HK MP7A1 Weapon Art [Finished]

alexus_sanchez

I am almost finished with this project I have been working on for some time and would love to hear feedback on it! I am especially interested in how I can improve the texturing but I accept any feedback.

UE5 Render


Substance Painter Render (Weird cutoff at the bottom due to SP environment)


Texture Maps (The weapon uses to sets of textures, I only show the main one that covers most of the gun)


Reference

Shrike

Modeling looks good, the texture looks like AO is missing, its a good base material but is missing the ""texturing"" part
Try add some grime to the crevices, also there is no edge definition and no macro large scale definition on the key curved surfaces
Think about the highlight surfaces and how to define their shading, mostly these are quite obvious


In realtime these are always important and they are the hard part about the texturing so its important to get a lot of experience with them. You can always choose to make it subtly but its really the key skill. Macro Medium Micro, thats the importance, you got good micro details but Macro is what sells

alexus_sanchez

Shrike said:

Modeling looks good, the texture looks like AO is missing, its a good base material but is missing the ""texturing"" part
Try add some grime to the crevices, also there is no edge definition and no macro large scale definition on the key curved surfaces
Think about the highlight surfaces and how to define their shading, mostly these are quite obvious


In realtime these are always important and they are the hard part about the texturing so its important to get a lot of experience with them. You can always choose to make it subtly but its really the key skill. Macro Medium Micro, thats the importance, you got good micro details but Macro is what sells

Thanks for the feedback. I'm still quite new in texturing and I'm not sure what you mean with "macro large scale definition" on key curved surfaces. Do you mean I should add some noticable wear on all the large curves? I try to go off my references and most of them are pretty clean so I can't think of any examples. I guess they are too subtle but I have added edge highlights on most materials, maybe the lighting and camera shots are too poor.

Shrike

Yes you should always extrapolate, if you make a pathtraced offline rendering model you can be lazier but in realtime and in general if you want it to look good you need to add more artistic touch and think how the surfaces would be worn off based on physical logic and define those out more.
On a screen and in varied lighting conditions (even in real life, if we look at miniature painting) you do want to add contrast and define the shapes out in texture so they read better and also make things blend less into each other.

Macro is the largest scale and what basically defines your texturing. It is the broad strokes and what makes your texturing interesting. Usually you define the base materials first, maybe add micro detail already, but then go onto the large important shapes and then follow up with the medium scale details. (In varied cases you might also add other macro elements to try stand out more , such as a sticker, tape, wrap, text, spray or color cluster as example)

This does not mean you have to make the model super damaged, this can also done subtly like a lighter slightly worn off plastic in this case, or a soft highlighted color or glossyness change. 

Here is a good example of some more realistic approach but also having some clear macro highlights which do define the shape, and on the grip you can see also an accentuation of the form. You can do this more subtly but he would never make the grip just the same color as example all around. You can see how the color change in the plastic very strongly defines out the shape, and how the couple key highlight elements on the metal are adding contrast, points of interest and help the material stand out.


Here is an older style texture, you can see how the macro highlights is what giving it a strong definition, even in unlit shape, and how they are carefully considered.

The macro elements are always the most important as they define the key highlights of the model and complement your shape language and improve readability of the model so they have always been the key element in texturing and are what sets you apart from a tiling base material.

alexus_sanchez

Shrike said:

Yes you should always extrapolate, if you make a pathtraced offline rendering model you can be lazier but in realtime and in general if you want it to look good you need to add more artistic touch and think how the surfaces would be worn off based on physical logic and define those out more.
On a screen and in varied lighting conditions (even in real life, if we look at miniature painting) you do want to add contrast and define the shapes out in texture so they read better and also make things blend less into each other.

Macro is the largest scale and what basically defines your texturing. It is the broad strokes and what makes your texturing interesting. Usually you define the base materials first, maybe add micro detail already, but then go onto the large important shapes and then follow up with the medium scale details. (In varied cases you might also add other macro elements to try stand out more , such as a sticker, tape, wrap, text, spray or color cluster as example)

This does not mean you have to make the model super damaged, this can also done subtly like a lighter slightly worn off plastic in this case, or a soft highlighted color or glossyness change. 

Here is a good example of some more realistic approach but also having some clear macro highlights which do define the shape, and on the grip you can see also an accentuation of the form. You can do this more subtly but he would never make the grip just the same color as example all around. You can see how the color change in the plastic very strongly defines out the shape, and how the couple key highlight elements on the metal are adding contrast, points of interest and help the material stand out.


Here is an older style texture, you can see how the macro highlights is what giving it a strong definition, even in unlit shape, and how they are carefully considered.

The macro elements are always the most important as they define the key highlights of the model and complement your shape language and improve readability of the model so they have always been the key element in texturing and are what sets you apart from a tiling base material.

I will definitely create interesting macro highlights in my future projects, thanks alot for the explanation!

alexus_sanchez

I went back and redid the texture and lighting for my weapon and posted it all on ArtStation (https://www.artstation.com/artwork/qezm4R). The "macro" I applied might be too subtle on the weapon's frame but it is something that I now keep in mind for my textures (thanks Shrike). Here are some shots: