nice! but i agree with Phillip... why are there seams? lol. Anyways! yeah.. i bet you could bring it down to 3k tri's. looking good though for a crap test.
kinda hard to go lower on this man. Those wheels are expensive!! also i kept getting a bunch of waves. So i just added geometry and took away from other places.
By the way, for my fellow xsi users. In xsi, is there a way to use a cage for baking normal maps? I know its got the offset option, but that doesnt seem to work too well. So i ended baking the maps in max. Also, using the 3point studio shader! oh yeah!!! lol
nice man!!! really digging this texture so far! keep it up! ya almost there! I know this is a first post pass and its looking great! maybe the wood base seems not dull enough like the reference?... highlights don't seem tight enough really when i look the ref for the metal parts... I think your diffuse looks pretty much done, its the spec map that needs the working on.
Jonathan F - thanx dude! yeah, the wood seems messy. Ill see what i can do to fix it.
SaferDan - I pressed the magic button that says " enable gaps in normal map"! lol jk
I did something Sparks suggested. And that is to use a plane and use a series of plane in the inbetween of the main two planes to cover up the hole. The problem im having tho is that i wasnt too careful so the seam shows up too much. So i gotta fix that as well. Look at my wires, now that i explained what i did you should see the series of planes behind the big plan that makes up the wheel. I did this, as opposed to modeling the entire wheel to save polies.
While that is a clever alpha trick, you could have avoid the expense of an alpha and just spent the geometry it would take to make the shape. It's just that seam is crazy annoying. Maybe if you tried making the 'series of planes' wider than what they are supposed to be, and alpha'ed out the correct thickness.(kinda like a 'T' plane) Not sure if that would work but it might reduce that seam enough.
-Phil
hey guys! 1st of all, saferDan, here is teh breakdown! Sorry it took so long, i just been kinda busy with things.
Basicly, all it is is using alpha planes to cover the objects, and using extra planes to add thickness. I included my diffuse sheet and im also attaching my maps to this so u can get a better idea of what the alphas are doing.
Let me know if you have questions.
Also, here is my next prop im making.
and here is some progress. ive spent most of my time blocking this out and making the little hardware parts. Not too happy with some things, but here it goes!
oooooh, puuurdy! the breakdown is nice. I still say thicken the inner planes and alpha those out.(to ensure mip padding to avoid a seam) not sure if that will work. Just a guess. That old-timey chainsaw is a great idea! Kinda reminds me of RAGE! And a start on a greeble library! nice!
-Phil
thanx phil! i still wanna get rid of that seam. I just havent had a time to do it. I think also what it is is that i didnt fix the alpha on it. I want to get to the bottom of this since its a great trick!
jonathan - thanx dude! note to self - get more reference and shut down netflix!! lol
Saferdan - thanx! The one thing i would say about the alphas is that use them wisely. and keep in mind that most newer next gen games dont fully support them. So dont think u can get away with that.
JasonLavoie - whoa! thanx dude! Im a huge fan of yours!!!!!
Demilich - no problem! Tho, I may sound like a broken record here. But i cant fully take credit for the alpha trick. That was shown to me by sparks.
Moving on, so i did work on this chainsaw. not fully done. There are some minor tweaks that i just noticed that i need to address.
Here is it.
Working on this thing was a lot of fun, as i finally feel super confident that ican make any darn shape! lol.
Here is my 1st try at the lp. the shader doesnt exactly like alphas it seems. and im having hell making the alphas work. im thinking im just gonna model the stuff that is using the alphas.
At the same time i forgot that a lot of these things would need to be double sided like the handle bar that goes around the machine. The model is currently standing at 4500 tris.
Other things i noticed while casting were, some objects came out looking "flatter" like the 2 screws at the end of the machine by the starting handle ( behind the gas tank ) one screw look good, bu the other one looks like its barely there. wtf?
In another note. Quakecon was awesome!! I was pretty inspired and motivated after it. So i just wanted to take a moment to thank everyone in polycount for making such an awesome forum. And pushing peeps forward to do better and crazier!
pedro - thanx! for now i think im gonna focus on finishing this piece for my folio, but ive been talking to a few people about how to approach this for animation. Everyone is saying to go next gen and get the blades in there. So we will see...lol. I would like to see this in a game engine tho. As an actual weapon.
Jonathan - thanx.
started out on my initial washes. kinda trying to figure out where things would be at.
meh...... lol, just kidding man. looking good! for sure need more rust on the the part the blades go around. and the spec will really make this pop! looking forward to seeing more! Keep it up!
also wish there was some duck tape going around the handle area in the ref as a padder. I think that would really add to it.... could always add to it too though.
Here is a second pass at the textures. This time i worked on the little details. Tried doing it all by hand ( little image basing ). So now i think i will move on the 3rd pass and finish the diffuse.I also made a quick spec and normal. At this point, im only showing the diffuse. Also now, that im looking at it, i gotta adjust some of the colors and alphas.
Between other things, i tried out the new marmoset to render this. I like the changes a lot! My only complaint is that it slows down my computer so i had to close it and open max to preview my texture ( with the 3dppint shader of course ) Does anyone know what could be causing the slow down?
Well, i was sick as a dog this weekend. Texturing while nyquil kicks in is a bitch! lol. Here is my weekend update.
I worked in the spec a bit, but now that im looking at this, i dont think is looking too good.
Also, i saw spacemonkey's badass sculpts and renders, and thougth i would look into rendering like that. I donwloaded imrod, and played with that to get a semi realistic render. Check it out!
For those who dont know, imrod was the winning entry for one of the dom wars. IT IS NOT MY PIECE! So...just in case i didnt make it clear enough. THIS IS NOT MY WORK. All i did is spend sometime figuring out the render settings.
And i think for my next piece i will be modeling this guy
That's a damn fine chainsaw sir. I do think the streaking or darker metal grain on the blade is too dark or just too large. If you made the grain finer I think it would look a lot better, imo. Or maybe you could just make the spec a bit more mottled and uneven on the blade.
Just a small advice: if you want to get rid of the read areas in your texture (ray miss color) you could change the color in the render settings of the texture baker.
dtschultz- thank you! i followed your suggestions and i liked what it gave me. Then i threw in my own flare.
pixelato7, Ihazard Zelenkov, jonathanF - this tractor is so complex its so hard to keep up! lol. Thanx!
rapheal9 - i personally think that is the artist making the badass art not the software. Software is just a tool, and millions of different ways to get the same results using different things. So in the end, you should really use what you know and feel comfortable with.
For the most part i use xsi, exclusively for my high poly work. I started using max for uving and to preview my textures with the super cool shader from 3point studios. And of course photoshop for textures. Xnormal and Nvidia plugins to generate maps.
Its been a weird past couple of weeks. Decided to take a break and start work on my online folio site. Here are the final sheets for the chainsaw.
After a few weeks of not looking at the textures they feel a bit surreal to me. I may adjust them to tone that a little. Any suggestions are welcome!
Nothing worth showing on the tractor, been kinda doing other things lately :P Hopefully get to post during the weekend!
Replies
By the way, for my fellow xsi users. In xsi, is there a way to use a cage for baking normal maps? I know its got the offset option, but that doesnt seem to work too well. So i ended baking the maps in max. Also, using the 3point studio shader! oh yeah!!! lol
SaferDan - I pressed the magic button that says " enable gaps in normal map"! lol jk
I did something Sparks suggested. And that is to use a plane and use a series of plane in the inbetween of the main two planes to cover up the hole. The problem im having tho is that i wasnt too careful so the seam shows up too much. So i gotta fix that as well. Look at my wires, now that i explained what i did you should see the series of planes behind the big plan that makes up the wheel. I did this, as opposed to modeling the entire wheel to save polies.
It looks amazing though
-Phil
Basicly, all it is is using alpha planes to cover the objects, and using extra planes to add thickness. I included my diffuse sheet and im also attaching my maps to this so u can get a better idea of what the alphas are doing.
Let me know if you have questions.
Also, here is my next prop im making.
and here is some progress. ive spent most of my time blocking this out and making the little hardware parts. Not too happy with some things, but here it goes!
-Phil
i was sitting here for like 5 mintues just going "......huh?!"
but i see what you did there and its epic!
Thank you very much for taking the time to break it down! Its genuis!
and that chainsaw is looking epic!
The chainsaw is looking impressive and thanks for sharing the alpha plane tip.
Saferdan - thanx! The one thing i would say about the alphas is that use them wisely. and keep in mind that most newer next gen games dont fully support them. So dont think u can get away with that.
JasonLavoie - whoa! thanx dude!
Demilich - no problem! Tho, I may sound like a broken record here. But i cant fully take credit for the alpha trick. That was shown to me by sparks.
Moving on, so i did work on this chainsaw. not fully done. There are some minor tweaks that i just noticed that i need to address.
Here is it.
Working on this thing was a lot of fun, as i finally feel super confident that ican make any darn shape! lol.
chemical Alla - im doing all my modeling in softimage. trying to pick up modo...
the button actually exists!!?!? :P lol
nice job on the hp. looking forward to more.
At the same time i forgot that a lot of these things would need to be double sided like the handle bar that goes around the machine. The model is currently standing at 4500 tris.
Other things i noticed while casting were, some objects came out looking "flatter" like the 2 screws at the end of the machine by the starting handle ( behind the gas tank ) one screw look good, bu the other one looks like its barely there. wtf?
In another note. Quakecon was awesome!!
Jonathan - thanx.
started out on my initial washes. kinda trying to figure out where things would be at.
Your work is stellar! Really great stuff to look at.
Between other things, i tried out the new marmoset to render this. I like the changes a lot!
Stylized awesomeness. *saves to inspiration folder*
Well, i was sick as a dog this weekend. Texturing while nyquil kicks in is a bitch! lol. Here is my weekend update.
I worked in the spec a bit, but now that im looking at this, i dont think is looking too good.
Also, i saw spacemonkey's badass sculpts and renders, and thougth i would look into rendering like that. I donwloaded imrod, and played with that to get a semi realistic render. Check it out!
For those who dont know, imrod was the winning entry for one of the dom wars. IT IS NOT MY PIECE! So...just in case i didnt make it clear enough. THIS IS NOT MY WORK. All i did is spend sometime figuring out the render settings.
And i think for my next piece i will be modeling this guy
whats the software you've used?.. the output seems nice
pixelato7, Ihazard Zelenkov, jonathanF - this tractor is so complex its so hard to keep up! lol. Thanx!
rapheal9 - i personally think that is the artist making the badass art not the software. Software is just a tool, and millions of different ways to get the same results using different things. So in the end, you should really use what you know and feel comfortable with.
For the most part i use xsi, exclusively for my high poly work. I started using max for uving and to preview my textures with the super cool shader from 3point studios. And of course photoshop for textures. Xnormal and Nvidia plugins to generate maps.
Its been a weird past couple of weeks. Decided to take a break and start work on my online folio site. Here are the final sheets for the chainsaw.
After a few weeks of not looking at the textures they feel a bit surreal to me. I may adjust them to tone that a little. Any suggestions are welcome!
Nothing worth showing on the tractor, been kinda doing other things lately :P Hopefully get to post during the weekend!