Working on finishing this up and my low poly is at around 12,000 right now. Is that grossly over for a modern FPS? I think the circle base is whats killing me on the polycount.
Looks pretty sweet, man. Ya, it's a high polycount, but I suppose if you make it worth it with an amazing texture job, it's be all good. Maybe you should try some LOD stuff and make 1 or 2 lower polycount versions.
Thanks guys. I have a couple ideas I'll play around with to try and get this down. Maybe some test bakes at lower counts to see if it just looks like ass. Updated first post with wires now.
theres quite a few areas you could optimize. The tubes at the base of the muzzle thing could use less sides since they are shrouded by the guard most of the time. Everything doesn't need a chamfer either.
Just using one smoothing group and a good normal map you can afford to cut out some of the chamfers and save a lot of polys.
thanks oober. I was pretty liberal on the chamfers. just trying to get good bakes. I'll do some experimenting to see what I can get away with on the normals.
theres quite a few areas you could optimize. The tubes at the base of the muzzle thing could use less sides since they are shrouded by the guard most of the time. Everything doesn't need a chamfer either.
Just using one smoothing group and a good normal map you can afford to cut out some of the chamfers and save a lot of polys.
Yes, except that using 1 smoothing group without the chamfers will make it *impossible* to create a good tangent space normals map, if you forget about that then you have a very good point.
Yes, except that using 1 smoothing group without the chamfers will make it *impossible* to create a good tangent space normals map, if you forget about that then you have a very good point.
said some chamfers.... ...some.... not all of them. :P
I only chamfered 90 degree angles. There is some geo I think I can eliminate and just capture the detail with normals and a good AO bake. I was checking out a manta in UT3 and there is alot there they just did with normals. Though they also didnt chamfer some edges and got decent results which is frustrating.
This will be good practice for trying to make normals do more work and getting creative with geo.
The only things which look like they could obviously be reduced are the small barrels leading to the main one. You could possibly drop the four raised plates on the circular base and maybe the indents there as well, then build the silhouetted bits of them into the base plate itself. Maybe collapse an edge ring on the outer part of the base as well.
It's already nicely made, pretty hard to find ways to reduce it without ruining it.
Thanks Cheese. I definitely don't want to lose any of the high poly detail. I'll model in those plates and reduce the barrels along with combining them like per points out.
Thanks for the paintover Per. A lot of what you point out makes sense and I'll get after it. The bullet chain thing is denser in that one area cause it curves up and then back down tighter then the rest. It's not represented well in the screen grab. I do need to clean it up a bit still.
This is at 5800 tri's now. Perna pwns. I could shave more tri's off this yet just sticking to silhouettes and letting the normals do the work but I'm ready to get to texturing and dropping this in ut. Learned a ton on this one.
This is really nice. The thing that stands out to me is that the blue paint on the rounded base plate thing screams Photoshop. It looks a bit too much like it's been painted on using a digital application, rather than being real paint that's been worn down.
Maybe try first blocking the colour in as a sharp-edged rectangular area, and then "wear it down" using various brushes, while retaining some of the sharp paint edges? Just a thought. It looks really nice, though
Looks cool, good job.
There's one part of the texture which doesn't make any sense to me - the top of the "blast shield" panels at the front have a kind of \ \ \ \ pattern, which looks like a vent or something, yet the blue paint actually goes inside those indents, which looks pretty weird.
I'd probably make all of those angled indents a darker colour, or maybe even remove them from the normal map completely, I don't think they're really adding that much (or making any sense - what are they?). Currently they just don't fit in with the blue paint trim stuff you have going on.
Although I guess this is probably still WIP, so maybe you have some cool plans for them
Yeah the top indents kinda bugged me as well but i kept them because they were so prominent in the concept. I'll take a look at darkening them or maybe removing them altogether. Not sure what to do about the paint at the bottom I'll try some paintovers with some different styles.
My goal with this piece was to work from a concept designed for the RTS and build a FPS model done in the style of the cinematic and storymode. Then submit it to Blizz for there fan art site. I'm very psyched for the game
those \\\\ things go all the way threw just so you know... For yours just cut the blue out drop in a shadow and wear it down around them. Also add some blast scorch marks on the blast shield.
Working on finishing this up and my low poly is at around 12,000 right now. Is that grossly over for a modern FPS? I think the circle base is whats killing me on the polycount.
any feedback appreciated.
Thanks
Yup, 12k is huge man. Working on a 360 title we're pushing about 3k poly's on the high side for a building for our RTS.
specular could be alot better, and you could have a better ambient oclusion map ,and use that to maybe rust some parts as an inverted mask , but nontheless it looks good
yeah man this turned out real nice. Something to look out for next time cause I do this all the damn time too- is it would be cool to have more difference in your materials. having a shiny rubber, or plastic, along with your banged up metal. right now the whole thing has a flat tone across the whole thing.
Looking good!
I'd make the paint more matte, pull the levels on the metal overlays so that it has way more contrast.
BTW are the grey bits paint? As is i can't tell, id either make some of the parts rubber like konstruct said or paint. Just don't leave it as mystery material.
Also you could try adding some rust, or weld marks into the normal map. Also when i said blast marks i ment something like like it was hit with a blaster. something like this,
looking at it again and reading the other posts, the spec could do with more range in the metal bits, and maybe less range in the paint (a plastic based paint has a very consistant spec)
This is a very good piece, I like it. It could have been an entry art test for them! hehe.
And I think this is a personal opinion in this case, because your piece really holds itself up, but I think the model itself could be just a bit more worn, especially on the edges (since it's a war weapon.)
Anyways I love your baked normal map, it looks very clean. I think the spec could have used just a bit more contrast, especially on the edges to make it pop.
Replies
Just using one smoothing group and a good normal map you can afford to cut out some of the chamfers and save a lot of polys.
Yes, except that using 1 smoothing group without the chamfers will make it *impossible* to create a good tangent space normals map, if you forget about that then you have a very good point.
said some chamfers.... ...some.... not all of them. :P
I only chamfered 90 degree angles. There is some geo I think I can eliminate and just capture the detail with normals and a good AO bake. I was checking out a manta in UT3 and there is alot there they just did with normals. Though they also didnt chamfer some edges and got decent results which is frustrating.
This will be good practice for trying to make normals do more work and getting creative with geo.
It's already nicely made, pretty hard to find ways to reduce it without ruining it.
Thanks for the paintover Per. A lot of what you point out makes sense and I'll get after it. The bullet chain thing is denser in that one area cause it curves up and then back down tighter then the rest. It's not represented well in the screen grab. I do need to clean it up a bit still.
Here is the low poly with normal maps.
wires.
This is at 5800 tri's now. Perna pwns. I could shave more tri's off this yet just sticking to silhouettes and letting the normals do the work but I'm ready to get to texturing and dropping this in ut. Learned a ton on this one.
Good job, looking forward to seeing this textured.
j/k man its rocking keep it going. Thanks for the enviro help. Working on that now at home.
getting close on texture..
Maybe try first blocking the colour in as a sharp-edged rectangular area, and then "wear it down" using various brushes, while retaining some of the sharp paint edges? Just a thought. It looks really nice, though
quick update before I hit the hay. Thanks to everyone for crits.
There's one part of the texture which doesn't make any sense to me - the top of the "blast shield" panels at the front have a kind of \ \ \ \ pattern, which looks like a vent or something, yet the blue paint actually goes inside those indents, which looks pretty weird.
I'd probably make all of those angled indents a darker colour, or maybe even remove them from the normal map completely, I don't think they're really adding that much (or making any sense - what are they?). Currently they just don't fit in with the blue paint trim stuff you have going on.
Although I guess this is probably still WIP, so maybe you have some cool plans for them
Keep it up!
also IMO the diagonal shapes that cross the panelling on the armour dont really work, one or other of the shapes would but both together looks odd.
Here is the blizz concept
Thanks fellas.
Yeah the top indents kinda bugged me as well but i kept them because they were so prominent in the concept. I'll take a look at darkening them or maybe removing them altogether. Not sure what to do about the paint at the bottom I'll try some paintovers with some different styles.
My goal with this piece was to work from a concept designed for the RTS and build a FPS model done in the style of the cinematic and storymode. Then submit it to Blizz for there fan art site. I'm very psyched for the game
Thanks Shep. I added more contrast to the blue.
Tried to get some blast marks on the front and just wasn't feeling it.
Calling this done for now. Thanks for all the crits and help everyone!
Yup, 12k is huge man. Working on a 360 title we're pushing about 3k poly's on the high side for a building for our RTS.
LOL doh! I'm dumb. I thought I read "rts". My bad.
It's an awesome piece Ironhawk! Love your attention to detail. Keep it coming man.
-cheapjuevos
I'd make the paint more matte, pull the levels on the metal overlays so that it has way more contrast.
BTW are the grey bits paint? As is i can't tell, id either make some of the parts rubber like konstruct said or paint. Just don't leave it as mystery material.
Also you could try adding some rust, or weld marks into the normal map. Also when i said blast marks i ment something like like it was hit with a blaster. something like this,
http://www.roboterkampf.com/html/props/ywing.htm
In that you can get lots general detailing ideas.
And I think this is a personal opinion in this case, because your piece really holds itself up, but I think the model itself could be just a bit more worn, especially on the edges (since it's a war weapon.)
Anyways I love your baked normal map, it looks very clean. I think the spec could have used just a bit more contrast, especially on the edges to make it pop.
I'll do another pass on the spec after all the responses here.