[WIP] Old Door (help needed!)
For the past month or two (yeah I know, long time) I've been working on a door. Originally I was going to make it as an asset to a larger scene but I have decided to make a thread on just the door.
What have I been doing all this time? Up until a couple days ago I was working on normal map. I've had to redo both the highpoly and the lowpoly over 5 times each. But, like I said, a couple days ago I think I finished the normal map. So then I started to work on the diffuse map. Here is what I've got so far.
Normal Map:
Diffuse Map:
Render:
NOTE: Before I work on the window I want to figure everything else out. So ignore what is that space.
Even though this is posted in the "Pimping and Previews" section, I going to need a lot of help to finish this. This is my first fully custum asset so I will be thankful for any help I can get.
What have I been doing all this time? Up until a couple days ago I was working on normal map. I've had to redo both the highpoly and the lowpoly over 5 times each. But, like I said, a couple days ago I think I finished the normal map. So then I started to work on the diffuse map. Here is what I've got so far.
Normal Map:
Diffuse Map:
Render:
NOTE: Before I work on the window I want to figure everything else out. So ignore what is that space.
Even though this is posted in the "Pimping and Previews" section, I going to need a lot of help to finish this. This is my first fully custum asset so I will be thankful for any help I can get.
Replies
That being said, here's a couple of quick things you could do:
- Localized damage on kick plate, door frame, on door handle (or whatever you call those!), on the edges of the door where palette stacks have run into it and scratched the paint off, etc. Smaller, unique details will start to make this shine. Show some shiny metal under that paint!
- Change up the saturation on the red. The red works well but having some splotches where it's very slightly less desaturated will help break up the large swaths of red. You can easily do this by using a foreground/background jitter in PS or, in this case, just using an oddly shaped brush with Desaturation tool
- The big dent on the kickplate doesn't work very well. It feels like it's "floating" above the asset. Hard to describe but it feels tacked on and not part of the structure. Also, a dent that large would probably take a sizeable chunk of paint off.
Overall, you've got a great start. I think you need to pay attention to how your details sit on the surface of the object (the grime at the bottom where the door meets the kickplate, for example, makes it look flat). I know you're not at the specular map yet, but don't underestimate how crucial a solid spec map is for metal.
Good luck!
Thanks for pointing out that the kick plate seems like it is floating. I've been trying to fix that but I haven't come up with anything yet.
I'll work on this a lot more this weekend. Hopefully I will keep moving forward.
The big dent as already mentioned doesn't look right, and doesn't make sense. It doesn't look as though this is a thin piece of metal with a wood door behind it. The dents would be very shallow, with harder edges and scratched.
Also it looks like your door frame is just a wall surrounding the door, Have a look at some door frame references, they are more then just a box.
Keep going though you have a good start for this being your first asset.
2) The unwrap is pretty bad, so much wasted space, but luckily there isn't much happening on the normal map so not much is lost =/
You're unwrap should look something like this, with as little black as possible (I left it black so you could see the difference in dead space). Really push hard to use every last pixel. You'll never be able to, but always push for it.
3) After you fix the unwrap, you have to pack more detail into the normal map and diffuse, then do a spec map. Not just huge dents, but scratches, wear marks, signs of use, several layers of paint, shrinking, cracking, rot, dirt pushed into all the cracks and crevaces, Bleaching, water stains... There is so much more you could do to this door. And so much more you could be doing with the normal map.
4) You need to work on the materials. Right now you have a red door, and some yellow trim. Nothing is really defining them as metal, plastic, wood. That's where the spec map comes in and can really help. It will define the shininess of the materials. And if done right will also help sell all the little features of your normal map.
5) The window is the same color as your trim, and the kick plate is the same color as your door. You're ref has broken wire reinforced windows, thats some really great detail you could add in and yes you can make it dirty and grungy and not have to worry about opacity.
Hows this for a UV unwrap?
Is there a way to fix the kickplate dent without redoing the highpoly?
Vig: I've been following the eat3d old pillar and nextgen texturing tutorials so I don't really know how to do specular maps. Can you point me in the right direction?
Also, how do I add detal to my normal map that is in the highpoly?
Thanks!
To blend two normal maps just take them into Photoshop, put whichever one you want to blend (usually the more detailed one..) on the higher layer and set it to overlay, then you can double click it, go into blending options and check OFF the Blue channel for the overlay, then you can control which details get added to pieces with a simple mask, also try adjusting the fill to tone down the normal map on top if you need.
r.128 b.128 g.255 is flat, I.E wont recieve any special lighting info, which is what most of your model is. the dent could be copy/pasted all over your door w/o any shading issues. and for that matter completely pained out with the color : r.128 b.128 g.255
if you want to make a bunch or normal map noise/gunk/dirt whatever you`ll have to turn a bump map into a normal map using either crazy bump, or nvidias photoshop plugin.
when you add it to your normal map, via a photoshop overlay-
the next step isn't neccisacry, but it can help if the detail normal overlay is affecting your mesh baked normals too much.
on the detail normal layer- make the transfer mode "overlay" drop into your levels window. switch the channel to blue, and change the output level to 0,128.
Edit- i like seasame`s way better :P
konstruct, this is what I is what I was looking for:
"if you want to make a bunch or normal map noise/gunk/dirt whatever you`ll have to turn a bump map into a normal map using either crazy bump, or nvidias photoshop plugin."
Thanks
Still need help with the spec map though. :P
trial and error.
Sort of a step back... but whatever. I would say just look at the body of the door and the kickplate.
I didn't make a spec map yet.
Render:
Normal Map:
Try it and find out.
Done for the night... thought I would post what I have. I fixed the dimensions to make it taller. Also added more detail in the window frame.
Normal Map:
Render w/o Diffuse:
Render w/ Diffuse:
I'll start learning about Specular Maps. :P
It the noise isn't on the metal.
What material is the red surface of the door?
Like that only with almost no transparency.
Keep workin on that texture some more it feels really wet at the moment and the big dent on the bottom feels off to me.
thats alot better
you need to pay better attention for details
dont rush with your work, that door is a nice practice and pretty easy one to make very close to the ref
your proportion at first wasnt good, you should have stopped there
and fix it
u can roughly estimate measurements by comparing one part to another on the same ref
(it help me alot)
for example the bottom metal plate on the ref is about 1/13 of all the door
in your model its about 1/4 (i know its a streached texture but im just gave it as example)
dont skip small parts that may seems unimportant (like a key hole)
those small things makes a big difference at the end
You should just go and work on your specular at this point the only problems with the normals were fixed when you lessened the dent.
Made a dent in texturing and put it into UE3.
This door is planned for great things don't you worry.
On the specular map you need to have the edge highlights on there and try to stay away from painting the specular information into the diffuse, now that I try and look at your normal map it seems that you didn't do high poly of the blinds. So maybe you should do that and try match the diffuse and put it into your normal map.
Hopefully that made sense. ha
Can anyone help me with the jagged edges that seem to be on the UV seams?
the spec on the red parts of the door could be brightened up a little. unreal makes it darker since it clamps the color range or something like that.
also, would be cool if you added a couple of leaks to the spec map. for example, if water leaked down the door it would be slightly brighter on the spec. that would make it look a bit more interesting. not too much though.
I can't even see where the framing is for the window in your spec, lets paint some white in there!