Polycount Model Database for Normal Mapping

Pedro Amorim

Decided to create this thread (Hopefully it gets stickied) so that all of us can share little pieces of modeling that others can use on their work. It can be simple stuff like, bolts, screws or something more comples like, zbrush basemeshes.
Im starting this thread with a screw i did the other day. I just hope ppl start contributing.

Screw (click picture to download)


Details (click picture to download)


Floaters (click picture to download)


Pipes (click picture to download)


Flesh (click picture to download)


Round Parts (click picture to download)



Simple Shapes (click picture to download)

fearian

Sweet Idea! Next time I'm making anything modular at all, I know where the parts are gonna end up!

E: Add your bolt, pretty please?

butt_sahib

theres a ton of floaters you can get for your normal mapping needs over at iddevnet
great job bitmap

pior

Hey, nice of you to start this!!
Also since Butt mentioned it :
http://www.iddevnet.com/quake4/ArtExamples
(unfortunately in LWO format!)

Pedro Amorim

Updated first post with the models from ID Devnet in OBJ format.

Kawe

I don't say this often but.. I love you!

Mark Dygert

Bitmap, awesome stuff

Per, yea I hear ya. But I think what needs to happen is a few scripts need to either be written or if they exist already post links. Before libraries like this to be useful on the fly when you actually need them, I totally agree you need a way of sifting through it all and organizing it that's not a bunch of work.

Those scripts would be:
Script1:
Graphical library, where it would reference pieces, probably each saved in its own file. Add in the ability to select and save pieces to the library, automatically creating thumbnails or pulling from existing files thumb. I know Maya has some features included in the Bonus tools that are like this. But I haven't found anything like this for max. Not fully fleshed out at least.

Script2:
Pretty much like any object painter script but would pull from the selected piece. Click to select, click to paint on another object. Spacing, height, rotation, randomization, path deform. Pretty much butcher Soulburn's object painter script and expand on it.

Kawe

Well, the nice thing with this one is that there's an image to go with it. So I downloaded both image and obj.. now I can just browse through the images quickly. Will prolly give some creativity boost too. If Im unsure about what to put in a specific place then I can just browse through this

EDIT: I think it'd be even cooler if there was an actual database on the web somewhere (here?) where you can just type stuff into a search engine. Or just browse... kind of like a gallery but with obj download. and maybe let members put their own bookmarks on various pages. But now Im just dreaming. heh.

Jeremy Wright

This was very thoughtful, Bitmap. Thank you very much.

pior

Per yeah I hear you - most of the time it needs unique modeling. But I know also that in many cases I need a 'generic scifi bolt or capsule #156' and it pisses me off to remodel it, but I end up redoing it anyways because of a lack of a proper model previewer!

I think Sketchup has a great engine for this - as shown in the Massiveblack youtube feature

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlgtLXhwJSM[/ame]

Also fyi the iddevnet converted .objs open fine in maya but give a vertex numbering error in max2009...

Slum

perna wrote: »

Am I the only one who never does this? I find it takes much longer to try to remember IF there's an existing shape like what I need in a library, then to go and search, find and import it, often to find that it's not what you needed after all... than to just make the thing from scratch, as these are mostly simple parts and the more complex stuff tends never/rarely to get reused anyway.

Not to knock the efforts here though, good going. Maybe the stuff taken from iddevnet should be credited as such?

A buddy of mine wrote a really wicked script for maya. It has a small gallery window with thumbnails that are generated by the script. You just double click the thumbnail and it imports into the scene. I think you can even import it at a specific spot on a surface, like a bolt on a panel.

It's pretty sweet, but I don't think it's public though.

edit: It's not public, but it is pubic.

MoP

Slum, i'd hope it wasn't pubic, but you never know with these Raven guys, amirite?!

I was writing a similar script by the sounds of things - it takes a generated image and writes it out with the same name as the .obj file, and you basically choose a folder as your "library", and all images with matching obj files will be auto-loaded and sorted into the script window. Clicking on the image imports the OBJ.

I haven't added functionality for doing the "auto paint on surface" thing yet, but it's got some other features like "auto smooth on import" with subdivision control settings, and also options to instance instead of re-importing.

It needs a fair bit of work before it can go public, but once I get my lazy ass in gear, it should be good to go. Maybe a month or two.

Kawe

I think I found the problem with the objs not working on max 2009. The files were littered with a bajillion vertex maps. I don't have max 2009 but a friend claimed it worked so I cleaned up the files and uploaded them. You can grab it here:

http://projects.godisregn.com/randomfiles/pcdb.rar

EarthQuake

perna wrote: »

Am I the only one who never does this? I find it takes much longer to try to remember IF there's an existing shape like what I need in a library, then to go and search, find and import it, often to find that it's not what you needed after all... than to just make the thing from scratch, as these are mostly simple parts and the more complex stuff tends never/rarely to get reused anyway.

Not to knock the efforts here though, good going. Maybe the stuff taken from iddevnet should be credited as such?

No, i do the same. I often think about starting a library and never do it, like you said, anything complicated enough to really save me much time will likely not be something i could re-use much if at all.

I also often find the need to model things for a specific resolution, like, depending on the size of a screw, i'm going to give it a certain amount of detail, if the uv space will be large, it needs to have some pretty sharp detail, if it needs to be small, it needs to have some nice, simple and soft detail. So, a lot of the time you really need something specific for your res.

Now, not trying to hate on anyone who tends to re-use a lot of stuff, just in my experience i haven't really found much use for it.

Anyway, carry on. This is a great thread, we'll sticky it if it gets a couple hundred or so posts(TOO MANY STICKIES, GRAAAAA).

Slum wrote: »

A buddy of mine wrote a really wicked script for maya. It has a small gallery window with thumbnails that are generated by the script. You just double click the thumbnail and it imports into the scene. I think you can even import it at a specific spot on a surface, like a bolt on a panel.

It's pretty sweet, but I don't think it's public though.

edit: It's not public, but it is pubic.

Something like this sounds really cool, and really the only way to save time doing this sort of thing.

Having said all of that, i think a collection of these sort of things is a great learning tool, just to show others how you can get away with floaters for certain details etc.

Ged

very generous idea, I havent personally re used alot of stuff in the past but Im still fairly new at this so I might use this way of doing things for some future projects.

//woah there are some wierd sets here - flesh? really?

I can imagine newbs creating entire props out of this stuff :P

Marine

if i was reusing stuff like this on a regular basis, it would probably be a good idea to give the pieces numbers for filenames and print out some screenshots of them with the matching numbers added

Mark Dygert

Maya:
Level Tools 3.5
http://area.autodesk.com/index.php/downloads_plugins/plugin_detail/leveltools_35/

This is the set of tools for Maya I was talking about earlier. I brought it up much earlier in in the Maya scripts thread spacemonkey started. I originally saw it demo'ed at a Autodesk seminar, great stuff. If you ever find yourself needing to access a library of parts and use a variety of placement options and your a Maya user, download this and try it out. Aside from sketchup its the next best thing I've seen yet for that type of stuff.

I haven't found anything that complete for 3dsmax yet. It all exists in bits and pieces in various scripts so it can be done, just no one has done it yet, at least not publicly.

3dsmax:
Object Library
http://www.scriptspot.com/3ds-max/object-library-v1-10

Neil Blevins Object Painter Script
http://www.neilblevins.com/soulburnscripts/soulburnscripts.htm
Also check out the Object Dropper, Object Replacer and Spline Painter scripts.
(They are part of Soulburns scripts, there's a reason he's been the TD at Pixar since The Incredibles)

You can use the last one to draw out path splines on the surface of other objects, to either sweep details along, or use PathDeform(WSM). Objects like wires and vines, or space out individual repeating details.
All these separate scripts for 3dsmax are not nearly as automated or clean as Maya's Level Tools but it can help get this kind of stuff done.

pior

For maya aswell :
(still have to try it)
http://www.rd3d.com/

Pedro Amorim

oh wow. that looks sweet pior

Talbot

I tried the Soulburn scripts but I wasn't able to get them to work.

I know what floaters are... but I'm wondering how people use them. Do the scripts/plugins you guys shared select a floater, and then drop them on any surface? That would make life a lot easier if someone could tell me how to use one of these scripts.

Thanks.

Ghostscape

Talbot, To get a floater on a non-axis aligned surface (if its axis aligned its pretty easy) I'll use the Advanced Painter script (find it on scriptspot). If I need a trail of bits (IE, sticking bolts to a curved weld line) I'll grab an edgeloop that I want to duplicate along, convert that edgeloop to a shape in edit poly (shape means spline), then use the spacing tool (under the extras menu) to add a bunch of my floaters to that spline.

Mark Dygert

Another easy way to place things on the surface is with the Attachment Constraint. It will let you slide/align the floater along any surface you pick.

Here's what you do:
- Select your floater click Animation > Constraints > Attachment
- Click or click/drag on the surface to place it.

Tips:
- Assign Attachment Constraint to a Keyboard Shortcut for even quicker use. I have mine set to Alt-A.
- You can move the piece around after the initial placement.
Click on the Motion Tab > click Set Position then click or click/drag on the surface, turn off Set Position when you're done.
- If its not aligned exactly like you want, to far from the surface, rotated oddly, whatever. Go into Edit Poly and move/rotate the element around or see Get Rid of the Constraint (below).
- Assign attachment constrains to a selection of objects.
- Clone pieces are also constrained.
- It works on the objects pivot which you should have thoughtfully already taken care of, if not I use this script I wrote to zero out the pivot and place it at the objects center lowest point. Assign it to a keyboard shortcut or put in the toolbar somewhere.

Get rid of the Constraint, Keep the Placement:
Easy Way:
- Click the floater, click Tools > Snapshot and choose mesh, then delete the constrained floater.

Long Drawn Out "Proper Way":
- Reassign PositionXYZ to the position track. This can be done on the motion tab > Assign Controllers > click position, click assign controller (box with ? Just under Assign Controller) pick PositionXYZ instead of Attachment.

Lee3dee

thanks Bitmap

[HP]

Very nice dude!

Obrigado.

Autocon

wow Bitmap thanks so much for this. will be great to use these peices to learn more about high poly modeling and the best edge flow for lots of objects

on a side note about the library thing I think a good way to do it without using some crazy library mod thing is to created a new scene with all the high poly detail objects and make that as your "base" scene for every thing you do. this way you don't have to look around and import things. you can just look in the scene its self and bam. super fast.

Medestruit

I think it's a nifty idea, but other than patterned things (fencing, diamond plate, mesh screening) that would be used to construct a high poly object, like other said you don't really find too much need to reuse. But I will say, I still keep bolts and those patterns around because they do have uses.

[HP]

Ok, I had the oportunity to give this all pieces a quick look and I'm very, very, very impressed by the quality of the modeling, and I really appreciate you're effort in putting all this together!

+1 Vote for sticky!

PS. Bitmap, some of the pieces get flipped normals when converted to editable poly, or if I reset the X-Form, for some reason. ;\