Looking for critiques & advice

Allante_Hall

I recently graduated from full sail a week ago and for my last portfolio project I died to work on a double barrel shotgun and I want to know how I could improve this model and make it better. I was rushing a little bit with the model due to my full time but now that I am down I want go back and fix this model. I would appreciate any help I can get!

My Sketchfab 
https://skfb.ly/6zXNS
My Artstation
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/Zy3m8

My Model Below



References

PeterK

Hi, Thanks for posting, here's a rundown of what I see just glancing at it without going too deep:

1) Your wood grain is generic and not correct in terms of direction. Also the wrong color, and doesn't match the reference in terms of wear/damage.

2) You skipped out on polygons where you should have used more, creating the shaky bake you got on the metal section circled, as well as a blocky silhouette.

3) your bake artefacts are obvious

4) Your material looks like a simple assignment in substance, untouched, and unmodified. it's too uniform and doesn't really seem like the metal it's means to represent. Also just has generic dots on it, which don't make sense or add anything.

5) your polygon distribution is not good; you used too many polygons in the wrong places, and ignored them in places that needed them.

Thanks for sharing, hope to see more from you in the future.

Allante_Hall

Thanks for the feedback ! I appreciate it . As for the wood grain , any tips you give on matching the references ? 

Ashervisalis

Check out the direction of your grain, it's diagonal compared to the reference. You can always do a UV rotation to get the grain flowing the right way; with the handle. Wood is one of the trickier textures to make, I've found. You should spend a good amount of time trying to get it to look as real as possible.

Alex_J

What texturing program are you using? Substance Painter?

I've found it helpful, while workign in that program, to identify the different qualities of the reference and break them down in layers. Take just the wood on this weapon for instance. It is composed of the base color and roughness properties -- that's one layer. Then you have the grain, another color layer. Perhaps you may need a couple layers even to get the grain. Then you've got scratches. I might separate the scratches into three layers. A generic scratches layer, a larger, unique scratches layer, and then a scratches layer using your curvature map as well. Then, you've got a waxy, glossy finish which should probably be underneath the scratch layers. On top of all of that, a very subtle layer of roughness variation to simulate dust, grease, etc. 

Allante_Hall

Yes I was using substance painter to create the textures. and I realized everything to get it perfect takes time , which was something I didn't have during my time at the school. Thanks for feedback !