Knight

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Think I am just about done with this guy. Learned alot on this model about normal maps, and I am ready to move on to something new. Special thanks to Daz and Poop on this one.










http://www.matt-taylor.net/3d/knight/knight.html

For some reason I have the feeling I started this thread before but.. Anyways have at it.

rawkstar

do you have spec maps on this? doesn't look like it at all, metal looks the same as cloth.

also the edges on the normal map for those metal pieces seem too smooth, could probably be a bit sharper. overall its neat, but just looking at the textures it looks like the armor is really uninspired, mostly just flat with some scratches here and there.

things i like are the hair, hands are nice and the face is pretty neat, but 2 things are killing it, 1. doesn't look like there is any spec on any of it so all those details on the hair get reduced to nothing, the final result looks flat. 2. your presentation isn't very good, the character may be cool, but its not lit at all, just 2 omni lights would bring out alot more of the character and make it look alot more appealing. that also seems to be the case with alot of things on your site as well.

another thing is, since you're using normal maps you don't need to make the face that highres, if you compare shots 2 and 3 (counting from the top) you're not getting a whole lot out of that normal map. that head should be under 1000 polys, just keep the silhouette and let most of the shapes and details come from the normal map.

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There are spec maps on both, but I really dont know what im doing. Help with that would be awsome, and most appriciated.




I'll admit the armor is pretty boring.
Let me take another look now at it and see what I can do.

Ok, I wasnt sure how I was supposed to present normal mapped models. Theres no lights in the scene right now. I had heard something about three point lighting
set ups, but I haven't had the chance to experiement with that. I think I read about a script in Pior's normal mapping
tutorial but the link was dead.

This model was actually, at first, a cinematic model for one of my classes. We were responsible for our own renders so the model
couldn't be out rageously high poly. Thats why the face is so dense compared to the rest of the body. I dont think I'll going back
to fix that, atleast not today ;P , but I probably should. Good eye.

I really dont like the eyes. Im going to redo those now.

Thanks so far keep them comming.

katzeimsack

the spec map is much too dark. shiny metal parts should be nearly white..
take a look at the dominace war pictures

http://www.polycount.net/dominancewar/finals_polycount/7_mrRockstar/corum_textures.jpg
http://www.polycount.net/dominancewar/finals_cgchat/21_MrKite/beef_maps.jpg

Weiser_Cain

Kind of looks like Dr. Who...

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Update. What do you guys think? Better or worse? Added stitches and bandages, and Reworked all the textures.

rawkstar

thats a big improvement.

a few things still. you're heading in the right direction with the spec, sort of low contrast on skin, just slightly accentuate the shinier areas, just keep experimenting until it looks good. with the metal spec you want to have a bit more contrast, really brighten up the sharp areas and weathered edges.

a word on lighting and rendering, the easiest thing to do is have a key light and a rim light both with shadow maps on. here's a 3 point light setup,

thats pretty basic, tbh i only use the key and rim (back light on the diagram) lights to show off the details on the models, nothing fancy just for presentation purposes only. I usually just use omnis for this, nothing fancy. so you have a key light at the top left, and then a rim light either behind, or slightly more to the right of the character. turn normal bump on and just kind fo play around with positioning of the lights till you get something that you like. I'm guessing that you're using max for this, theres a neat little rendering trick that i like to use, press F10 for rendering options, go into the renderer tab on the top and under Filter change Area to Catmul-Rom, you'll get much sharper renders that way.

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<u>Round #3</u>
Ok here goes. That Catmul-Rom thing is amazing btw.



Still probably a few things I'd like to touch up but I need to get started on a demo reel for DAS. I need a summer job!