Props for Games

3dfish

Hello everyone!

I'm a 3D artist looking to break into the Game Biz (This is where you act shocked)

Currently trying to build up my portfolio with some props and grenades. I'll be making stuff and taking suggestions on what constitutes as a good object to model for a prop in a game.

Please critique my work and if you have any suggestions, lay em on me! I'll start this thread with a couple of props that I'm currently working on.

BlvdNights

These are nice high polys but it be nice to see some low poly and textured pieces as well. Also, it might be nicer to modeling pieces more "exciting" than a chair and lamp (even though I like those kinds of things.).

3dfish

:)Thanks for the comments man. I agree that I'd rather be modeling guns/zombies/ and naked women, but I'm trying to show that I can do simple stuff first. If any of you have any suggestions as to what kinds of things might get me noticed (what I should model) then by all means let me know!

3dfish

Oh, and I've noticed that a lot of people are putting embedded images in their posts. I was only able to add thumbnails... How do I freak'n add my images so that people can see them without having to click on a thumbnail?

BlvdNights

3dfish wrote: »

Oh, and I've noticed that a lot of people are putting embedded images in their posts. I was only able to add thumbnails... How do I freak'n add my images so that people can see them without having to click on a thumbnail?

Upload them to a photo site (Like photobucket, tinypic, facebook, deviantart, or your own portfolio site) and you can use the jpg link to embed.

Baddcog

These are probably fine if you want a job as a prop artist. But probably no good if you want to be a character artist. So probably good to focus on what you want to do most.

They are nice models, but too much for a game. Deffinately use them to bake normals/ao for a low poly. Then tex it up and finish so you have some really nice game worthy objects.
I'd probably keep those under 1,000 tris for the most current games. Older games probably closer to 500 tris.

Saiainoshi

Just going to reiterate that you should be focusing your folio work on the position you're expecting to apply for. These are looking fab for props! How are you going to texture these? Hand paint or photo manip?

3dfish

Thanks for the comments and insight guys. You're paying attention to what I write very thoroughly! :poly121:

You are right, I do really want to be a character modeler, but I also have gotten some insight from people already in the biz and they tell me that simple props are the way to go when first starting. Everyone wants to model cool characters but the practicality of it is that getting that kind of job as a first job in the game biz is very hard to get for newbies!

So, for now, I'm going to make props and I definitely am going to make low poly versions of these bad boys and normal map them/ color/ spec map these suckers!

BlvdNights thanks for the info on the pics. I did that already, but facebook seemed to lose the correct URL after a couple of days for my pics... I'll try again with facebook

Baddcog thanks for the info on the amount of tris. I actually do most of my work with quads. Is that a bad idea for games? Are Tris better than quads for games? my lamp low poly proxy is about 1000 polys currently.

Saiainoshi thanks for the compliment man. I'm going to use photos and hand paint them in photoshop.

JonathanF

ok, so good thinking on sticking with doing props. Lot of people can get carried away and want to do characters and what not. Character design is VERY competitive! Better chance of getting a modeling job making assets. I suggest going to ebay to find some more antique like props. Antique props are the best because they offer a lot more unique shapes. Plus you will learn how to do lots of geometry directional changes if you do it right. you can check out my website www.3dfawcett.com working on another piece right now. But its super important for any company to see your high polys(as well the wires of high poly), low poly(as well low poly wires) and texture sheets. Again, check out my site and you can see how my sheets are laid out. Good luck! keep working it!

3dfish

You got some nice stuff there man. I notice a lot of people are using Tris as a base measure for counting polys. I was taught that Tris=bad Quads=good... Is this not the norm? Quads would seem to make for a "cleaner" design however I can see the advantage of using Tris to keep the polycount (Heh website reference) down

JonathanF

Thank you,

well tris are for the low poly and for any game. My high poly work is all quads yes. quads are important for not breaking/stopping edge flow and quads import into zbrush better. Tris = bad for high poly. You might have miss understood or misheard when taught that.

Also, make sure to always-ALWAYS count tris for your final low poly. cause when it comes down to it, whatever quads are in a low poly with the tris, they turn into tris. those will be cut into two tris. one quad = 2 tris.

3dfish

Ok thanks for clearing that up. Yes I assumed that any quad was double in Tris..:poly124:

I'm essentially going to be doing the same thing you have already done with your models. I have done this before and I'm using Toolbag to check out my models to see how they would look in a game engine. However, I might miss a few things or have forgotten a few steps. Your help in this process would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for the help Johnathan!

JonathanF

yeah! its my pleasure!

I used toolbag for all my props. Pretty much what almost everyone is using. Its for sure really great! Especially if you buy the new one that came out a while back.

And yeah! hit me up some time if you have any questions. I'll also keep an eye out for any of your updates and give any feedback I can.

3dfish

Thanks guys... It's nice to be part of this site with a bunch of like minded people. I'll be posting stuff as I make stuff!

3dfish

Hey guys I got a question about creating a .psd network in Maya. I've got the channels figured out for bump = normal mapping, color = color but what channel do I put in for Specular?

pangarang

I think you'll get different responses for that question. I like to put my spec map in the spec color slot. I've also seen spec maps come in both b/w versions and muted color versions as well.

3dfish

nevermind I figured it out!

3dfish

Ok I've gotten some really good advice on here and everyone is very helpful. Thanks to you all that threw in their two cents.

I'm quickly learning that Brett Briley is the man and knows his stuff and has obviously earned a lot of respect in this community.

I'm taking his advice and others to heart and am going to make models the way he teaches how to make them.

So, without further ado, I present... a treasure chest.

Yes, that's right folks it's your everyday good ol' treasure chest. To be fair it is actually a Trunk that was made in the 1800's and has been refinished. Still, I thought it looked nice and had a classic style to it.

I was going to do a Barrel just to keep things simple, but it seems everyone and their grandma is doing or has done a barrel.

So stay tuned and check back for updates every now and then.

Yours Truly,

3dfish

3dfish

Hey guys,

I got the high poly done. A lot of the brass bolts and smaller black ones I figure I can show with textures and bump-mapping. There is also some black leather edging going on the sides of the trunk that I also will create with textures and bump mapping. The width seemed so slight that it wasn't worth modeling IMO. Same goes for the Black stripe down the middle. This took about 10 hours which was longer than I expected, but there were more details than I anticipated.

Next step is the low poly and I'll show you my high poly model with polygon mesh displayed.