Hello! I'm stuck making a hard surface model.

Enzyke

Hi there! I'm not new to 3d modelling, but I am very inexperienced with it as a result of doing a bit of it here and there once in a while for a couple of years. But! I'm just now beginning to take it a little more seriously. I've been attempting to remake an older vehicle model from a game called "Battlezone" that came out in the 90's for a couple of weeks. It's a very early RTS styled game, with this vehicle being the thing that collects the materials you need to build units and buildings.

Here's what it originally looks like:

 

And here's what I've got so far (Critiques are most welcome!):

Now here's where I'm stuck. My vehicle is severely under-detailed. I feel like according to today's standards, there should be a whole lot more "stuff" going on with this guy, but I have no idea how to jump into it. I have a few ideas of what fits; for example, adding a ladder to wherever so that the hull is more accessible, but I'm not sure how to make that read. Right now I'm feeling like I should just scrap the whole model and start over. Overall, I'm really confused. Are there any resources out there that could help me out with a project like this? I'm aiming to make this a game-ready asset in UE4.

Please critique the butt out of this. I've been steadily losing motivation to complete this thing, and could really use a kickstart in the right direction. Thanks in advance, and thanks for reading my post! Although it's my first, I'm hoping to be a lot more active around here in the future.


Edit #1: Fixed image links

pixelpatron

images don't load for me.

delarobe

images are broken

Enzyke

Fixed (Hopefully)

delarobe

look at high poly to low poly baking and floating geometry, those two alone make simple models look amazing, but if you are a beginner, i would recommend learning more before trying something like that, learn your 3d program before wanting to export to engines

Enzyke

I had a look at Floating Geometry and it's pretty interesting! I never knew the actual name for that method of creating normals. Thanks for the insight!

pixelpatron

Images work for me now, I'd suggest you do what you suggested. You should scrap this, or put it on hold. Describe to us your goals for the next year. Is this a hobby? You want to break into the industry; and become a working professional? You want to make your own game? ETC....clue us in. It'll help us give you proper advice. 

Enzyke

Next year? That's a tough one, but I'll try. I would like to have a better understanding of high poly to low poly workflows, workflows that involve using both ZBrush and 3dsMax/Maya, since I really enjoy the creative freedom that ZBrush provides. I want to learn how to make proper normal, AO, Diffuse and specular maps. I want to explore both organic and hard surface modeling indepth, and figure out what i -really- want to do, and what motivates me.
 
I've been wanting to do 3d professionally for about two years now, and from then until now, I haven't done nearly enough to reach that goal. I've done a few ZBrush sculpts. Most of them were parts of the human body (About fourty or so), one of a cartoon mob in a game I used to play, one remastering a strider from half life 2, and finally one that was a facial study, where I spent four days making my bust resemble the individual as best i could. In Maya and 3dsMax I've started out on loads of different hard surface models, but I've finished about two or three of them. Most of them are on hold.
Another thing I should note is that I do not have a "Man I wanna work at this place" game or movie studio in mind. I have a passion for games, especially cartoony ones, primarily because I grew up with a couple of cartoon themed ones, and I have loads of fond memories of them. I don't have a huge passion for movies, but I absolutely love the visuals of f.ex Sci-Fi movies and cinematics of games, which is why I'm fairly open minded about which path I should take in the coming years.

You probably got a whole lot more than what you asked for, but I hope this answers your questions!

SamuelDV

So what's your position, are you learning this full time now?

Enzyke

I forgot to mention that part! I'm in college right now studying 3d graphics. The courses started in august of this year, so I have about 2 1/2 years to go if I choose to continue studying at my current school. The courses I attend are designed for people who have never touched 3d modeling software before, so I haven't really had much of a take from it other than getting to know 3dsMax a whole lot better. Just a quick follow up question to everyone: How relevant is learning how to make movies to the 3d modeller working in the industry? Personally I don't see anything wrong with it, but the course has flat out dropped the expectations I had when I was just starting out there. I was expecting us to have loads of projects to keep us busy, lots of theory about essential basics like topology and High poly vs Low Poly. But in reality, we spent the first 5 weeks getting to know 3dsMax, and after that the rest of the semester was devoted to learning how to make movies, how to analyze movies, and how to tell stories with films. Thoughts?

skullsplitter

Seems you've lost direction because you don't have much prepaired. This can work out, but you're not master of the tools yet so this makes it hard to define the model on the fly. 

Enzyke

You're absolutely right. I'm following Pixelpatron's advice and putting this on hold for now. Hopefully I'll be able to pick it up in the future, but if not, at least I learned something from it. Thanks for the reply!