[WIP] M16A4

DLoud

Hey guys, I'm working on an M16A4. I know there are lots of folks out there who have military experience and have an intimate knowledge of the weapon. As such, I thought I'd post some WIP images to make sure there aren't any glaring errors.

I'm almost done with the High poly but before I proceed, I thought I'd get some feedback. Please let me know what you think. I'm going off of the concept shown below.

Crits are welcome.

DLoud

Bump still looking for some feedback

MEGALOS

Very clean model! No crits to give just compliments

Segreto

I'm being really picky, because honestly this is a really good model, it looks clean and very well done.

Racer445

you need to look at more references, a lot of the shapes are way off.

these aren't the exact same gun, but they are from the same family and should be mostly identical, so play spot the difference using your model and the photos from these galleries:

http://www.pixagogo.com/5748394135
http://www.pixagogo.com/0896214432

Bumper

Nice and clean.

However, the hand-guard seems to be too narrow. It may be that your barrel is too long as well which pulls the hand-guard out too much with an excessive taper.

I would also re-examine your flash-hider. The front part of the cage seems to go too far out. The flash-hider for gun guys, gamers, etc. is like shoes for women. It's often the 1st thing people look at.

Lastly and this is a nit-pick; your rear sling mount seems to be penetrating into the stock too far.

Nice work otherwise.

GarageBay9

Also want to add that the 30 round mag you have modeled isn't accurate to .mil-issued mags; instead of a continuous curve, they come straight down and then there is a radiused kink, kind of an 'elbow' in the body of the mag. Check refs.

Mr. Brightside

Also pretty sure this is a A3/A4 not an A2 (A2's don't have the rail system)

DLoud

Great feedback guys. This is the kind of stuff I was looking for. Let me try to respond to everyone here.


@Megalos: Thanks, I appreciate the kind words.

@Segreto: Good stuff. The pinching near the magazine was a bit of an overlap in geometry. I've fixed that. overlap near the stock, fixed. Some of the pinching you mentioned was I think just lighting. I didn't see anything when I looked more closely. Lastly, I'll subdivide another time before I back normals to smooth out some of the curves near the handle.

@Racer445: Could you be more specific on what shapes you're talking about? I've used the reference very closely. Most of the inacurracies that have been pointed out are subtle ones.

@Bumper: You were right about the taper on the front grip. I toned it down a bit and it looks closer to the reference. I've adjusted the flash hider too, It was a bit off. Sling mount was moved down too. Thanks for the feedback, great stuff.

@GarageBay9: I see what you mean about the magazine. I've adjusted it to remove the continuous curve. Found a good ref and tried to match it closely.

@Mr. Brightside: I lowered front sight marker. Took out indent in front sight posts. Lighting in one of my references was strange and made it look like there was an indent there /facepalm. Fixed the funny geometry on the back of the carry handle and the grip. Charging handle was lowered also.



I really appreciate the watchful eyes. This is my first FPS type weapon and being such an iconic weapon, I'm glad I've received such great feedback

Here's some pictures with the changes.

Racer445

use more photos next time! learning to observe and compare to reference will help you more than anything else. anyone saying this is perfect as-is clearly is lacking in that skillset.

also watch your edge widths, some of your edges are much too thin and will bake down poorly.

EarthQuake

heylookatmeIdonthaveaspacekey

Racer445

whats a font?

ENODMI

Racer's skillset in typsetting is lacking:)ha

gauss

What Racer said. Also ejection port is jank proportions, bottom of the mag fence is too thin, amd yo flashhider is whack! PEACE

WillMac

"yo flashhider is whack! PEACE" i chuckled.

Other than that, I am liking how this M16 is coming along!

By "he needs softer edges"... that is the greebles and all the normal map stuff... it needs more "slope" as they will NOT be in the geometry AND you do it SO they get read in the bake better. At the moment you giving 1 pixel on the texture map to read stuff like greebles/floaters/indents/outcrops that ARE NOT GAME MESH GEOMETRY and angling the stuff on the model, exaggerating, is the way to give the texture map room to erm "map" that surface. If it looks odder on the high poly, it doesn't matter, on the game model it will be right... or give the illusion of right. Correct me if i am wrong, seems to work for me, model while thinking forward to "bakes".

Search a gun thread, where the person only gone done it perfect.

BTW I like the underlying gun knowledge at PC. You scary lot. Also, Guns take dedication i am finding Finish it!!!

DLoud

@Racer445: Thanks a bunch for marking up the images. I've gathered some much better references than I had before and implemented your changes(and more).


@WillMac: There is definitely a wealth of weapon knowledge here. Everyone has been very helpful and it is much appreciated. I've softened some of the edges as you and Racer mentioned. Thanks for the suggestion



I'm feeling pretty confident calling the High poly done at this point and proceeding to the low poly.

DLoud

So I've completed the low poly and the bakes. Working on the texture now. It's still quite a WIP but it's coming along. Much of the diffuse is not yet reflected in the normal map and will be added later.

I'd like to get some feedback on the direction I'm going though. Thoughts?

MEGALOS

Starting to look really cool dude! Do you have some close ups?