Feng Drone
Heres a model Ive been working on now off and on for a few months, its finally finished and Im happy to show it here. The model is based on a Feng Zhu concept, which is posted below, along with images of my take on the concept in making a 3D version. Noticeably I dont have a cockpit in the 3D version, wanted it to be more a drone then something actually piloted. Also I took some suggestions from some friends of mine and redesigned some areas, and took liberties where the concept was a bit ambiguous.
This is my first time using the method of going high to low poly, baking normals and ambient occlusions from the high on to the low. It was all done in max and photoshop, while the screenshots were taken using Marmoset Toolbag. The poly count is bit over 18k, would like for that to be lower
. The model was broken down into four sections each with its own set of color, spec, and normal maps. Map sizes used taking the screenshots were at 2048x2048, however the model still holds up using smaller 1024x1024 just not as crisp as I would like. The glow effects were added in photoshop.
As mentioned early this is my first time making a model in this manner, as such I made a lot mistakes haha. So any constructive criticism, comments, or questions are welcomed. Thanks!
This is my first time using the method of going high to low poly, baking normals and ambient occlusions from the high on to the low. It was all done in max and photoshop, while the screenshots were taken using Marmoset Toolbag. The poly count is bit over 18k, would like for that to be lower
. The model was broken down into four sections each with its own set of color, spec, and normal maps. Map sizes used taking the screenshots were at 2048x2048, however the model still holds up using smaller 1024x1024 just not as crisp as I would like. The glow effects were added in photoshop.As mentioned early this is my first time making a model in this manner, as such I made a lot mistakes haha. So any constructive criticism, comments, or questions are welcomed. Thanks!
Replies
Any chance of different paint job/skins for this?
18k is definitely too high for this model, but you said you'd like that to be lower, so at least you are aware of it. By looking at your wireframe, it shouldn't be too hard at all to bring that total down.
Also, using four 2048's is unnecessary. Most models you see only use one, maybe two if its a main focal piece. I understand you don't want to lose detail, but just by industry standards, four maps is just too much for a single piece. And for the glow effects, I would learn how to make use of emissive maps instead of adding it in post-process.
The scratches on the model seem a bit too random and uniform. I think it would help to be a little more deliberate with the placement of the wear and tear. Add more scratches and chipped paint around the edges, where the drone would most likely come into contact with other things.
The spec map doesn't seem to be doing as much for the model as it could be, or it could just be the lighting setup. Maybe up the contrast in your spec, and try to bring out the edges a bit more as well. There are also ways to grunge up your spec to make it read as metal better. I thought racer445's metal painting tutorial was great, and you should definitely check it out.
http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/3d-art/how-to-hand-paint-convincing-metal-textures/
But like I said, great stuff for your first time doing this sort of thing, keep it up:thumbup:
I agree though your maps do not have to be as high as you used. 1K is proper if your going by an industry standard for texture maps. Although, your textures look do look quite good so props! But ya if your rendering it out to show off, its cool if we got to see how it would look by industry standards when it comes to textures. As for your modeling, looks pretty rad, but haha I don't know if 18K is necessary for a poly count. Try and aim for some like 5K if that's the kind of model you are doing. Most games main characters are about 20K. All in all sweet model man, the time paid off
Awesome link by the way Sean_EG, this is definitely useful.
As for the additional skins i wasn't planning on it. If i do anything further I would like to revise the materials a bit, so that its more metal like with better scratch marks. I would also like to optimize my low poly mesh as well.
Thanks again for the comments guys, much appreciated.
Let the normals work for you along the spine and in the torso part. Spend those polys on the more obvious profile shapes and curvature instead.