Im breaking this out of my other thread
High poly
Low poly wire
I did a quick flatten map bake before uving just to catch any errors. Obviously some floating geometry didnt export right but itll all be fixed
Im also unaware of the texture standard for fps weapons, i know 2048 is good for the texture but what about normals? Ive baked out both:
Crits before uving?
Replies
Having built alot of guns at work with similar polybudgets i can say already that there is potential for better poly usage. For a firstperson weapon you want to chamfer the edges of the sights so they appear less blocky when you aim.
Also your edges are still very hard. Looks almost like you are not using a normal map. You want the nice curved edges that catch nice highlights.
Heres the wire
Also, you've got a lot of unneeded segments on your low poly, like above the trigger. And your flash hider is still wrong.
And im very used to modeling box like and keeping everything equal, what should i do with the un-needed segments?
And will do to the stock.
Heres the normals and the uv mapping
Try working on these ideas first before working on all the technical crit you have received.
This may seem a bit harsh, but I promise you that if you really try to work on these things, you will see yourself grow much more as an artist. The unfortunate side of this post is that I really feel you will completely ignore it.
At the end of my other thread i fixed what racer suggested, and i didn't really get any critiques after that other than the edges shouldn't be so hard. So i told myself "ok, im going to try not to do that again".
In this thread someone said the flash hider was still wrong, but i don't see how it is because its been changed twice, both using reference. You can't say im ignoring critique, because my uvs look alot better and i have changed alot of stuff on this model due to critique. On my ak i got so much critique that i decided to just ditch the model and try to make another one alot better, and to assure that i posted a wip thread, which i don't normally do. Would it help if i posted WIP's of my uving from now on? I don't really see people doing that so i didnt do it. Ive also been accepting critique for the ump for 1-2 days and changing as much as i can. I like to keep working but still leave room for critique changes, because im trying to learn as much as i can and the only way i can do that is by practicing ALOT. And i tend to finish a gun in about 3 days.
Ill have to agree with your third bullet the most. I have a tendency to do that and ill admit it. But ever since i started getting into weapon modeling a month ago i've been trying to push myself to make it the right way. And you're right, i feel alot better about it in the end.
Why don't you tell me whats specifically wrong with it?
bbob, it really (for me) depends on the edge. If it was maybe 2 or 3 main edges that were too sharp i'd probably fix them. But im assuming that they're meaning the overall edges of the model, in which case ill try not to repeat.
make sure you view a LOT of references. every angle, not just the side. with weapons we have this luxury so make the best of it
*insert face palm smiley*
Do you not see how contradictory those two statements are?
I've already taken my time to help you out, and Racer gave you an excellent post with really great reference and pointers, which as he said, you overlooked a lot. So why should I go back and tell you what's wrong if it is overwhelmingly apparent that someone else already has AND that you can't critique yourself enough to make it right?
And heres my current gun. Im having some trouble with the specular because im really only used to metal.
How is my progression so far, and am i behind / ahead for my 5th gun?
When you are making game assets for a living, if it needs to be fixed, fix it. Thats the main thing I think people are trying to convey to you and something you need to get used to, I know its annoying to go back and fix/redo things but the end result after some polishing is usually 2-5x better than the 1st pass.
when you are starting out there is the urge to produce a ton of art really quickly but if you slow down a bit you might have fewer pieces but they will be higher quality. qaulity trumps quantity every time when it comes to portfolios, I would rather hire someone with 3-5 awesome peices than someone who has 20 so so pieces, and thats what people are trying to help you out with here.
if you only apply critiques to you next model there isnt really any point in in depth crits like racer's where he lists a ton of inaccuracies, so you will find less and less people crit your work. ass pats dont help you improve, applying critiques and listening to feedback do and is a critical skill companies look for.
that said, your UMP is lookin nice, the UVs are better than the last one but could still benefit from a major overhaul/tightening up. the time it would take to re-do them and get back to where you are now wouldnt be too bad, you already have a decent highpoly and thats half the work on this piece done already, shoot for the high quality result in all aspects of it man!
Just for future knowledge, if i collapse the Unwrap UVW modifier and then add new geometry to the model via attach, will it mess anything up?
I figured the handle gets covered up by a hand 99.9% of the time
who cares? people are all different in the speed that they progress. slow down and make a few really nice items before trying to speed up anything. technique over speed!
I just want to sort of say something in addition to this, rushing isn't the same as speed. I'm not saying you're rushing, but there is a very very important difference here. In a studio environment, rushing to get the job done and making lots of mistakes is going to cost you a lot more time when your art director gives you a huge list of revisions that you need to fix. Slowing down and doing things methodically and carefully, and not rush, is virtually always going to be FASTER.
Reference on the difference of materials
http://photos.imageevent.com/smglee/ss2008/huge/DSCN0077.JPG
Ref for worn edges on guns:
http://www.oldwestgunsmith.com/guns/3425rclose.JPG
http://gunpics.net/uk/no4mk1/No4mk1_010.JPG
http://gunpics.net/uk/no4mk1/No4mk1_013.JPG
http://gunpics.net/uk/no4mk1/No4mk1_018.JPG
Oh and for the love of everything you cherish, do not hesitate to go back and change stuff, it is a crucial part of being a professional digital artist of any kind. No matter how closely you are paying attention to detail and accuracy, there will always be something you miss, and your superior will most likely spot it and demand it changed. So please, for your own good, change that awful attitude at once.
EDIT: You are calling that result finished after two days of work? I could understand if you were struggling to get it done, but considering the time you put into this "quality", you are definitely selling yourself short.
Here is a suggestion: HK UMP .45
Do as the other says and get this one done properly, if you start another thread people wont reply cause they are tired of you not listening.
I sorta do feel like remaking the stock right and then fixing up the uvs.
So since im probably going to do that, what else should i fix in the high poly while im at it?
EDIT: 0. Gather reference, study, plan, and think about all of the shapes and how you will go about constructing them.
1. Highpoly, post multiple wips of this, get feed back and implement it(possibly multiple rounds of feedback) before you even think about starting your low. Very important to listen to suggestions on what will/wont bake well.
2. Lowpoly, post multiple wips of this, get feed back and implement it(possibly multiple rounds of feedback) before you even think about starting your low. Pay very close attention to suggestions relation to polygon usage, and anything that has to do with making edits so that you'll get a good bake. You may still want to tweak your highpoly a little bit during this stage, to make sure things will line up as accurately as possible. Sometimes you'll want to nudge over a piece on your high to be able to simplify your low.
3. Now its time to do a TEST bake. This is not your final bake, you will want to use temporary uvs. Here i like to have "proper" uvs unwraped, however it simply is not the final packing for me, just make a copy of these and do an auto-pack, its good enough for a test bake. With our test bake we want to make sure that all of the details are projecting accurately(minimum skewing or wavy lines) that we have enough lowpoly geometry to support the shape, that our highpoly details arent too fine to read properly(ie that we have enough pixels to represent all of our details). And of course that there arent any smoothing errors or other technical problems(very important with tangent normals).
This is the last time you will ever want to touch your highpoly mesh, make any final tweaks now. Post for feedback and implement anything else still unresolved, this is pretty much the no-going-back point. Any model changes need to happen now.
4. Pack your final uvs, post for feedback and do not do anything else until you are sure you have a good layout.
5. Do another testbake, just rendering normals, to double check everything you saw in #3(that everything bakes well). You dont have to post this stage, but it is an important stage, just incase you need to make any last minute uv changes.
6. Do your final bakes, normals, AO, color(assign materials with RGB colors to your high and bake this to create a mask for texturing) anything else. Post these results as well.
--- Texturing
7. Create your base materials, dont do any detail work, scratches, wear etc. Just work on getting the materials to look like "wood" or "metal". Post and take feedback.
8. Work on unique details, scratches, wear, etc. Post and take feedback.
9. Do any final touches, little details, set up a nice scene or something, take some big ol' screenshots, size them down to get some good AA, post them on polycount and pat yourself on the back.
In the future you can post less wips etc, but if you are honestly interested in maximizing the wonderful resource that polycount is, you'll follow these steps to the T.
it wont.
You're muzzle break/flash hider is wrong[period]
Muzzle Break/Flash Hider WtF Ever you wanna call it #1
Muzzle Break/Flash Hider WtF Ever you wanna call it #2
Muzzle Break/Flash Hider WtF Ever you wanna call it #3
It seems like you changed it because what other people said without actually slowing down and examining what you were about to model. Or when you did you didn't take the time to error check against reference. Or if you did both of those things...you just missed it which we all do from time to time.
Thats just a basic silhoette of how it should look. Its not 100% accurate it was quick in PS just to show you how it should look.
Its the same dia before the flare and taper as it is after, because there is another sharp taper where the end of the polymer is that brings it down to that size.
Edit: Also it's just out of scale length wise. (muzzle break/flash hider)
Raw 8" Barrel #1
Raw 8" Barrel #2
Others pointed out other stuff, and yeah seconding bbob about time & Stromberg about sticking to the 45.
Personal Time Comparison:
I rebuilt at least twice every piece of the HP of the M4 when I was actively working on it before posting, and then rebuilt it again (at least once) after people told me what was off, and I'll probably have to rebuild the damn thing again. Its frustrating yes, but you only learn if you listen, apply and try. And if you think 2 days is a while currently that damn M4 is @ at 158 working hours for just a HP showoff (and for a bake I'll have to spend probably a day loosening edges.)
Now i will be figuring out how to add the stock button thingy and ill add the hinge.
I just saw the missing loop cut on the inside of the barrel and it has been fixed.
The player likely will never see the barrel, and definitely will never see the huge whole the barrel resides in, but that hasn't stopped you from adding a lot of detail there. Keep it consistent, dont slack off on one part just because you have a convenient excuse to.
And if you ever plan on having this in a portfolio or something, you need to consider other angles than FPV... FPV is most important for a weapon like this, but unless you plan on croping the stock out of all your presentation images, it should look good. Simple as that, make it look good.
Better?
I gotta start getting the distance between loop cuts right, i usually slide them almost to the very edge of the poly without realizing it.
A sort of rule of thumb that i use, if your edges are so tight that there is noticable aliasing when viewing the entire gun, or most of the gun, your edges are toooo tight. This also helps with small details/floaters/screws, if your floater turns into a mess of aliased noise, your details are much too fine and sharp.
Heres the hinge, a few minutes ago it was a cylinder smoothed and pushed halfway into the seam between the stock and the gun and i was about to upload it when i took a second look at the reference and fixed it to match. Another little push but now im even happier with it
To get a good effect, you really must smooth out your lines. plus, I have never seen plastic with that hard of edges
Gotta add screws on the side etc and then ill fix up some edges on the gun.
Its also not done (dont know if you read that or not)
Could you please tell me whats wrong with it? Its probably something to do with the battery pack :S
Still trying to figure out how im going to make that battery pack.. hmm...
change it