Would love and appreciate some help and feedback with this please
polycounter lvl 2
for the past few weeks I wanted to step out of my comfort zone , so I started to work on creating a 3D diorama of this in ZBrush. Below I have a reference from a sketch made by andrew porter
as of right now I am working baking my high res to low res for texturing
HIgh Poly
Low Poly
and the result of baking , the outcome wasn't great and I am running into issues with normals , ao , and artifacting.
I would appreciate any help I can get
as of right now I am working baking my high res to low res for texturing
HIgh Poly
Low Poly
and the result of baking , the outcome wasn't great and I am running into issues with normals , ao , and artifacting.
I would appreciate any help I can get
Replies
I see some blocking sizes, positions, etc. are not at all matching with the concept. But maybe it's not your intention to 100% copy the concept?
I would try to get more sharp/hard surface forms like in the concept, specially on the rocks, stairs, etc.
As for the baking, I don't know which software are you using for baking but try to use different ones to see if it changes anything. A software for baking that gives me nice results is, suprisingly, Mudbox. Import your high res, reconstruct sudbivisions and in the extract textures maps section set your target model at level 0 and source model at the highest level. Change Ray Casting to subdivision and it should come out nicely.
There are some issues with your scale and rocks. I also believe you should be using modular rocks instead of making all of it in one mesh. (example in below)
Here are some critiques that hopefully can push your project's quality better.
1) The blue "ring" in the concept art has a wider radius and thinner overall while yours is too thick. Your "ring" thickness is the main thing that causes the scale that feels off in your scene. By making the ring thinner and wider radius will help to make your main props looks larger than a human scale.
2) Your baking error might be caused by your UV map. Can you show us your UV maps? It will help us to figure out what the problem with your baking. Most of the time in my experience, the UV map is the main reason why there are some errors with baking.
3) I highly suggest you make modular rocks rather than having all of it combined in one. Right now the ground looks little "blob" or "less defined" comparing to the concept art which has a sharper definition. But that's up to your preference.
Hope this feedbacks help you and let me know if you need me to explain it more. Good luck and keep it up on your project! Can't wait to see this project done!
Modular Rocks pack example(The style of this pack is very similar to the concept art which can be a good reference image for your project):
this image below is how I had them packed in together
But I highly suggest you fix some models including the ring and main props to fit with the concept art of scale and proportion. Modular rocks probably will help you a lot.
Can you show your model with a checker map? So we can see if there is any distortion around your models.
Your UV map does not look great. It is all too curvy or distorted. Plus there are too many empty spaces. The "C" shape shell should be straighter. The wireframe in UV shells look like it overlapped each other but I'm not sure though. It probably what caused the issue with your baking. I suggest you keep the main props' and rocks/terrain's UV maps separated.
Don't forget to check your texel density as well which is important.
Separating the models will help you to bake the high poly to low poly cleaner and efficiently.
Edit:
Something like this UV map is a good example of an organic shape.
Im back had to buy a whole new graphics card but here is my UV checkered map