katerina yonce
Hey guys, my name is Kat. I'm currently a student in the Dallas area and i just started doing 3d modeling. This barrel is my 1st prop and i'm looking forward to doing more 3d! First time doing a low poly, high poly, textures and even posting screenshots. I would like to thank Raul and Phillip for helping out! You guys rule! 
Pineapple grenade
here's the ref i used
I just started working on this column
Pineapple grenade
here's the ref i used
I just started working on this column
Replies
Here's a few crits:
1. I think the specular on the barrel needs some more work to help differentiate the wood from the metal. You might want to brighten up the specular for the metal parts to get them to have some shine.
2. Take out the red from your AO map it will show up as a red outline around the faces it surrounds when mip mapped in game. In fact it might also be a good idea to change the black dead space to white on the AO as well otherwise it will appear as black outlines when heavily mip mapped.
3. 2048 for a barrel seems a bit high res for a real time asset of this size, unless maybe you're going for "next gen" or it's for a pre rendered cut scene.
4. I would suggest mirroring and/or stacking UVs as a good method for increasing pixel density rather than using larger texture sheets. In many engines you can also use non-square textures to save texture memory and have less wasted UV space. Your barrel for example could have been placed on a 2048 x 1024 map by mirroring most of the wood panels.
Anyway you're first low poly work is way better than what I first made. Keep it up
Metal bits need to be lightened so they have more gleam. Not too much since its rusty and all, but just to show its another material than the wood.
Don't make the spec texture all black, but make it a really dark grey. Then use black in the seams.
Cracks and seams usually gather dirt, dust and all that, so there's not much place for shiny spec there.
The rest of the models look good. A bit of pinching on the top of the grenade body, needs cleaning up.
Massive props on that!
Spec is used, as stated above, do help differentiate different material types. An easy way for you to start a spec map is to grab the layers that have your basic wood and metal materials on them. (so remove all the shadows and highlights that you might have added to just gain the raw texture of the materials.
Use masks to separate your different materials (in this case the metal from the wood) then either paint, dodge and burn or use levels to get the desired base specular.
In this case the wood would be mostly black and metal would be tweaked till most of it was a med-light grey.
Then make another layer and add on different specular bits, like white scratches on the metal and some dark patches where there is rust or dirt.
Keep going! Post more and its great to see more girl power on these forums
Welcome to polycount, some solid work here as others have mentioned. You're definitely on the right track as a new modeler. Keep up the good work!
Keep it up!!
I know you are still not done, so make sure your silthoutte value is dead on with your reference. I see some curves need more work. Also make sure that you delete the traingles from the top side of the cylinders..
The little circles with with stripes going on at the end of the decor. They dont match your reference. Check the right pattern.
-raul
On yours the little panels are too big
it needs a few more hard edges too, looks a little soft overall. silhouette is very smooth also
if you can spare the polys, just leave the bigger bevels in.
with the grenade, remember that scratches and scrapes on the diffuse will also need to be present in the specular.
This tutorial by Ben Mathis can help you merge your detail normal with your highpoly source normal.
http://www.poopinmymouth.com/tutorial/normal_workflow_3.htm
Spark
Here's my lo-poly on the column...These are not my final maps...I'm still working on them
you guys wast your time awesomely criting people who dont listen
That high poly barrel is reeeaally high poly though. i don't think that many polys are needed for either low nor low.
Almightyl_gir: Both the barrel and the grenade specular maps were done in crazybump. I'm still in the process on learning how to make them look right.
DeusExMatteo: I took the polygons around the grenade and used inset and then used the push modifier to push them out. Then i chamfered the edges and connected each "pinapple" once vertically and horizontally to keep the square shape.
Anuxinamoon: The link to the tutorial you sent me is very helpful. Thank you
I will be going back on the barrel and the grenade to pay more attention on making the specular maps and textures after I finish my class projects.
Katerina
Try to think of which parts reflect the light more than others and paint those brighter.
You are really starting to spit these out. That's good that you are getting the process down. Now that you seem to be grasping the process you should try more complicated props. Ones that are not just a cylinder (barrel, grenade, column).
In regards to the specular:
Specularity can be a difficult concept to understand. Anuxinamoon, had some very valid points. Take another look at her comments. Also, you should find yourself spending close to the same amount of time and love as you do with your diffuse map. You can utilize some of the information you already have from your normal map to get a good start on your specular but there is no one button, click and then your done. I've also seen people start the specular with their diffuse and even the ambient occlusion. Here is a link that I found for you that shows a technical way to think about it. CLICK
Another way to get a good start is to take the normal map into Crazybump, go to Diffuse and set the 3D Highlights to like 15 or so. Save that file, take it in to photoshop and try a layer blend mode (such as Hardlight). Then maybe underneath that layer you could use a desaturated version of the diffuse. Even this way, you still shouldn't call it done with a better understanding of specularity. (polished metal = shiny = light, worn metal = less shiny = darker than light, wood and rust = dull = dark)
As a spankin new learner, it can be difficult to intake the amount of information fed to you. So open your pie hole and take it.lol Keep going your doing fine.
-Phil
quick dirty specmap, but shows the principl
Bare metal usually get more white assigned to it because it will be shinier then most other materials on the model.
Highlight edges to make them pop, but don't overdo it.
black goes to parts that catch less light, are dirty or muted. Use it on cracks and such to bring out depth.
Reference:
Are you using Any Texture Normal map Filters such as Crazybump?
With a High poly like that it should look alot better.
btw, that fire hydrant is looking very good :thumbup:
He talks about Left Side, Front, Upper side Pictures of the Object you want to model, you take the images and you put them as a Backdrop.
Something like this:
Avoid using Crazybump as much as you can. specially on your High poly baked Normal maps, Crazybump has an odd tendency to Mess with the normals and they end up looking always wrong, you should give a try to Xnormal, It has lots of usefull tools and even a Height to Normal map Filter Plug-in for PS that is usefull when you want to add a layer of small detail to your normal map.
Try to avoid Crazybump 3D shape Recognition and always keep your normal maps clean.
Here's the reference
on the normals of your hydrant, i see a lot of waves! Makes me wanna go surfing!