors" and see if you can find a way or look, that doesn't force you to duplicate them so much, or maybe find a way so that they don't stand out so much in an odd way.

    Try to think: "how would someone take this apart, or repair it", or " does this look better with or without this random detail". "Simplify and connect" is always a preferred strategy when it comes to creating a new concept.

    but other then that, keep at it! and I'm sure it will look top notch in no time.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Gungriffon Geona
    Offline / Send Message
    Gungriffon Geona polycounter lvl 19
    Reduce the amount of seams. you're taking something that looks good and iconic and cluttering it's sillouette beyond recognition. The cylindrical rods on top do enough already to help differentiate it as is, I can't imagine why any gun would even be made in so many segmented plates. Do all these pieces move during gun firing? If not, it's just making the gun look significantly less sound. It holds an air of potentially falling apart the second it fires, and all the rivet points make this worse.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
  • Nosslak
    Offline / Send Message
    Nosslak polycounter lvl 12
    RailbladerX wrote: »
    So first off, I had no idea that this was a gun, until I scrolled my eyes back up and saw the title. I thought this was a space ship ( wtf right?). The handle is not clearly designed to be held by any humanoid that could easily carry it. it is too boxy, and doesn't look like anyone would want to hold it for very long.
    Yeah, now that you mention it, I can see how one could fail recognizing this as a weapon at first glance. The handle has been a big problem and I'm trying to redesign it to make it more recognizable as one and more ergonomic.
    RailbladerX wrote: »
    You also have a lever of sorts that is directly in the way of the off hand position.
    Yeah, that was part of the original concept art so I just modeled it. I have tried to come up with some kind of motivation for it without any luck so far so I think I should've just removed it.
    RailbladerX wrote: »
    It may also, help to follow the guide "Form Follows Function" when it comes to some of your model. I am noticing a phew armor-plated-like-sections that have no real purpose, and its making it look odd in certain areas; like the very front, where you have plates almost floating in front of what I'm guess are energy capacitors.
    Some of the plating is just floating at the minute, I were going to attach them with some kind of arms. However as Gungriffon pointed out they make the gun look kind of flimsy so I'll look into either integrating them better with the rest of the plating or removing them altogether.
    RailbladerX wrote: »
    I would also take a step back and really look at the "capacitors" and see if you can find a way or look, that doesn't force you to duplicate them so much, or maybe find a way so that they don't stand out so much in an odd way.
    Alright, I'll try reducing the capacitors duplication a bit. Using a single row of them could maybe work a bit better, I'll give it a shot.
    RailbladerX wrote: »
    Try to think: "how would someone take this apart, or repair it", or " does this look better with or without this random detail". "Simplify and connect" is always a preferred strategy when it comes to creating a new concept.
    You're right, I need to go back, rethink and simplify some of the designs here.
    RailbladerX wrote: »
    but other then that, keep at it! and I'm sure it will look top notch in no time.
    Thanks!
    Gungriffon Geona wrote: »
    Reduce the amount of seams. you're taking something that looks good and iconic and cluttering it's sillouette beyond recognition. The cylindrical rods on top do enough already to help differentiate it as is, I can't imagine why any gun would even be made in so many segmented plates. Do all these pieces move during gun firing? If not, it's just making the gun look significantly less sound. It holds an air of potentially falling apart the second it fires, and all the rivet points make this worse.
    Just to be clear you are talking about the the floating armor pieces right? I can see how those would make a the weapon look weaker. Or do you mean that I should remove pretty much all of the paneling on the white parts?

    Also I thought the rivets would be an easy detail to just add and re-use on a few places (I think I overused it though), but if they make the gun look less sturdy I'll gladly remove them and replace them with something else.

    Thanks a lot for the great critique, guys! It's obvious to me now that I've got some stuff that needs to be fixed.
    · Share on FacebookShare on Twitter
Sign In or Register to comment.