Second game prop - Recovered Chest

MainManiac

Something small to practice on, my second game prop ever.



Different view from viewport



I do realize that i should have modeled on the lock, but i crammed it on the diffuse last minute after i forgot about it. I did think to myself how i would have achieved creating it though.

Sean VanGorder

The wooden planks seem relatively clean compared to how messed up the metal looks. I'd try to dirty up the wood a bit more.

Asteric

Also, i would saturate the wood saturate the wood a lot more, they tend to get grimey and dark from weathering/water.

Jet_Pilot

I would say add a lock, handles,hinges and maybe chains.
i don't see a line showing where the top comes off.
Try and have some reference visible whenever your making something, instead of trying to remember what it looks like, this way you wont forget about anything.
http://www.funservicesoh.com/assets/photos/Treasure%20Chest.jpg

tda

The lock is barely visible on the model, i didn't actually notice it till you pointed it out. You should try to work it into the normalmap, the same goes with the heavy corrosion in the metal parts. They'll pop out much nicer.

You should also make a spec map, everything is reading as the same material at the moment, it almost looks like it's covered in shiny clingfilm.

Progg

Biggest thing I can say is aimed at the textures. Honestly it looks like you just took a rusted metal texture from cgtextures.com and overlayed it onto the base layer. I would go back and make sure you finesse the edges of this thing in the texture. Nothing sells a beat up model more then scratches and wear/tear on the edges.

I think the scale of the rust texture is also competing against the size of the chest. What I mean by this is if you take the texture you have... Ctrl + T in Photoshop and scale it down to about 1/2 or 1/4th of what it is now and I think it will fit better overall.

MainManiac

Progg wrote: »

Biggest thing I can say is aimed at the textures. Honestly it looks like you just took a rusted metal texture from cgtextures.com and overlayed it onto the base layer. I would go back and make sure you finesse the edges of this thing in the texture. Nothing sells a beat up model more then scratches and wear/tear on the edges.

I think the scale of the rust texture is also competing against the size of the chest. What I mean by this is if you take the texture you have... Ctrl + T in Photoshop and scale it down to about 1/2 or 1/4th of what it is now and I think it will fit better overall.

Heh :poly141: Thats exactly what i did . I figured it looks alright because chest metal more than likely isnt made to be submerged underwater for years, and rusting would have been severe. There were also very little references if any.

Im already fixing up the HP model:

Sean VanGorder

Adding the lock to the model will help a lot. I think you need to show the separation from the chest and its lid even more. I would make the lid a separate piece altogether and move it up some. Then add some hinges to the back, connecting the two pieces.

Its good to see the you listen to your critiques and use it to improve your work. That doesn't happen in a lot of cases. Keep it up and this will be a pretty nice prop.

MainManiac

Finally got marmoset working



Im sorry guys, but i really want to follow and improve the model with some of your criticism, but i cant. They way i modeled the High poly only let me do so much, just getting the lid of the chest to look like a lid was a hassle. And I really don't want to remake the entire model but i will be creating more stuff in the future, so i guess ill make a WIP thread next time.

Acumen

now the photo overlay is even more visible
the wood i like, but the metal rust overlay is scaled to high, imo. and i don't know why its so briiiiiiiiiiiight.
one thing i learned in the past. with just overlaying photo textures and don't invest more detail work, you're not gonna get far
the idea behind it to speed up the finishing process is so intriguing, yet you need to do some more research. cause it looks like woodencutout - you can't really see the individual metal pieces that can be clearly seen on your highpoly.
another point i imagine the chest not floating in the center of the water but standing on ground (sand, rock, whatever) so naturally i'd imagine another kind of dirt on the lower part than on the upper parts of it - again something against purely using a photo overlay and call it done.
like on this photorealistic reference picture
http://www.baumanns.ie/images/OrnamentTreasureChest.jpg

that goes for the texture itself as well as the forgotten lock. even the tiniest prop deserves attention to detail. i think the hipoly itself is soooo clean, straight and regular angled, yet you wanted to create a reaaaaally old, abandonned, rusty crusty chest that suffered for ages underwater.

you know this could got into a philosophical epic battle all over
sadly adam bromell's "Environment Artist: The StoryTeller" article is not online anymore. it really helps getting into this stuff deeeeeply
bottom line, it seems you don't wanna go back and forth on this simple piece. yet i would take all the advice given by the guys into consideration for your next project, no matter how tiny or huge it may be. this stuff really helps setting things apart. good luck

MainManiac

Great suggestions acumen, i wish i would have thought of that. You make me want to go smear sand all over the base :P. Thanks for your suggestion. At first i didnt notice the scaling until the marmoset render, and now i see what you guys are talking about alot better.

Thanks!

Actually i could probably use this to work on my texturing instead of editing the model. So we'll see tomorrow.