Hey folks just finished up a remake of a model I tried a couple years ago. Here's the original thread, got a lot of good critique I kept in mind this time around. http://polycount.com/discussion/157115/sting#latest
This time I took a little more liberty in stylizing the original version from the films. Hope you like it.
This turned out pretty well! I like the stylization of the leather on the sheath and the filigree baked very well. In terms of crit I'd say the cap on the handle could have used a bit more attention. Maybe a small bit of filigree on it or a slight inset. It looks like the normal baked a bit off as well there or the triangulation is just flipped compared to the normal so the gradient is rendering incorrectly. Also the topology on the low is a bit messy, but since it's a static sword that's not such a huge deal.
EDIT:
Did a quick image of what I meant with the triangulation being incorrect on the cap. You can see the lighting is reacting incorrectly over that triangle because of the topology. When it triangulates in UE4 it chooses the wrong direction, causing the geometry to bend inwards which changes the smoothing, making the gradient that baked for the opposite triangulation on the normal map render incorrectly. I realize that's about 8 pixels of screen space and would probably be covered up by a hand in a game, but I figured I'd point it out anyway since it's an easy fix!
This turned out great! The leather on the sheath looks odd to me. I think it's the scale of the leather texture, it looks too big for everything else. It makes the leather look orcish instead of elvish. Also, I'd be interested to see a comparison of the previous version vs the new one. Nice work.
@FreneticPonies Thanks! I really want a game like that too, Shadow of Mordor is cool, but not the same vibe I'm looking for.
@Klawd Thank you! I'm putting a little more work into presentation as of late.
@Zipfinator Hey thanks for pointing that out! I didn't even notice. Seems like an easy fix so I'll be sure to do that before sending this out with applications.
@Sebeuroc Thanks, the first time around I used a more accurate leather, but I think that's kinda bland. I think this chunkier leather tells a better story.
Here's the reference
and here's my attempt from a year or so ago, it's truer to proportion, but kinda sucks in all other regards.
Replies
EDIT:
Did a quick image of what I meant with the triangulation being incorrect on the cap. You can see the lighting is reacting incorrectly over that triangle because of the topology. When it triangulates in UE4 it chooses the wrong direction, causing the geometry to bend inwards which changes the smoothing, making the gradient that baked for the opposite triangulation on the normal map render incorrectly. I realize that's about 8 pixels of screen space and would probably be covered up by a hand in a game, but I figured I'd point it out anyway since it's an easy fix!
@Klawd Thank you! I'm putting a little more work into presentation as of late.
@Zipfinator Hey thanks for pointing that out! I didn't even notice. Seems like an easy fix so I'll be sure to do that before sending this out with applications.
@FancyMug @Irensay Thanks!
@Sebeuroc Thanks, the first time around I used a more accurate leather, but I think that's kinda bland. I think this chunkier leather tells a better story.
Here's the reference
and here's my attempt from a year or so ago, it's truer to proportion, but kinda sucks in all other regards.
Here's the new version for comparison.