Transistor Sword

ChrisFagan

This is my first time posting here and I'd probably say my first model I am kinda proud of. I decided to make the sword from Transistor, but I feel like something is missing and I wanna make it better to be used in my portfolio.



Any help is appreciated!

Brian "Panda" Choi

Solid mesh. What maps do you have for the model, Christopher?

ChrisFagan

Diffuse and Specular. I played around with a glow map but it wasn't great (still learning).

Brian "Panda" Choi

So, assuming you;re using last-gen texturing technique workflow, a couple of critiques:

So the Transistor sword is aesthetically based on circuit boards. What this means is there will be particular material definitions you need to nail.

The gold bits need to read as gold, materially. Right now, your specular is just greyscale, and this is ABSOLUTELY WRONG if you're making a specular map for metal (this is slightly different for a PBR workflow, which I encourage you to get on top of ASAP).

You need to color the gold specular with a gold color, adjusting as necessary. You also need to have a gloss map made, which gets put INTO the alpha channel of the Specular map. The Gloss map determines the "glossiness" (as opposed to the SPeculars how INTENSE the specular reflection is) of the material. If you want the gold to be more beat up, less glossy. Less beat up, more glossy.

BUT COLOR YOUR SPECULAR (if it's a metal).

The teal bits, materially with how the concept art looks, you're most likely looking at something that looks similar to this



Ever so slightly transluscent plastic (or something similar) that emits a very slight glow. This means you want a SLIGHT transparency on the diffuse in the Alpha Channel. And a slight emmissive (what you call glow I'm asssuming) on the teal bits of the texture as well.

Also, the red gem is more of an eye. Treat it like an eye. Make it look like an eye. Have it be shiny like an eye, almost slimy looking. Or at least like glass.

ChrisFagan

Wow that was great advice JadeEyePanda, thank you very much I'll work on it this weekend (I'll have a break from Uni) and then I'll post updates.

Again, thank you!

ChrisFagan

Not sure if you'll see this but I worked on the sword some more and I already think it looks loads better. Thank you again for the help Panda, I really appreciate it.

http://i.imgur.com/IdGScVQ.jpg