Weathered Stop Sign (critique)

kromesia

This is intended to be game-ready and I tried my best to be careful with the polycount. I modelled this in Maya and sculpted the small details in Zbrush. Baking and texturing were done in Substance Painter. Stickers/Decals/Alphas for textures were made in Photoshop. 

I aimed to create a prop that tells a story of the urban landscape it comes from. While I'm pretty satisfied with the final look, I'm sure there's always room for improvement and I'd appreciate your feedback on this. 

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/XglY43

sacboi

I'd suggest, slightly more material and general overall research into subject matter which imo will certainly go a long way selling what you've in mind for this prop: 

Typically modern road signage is fairly universally standardized and made from thin aluminum sheeting or substrate with a reflective vinyl covering for low visibility conditions. Also the supporting aluminum pole/structure is designed to deform or break on impact, dissipating kinetic energy therein minimising injury - damage too pedestrian or vehicle traffic, respectively. 

So at first glance, adding surface distortion especially around areas the signage is fastened/riveted once thickness is sorted out, would be a good place to start.

kromesia

sacboi said:

I'd suggest, slightly more material and general overall research into subject matter which imo will certainly go a long way selling what you've in mind for this prop: 

Typically modern road signage is fairly universally standardized and made from thin aluminum sheeting or substrate with a reflective vinyl covering for low visibility conditions. Also the supporting aluminum pole/structure is designed to deform or break on impact, dissipating kinetic energy therein minimising injury - damage too pedestrian or vehicle traffic, respectively. 

So at first glance, adding surface distortion especially around areas the signage is fastened/riveted once thickness is sorted out, would be a good place to start.

 Thank you for the detailed feedback. I'll consider various material properties while texturing and designing wear in the future. The part about surface distortion in the areas where the sign is riveted on is a great little detail. 

Fabi_G

Hi! To me it feels a bit like a miniature due to its proportions/ height the signs hang. Can you share reference used? Including a collection of references in a presentation would give the viewer a point of comparison. Maybe it helps to have a render showing it in context, even if it's just next to silhouette figure.

kromesia

Fabi_G said:

Hi! To me it feels a bit like a miniature due to its proportions/ height the signs hang. Can you share reference used? Including a collection of references in a presentation would give the viewer a point of comparison. Maybe it helps to have a render showing it in context, even if it's just next to silhouette figure.

Hi! Thank you for your feedback; it’s much appreciated. You're right about the importance of proportions and context. During my research, I discovered that the placement height for stop signs can vary between 2 to 7 feet, based on the specific usage and location. While I didn’t model this after a single reference image, I looked at multiple photographs and the street sign placement regulations to ensure that the size and placement align with real-world standards.

I've attached screenshots from Unreal Engine showing the stop sign next to the standard mannequin for scale reference. Do these images help convey the correct scale? Looking forward to your thoughts!

Fabi_G

Hi! In busy, urban places with pedestrians/cyclists, I would put them at least at a height that people don't bonk their heads. I'm sure there written rules for this which could be looked up, but ultimately I would go with references (maybe some video walkthroughs on yt?) and what feels right in game.

Generally with such signs, I think a modular approach makes sense to be able to quicky create different variants, reusing the same textures. So maybe using a tiling trim for the bars. Additional, unique weathering and stickers could be added via masks or a decal mesh layer.

edit: attached overpaint

kromesia

Fabi_G said:

Hi! In busy, urban places with pedestrians/cyclists, I would put them at least at a height that people don't bonk their heads. I'm sure there written rules for this which could be looked up, but ultimately I would go with references (maybe some videos walkthroughs on yt?) and what feels right in game.

Generally with such signs, I think a modular approach makes sense to be able to quicky create different variants, reusing the same textures. So maybe using a tiling trim for the bars. Additional, unique weathering and stickers could be added via masks or a decal mesh layer.

edit: attached overpaint

Thank you for taking the time to give detailed feedback. I appreciate it. It makes sense I think. I've edited the model to represent real-world measurements, and it looks way better. I'll re-texture it and see how it works. Making it modular with different variants makes a lot of sense, I'll be looking into that.

Cheers!

Joopson

It looks like your stop sign itself isn't a true octagon? The diagonals look considerably longer than the vertical/horizontal parts. If you have a reference from somewhere that looks that way, it's totally cool-- but as a person living in the US, something felt odd about it until I looked closer.

teodar23

The base could be optimized better and the screws can be floaters or mesh decals.
Texturing looks ok except for the base which could use some more grunge towards the ground. The pole has a bit too much contrast in the roughness imo