Galactic Warfare assets (CoD4 MOD)

Matroskin

Hi everyone,

I finished this AT-ST recently for Galactic Warfare, a MOD for CoD4 (http://www.blackmonkeys.de/?cat=11)

Tris: 8970
Texture: 1x2048 (Diffuse, Spec, Normal)

The MOD is coming along quite exciting:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3tasgo0KY8[/ame]

So I decided to help out with some stuff.

This walker here is supposed to be a static object in the level. The pose will vary.

The render is in Unreal Ed because this object is recently done so its not yet integrated into CoD engine.







Diff:


Spec:


Normal:


I'll be doing also destroyed version quite soon

Progg

The model and texture look great, the only comment I have is that there is a ton of wasted UV space. So much so, if you packed them tighter you could probably pull off the same amount of detail in a 1024 map . Looks good though.

Gallows

Excellent work man. Although it looks a bit taller than what my mind serves me. It's a great model. But that texture map looks like a heinous item to tackle. But as far as I'm seeing your poly usage is pretty awesome, can't wait to see the destroyed version.

3dskillet

Progg wrote: »

The model and texture look great, the only comment I have is that there is a ton of wasted UV space. So much so, if you packed them tighter you could probably pull off the same amount of detail in a 1024 map . Looks good though.

well not only that but buy judging by the normal, there is repeated shapes that could have been one. stuff that could have been left to a detail map area alone, and if you wanted to get crazy, the unique occluded bit could have been a separate map.

that said it is a cool model. I'd leave the textures out of your portfolio though.

Nice job

rasmus

I think it lacks some detail and scale reference especially on the main "head" - little things like screws, stains and smears would both make it look better and sell the scale. Some more emphasized paneling wouldn't hurt either - all in all your version is very smooth and plain. There is also a shocking lack of tech junk detail on the back - really feels like this are should be full of stuff, dark engine parts etc, though I can't for the life of me find any references of the back

http://www.dorlingkindersley-uk.co.uk/static/html/features/starwars/technology_gallery/images/AT-ST%20Cutaway.jpg
http://images3.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars-exodus/images/thumb/3/3f/ATST.jpg/300px-ATST.jpg
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/e/e9/At-st_large_pic.jpg

odium

Yeah, the mesh really lacks any form of detail coming from the normal map, which is a shame.

I have to agree on the UV map, really poorly done. With some smart mirroring and moving, you could get the entire thing downto like 1024x512 and still keep the exact same detail you have there. But to say thats a 2048x2048 is a shame because you could pack in some crazy detail if everything wasn't split.

As it stands, great low poly, poor unwrap, and SCREAMS for a decent high poly mesh for the normals.

odium

Actually on second lookage, its clear you didn't make a high poly mesh for this at all and just used the nVidia normal map filter, which is a shame. This would look damn spiffy with a good uv map and hp.

Matroskin

thanks a lot for feedbacks.

I agree, i could have packed it more, though now most of stuff is actually not repeated. I did wasted, non-overlapping UVs only for "lower legs" and "feet". I somehow thought since it is close to the ground so it could be cool to have different texture details, but eventually it is not worth it since it is not visible enough. Those parts could have shared same UVs :P

I don't thnink that packing it more would reeduce it 4 times (2048 > 1024) keeping same detail, but yes, packing could have added ~15, max 20% more space which is always good.

Yep, I guess I won't put maps to my portfolio :P

Gallows - it is in exact proportion, maybe Unreal Ed camera angle distorts it s bit :P

rasmus - i agree, guess i'll add some more dirt stuff. Actually the back looks like that with that amount of detail. I've got ref images, will post them later.
Its details r quite what it has considering texture size, smaller stuff wont be visible unfortunately I does not seem to have rivets or seams on its turret either, though i love rivets

odium - actually i did hi-poly for baking, Nornal map is mostly bake btw, same as occlusion. I used crazybump only for metal overlay wich is very subtle. Of course i don't do entire hires model but what needed hi-res for baking was modelled So i guess i am not that much in infernal shame lol.
1024x512 is 8 times scale btw, definitely non faisable with same detail...

Oki doki, tahnks guys, i need to do some dirt fixes to the texture

TheWinterLord

I saw some guys at work playing the mod, we might be more trying it out soon.
You got some good feedback on your model, it made me wish I could take liberty like that for a sec and it gave me a smile, hehe.
There is hardly any difference between your spec and diffuse and if you are not gonna use it then you can use the diffuse as spec and save some resources.

vj_box

Why such a blown out UV? look like the automatic mapping that you usually do for the second UV channel.You might wanna redo the UVs to a more efficient state.Good piece of work though!

Matroskin

TheWinterLord thanks man. "Liberty like that" ? Sry, i didnt get it :P
I kept separate spec due to higher contrast that is in the spec map. Well, i guess Diff could be used instead, why not, u r right it'll save some resources.

vj_box - weird, i havent noticed such simple thing during the process, but now it is quite evident :P Strange, I usually pay attention to such things, maybe i got too much relaxed on this one :P
Now i pay for this sin by being blamed

TheWinterLord

I meant that your uvs are so simple, no reused parts etc, i dont mean its so bad its just that if it was work I would have to squeze it in on a 1024*512 probably. The ''do more with less'', sure its fun but its also tough and makes me tired sometimes. :P

odium

Yeah defo gotta agree on what you say about no chance of shrinking it down. If you tile the uv's where needed, and give a much smaller buffer zone around uv islands. You could VERY easily get that uv map down to at least 4x smaller with the same over all detail.

I guess the reason it didn't look like there was a high poly mesh is becuae of how split the unwrap is. Everything is its own piece, which comes off making things look flat. Theres no real volume to everything and the normals don't have a chance to shine as much as they should have. Unwrapping this is very much like unwrapping a weapon model is that you keep as much as the unwrap needed, and if the smoothing breaks over harsh angles maybe add a chamver/extrude.

Its certainly not a bad model at all, the base low poly mesh is spot on. Haven't seen the high so can't say for sure (although I have a sneaking feeling that your chamver edge work is too small, which is why it looks none existent here). With some simple tweaks you can make this look 10x with the chance of it taking up few resources... Which is a very good thing.

Matroskin

i guess i will re-arrange UVs clusters after all. All the comments give me enough motivation to do that

I thought this one finished, but I dont like the feeling of something left behind, even if i notice it too late :P

odium - the object is quite big (turret about 2 human heights), so the edge smoothing is not so small by itself, but in relation to the whole mesh of course they r thin. I keep most of UV sets detached because it works better for Normal bake this way since I use smoothing groups.
Hi-res one does not exist as one finished mesh on its own. I model only what i need to bake, most of details are floating geo, since it wont make difference in baked result.

Allright, hopefully during the week ill redo the unwrap :P

rasmus

I know it's probably not what you're thinking, but if you're going to redo everything else, why not bake from a full hipoly? Copying the low as a base for making the high it needn't take you that much longer, and give you nice beveled edges and whatnot if you wanted. The way I see it you might as well! As for UV's pretty much only the "head" would need to be unique... and then you would have texture rez for some tiny rivets, too

Pavel Petrenko

Hey Vlad!
Good work overall, UV really looks strange! I think you need remake your unwrap.
I have noticed interesting thing. I would like to add on texture some scratches on metall corners. But its not in Star Wars style i think

odium

You saying that, totally forgot...

That spec map is really wrong. Not only would your metal be glowing like glass, its also done quite poorly. To me, it looks like the spec map was an afterthought, that you did the spec after the diffuse, by simply tweaking the diffuse.

Tell me, if a spec map shows how much a surface reflects light, then why doesn'y your spec map have SHADOW on it

The spec map should be a totally different texture near enough, remember to highlight those edges and present details that would only show up at specular level.

As it stands, that, coupled with the odd way you did the uv islands making the high poly not shine, it just makes the model look like it was made for jedi knight 2, rather than a current gen game.

Joao Sapiro

Make a proper HP , study refs from the movie, and be sure to capture interesting shapes that will read well in the normal , this with a sane unwrap will be win .
Even if it is childishly stated, i agree with what odium says.

oh and kill some ewoks please.

Slash

I have nothing to add in the form of crits, its been covered already. But the project looks awesome.


but..

BINARY LENSFLARE? my mind is officially blown.

Matroskin

thanks for all c&cs.
lol, i really was relaxed when i did this one:)
Me I am usually all about optimizations since i mostly work with handheld, but this time i definitely should have been chilling hehe.

rasmus - it actually has most of edges with normals that give smoothed edge effect which works well, but probably the distance is quite far plus lighting didnt help that :P

Pavel Petrenko - yes, gotta review the dirt part of it

Johny - actually i got lots of refs and all of them r different, since this is fictional object Movie versions that i saw r not enough hi-res to see all details, but anyways, ill review that part as well.

odium - Spec was rushed indeed. Though that is not "SHADOW" but a part of occlusion which usually affects spec, since shinyness is reduced where AO gets stronger, because such areas r also have more dirt etc. I just got some dam big occluded pisece :P
UV with bunch of islands is actually the only way how it works for Normal bake to appear correct if there are smoothing groups and if i want to have rounded edge effect. So dont worry about that man

Slash - lol, intro video definitely starts with lens flare that makes me close my eyes :P hopefully the game itself is well done -_-

Matroskin

allrighty, its been a while :P

I remodelled like half of the low poly, completely remapped and did all new hi-res elements for bake.

During that process i discovered bunch of missing stuff, i fixed wrong proportions (old one was so long legged due to inaccurate blueprint that i got for my ref).

Thanks a lot for all your crits that pushed me to start redoing it

Anyways, my at-st starts all new life now

Tris: ~10200
Normal and AO passes r finished.
Next gotta work on Diffuse.

kodde

I'm digging it. Looks very clean yet still interesting. Good job.

ZacD

So much better, looks really nice.

odium

Looking good Lets see the flats!

Pavel Petrenko

Hey Vlad! Very good baking! Looks a lot better!

Asteric

That revamp is looking awesome man, nice one.

Matroskin

thanks guys, i am also more happy with this one, lol, first one now seems horrible to me:P

3d shots for now, ill post textures shortly, i just need to go to sleep now, cant watch my screen any longer

Around 10K tris.

willy-wilson

much much better than before.

ENODMI

Excellent! Really good job!

Avanthera

good job!

Pavel Petrenko

Hey Vlad! Great textures, dirt and lakes looks very good!
You rock!

qartar

All it's missing is an ewok or two hanging from the top...

Lee3dee

love the AT-ST! The mod is awesome btw, hope they release more maps soon

odium

Like night and day with the first version, GJ.

Matroskin

thanks ppl

Lee3dee - yes, actually several new maps r now in works I already played one at test phase, but at least one more is in progress, but i haven't see it in playable state.

anyways, here r textures :P







Next will be damaged/destroyed one...

Kitteh

awesome work... way better than what you first posted

ngs616

Those UVs are much better! And those most recent renders are looking awesome.

JasonLavoie

Looking SOOO sick vlad, really impressed how you improved on your first take, nice job man.

paulsvoboda

That looks great! I haven't watched this thread since the beginning but really wish I did as it's awesome to see how much progress you made with it. Great job on the newest version.

wizo

Hahah Vlad! Totally awesome!

Good to see some personnal work, the modeling is superb, try contrasting more the spec map, the renders lack spec imo,

Take care!

Matroskin

thanks polycounters
lol, I am still wondering how i did what i did in the first post :P I should bitch slam myself for that:)

wizo - good to hear from u again man Yeah, every time i do a new model i try to get spec more and more, lol, maybe next time it'll be right :P Btw, this lack of spec can be due to my Unreal light setup. The MOD guys got it into the CoD4 engine and it looks sharper there Though unfortunately i cant post screens for now, but ill ask if they will be ok with that or no since the actual map is still a WIP.

Matroskin

...and eventually MOD guys let me show some early images

The map itself is done by other ppl and it is an early WIP for now;)

ZacD

Looks really nice in game, might be scaled too small though.

renderhjs

While I like the model and bake in overall, I kind of miss that gray tone in the difuse texture the way I remember those AT ST's. Everything in those screenshots looks brown, its like someone used a sepia filter.

odium

IMHO I still think the unwrap could be improved, as a lot of things could be mirrored and welded together correctly and then the smoothing corrected on the mesh, rather than using the unwrap as such. With planning you could get it down to 2048x1024 easy enough.

However that aside its a good asset, maybe a tad noisey ingame, maybe a little too JK2 in style (how all the textures they made were noisey too), and your edges seem to fade to black (Such as the cockpit edges).

But much improved over the first version thats for sure. Just a shame to not see you tackle the unwrap a bit better.

Matroskin

good points guys, thanks.

@ ZacD - i was also thinking that. Well, that is a quick "put into the level", it is hard to say without having another charatcer near it. When il see that, ill try to compare to see if it can be scaled up.

@ renderhjs - yeah, seen it in the environment i could adjust color tone a bit. U know, when working on it separately that color kinda seemed fine, considering that AT-STs r really different in terms of "coat". Even in the movie some of them look quite rusty and brownish while others r more gray :P
But seen now how it looks with the rest of the map I might be adjusting the overall color.

@ odium - actually that straight dark seem is also bothering me a bit. It is a scrathched paint, but maybe too straight, i need to make it more irregular.
UVs, well, i want to stop at some point :P Next time.

Envelope

Incredible progression from the first pass and this one. I agree with Odium that you could probably push it even more. Good stuff

killingpeople

Get rid of the black lines on the edges

Matroskin

Envelope, killingpeople - thanks , actually black lines on the edges r gone now (previous images r updated).

k, some more stuff.
I've been working on one of "destroyed/damaged" versions as well.

Here is what i have for now, but i guess i might add a bit more mesh distortions around the damaged point (which is supposed to be "neck" joint which got broken by a shot or something):

Pedro Amorim

sweet!

SouthpawSid

nice job on damaging it up!