Western pistol critique
polycounter lvl 3
Self taught 3D artist currently working on my portfolio. My newest addition is a western style pistol
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/w8m0oX
Please give me any feedback you can and don’t worry about holding back. Really looking to grow and get better as an artist.
thanks for your time!
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/w8m0oX
Please give me any feedback you can and don’t worry about holding back. Really looking to grow and get better as an artist.
thanks for your time!
Replies
Look at other artist that made revolvers for inspiration
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/1mLbo
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/1DQWo
This guy has a breakdown of his process: https://80.lv/articles/modeling-a-smithwesson-686-revolver/
There are many good resources for this, also on the polycount wiki
The texture needs much work, try look at other good textures, add some edge definition which is key for a good texture, and heavily reduce the big normal / bump map dents, otherwise just pump out more and you'll get there
Model is very simple and ii many areas shading behaves a bit weirdly as well as certain parts just seem to be misaligned. For example part where the hammer hits seems to have completely different edge finish from the barrel magazine. As well as the area where the handle meets the receiver.
The hammer itself does seem to have rather weird shape that's not well defined.
I think part of your problem is that your highpoly model just wasn't very strong (if there was any, some artifacts make me think you baked maps but at the same time i am having big doubts that it was the case) .
Also there are some visible artifacts in front of the magazine.
I think focusing on highpoly modelling and baking is something you should really put effort towards.
One more thing i'd like to add is that the model is just extremely generic, it doesn't have any nice sculpted details. It's just "a generic revolver" The kind of prop you could put inside the back of store in western game as prop but not much more than that.
Your UV also has a lot of unused space, you could easily occupy a lot more of it
Check Simon's tutorial.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/ybkmyR
Texture work
Material definition just isn't there. I cant define what kind of metal it is, wood pattern seems to be aligned in the wrong direction and doesn't really feel like it's wood. Model itself is lacking grime and dust that would build up over the years, the wear from holding the gun.
Engravings and scratches are just procedural maps slapped onto the model, they weren't adjusted to be placed in areas where they would make actual sense.
Detail work such as screws, engravings are in uninteresting positions that actually dont make much sense.
It doesn't tell any kind of story, was it a sheriff or criminal using this gun? Was it used frequently or just sat unused in dusty drawer? Maybe it belonged to some very rich boss who used it as staple of his status? Is it antique or is it a mass produced weapon used in the world?
Presentation
Big part of presentation is making sure that it matches the "feeling" of your textures and technically the generic skylight just does that... but in this case it's not a good thing.
There was no thought placed towards what part of the gun should be focused on, no thought behind highlighting the intricacies in roughness value, in making sure that the detail engravings "pop" in beauty shot. It's just a sky light... no three point light setup, nothing
You could experiment with warmth of light, the strength, the rim light, the shadow, the colour of background, adding a little bit of fog if necessary, maybe gradient background in photoshop? So many possibilities, use them
Anyhow, that's my input. Hopefully it won't discourage you and instead it'll give you a perspective
Take it one step at a time. First make sure that your highpoly is on point before i start moving onwards. If your foundation is bad, we'll see it even if you try to cover it up
Thanks for the feedback and the link to that article. I've read a few guides from 80.lv before but clearly I need to bookmark that site. They have some very well documented guides.
Just wanted to clarify, by normal map baking, do you mean when people make the hi-res model and bake it down to a low poly model? This was the first time I used Substance Painter and I loved how easy it was to paint the smaller details (like the screws and text stamp). So I thought that was a little more efficient than modeling those details into the geometry. Modeling the details into the geometry and baking it down is the proper way of doing it though?
I just want to start off by saying "wow". You've covered every aspect and provided very well written advice. This is exactly what I needed at this stage of my journey. Gives me some solid direction on what I need to do to grow and so I thank you for that.
I read the article about proper formatting UV's and there was a lot I realized I was doing wrong. Keeping my UV's at 90 degrees was another thing i wasn't doing but now understand the benefit of.
it was the first time using substance painter and so now that I've gained more experience with that software, looking back, I can see the texture mistakes you reference. In the moment I was aware of how I should be telling a story with the damage and wear. So I did rough up the tip of the barrel, the hammer and trigger a little more than the rest. I may have just fallen short on the execution.
Presentation is a huge weakness of mine. So thank you for covering that aspect as well and providing how I can address that as well.
This gives me a ton to focus on and I'm excited to apply these things on my next project! Thanks to everyone who took time to provide this feedback. Really means a lot as I continue on this journey.