（WIP） AKM

2300511685

Hey everyone, I’m getting back into 3D modeling after a long break. The last time I touched modeling was in a college elective years ago, and I used Maya back then. Now I see so many people using Blender. I’d like to ask: should I switch to Blender for my current projects? What are the main advantages of Blender compared to Maya?

I plan to finish a high-poly AKM model within this week. I’ll post my progress here and would really appreciate any constructive criticism – feel free to point out issues with the model. I’ve only completed these two parts so far.

One thing I’m struggling with is deciding on polycount. For example, when making a cylinder, how many segments should I use – 32, 24, 48? How do you find the right balance without going overboard or ending up with too little geometry?

Thanks in advance for any advice! I’ll keep updating my progress.

提前感谢大家的建议！我会继续更新我的进展。

sacboi

Assuming your project involves high to low poly bake workflow? then from my perspective both elements completed thus far seem fine, imo nicely quadrafied too project an optimised proxy off of. As for face counts including relative number of cylinder segments, well they're dependent upon screen space this object or parts thereof will be viewed? 

Lastly benefits of an open source DCC when compared with a proprietary package are broadly acknowledged these days so I'll just note those aspects, personally find quite helpful as a long time Blender user:

• 100% free
• streamlined native functions/operations to enable efficient HS content creation
• extremely minimal computing overhead (excluding 4.4v on up) because my primary asset generation platform is a laptop
• huge community that surrounds it   

2300511685

sacboi Got it. Thanks. I'll try Blender.

Eric Chadwick

In my opinion, it’s best to learn multiple apps, as many employers will dictate which software they need all assets to be processed through for integration into their systems. 

Often in my experience the main app is Maya or Max, since these are generally easier to develop a consistent sustainable pipeline for. 

Blender is great for users who want a free and fast-developing DCC, but the core Blender Foundation developers do not seem concerned with keeping consistency between their releases, nor backwards compatibility, which makes it difficult for developers of custom pipelines to migrate their setups to new releases.

So, as an artist, it’s a good practice to become literate in each of the main software packages.

Eric Chadwick

For understanding which modeling complexity is needed, we’ve compiled some resources that might help you: http://wiki.polycount.com/wiki/Normal_Map_Modeling