[WIP] Fire Hydrant

Hermit_Homeboy

Hello! I've been out of the 3D asset-making game for a few years and I've trying to get back into it and learning to adopt a new workflow with Maya and Substance Painter.

I'm aiming for the realistic PBR style used in AAA games so I'm hoping to be pointed in the right direction. One of the things I'm concerned about right now is the polycount (it's at 1352 faces. Is that too much? too little?) but any feedback/critiques are welcome.

Cheers!

Stefmon

Look for the Tri count, not faces. That sure looks like a fire hydrant alright. The thing is literally made of cylinders so be careful about putting in small details that you can just do with a normal instead. The loops on the top dome are too many as well. It's a good idea to practice simple objects like this to get your feet wet with 3D modeling. Make sure to work from reference as well. What images are you using for shape, detail and textures? Keep your reference on hand and refer to it all the time.

Also do you mean AAA realistic or stylized? if stylized, what style? Think about the game art styles you're working towards or specific artists and make sure you work towards that style. IF realistic, think about how the asset will be used in a game, that will dictate how much resolution it needs. A lecturer of mine would say "If you need the resolution to get an important detail then put it in." But think about if that detail can be done just as well in texture. If it's a generic or small asset that isn't the focus then you could go less and less detailed with the polygons.

When you feel confident, maybe do a small diorama project or work on a complex, characteristic prop. That will give context to the models you make. Hope that helps. Keep going!

Hermit_Homeboy

@Stefmon Thanks so much for the feedback! Since I'm just starting to get back into the swing of things, I mostly thought of this as a prop that a player would walk by in a 3rd person game. Therefore I imagine it would likely have little to no close ups on it.

I cleaned up the polys on the top of the hydrant. I'm aiming for the realistic AAA game and since it's intended to just be part of the background, I opted for 2207 tris and 1024 texture size. Here's the final in sketchfab. Next time, I'll give it my asset a floor or something to give more of a sense of place.

model

Here's the references I used. 


Any other feddback, critiques, and/or advice on parts I can improve on are more than welcome, everyone!
Cheers!