Ok here we go...

Mad2192

As you may or may not know, I recently join Polycount in a possibly futile effort to enhance my 3D modeling skills.


After a few days of uncertainty, reading, and good ol' procrastination I finally have something to show for it. I play a lot of Team Fortress 2, and with the recent addition of the, gasp, Polycount Pack, I thought it would be a good place to start.







I use Blender because it's free, easy to use and I don't have money yet to splurge on 3Ds Max, which seems to be the one everyone is using. This is just the model, I haven't started texturing yet for obvious reasons.



Criticize away! And yes, it is suppose to be a coon skin hat



*flinches*

bounchfx

makes a lot more sense after you said what it was supposed to be lol. things that could help us give you critique would be a wireframe screenshot of the model. You might be showing us one, but two of your images aren't showing up for me.

Sean VanGorder

First off, I give you a lot of credit for throwing yourself into this and putting yourself out there for critique. Half of my classmates, who are going to school to learn this stuff, are still too scared to show their stuff and ask for critique. So yeah, you've earned some respect right there, at least from me anyway, although I'm sure the more seasoned artists here will feel the same way.

As for the model, I agree with bounchfx. It would be easier to give proper critique if you showed some wireframe versions of the model. From what you have posted so far, it seems like it may be a little high poly. You may also want to consider different subject matter for your first couple models, maybe some more hard surface type stuff. I personally found it easier to learn the in's and out's of modeling through working on more hard surface stuff before moving on to more organic stuff, but that's just me.

You may also want to look into getting a student version of 3ds Max. It's completely free and shouldn't be too hard for you to get. My first experience with modeling was with Blender, and once I went to school and used 3ds Max, I found it to be a lot more intuitive and user-friendly than Blender.

Keep it up man. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

DrunkShaman

Mad2192 wrote: »

Criticize away! And yes, it is suppose to be a coon skin hat

*flinches*

oh I see...Now I understand what this is.

Did you assume the topology? Or used a ref image for it. It is a good idea to use the ref images and learn the blender thoroughly.
Since you've posted your first vague model, now you need to work on this for a while.

Oh sorry forgot to tell you the other part. heh!!

On serious note, nice work...keep it up.

@Sean: I dont post my stuff for few reasons. One of which is that, artist should judge his art before presenting. And I am talking about complete art, not doodle. Than criticizing it would be like able. *one of my thoughts*

I know there is a phase where people dont post because they are just scared of the next person's comment or crit on their work. Took me a while to get over that part.

danshewan

Sean_EG wrote: »

First off, I give you a lot of credit for throwing yourself into this and putting yourself out there for critique.

Agreed 100%. It's never easy, but everyone started somewhere. You've gotten past the first hurdle by posting some work, and you'll only get better in time. One of the few things that will limit you in developing in 3D is an inability to accept and listen to critique. The rest is down to dedication and practice.

As for the model, I'm not sure if a coonskin cap is the best thing to attempt for a first model. Not that it's particularly complex geometrically, but texturing fur (especially in TF2's impressionistic realism style) could be very challenging and potentially demotivating for you. Or alternatively, it could be an awesome learning experience!

Try to look at overall forms of objects before diving into recreating them. For instance, although some coonskin caps are indistinct masses of fur, some of them are quite clearly cylindrical, with an extrusion to add some definition to the band. Similarly, the tail is cylindrical / conical, and with some simple bend modifiers, you can get a decent base mesh to start with pretty quickly.

Super quick example:





To get these shapes, I created a capsule shape, cut it in half, added some thickness to it and scaled it down in the Z axis to make it appear flatter, then scaled it some more on the X and Y axes to make it more hat-like and less obviously-cylindrical.

The tail started out as a cone, which I elongated and added some loops to make sure I could start scaling the verteces into roughly 'tail' shape, then added some bends. Then, scaled down in Z to make it appear flatter. Not trying to patronize you or anything, just trying to demonstrate that most objects, even ones that at first appear indistinct, can be broken down into their base primitives so you can start building them.

Remember - you will improve. Keep posting work, and asking intelligent questions! Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Mad2192

Sean_EG wrote: »

First off, I give you a lot of credit for throwing yourself into this and putting yourself out there for critique. Half of my classmates, who are going to school to learn this stuff, are still too scared to show their stuff and ask for critique. So yeah, you've earned some respect right there, at least from me anyway, although I'm sure the more seasoned artists here will feel the same way.

Thanks, accepting critique is never easy. I had the thread ready for 5 minutes before finally clicking the button. Just something you gotta live with I guess

As for the model, I agree with bounchfx. It would be easier to give proper critique if you showed some wireframe versions of the model. From what you have posted so far, it seems like it may be a little high poly. You may also want to consider different subject matter for your first couple models, maybe some more hard surface type stuff. I personally found it easier to learn the in's and out's of modeling through working on more hard surface stuff before moving on to more organic stuff, but that's just me.

I'll post some wireframes, and how do I check for poly count? I tried creating a person my first try, poor guy was missing a few important features...

You may also want to look into getting a student version of 3ds Max. It's completely free and shouldn't be too hard for you to get. My first experience with modeling was with Blender, and once I went to school and used 3ds Max, I found it to be a lot more intuitive and user-friendly than Blender.

Do you have to be in school to use it? I just got outta high school last spring, and currently not enrolled into a college. I'm pretty much going alone :poly122:

Keep it up man. Looking forward to seeing your progress.

I won't let you down! I hope...

Nitewalkr wrote: »

oh I see...Now I understand what this is.

Ha, I kinda thought it looked like a mutated liver with a arm or something sticking out

Did you assume the topology? Or used a ref image for it. It is a good idea to use the ref images and learn the blender thoroughly.
Since you've posted your first vague model, now you need to work on this for a while.

I just used a ref image for it. Don't know what a topology is

I know there is a phase where people dont post because they are just scared of the next person's comment or crit on their work. Took me a while to get over that part.

I've learned that people are going to critique your work anyway, so why worry about it? Of course I'm always scared that someone is gonna hate it and call me a failure or something, but that's something you gotta deal with I guess.

danshewan wrote: »

As for the model, I'm not sure if a coonskin cap is the best thing to attempt for a first model. Not that it's particularly complex geometrically, but texturing fur (especially in TF2's impressionistic realism style) could be very challenging and potentially demotivating for you. Or alternatively, it could be an awesome learning experience!

I'm hoping it will be a learning experience!

Try to look at overall forms of objects before diving into recreating them. For instance, although some coonskin caps are indistinct masses of fur, some of them are quite clearly cylindrical, with an extrusion to add some definition to the band. Similarly, the tail is cylindrical / conical, and with some simple bend modifiers, you can get a decent base mesh to start with pretty quickly.

Huh, so I should look at several example before deciding on one?


How long did it take you to make that danshewan?? It took me at least an hour just to get that blob of mass I call a hat.

danshewan

Mad2192 wrote: »

Huh, so I should look at several example before deciding on one?

Definitely. Gather as much reference as you possibly can, and really examine your images before even opening your 3D application. Try and break shapes down, see how they fit together, and which base primitives would be best suited to begin with to make the various shapes.

As for how long it took me, it doesn't really matter and I don't want you to be discouraged in comparison. The fact is with practice, study and familiarity with your tools, you'll get faster as you get more comfortable.

Shiniku

Mad2192 wrote: »

I just used a ref image for it. Don't know what a topology is

Topology is the flow of edges and vertices on your model.

More info here:
http://wiki.polycount.com/CategoryTopology?action=show&redirect=Topology

How are you going about this model?Are you looking at any tutorials, or other models? A big first step in getting used to things is just to play around and have fun, but it may be useful to follow some of the boring tutorials for the application of your choice, to get used to the controls and modeling basics (if you haven't already).

Modeling with game limitations in mind is another step in the process, and I think it helps to have some foundational knowledge of 3D modeling in general first.

Taylor Hood

I suggest you research some of the terms.
Topology is key for game models.
I'm not a 3D Artist but it's pretty basic.

Good luck.

Mad2192

Ok, had a few things that came up, had to deal with em, but now I'm back! (I hope...)



Ok, here are the wireframe that I promised about a month ago it seems.



This is still the same one, I have had time to tinker with it yet.

Baddcog

I'd probably say the best start would be too look into some tuts here at PC.
While it's an early start you might end up to running into issue the entire time while a tut might lead you through things in a more concise manner and leave less in the way of redo/fixes.

Aside from that I think the main issue is polygon distribution.

For the most part you want to try and keep the poly size relatively close to the same throughout the model. Especially on a simple shape like this.

The tail has much larger polys than the rest of the hat. those polys are also weird shapes, i'd even all the segments up so they are relatively the same size and the loops go straight around it, not zig/zaggy. It'll make textureing much easier/cleaner.

also, I'd probably make the main hat have half as many polys, and make them about the same size as ones in tail (that's plenty, maybe too many for a game model).
Then you might want alpha planes for some fur, especially on the tail.

Arcanox

I'd highly recommend doing some beginner tutorials that literally show you how to model simple objects step by step. Follow them to the letter.

Even if the tutorial covers something that you have absolutely no interest in making, it can be really useful for beginners to get their feet wet and get some exposure to using the proper techniques for modeling. When you gain some level of comfort, then you can try adapting some of the things you've already learned into entirely different projects and make things up as you go.

Habboi

Agreed. Gonna use a friend as an example. He never modelled before and followed a video tutorial on making a pistol. Two weeks later he's modeling a high poly mech using the techniques taught to him in the video.

If you need a link to the tut ask away but I warn you it's hard to follow sometimes.

fmnoor

I'd suggest trying to model something more complicated. My first 3D mesh was a jet fighter. I wouldn't worry too much about keeping it low poly or high poly, but focus on getting the shape looking right and the scale all set. Once you have that, try wittling it down to something lower poly while still keeping the shapes intact.

Also yea, tutorials will help.

vofff

Here are some links for blender users
http://blenderartists.org/forum
http://cg.tutsplus.com/category/tutorials/blender/
http://www.blendercookie.com/category/all/tutorials/
http://www.blenderguru.com/
http://foreverblender.blogspot.com/
http://www.blendervideos.com/
http://blenderunderground.com/
http://filmmakeriq.com/2009/04/555-blender-tutorials/
http://forums.blendernewbies.com/index.php?sid=cc4a800f781e82e58a30c372973f4ce9

jackalope

you should consider using blender 2.5 instead of 2.49

Mad2192

Ok, thanks for the feedback everyone. I'll look up some tuts for blender, help get a better idea for it. I have been reading this tutorial I found, and it has helped alot. http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro


Go ahead and post the link if you can Habboi, I'll give it a shot.

kat

jackalope wrote: »

you should consider using blender 2.5 instead of 2.49

You need to check the import/export formats before moving up to 2.5 as it's got limited support at present, so it's not as good for content development for games just yet.