[UE4] Robot - critique, suggestions

AXEL

Hi,
I just finished texturing this beast



Original piece by artist Amin Akhshi


Here are few more shots




My aim was not to recreate original as close as possible but to base robot of the original piece.
Can someone suggest how I can present this piece in ue4 with matinee ?
So far I've added slight smoke to simulate engine in the back was thinking about adding shooting effects with dropping bullet shells.
And please critique my work.
Thanks!

purplekami

Very cool, it's indeed a beast!
The things that come to my mind are that in terms of functionality it's a little unclear as to how it's supposed to be used, is there someone on the inside or is it remotely operated? Having something that can show the functionality would bring an extra sense of character and personality to it.
Personally I think in some areas the textures are hiding details that otherwise could've helped break up the machine a bit. For example if the under barrel didn't have the same camouflage but instead had similar metal to the other barrels that might have looked awesome.
I also think that breaking up the back legs and the front legs in terms of silhouette just a tiny bit would add a lot to the machine in general.

Awesome stuff can't wait to see more!

AXEL

Hey Purplekami,
It's supposed to be remote controlled beast not sure how to show that  with just a model
I think you are right I will play around with bottom barrel to make it break apart more
I didn't even think about have a variety in legs but now I think I would be cool to have different back legs with some extra armor to protect this beast from behind where it's a little vulnerable.
Thank you very much for the feed back!

AXEL

OK here is the finished product









And videos I made
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6yHWIuTO8A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XbUJEURi0FU
yeah I know some timing could have been improved in the videos
Will redo this some day with modeled environment added shooting for missiles and main gun.
What do you think ? Critique welcome

aaronmwolford

Hey man. This piece has some potential, but it's lacking in the textures and lighting. Are you rendering in Marmoset? Right now it looks like a screen grab from a 3d viewport. The lighting setup needs a dramatic boost overall. Try a standard 3pt lighting setup with the sky lighting in Marmoset. All in all your textures are flat and lack and significant wear or storytelling. Given that this is a combat robot it's safe to say it's seen battle. Scratches, dirt, grime, soot from the muzzle fire, etc. Tell a story with your textures and think about how the model would be affected in reality. 

All in all keep it up and continue to grow as an artist. 

AXEL

Hey dude thanks for the tips
It's rendered in UE4 and uses hdri for the lighting.
I will redo the lights and environments and textures hopefully hope I can find some good references with camo paint being damaged as atm I don't exactly know how to make the textures better.

Kid.in.the.Dark

Very nice work so far on this, Here's my critiques...

- There seems to be a bit of texture stretching or unlined UV's on that rounded (ammo barrel?) section on the back of the robot... it looks like the chamfered parts haven't been given UV's and are sharing them with the edges around it? Unless it's just a placeholder ignore my this but if not... I'd definitely work on that part as it doesn't do the model much (forgive me if you're already said, I've only been looking at pictures haha)
- I find the model's textures are too clean... it could really do with some oil stains, leaks, dirt build ups, etc... as it generally looks like it came fresh from a factory at this point... If you're going for clean that's fine but I / probably most of your audience would find pieces like this way more interesting with a good amount of wear to them.