I'll be tackling this little guy as he seems like a fun challenge, albeit I'm kind of OCD about making things work so I had to try and figure out how to tackle those parts of the concept are that were left up for interpretation. I looked to a lot of real world designs for the machinery parts and will probably go on to refine this even more. I apologize for my crappy drawings as I was just trying to monkey around and see how the parts could function. No doubt when I start doing the 3D blockout, I'll have a much better idea as to what works and what doesn't.
Cabin layout in Maya. Final setup will be in Unreal, first use.
Nice work on the the modeling. Spacing and proportions seem to be on target. The only crit I have is that there seems to be an awful lot of noise in the render where the shadows fall. I suppose it's not an issue since all the challenges have to be rendered in a game engine for the final submission. Either way, this looks off to a great start!
Thank you! Your statement about the engine is correct. I quickly placed a spotlight and ambient light to get the feel in Maya while modeling and did not change any of the render settings. Everything in terms of lighting will be done in UE4.
Building more things and adjusting proportions as i go. Still in the blockout phase so i haven't refined shapes, just figuring out placement general proportions right now
A little bit of an update. I went back to experimenting with the design a bit for the pedestal base since I felt the earlier pic didn't quite give this guy the necessary detail. Also, since I'm not the best with concepting, I played around with setting up some procedural materials for the high poly. I doubt I'll use them for the actual textures, but it sometimes helps to get a better feel for the end product's direction. I also need to figure out some more details for the back of this guy and the top. So far, it's been approx. 6 hours and 30 minutes.
Building more things and adjusting proportions as i go. Still in the blockout phase so i haven't refined shapes, just figuring out placement general proportions right now
Good work so far. I look forward to seeing how the sculpting for the lions come out since that seems like it would be the most difficult and time consuming component to get right. As for figuring out spacing and proportions, have you considered camera-matching to the concept illustration?
Good work so far. I look forward to seeing how the sculpting for the lions come out since that seems like it would be the most difficult and time consuming component to get right. As for figuring out spacing and proportions, have you considered camera-matching to the concept illustration?
Totally will. I have a weird workflow. I block out the most basic shapes first just to get everything in then scoot it around to figure out the scene. I'm not really sure how most people do it, but bouncing around keeps me sane.
Devon M I took your suggestion and worked at it a bit. Lots of fun redoing work and the like. Left is classic shutter design. Middle is more like a modern camera (though I might pull it forward). But the right is more based off the robotic eyes from Horizon. Might end up being a mix of all three.
Starting from the easy parts, gradually moving to the more complicated.Many things are modular but not everything is properly snapped to grid, which might be a pain to fix later.. Walls with windows and walls with doors are seperate and modular as well. 21k tris are with the roof bricks that i added. I think i will add a plane with a normal map, and some real ones in the end to achieve same visual.
i'm also giving a go to the little robot, as it captured my interest!
i do not care at all about the flow of the geometry or the tricount on this one. I just want to make it high poly and render it. I see many people dont really get the proportions right of the models, so guys, do your best on that!!!!
Good luck, Larry! Both pieces look like they're off to a great start. I look forward to seeing how you tackle the robot's base mount as I had to monkey around quite a bit before getting something that I liked.
Good job, NBerbatov. You seem to have gotten pretty far with the robot. I think that my favorite part will be seeing how everyone else tackled the underside to this little guy.
Update time! I'm still messing around a little bit with the materials, and am almost finished with the high poly redesign. I hope to be moving on to the low-polygon model soon. I also have spent some time on the back and have rearranged some things. I understand that matching the concept art is important, but I think that at times certain things need to be modified for the sake of feasibility and functionality. I certainly hope that this revision is on the right track and doesn't go too far astray from the artist's original intent.
@Devon M Thanks for that workflow, really helpful to see it laid out like that.
Bed Progress so far. Might go back to the high poly and make the cushions feel a little disjointed from the frame I think (as well as that weirdness with the top cushion. Right now they just meet the metal frame in places. Also just trying out the demo for Marmoset so having a lot of 'fun' trying to make stop my lighting rig from washing everything out. I just can't seem to make it capture to the same richness as the backgrounds in Substance do.
Thank you jewski-bot ! I like you robot how is turning out
Thank you both! I think I need to be careful of not getting too sucked into over-detailing, otherwise, I would probably be trying to put in hydraulics, actuators, etc. forgetting that the robot is only a few feet tall at most. I did mess up the scale though; forgot to import a human model to get the size right from the get-go. I figured that the screws that house the main camera are a good control for helping to determine how big the robot needs to be. Oh well, live and learn.
@jewski-bot isn't that alot of geometry for such hard surface shapes? I mean, the ventrilation panels and the holes on the left side could be added with a normal map. Unless you want to keep it high poly, though the challenge is to make it game-ready ;p
my beautiful breakdown, really nervous about this env. it's bigger than i'm used to and trying to break down every aspect and collecting references. So many will probably wonde rwhy i did not break down the entire envo. Well most of the textures on the building which is in focal, can be re-used on new meshes that will fit that scene. My main problem is getting perspective to match as close as possible!
This is very cool and thanks for sharing! I'm gonna do this scene!
Just started quick basic blocking. I just can't resist doing it after seeing the original picture, Chinese environment with Anime+ Cartoon art style, it's just so beautiful. Bit late to the party, but hopefully I'll make it!
@jewski-bot isn't that alot of geometry for such hard surface shapes? I mean, the ventrilation panels and the holes on the left side could be added with a normal map. Unless you want to keep it high poly, though the challenge is to make it game-ready ;p
No, the model I've been working on is the high resolution version for getting some of the normal map details. I'll probably start on the low resolution model today.
Update of the project, landed yesterday in Sweden and started to clean up a couple of meshes, need make as much as possible modular. Rooftiles are place holders untill i figure out how to create them to be useable on 4 different roof toops with different sizes. Should it be a tileable texture with meshes at the end to create an illusion of "thikness" or should it be a 3 part mesh. Middle section, End section and corner section. mama mia!
Hi all, first time doing one of these challenges or even really posting here in general. The little robot caught my eye so I'm going to try him out first. Started working on the high poly:
Update time! I'm still messing around a little bit with the materials, and am almost finished with the high poly redesign. I hope to be moving on to the low-polygon model soon. I also have spent some time on the back and have rearranged some things. I understand that matching the concept art is important, but I think that at times certain things need to be modified for the sake of feasibility and functionality. I certainly hope that this revision is on the right track and doesn't go too far astray from the artist's original intent.
Update time! I'm still messing around a little bit with the materials, and am almost finished with the high poly redesign. I hope to be moving on to the low-polygon model soon. I also have spent some time on the back and have rearranged some things. I understand that matching the concept art is important, but I think that at times certain things need to be modified for the sake of feasibility and functionality. I certainly hope that this revision is on the right track and doesn't go too far astray from the artist's original intent.
Thank you for your kind words and encouragement, JOY. I currently have about 75% of the low poly built with initial UV maps laid out and have begun test bakes and exporting to Marmoset Toolbag 2 (my trial for 3 expired a while back, and I can't upgrade until maybe a month or two). I still need to go in and finish up the remaining 10% of the high poly model (it's always the last 10% that's the hardest!).
I will hopefully begin Substance Painter texturing soon! I like how your bot design is a bit more of a hodgepodge of parts stuck together, as it's been taken apart and put back together again under the most dubious of circumstances where improvisation was key since proper parts couldn't be found.
I find that the inner workings are kind of a pain to figure out and is probably the most challenging part modeling wise, but you to have a good grasp of interpreting the concept art.
@ObiWanScottobi, it's my first time too but I have to admit that I'm having more fun with this than I thought I'd ever have, and it seems to be just the right kind of challenge to help me grow without becoming overwhelming.
I look forward to seeing your progress on the challenge thread!
As an aside, does anyone know when this challenge ends? I think it started July 5, so I'm hoping it'll be August 5.
Thank you for your kind words and encouragement, JOY. I currently have about 75% of the low poly built with initial UV maps laid out and have begun test bakes and exporting to Marmoset Toolbag 2 (my trial for 3 expired a while back, and I can't upgrade until maybe a month or two). I still need to go in and finish up the remaining 10% of the high poly model (it's always the last 10% that's the hardest!).
I will hopefully begin Substance Painter texturing soon! I like how your bot design is a bit more of a hodgepodge of parts stuck together, as it's been taken apart and put back together again under the most dubious of circumstances where improvisation was key since proper parts couldn't be found.
I find that the inner workings are kind of a pain to figure out and is probably the most challenging part modeling wise, but you to have a good grasp of interpreting the concept art.
@ObiWanScottobi, it's my first time too but I have to admit that I'm having more fun with this than I thought I'd ever have, and it seems to be just the right kind of challenge to help me grow without becoming overwhelming.
I look forward to seeing your progress on the challenge thread!
As an aside, does anyone know when this challenge ends? I think it started July 5, so I'm hoping it'll be August 5.
There are so much that needs to be done, from modelling to UVlayout , baking to texturing and finally representing. I like how you modelled the inside and make it looks like it could function and animated. Talking about the UV, I have not yet laid out anything as right now I am looking into buying the right software to do the job ( UV layout is not easy. Truth is, I am not gonna manually do it ). Marmoset Toolbag and Substance are also my choices of programs! Too bad, I only know a little bit of how to use them. After I finished with the UV, I will start learning Substance Painter. A lot of people seem to prefer Allegorithmic over Quixel or Mari, hmmm?!
@jewski-bot isn't that alot of geometry for such hard surface shapes? I mean, the ventrilation panels and the holes on the left side could be added with a normal map. Unless you want to keep it high poly, though the challenge is to make it game-ready ;p
No, the model I've been working on is the high resolution version for getting some of the normal map details. I'll probably start on the low resolution model today.
do you make 2 different models? Don't you turn the high poly into low poly? Do you retopo the model afterwards?i find retopologising very tedious, that's why i am not going for a character artist.
Update: So i quickly tried to unwarp my lightmaps with automatic padding between the faces, and got some bad UV's. Can i import and replace ONLY the UV's in UE4 without having to replace every piece that has these artifacts?
Hello all, I'm a little late to the party but thought I'd join in all the same. I've just done a basic block out trying to match up the camera as best I can. This is pretty much as close as I can get it without spending too much time on it. I think that perhaps the perspective in the concept might be out, but I wouldn't rule out 'user error' either. Has anyone else struggled with matching the perspective?
@jewski-bot isn't that alot of geometry for such hard surface shapes? I mean, the ventrilation panels and the holes on the left side could be added with a normal map. Unless you want to keep it high poly, though the challenge is to make it game-ready ;p
No, the model I've been working on is the high resolution version for getting some of the normal map details. I'll probably start on the low resolution model today.
do you make 2 different models? Don't you turn the high poly into low poly? Do you retopo the model afterwards?i find retopologising very tedious, that's why i am not going for a character artist.
Above is a pic of the low polygon model (left) and high polygon model (right) It's not too difficult to make as most of what I do is go around eliminating edgeloops and faces that won't affect the silhoutte drastically.
And for below, I've got the first baking tests done in Toolbag 2 with AO, Surface ID, and Normal maps outputted. Lots of errors (wrong color too, but that's besides the point), but I think I'll be able to resolve them by exploding the mesh items.
As a side note, I still have to model that lower camera attachment since I can't just have it floating out in space.
I had thought about putting more details in, but at this stage of the game, it'll be going overboard. Everything else will be put in through Substance Painter.
im having a hard time getting my normal map drawn. I am using xnormal to bake, Maya to model. when i auto UV map, ( i know its not optimal, but it looks nice for a start). When i bake in xnormal it just looks so bad. The normal map wont even show up on my model because its all askew! What should i do differently?
below is a snip of my HP and LP models, my auto UV map in Maya, and the map xnormal is giving me.
im having a hard time getting my normal map drawn. I am using xnormal to bake, Maya to model. when i auto UV map, ( i know its not optimal, but it looks nice for a start). When i bake in xnormal it just looks so bad. The normal map wont even show up on my model because its all askew! What should i do differently?
below is a snip of my HP and LP models, my auto UV map in Maya, and the map xnormal is giving me.
Thanks in advance
So just having had something similar going from Modo to baking in Substance Painter, I had to verify that all of my UV were unwrapped. In modo everything looked good in the UV editor, but then after baking in Substance Painter, I wound up with overlapping UVs appearing in its UV viewer.
Substance Painter screengrab. Still needs a lot of work and I'm not entirely sure if I should be using a 1024 square. Maybe a rebake at 2048?
Why not more?? Its very pixel-y, especially those painted orange lines. So either make them totally straight, remove them, or change the resolution. Best choice is to make them straight, its not like this is a broken/old robot
@Zlivingston Your normal map and UV map don't look like they match up. With the normal map it looks like the multiple UVs are overlapping. On your UV map, well I see you have a cylindrical mesh, but the space is mostly taken up by large square and triangle planes. Perhaps you had something else selected when you used the auto-UV?
@jewski-bot Looks like it could use more resolution.
@Larry Is that UE4 auto light mapping, or did you auto map in a 3D software? Just the light maps can be imported in, you do this by having two sets of UV maps on a single mesh. UE4 will automatically designate the second UV map as the light map using the import options. You can also set the Light Map resolution to a higher value. Using the auto-map alone may not have the best results. There's more info in the documentation: https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Content/Types/StaticMeshes/LightmapUnwrapping/
Replies
I'll be tackling this little guy as he seems like a fun challenge, albeit I'm kind of OCD about making things work so I had to try and figure out how to tackle those parts of the concept are that were left up for interpretation. I looked to a lot of real world designs for the machinery parts and will probably go on to refine this even more. I apologize for my crappy drawings as I was just trying to monkey around and see how the parts could function. No doubt when I start doing the 3D blockout, I'll have a much better idea as to what works and what doesn't.
I look forward to see how this progresses!
Blocking out and detailing. 2 hours and 12 minutes modeling time so far.
trying to get proportions correct with a quick blockout - getting close
Building more things and adjusting proportions as i go. Still in the blockout phase so i haven't refined shapes, just figuring out placement general proportions right now
A little bit of an update. I went back to experimenting with the design a bit for the pedestal base since I felt the earlier pic didn't quite give this guy the necessary detail. Also, since I'm not the best with concepting, I played around with setting up some procedural materials for the high poly. I doubt I'll use them for the actual textures, but it sometimes helps to get a better feel for the end product's direction. I also need to figure out some more details for the back of this guy and the top. So far, it's been approx. 6 hours and 30 minutes.
Started putting stuff in the engine! 8) I can make a process gif of how i do the lions if that would help people
I found the statue he referenced, it may help you figure out the forms.
I took your suggestion and worked at it a bit. Lots of fun redoing work and the like.
Left is classic shutter design. Middle is more like a modern camera (though I might pull it forward). But the right is more based off the robotic eyes from Horizon. Might end up being a mix of all three.
i'm also giving a go to the little robot, as it captured my interest!
i do not care at all about the flow of the geometry or the tricount on this one. I just want to make it high poly and render it. I see many people dont really get the proportions right of the models, so guys, do your best on that!!!!
Lovin that beauty render.
Great work interpreting the mechanisms on the underside of the bot. Looks believable.
Bed Progress so far. Might go back to the high poly and make the cushions feel a little disjointed from the frame I think (as well as that weirdness with the top cushion. Right now they just meet the metal frame in places. Also just trying out the demo for Marmoset so having a lot of 'fun' trying to make stop my lighting rig from washing everything out. I just can't seem to make it capture to the same richness as the backgrounds in Substance do.
isn't that alot of geometry for such hard surface shapes? I mean, the ventrilation panels and the holes on the left side could be added with a normal map. Unless you want to keep it high poly, though the challenge is to make it game-ready ;p
Just started quick basic blocking. I just can't resist doing it after seeing the original picture, Chinese environment with Anime+ Cartoon art style, it's just so beautiful. Bit late to the party, but hopefully I'll make it!
Rooftiles are place holders untill i figure out how to create them to be useable on 4 different roof toops with different sizes. Should it be a tileable texture with meshes at the end to create an illusion of "thikness" or should it be a 3 part mesh. Middle section, End section and corner section. mama mia!
here's my update. Good luck guys and gals.
Started working on the high poly:
I know I stray a little bit far from the concept but next time I will try my best to stick to it.
The inside is basically just a bunch of stuff I put together to cover the emptiness ...
This Is Awesome!
In love with the interior.
I will hopefully begin Substance Painter texturing soon!
I like how your bot design is a bit more of a hodgepodge of parts stuck together, as it's been taken apart and put back together again under the most dubious of circumstances where improvisation was key since proper parts couldn't be found.
I find that the inner workings are kind of a pain to figure out and is probably the most challenging part modeling wise, but you to have a good grasp of interpreting the concept art.
@ObiWanScottobi, it's my first time too but I have to admit that I'm having more fun with this than I thought I'd ever have, and it seems to be just the right kind of challenge to help me grow without becoming overwhelming.
I look forward to seeing your progress on the challenge thread!
As an aside, does anyone know when this challenge ends? I think it started July 5, so I'm hoping it'll be August 5.
There are so much that needs to be done, from modelling to UVlayout , baking to texturing and finally representing. I like how you modelled the inside and make it looks like it could function and animated. Talking about the UV, I have not yet laid out anything as right now I am looking into buying the right software to do the job ( UV layout is not easy. Truth is, I am not gonna manually do it
Hello all, I'm a little late to the party but thought I'd join in all the same. I've just done a basic block out trying to match up the camera as best I can. This is pretty much as close as I can get it without spending too much time on it. I think that perhaps the perspective in the concept might be out, but I wouldn't rule out 'user error' either. Has anyone else struggled with matching the perspective?
Seems allright. The stair steps need to be same height
Above is a pic of the low polygon model (left) and high polygon model (right) It's not too difficult to make as most of what I do is go around eliminating edgeloops and faces that won't affect the silhoutte drastically.
And for below, I've got the first baking tests done in Toolbag 2 with AO, Surface ID, and Normal maps outputted. Lots of errors (wrong color too, but that's besides the point), but I think I'll be able to resolve them by exploding the mesh items.
As a side note, I still have to model that lower camera attachment since I can't just have it floating out in space.
I had thought about putting more details in, but at this stage of the game, it'll be going overboard. Everything else will be put in through Substance Painter.
below is a snip of my HP and LP models, my auto UV map in Maya, and the map xnormal is giving me.
Thanks in advance
Substance Painter screengrab. Still needs a lot of work and I'm not entirely sure if I should be using a 1024 square. Maybe a rebake at 2048?
@jewski-bot Looks like it could use more resolution.
@Larry Is that UE4 auto light mapping, or did you auto map in a 3D software? Just the light maps can be imported in, you do this by having two sets of UV maps on a single mesh. UE4 will automatically designate the second UV map as the light map using the import options. You can also set the Light Map resolution to a higher value. Using the auto-map alone may not have the best results. There's more info in the documentation: https://docs.unrealengine.com/latest/INT/Engine/Content/Types/StaticMeshes/LightmapUnwrapping/