For starts, when you are actualy unwrapping and not placing parts, do it with the thought of stacking them in mind, box liked shapes stack best, or maybe you can fit two alike pieces next to eachother to create a box shape.
I found that by prioritising my parts before trying to fit them in, works like a charm.
You see three areas here, the green one needs most attention, orange is mid level parts, and red is small things that get away with very little, and i sometimes even make a 4th group. This one will be, say a bottom of a cylinder you will never see, and those get the last option.
So you pick your big parts and place them in the corners, scale them to match there needs. Now you've done that, you start to scale some medium parts up or down before you place them, and you will get a first look at how this tetris game can fall into place.
(Something to keep in mind is, the first time placing parts will almost never be the way they end up, dont think it is a waste or get angry if you pull it appart half way and try other variations.)
Looking at the img above, i found it a bit un organised, and would probably ended up with too much open spaces for my likings. So you drag some parts out, and try a different setup, what if i take that piece there, scale it, move it, and hmm... <beer>
Now that you have your setup you can shift things around and look at the parts you have left. Give them another round of priority. This thing needs the biggest space left, then that one, and those others will go there somehwre...
Thanks for the cool reactions guys, makes me smile
that's exactly how i approach uvs man, do all the high priority areas first and work down to "high density" mapping. Sometimes i also find it's effective to arrange arbitrary groups of UVs into squares or rectangles and just tesselate them in the uv as if they are their own element
Sorry to be a downer here, but your uvs are tooooo tight, you'll have trouble here with mip-mapping when parts bleed into other areas, you generally want 4-8 pixels(depends on resolution of the image really).
Sorry to be a downer here, but your uvs are tooooo tight, you'll have trouble here with mip-mapping when parts bleed into other areas, you generally want 4-8 pixels(depends on resolution of the image really).
I don't think there's enough room to bake normals with 3 or 4 padding, unless its going to be a 2k texture.
Normal padding i usually crank up to 32/64 pixels or something, you can never have "too much" padding, i'm talking about the minimum physical space in between islands here.
true,
im cutting it real close in some areas to make it a 1024, might end up tweaking some parts. I want to give it a shot at 2048, and for that there is quite the room.
Some parts that lay close are floating items.
And others can get away with some bleeds.
Im just going to play chickin and go for it, giving it too much room, takes all the fun.. out of the job.
At full-size 1024 you might be fine, but once it mips down to a 512 and 256 you could get noticeable artifacts. Unless this is something that should never mip down like a FPV weapon, best practice probably is to pad according to the 1/2 or 1/4 scale mip rather than full size. Very clean packing job either way. Wouldn't be too difficult to add more space between islands if you decided to adjust.
The "portfolio piece" thing might be misleading, since you really aren't going to gain any noticeable texel resolution from using 2-3px padding over 4-6px padding unless you have a crazy number of islands. Given that, the point of making nice UVs on a portfolio piece is to show your UV skill, and if part of that perceived ability is a tendency to pack UVs too tight for standard game asset mipping you could end up shooting yourself in the foot.
One-upping gauss in obscurity of weapon choice, here's a low poly SDK Carbine (still WIP). Been meaning to do this up for years, but never got around to it. Anyways, this weapon, as far as I know, never actually saw service. It was commissioned by the German Secret Police Chief specifically for the plot to assassinate Hitler.
Bullpup design, bolt-operated (I still don't understand how you're supposed to work the bolt, given its placement), integral (takedown-able) noise/flash suppressor, custom 9mm subsonic round, modified Luger P08 magazine. Being ridiculously rare, I've found it impossible to find any angles other than side-on, though there are two pics of the weapon broken down into its component pieces, both sides.
(If this ever sees use in an engine/game, it'll be for an X-Com/Jagged Alliance-ish game, so I'm not fussed about how the scope looks close-up).
(Also, I was well into the texturing when I realised I'd forgotten to un-mirror the stock, so the left side of it also has an ejection port and recess for the bolt handle. Doh)
Dear Joe,
You're an ass.
Sincerely,
Ben-edict Garnell
I have loled a little, in my mouf.
been trying to conceptualize this turboprop(?) engine but i need to do more research. i have a ton of refs but i still need to go through and steal my favorite parts. so this is where i got just messing around, not very good but i'm glad i did it now, before i really start.
this has also been another attempt to structure subd work ethic, thus more cylinders.
Sorry to be a downer here, but your uvs are tooooo tight, you'll have trouble here with mip-mapping when parts bleed into other areas, you generally want 4-8 pixels(depends on resolution of the image really).
that I learn more here than I did at school... . This is good to know.
Alright, time to move on. Im trying to catch the 'very used, and old, but not physically damaged look'
a bit hard without overdoing it. :poly124:
It's all about localizing textural details and avoiding visual noise. If you look closely at reference photos of something like a container in used but not rusted/damaged condition you will see that there isn't a ton of surface variation across the entire object but you will things like dirt, grime and drips tightly localized along areas of structure where it is allowed to build up.
Vitor, model looks great, but as JordanW said, armour parts are a bit too simple and clean
for warrior.
also this helmet ruins your beautiful work on his face, its looking generic and too minimalistic, imho.
keep on rolling, dude.
Replies
yes about the engine, it wont be a car for sure, thing is, im debating on what it should transform too
not tractor, there are the constructicons for that, but you should know who it is
about 3mil before subD, after its about 28mil
im not saving on anything though
another pic.. not trying to be accurate about it or model every detail cause u wont see much of it, just trying to make it look like real engine
haha yea, perfectly organized
I wanna know as well. What is the secret?
oke oke, in all seriousnez,
For starts, when you are actualy unwrapping and not placing parts, do it with the thought of stacking them in mind, box liked shapes stack best, or maybe you can fit two alike pieces next to eachother to create a box shape.
I found that by prioritising my parts before trying to fit them in, works like a charm.
You see three areas here, the green one needs most attention, orange is mid level parts, and red is small things that get away with very little, and i sometimes even make a 4th group. This one will be, say a bottom of a cylinder you will never see, and those get the last option.
So you pick your big parts and place them in the corners, scale them to match there needs. Now you've done that, you start to scale some medium parts up or down before you place them, and you will get a first look at how this tetris game can fall into place.
(Something to keep in mind is, the first time placing parts will almost never be the way they end up, dont think it is a waste or get angry if you pull it appart half way and try other variations.)
Looking at the img above, i found it a bit un organised, and would probably ended up with too much open spaces for my likings. So you drag some parts out, and try a different setup, what if i take that piece there, scale it, move it, and hmm... <beer>
Now that you have your setup you can shift things around and look at the parts you have left. Give them another round of priority. This thing needs the biggest space left, then that one, and those others will go there somehwre...
Thanks for the cool reactions guys, makes me smile
Sorry to be a downer here, but your uvs are tooooo tight, you'll have trouble here with mip-mapping when parts bleed into other areas, you generally want 4-8 pixels(depends on resolution of the image really).
I lol'd
I don't think there's enough room to bake normals with 3 or 4 padding, unless its going to be a 2k texture.
Oh also, the larger the texture is, the more padding you need, not the other way around.
true,
im cutting it real close in some areas to make it a 1024, might end up tweaking some parts. I want to give it a shot at 2048, and for that there is quite the room.
Some parts that lay close are floating items.
And others can get away with some bleeds.
Im just going to play chickin and go for it, giving it too much room, takes all the fun.. out of the job.
If it's never seen, why are you even putting it in the texture, and spend poligons on it? Would the holes have icky sideeffects?
But seriously I hope it works.
There are always spots that need to be closed off, but dont need details.
/
zac, yeah man,
see what it does
The "portfolio piece" thing might be misleading, since you really aren't going to gain any noticeable texel resolution from using 2-3px padding over 4-6px padding unless you have a crazy number of islands. Given that, the point of making nice UVs on a portfolio piece is to show your UV skill, and if part of that perceived ability is a tendency to pack UVs too tight for standard game asset mipping you could end up shooting yourself in the foot.
Copyritez 2000-something Ben-jamin' Garnell
You're an ass.
Sincerely,
Ben-edict Garnell
this is just a fun/idiotic attempt at % used,
ever finished this AK Kim?
Bullpup design, bolt-operated (I still don't understand how you're supposed to work the bolt, given its placement), integral (takedown-able) noise/flash suppressor, custom 9mm subsonic round, modified Luger P08 magazine. Being ridiculously rare, I've found it impossible to find any angles other than side-on, though there are two pics of the weapon broken down into its component pieces, both sides.
(If this ever sees use in an engine/game, it'll be for an X-Com/Jagged Alliance-ish game, so I'm not fussed about how the scope looks close-up).
(Also, I was well into the texturing when I realised I'd forgotten to un-mirror the stock, so the left side of it also has an ejection port and recess for the bolt handle. Doh)
edit:
Wire
and some more poses:
awesome!
is the little nub on the butt of the rifle the bolt? crazy!
I have loled a little, in my mouf.
been trying to conceptualize this turboprop(?) engine but i need to do more research. i have a ton of refs but i still need to go through and steal my favorite parts. so this is where i got just messing around, not very good but i'm glad i did it now, before i really start.
this has also been another attempt to structure subd work ethic, thus more cylinders.
Alright, time to move on. Im trying to catch the 'very used, and old, but not physically damaged look'
a bit hard without overdoing it. :poly124:
http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/3d-art/how-to-hand-paint-convincing-metal-textures/
It's all about localizing textural details and avoiding visual noise. If you look closely at reference photos of something like a container in used but not rusted/damaged condition you will see that there isn't a ton of surface variation across the entire object but you will things like dirt, grime and drips tightly localized along areas of structure where it is allowed to build up.
i agree somewhat, but OMFG DO NOT CHANGE THE HELMET
for warrior.
also this helmet ruins your beautiful work on his face, its looking generic and too minimalistic, imho.
keep on rolling, dude.
what kind of character?
Low poly retopo pretty much complete
hope i can finish this one ,.hope ican finish this one hope i can finish this one ... >.,<
me, I started a concept tag, ended up in some kind of 3 hour style bite but I had fun
ScoobyDoofus: Love this design. Aliens are certainly more fun to sculpt than frowny white guys.
xvampire: Some nice soft forms. Maybe push the chin or lower half of the face forward a little more to give the character more strength and presence.
edit:
Shit almost missed your badass portrait, gauss. Love those flowing brushstrokes.
"Do you want to know how I got these scars?"
thanks for all of the help!:)
though, if you see something terribly off, please say so!