Art Deco Train

ReneFisher

Concept for my latest project, a Art Deco/Early 1900's style Train. Plan to use PBR textures, and do some zbrush sculpting for small details. Colors will likely be subject to change once I get around to texturing, so recommendations are very welcome. I haven't done too much vehicle/hero asset modeling so this will certainly be a learning experience.

Here's what I have as a base so far, though I plan to add a lot more detail with zbrush. Please excuse the crappy Maya render...

And another to show wireframe/UV maps.

I have 4 UV maps so far, not sure if that is too much for a big asset like this or if it's acceptable... Could probably bare to pack them tighter but i'd like to get a second opinion before wasting hours on it.




the first one I intentionally left room for the "hood ornament" on the top of the concept... plan on sculpting it in zbrush and adding its lowpoly from that.



And here are a couple shots of the wheels with some texturing from Ddo/photoshop. May or may not actually use the textures from these, they served more as practice than anything.

Not entirely sure what I will end up rendering it in, but that will likely be in marmoset or UE4. Ideally I'd like to make a train station to put it in too, but we shall see. :P

EDIT: Oh and here are some random refs/inspiration if you're insterested. http://www.pinterest.com/rene78634/art-deco-train/

Cactus on Fire

Love the concept ! And the texture work is great. Although I would increase the reflection and sharpen the glossiness. Looks a bit stony for a metal surface.

Deathstick

The work itself is looking like it's off to a great start, but I think you might be able to use your UV space a little bit better. It looks like you probably kept everything at the same 1-1 UV size vs actual size which makes sense in real-life (and I've been guilty of doing this) but I've been finding it better to bump up some of the shells to use more of the UV space even if it won't be 1-1 even squares.

It works even better if you can selectively go about it and think about how much detail each part really needs from the map after you get them to that even point, such as say focusing on making the UV shell of a graphical (traditional sense/paper) element bigger than it normally would to fill up some of that space, which would ideally make that element pop out a little bit more and allow for some closer shots, or if you'd like the bolts on an object to look better than a 10 pixel smudge.

Not sure if that makes sense but there's my 2 cents

Keep it up!

DWalker

Unless this is an old/abandoned train, I'd really cut down on the surface scratches & weathering. Art deco was all about smooth, streamlined surfaces - if it was metal, then it was either painted to a high gloss or chromed.

GlenC

Looks like a good start. I like the examples of the textures you have so far. Cactus on Fire says it well though, looks a little like stone. Also the edges need more texture work to really make them show. Keep it up!

ReneFisher

Thanks for all the tips! I decided to tighten up the uvs like Deathstick suggested, and here's what I have. (Still left a small space in the last one for the hood ornament and any other things I might add later.)




And as far as the texturing goes, I was already leaning on not using those textures anyhow... they were done early on as a kind of a warmup and like DWalker said, they don't really match the style I'm going for now.I appreciate the reference also, It's difficult finding like-new color photos of these old trains!