Test task HELP!

dlinzp

Hello everybody!
Now I am doing test task to a great company and I want to do it really well. Because it is my dream from childhood to work in big company and in game industry. I will be posting here my process, hope you will help me to do it as best as possible. I want that job. So advices and suggestions are VERY welcome! My whole future depends on it  
Together we CAN do it! 

There is a task: create my own power generator for FPP game, triangles no more than 3000, 2 sets of textures 1024, PBR materials. 

If you have questions feel free to ask me!

dlinzp

These are first screenshots of Hipoly that I've already done. Do you like it? Any advices? I want to add details to the roof and screws everywhere. After that I think Hipoly is done. What do you think?

dlinzp

There will be 5 doors (two with windows).
How to divide model into to UV sets in the right way? 
Is it a good idea to texture bottom part in symmetric way? I think it is not really important part so it will be good economy in texture space.

MaxHoek

you have any concept for this or plan what do you want to model? I highly recommend this before you start with hp modeling.
Also I would say most of your edges are too sharp for clean bakes later on. I think you need to change this at more or less every part on your model... 2x 1k texture will never be enough for this sharp edges in normal map

dlinzp

I have a big jpg file with references and I do next: take the most beatiful part from one generator and create it, after that create next part from another generator and so on. This generator is like my own concept. 
Thank you for your advice! I will do edges more soft. 

MaxHoek

Okay its a good idea. But maybe before, you should block out every part you want to do. So you have you "own concept" as blockout. Better you photobash everything first, than blockout and than start your highpoly. Its pretty hard to change something when you work on hiphpoly model. It will take a while, but than when you are alright with everything you can model wothouht thinking about concept. Just focus on model. 

dlinzp

MaxHoek

thank you for your advice! I did like you said, first I blockout everything with simple geometric forms, thinking about where will be this or that part, after that I started to do Hipoly.  And what I have got now: 


I think Hipoly is done. What do you think? All screws and small details wll be baked into Normal map. 

MaxHoek

I dont know where exactly you want to to apply for, but if this is your work todo, maybe you need some more detail and diffult shapes. What is your time limit? 

Dan Powell

Nice work so far. Can't really offer much crit without seeing your reference but the shapes look good and the modelling is very neat. 

Does the Studio you are applying to have software such as Quixel suite?

You've modelled a lot of stuff such as bolts, grooves, and grates - this can all be done much faster (and often, cleaner) using something like Quixel Suite's NDO instead of you modelling them all. 

A rule of the thumb I was taught is that if part of the low poly won't have any geometry (such as screws/bolts), then don't bother modelling them in the high poly; just add them in later using NDO (or similar.)

Good luck with the job!

dlinzp

MaxHoek 

I agreed about difficult shapes, but all generators are pretty the same. They have square sharp shapes. You can see here my ref list.  My time limit is 4 days from now. You can help me with choosing of new interesting part, but keep in mind that I have only 3000 triangles limit. Dan Powell 
 Thank you! As far as I know they use Substance designer and Painter. It wasn't a big deal for me to model screws and grooves. It did not take much time for me. But I agreed with you and in future I will try to use that method. 

MaxHoek

yea thats true. but maybe you can go to scifi a bit. like this one from a conept artist at bungie:


Also your edges are still to sharp for my feelings. Maybe you should change these. 
Dont get me wrong, good work so far, keep on doing. Just want to give you input  

dlinzp

MaxHoek 

Yes, sci-fi generators are really cool, but I need a generator that can be in real world. With appropriate scale, proportion and so on. For now we don't have such generators in real life Sad but true. And for example in test task I have these generators: 

dlinzp

If you have suggestions about whar I can add to the Hipoly - feel free to write it here. Before I started making UVs you have time 
Now I'm starting to do Low poly.

dlinzp

I finished Low poly. What do you think about it? 
I copied all handles and stuff that will be unwraped only once. They are on the left fron generator on last screenshot. 
Also there are some floating planes, I will add labels on them.
Total 2442 tris. Maybe it is better to do something on that 500 tris?

dlinzp

This part I wil texture with symmetry, it is not really important part. 

dlinzp

Maybe I have to add some geometry on edges? 

dlinzp

Unwrapping is done! There is no way back
Here you can see how I divide model into 2 parts. Checker on both is pretty the same. Now it's time to bake maps and check everything before texturing.

dlinzp

So here is my normals bake on Low poly in Substance Painter. I think it is pretty clear and nice. 

dlinzp

So for now I have such result. It is not a final texture, because I have to finish second UV set and fix everything after that. What is your opinion, guys? Is it good so far? 
Also I have question: how to turn on Opacity in Substance Painter? I work in PBR spec-glos workflow and there is no shader with alpha for that workflow. It is only for metal-rough workflow. Thank you for your answers!
You can see two windows in this generator and I want to correct texture of window if there something wrong.

BucketOfNuggets

To turn on opacity, in your window with the bakes, there is a plus sign. Hit that and select opacity.

The dirt and grim doesn't seem believable at the moment.

Also with art tests, would it be looked down on to share your wip and get tips? I've never done one so it's a serious question and not a dig at yoy.

Dethling

First thing which jumped straight into my eye is that the second part of the model lacks the dirt.
Also the dirt itself looks a little to extreme for my taste.

For the ôpacity problem, you have to chose another shader, but as far as I know there is only a Metal-Rougness Shader which includes opacity in substance painter.

dlinzp

BucketOfNuggets 

Thank you for your answer. You mean plus in Texture set section? I added Opacity here, but it is not visible for now. 
what do you recommend about dirt? Maybe better to concentrate on big forms of dirt and get rid of small dirt and grim everywhere?
About art test - I think it is not a crime to ask advice. I did not ask to do the work for me. I am creating everything by myself, I only need advices to do it better.

Dethling 

Thank you for your answer. As I said before - it is not a final texture, I have to work on second UV set of textures. What is your advice about dirt?
Yes, there is only a Metal-Rougness Shader. So I think for now it is not possible to turn on Opacity in specular workflow.

dlinzp

Now I have two variants of textures. With rust (more old) and without rust (more new).
In test task they said next: Generator is not new, but not yet damaged. You can a little bit damaged, but it has to run all the time.
As for me I like more rusted generator, but for description more suitable generator without rust. What do you think?

dlinzp

And rusted one