Old Fuel Pumps
polycounter lvl 18
From a time when gasoline was less than $1.
My project for the past couple nights. It has been on my todo list for months. I'm trying for strong portfolio pieces as I send out resumes looking for work.
1436 Triangles each. The image below is rendered in real-time.
High and Low poly modeled using XSI 4.2.
[Image Updated]
[Image Updated]
[Image Updated]
[Image Updated]
I have the urge to create a clean shiny green version, and put them all in engine.
Comments, advice, threats and bacon are welcomed.
Edit: New Version
My project for the past couple nights. It has been on my todo list for months. I'm trying for strong portfolio pieces as I send out resumes looking for work.
1436 Triangles each. The image below is rendered in real-time.
High and Low poly modeled using XSI 4.2.
[Image Updated]
[Image Updated]
[Image Updated]
[Image Updated]
I have the urge to create a clean shiny green version, and put them all in engine.
Comments, advice, threats and bacon are welcomed.
Edit: New Version
Replies
A detail you might want to add that's easy, change up the brightness on the dollar amount dials. Some of them wear differently in the sun, get replaced, etc. So some numbers and letters should be faded more than others.
Geometry wise I do not see why you spent so many polys on the globe thing in the center, top area. If the viewer if going to mostly see this piece from a front perspective those poly's could easily be show with the normal map. Looks like you could cut about 50 triangles out of the globe area without any detail loss. You could use those polys to smooth out the gas line silhouette because it looks low poly at the moment.
Can't put my finger on it though, although the rough texture is popping a lot, the smooth surfaces aren't
but don't get me wrong, i like it!
-N
Clean up the cloudyness and noise, and focus on defining specific details. Break it down to clean areas, with simple diffuse and a clean spec, just a little subtle scratches and such in the spec. Old rusty areas that have almost no spec, and look *different* from the clean areas. And then a few freshly exposed areas that have a simple color in diffuse and a lot of spec.
Theres plenty of ref out there for this sort of stuff, so find yourself a nice goal to match, and study the properties of the actual materials instead of texturing it how you "think" metal looks.
word
I think there are more 'old fuel pump' models here on polycount (or anywhere for that matter) than crates. Really, we should have a "your first fuel pump" thread.
In my opinion, if you're trying to get your work noticed, you might want to do something with more 'wow!' and less of the tired old fuel pump that probably 80% of your competition will be showing as well.
I don't recall seeing many fuel pumps here, or anywhere. Honestly, my motivation to do this was to try something that wasn't a crate/barrel/dumpster/AK-47. Also, it's one peice of an entire scene I would like to create. From a quick search, I've only found 4 gas pumps shown here in the past 2 years. Of the 4, 1 was unfinished, and another was a newer boxy style. I don't see that as being anywhere near the popularity of crates. They're obviously not used as often in games, since it's wise not to shoot or throw them. We could more easily have a "Your First Exaggerated Proportioned Space Marine Wearing Unreasonably Sized Weapons and Armor for added Realism", but I'm getting off topic.
After getting some sleep, and looking again with refreshed eyes, I agree with all of you in that the texture does need some variation between smooth and corroded surfaces. My intention was to have areas of smooth paint to give contrast to the rusted portions, and the bubbly areas in between. And I want it to appear natural, as if worn by the weather. My goal is to show that I understand how the normal and specular are used to properly display materials when effort is put into them. I guess I got a little rushed and lost track of the overall visual result. So thanks for that.
And to answer other questions. There is AO in the diffuse. It's only subtle, as I'm not a big fan of dark shadowy areas on assets that are found in sunlight, instead of hallways. The rust is made of several different rust types masked into different sections of the image. I think I perhaps went overkill tho. Cleaning up the normal map overlays I made from them would really help. Thanks EQ.
I will make those changes and post the results.
Coincidentally, i just finished making the same one myself and was about to post it over here for some crits. Anyways look forward to seeing the changes you make.
Anyway, I agree with what everyone said about the textures, scale back on the small bumps. It almost looks like one of your channels in the normal map is wrong too, there's something not right with how the detail normals are rendered.
skidu: yes i have all the photos of those two pumps I could find, plus a few more for smaller details, the handle, rust, and logos, etc. good find. it is a nice photo. flickr was very useful. but, just fyi, that image is not the scene I had in mind to create. there is a big difference between your piece and mine. but, your use of paint and rust is what I should be aiming for.
okkun: It would be odd if it was the same fuel pump. I swear this was my own choice without any other persuasion. But more and more this is proving Slum's point. Stop it.
I'm going out of town for the weekend, so I'll get back to this when I return. Thanks.
Anyway! Your modelling is very nice, the texturing has been critted more than I could add to, but I'll add one thing maybe.
You say you want to do a green one? How about throwing in a color mask on the A channel (export diffuse as RGBA) and then just change the color in-editor? For a PF piece that could be quite nice, shows you thinking economically.
something else that could be improved is poly placement, the large chamfered(beveled) edges on the main body could do with an extra edge loop, as it looks like it should be round but the sillohette really fights with that. Also the light(?) on the front needs a few more sides (12 not 8?)
to counter the extra polys here you could get rid of the chamfers round the side pods and pull the polys out to prevent the 90 degree edge loop, also the tiny edge loops that effect the sillohette of both the thing on top and the light could be gotten rid of, they add very little compared with giveing the main body a better shape
ps get some bare metal on the top corners, just for contrast
That doesn't really make any sense, since occlusion is for occluded areas, which would naturally be harder to scratch. Crazybump filter over the normals or a cavity/curvature map would be more appropriate for a "scratches" mask.
Ditto, this really doesnt make any sense at all. Now a better solution is to run your normals through crazybump, turn enhance detail all the way up in the displacement field and you've got a great start for the exposed edges.
I multiply my AO on my spec and my diffuse, it helps to give a nice pop/depth to my textures.
Click here for a turn around view.
but glass? on front doesnt hold up and makes front look too flat
However i agree about the glass thingy, extrude a bit inwards no? It would really sell the normal map. And considering how much polygons u spent on the hose, i think u could ad 10more, no?
Its a really small point though, so excellent job.