Shotgun Model, Critique and Help?
I made a high poly model of a shotgun, and the final result doesn't look good:
Album here
I need help figuring out why my normal map does not look good?
For some reason whenever I map a model that has holes in it (like in pic. 3) the result doesn't turn out as smooth as the original high poly.
What do I do wrong? and how can I post the map results? My computer isn't capable of doing it in 3ds max.
General critique would be appreciated as well! :poly142:
Album here
I need help figuring out why my normal map does not look good?
For some reason whenever I map a model that has holes in it (like in pic. 3) the result doesn't turn out as smooth as the original high poly.
What do I do wrong? and how can I post the map results? My computer isn't capable of doing it in 3ds max.
General critique would be appreciated as well! :poly142:
Replies
As .Wiki said the normal map will not smooth your model to a huge degree. You will need to have a relatively smooth low poly if you want holes to be smooth.
Show a wire-frame of your Low Poly, you are sitting at 6k plus tris. The areas that show as very hard in the silhouette need more geo for smoothing.
Your UV map needs to utilize the 1 to 1 space more efficiently, at the moment it appears at least 25% is not utilized. The barrel UV hull appears to be overlapping another hull as well.
I used those shapes with turbosmooth modifier, how can i add geo to them without making the polycount huge? Thanks for the help.
Can you post cleaner screens of the wires of your lowpoly. It is hard to see and understand what you are struggling with.
Put you LP with the Normal map in sketch fab or marmoset viewer and post it here. We can give a better crit then.
Post the lowpoly with a clear wireframe
Post the normal map
Post the render of the lowpoly with the normal map applied
Post what program you used to bake the normal map
Post what program you are rendering the model in
We cant help you with an awful normal map because there are like 50 different things that could make a normal map "awful." People here will be happy to help you out, but you have to make it easy for us to do so.
Some resources that might help you are these two threads:
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81154
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=107196
alright this is the low poly with the normal map applied.
this is my normal map, used 3ds max 2012 to bake it.
One is that your highpoly and lowpoly are too different from each other. That is causing the warping on on the butt of the stock. Also why the square holes look bad.
Two is that your lowpoly normals are all messed up. You need to set smoothing groups up in 3DS max to make sure your lowpoly is shading correctly before baking. Here is all the info you need on that: http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=107196
And I didn't really understand the guide you sent me, can you give me a brief explanation of smoothing groups?
Many thanks.
I would recommend going through the other thread first though, and reading through some the comments. I don't want to sound like a jerk here, but you need to spend more then 15 min on that thread in order to understand the information. Everything you need are in those two threads, but you need to spend some time on it, experiment with some scenarios on your own, and then post any problems you have. The answer to your question about smoothing groups is in that thread towards the top.
A common workflow especially for a gun like that would be
1. Model Highpoly using turbo smooth
2. Model lowpoly by making a copy of your highpoly and removing all the turbo smooth modifiers and any unnecessary edge loops
3. Unwrap the lowpoly
4. Make a cage by using a projection modifier
5. Bake!
that should give you perfect results!
Afterwards, make sure to watch the great and skilled Millenia's tutorial for an Ithaca shotgun:
Keep in mind this video is old (2012) HOWEVER all the modeling information is still 100% accurate. The texturing section is not Physically Based Rendering, which is now the industry standard (largely).
Let us know if you need other tips/pointers.
Are those shadows a problem? What's causing them to appear like that? If I bake a normal map will it look good now?
http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=107196
Your mesh is sharp and blocky in areas, like the stock, the trigger guard etc.
Your pump has no internal geometry, its just a hollowed out cover that resembles a pump.
You are making good progress, at this point in your journey into 3D. Topics like shading/baking etc begin to both make sense and seem confusing. Practice makes perfect so keep trying to nail the form of your shotgun (which model is it by the way?). Keep progressing and figuring out why these errors happen.
We will try to help along the way.