I don't think this forum is dedicated for professionals, or else I don't belong here either. I think this forum is for people of any skill level who are serious about their work, and serious about improving it and helping improve others.
PS: also, when anything in art is 'hard to read', it means that the object/surface is not immediately recognizable to the human eye as what the artist intended. If you make a concrete texture, but nobody can tell that it is concrete, than that texture is 'hard to read'.
I guess it's already mentioned, but all your textures are the same value of gray and all of them are very grainy. You also got some serious stretching on those weapons.
With that said it's great to see mod teams building up something this big.
PS: also, when anything in art is 'hard to read', it means that the object/surface is not immediately recognizable to the human eye as what the artist intended. If you make a concrete texture, but nobody can tell that it is concrete, than that texture is 'hard to read'.
Thank you for the explanation I try to keep the hands of the sharpening tools a little bit more next time
nice models but specular maps and some more love to the textures can make it look pretty good...
Thanks fella, I just don't have any rendering software If you know of any that is free and supports basic shadermaps, I would love to know.
I don't think this forum is dedicated for professionals, or else I don't belong here either.
I took a peek at your work and it IS professional work to me, even though you're not working in the industry
all of them are very grainy.
I like that, I don't plan to change much about that.
You also got some serious stretching on those weapons.
I don't like that, I'm already doing my best to reduce it to a minimum
Wolf? Thought i recognised your work. Welcome to PC mate.
Thanks! Your post on TGC encouraged me to stay And yes, its wolf .
I made this on request for a buddy's Gunpack he is working on. He is texturing it himself but for some practice, I made one for me too. Its a bit rushed But it turned out far better than I intended.
Thanks fella, I just don't have any rendering software If you know of any that is free and supports basic shadermaps, I would love to know.
*coughcough*Blender*coughcough*
Seriously though, some of the best advice you can get right now is to ditch Milkshape in your modeling process. Milkshape's so arcane and limited you can't even apply suggestions like "create an edgeloop there". I don't care what modeling program you use, I'm not preaching for anyhing specific (ok so I coughed Blender up there, but only as a suggestion for free rendering), just ditch MS3D for anything else made in the past 5 years... you'll be glad you did.
Seriously, there's no reason to stick to that, as it'll only limit your abilities.
Ahm, no...I dont have that thing on my harddrive anymore. It was useless as too highpoly for my engine.
Seriously though, some of the best advice you can get right now is to ditch Milkshape in your modeling process. Milkshape's so arcane and limited you can't even apply suggestions like "create an edgeloop there"
I tired 3DS max and blender but blender's user interface is just too slow and overdone to me and as 3DS max, it has way too much features I can never use or even know how to use yet. Its like giving a kid that likes to paint a set of grade A oil colors.
However, there is some new gun thing I've thrown together:
Even a beginner can use 3Ds Max. The basic principles and tools are actually very easy to understand. I really really highly suggest you download that free version and read up on some beginning tutorials. Give it another shot.
As for your love of the graininess in your textures, I think you should also reconsider. I think the reason people are saying you should tone it down is because it's never good to have a texture that's too noisy. It makes it difficult on the eyes.
Thanks fella, I just don't have any rendering software If you know of any that is free and supports basic shadermaps, I would love to know.
Also, all you need is photoshop to make specular maps and to make your color map look better haha
if you want a nice UI try maya, its pretty much awesome. your stuff is pretty good, if you move on to a modern modeling software i think you'll go pretty far.
@N88tr: Indeed But I think I'm already making progress on that.
@Jessica Dinh: I prefer to stay with my more primitve tools for now. I have a full license for it as I'm also doing little assets and rigs for friends that want to sell their final products. I also plan to sell my future little indie games for 2 or 3 bucks a piece...and technically that is commercial use.
As you can see on the latest 2 models, I already got down on all the noise and scratches on the texture.
The point I want to make is that my game should look like an amateur game. Like something I made with basic tools and sloppy planning. Especially like something I made. "hey look! it has all this dirt, too much sharpening and contrast...Adrien did that!"
Then there is this by the book, follow tutorials stuff that is, from an objective point of view, much higher in quality but yet lagging any soul. By looking on the average sceneasset in a typical UDK project can you tell who made it? By looking at the texture of a spaceship in scene 1002492 can you say "hey! Bobby made it! Look! It looks exactly like all the other stereotypical stuff...perfect but...completely soulless."
Dont get me wrong, I do want to get better in time, but I dont want to make my stuff end up looking exactly like all the other general stuff on these forums. From my browsing experience here: There are masterpieces, really good stuff...and then there is a gaping void of well developed stuff...that looks the same over and over. Lets take morrowind. That elder scrolls game. It was rough, "unreadable textures all around the game" there where no shaders on anything but it had this hostile, alien athmosphere... then Oblivion came out and visually...everything sucked and look like a computer generated it...not an actual artist. It was just so plain boring to me... and yeah! This is only my opinion.
Or take star wars. The original trilogie was pretty cool! It had everything a memorable adventure movie (in space) needed and the simple, yet well made special effects where perfect! I really like these movies. Then they came up with those soulless CGI prequels filled with a blackhole of nothingness.
So! I wtry to get better, try to incorporate as much crits as I get...but not all of them. But thanks for the advice.
@nightshade: Maya has the license issue again. But I'm sure it really is an awesome tool.
Something newww I'm doing some work for a free indie game. I must have had a moment of complete insanity, but I agreed to model 15 russian weapons. Here is the first one:
Its a ppsh41. I know, the wireframe is a living nightmare, but I'm kinda happy that I got the ironsights pretty cool and those holes in the barrel thing. Well you know..the front...with the holes? ah whatever!
EDIT: I googled it...and I didnt understand it. Sorry, my english wasn't able to master the description. While looking at some images: it has something to do with connecting multiple vertices to form round shapes? (Oh...I think thats wrong)
Yeah here's a picture showing what milkshape CAN'T POSSIBLY EVER DO
I know you love Milkshape but you have to accept the fact it's made just for rigging Half-Life player models onto existing Half-Life skeletons and animations and compiling them. Game format import/export is its only redeeming specialty. Its terrible as a modeling tool.
EDIT: I googled it...and I didnt understand it. Sorry, my english wasn't able to master the description. While looking at some images: it has something to do with connecting multiple vertices to form round shapes? (Oh...I think thats wrong)
The shape the edge loop creates does not have to be round. It just creates a "loop" around the the object, and where it intersects with other edges it creates new geometry needed to add detail.
I highly recommend giving Maya a try. The interface is very visual, and as you get used to it you can turn off all the picture icons if you want.
Modeling in quads or squares is faster and easier, add an edge loop there, extrude that poly-loop, bevel those edges, I couldn't imagine doing that with triangles.
I know you love Milkshape but you have to accept the fact it's made just for rigging Half-Life player models onto existing Half-Life skeletons and animations and compiling them. Game format import/export is its only redeeming specialty. Its terrible as a modeling tool.
I don't. It just lets me stick boxes and cylinders together making it look like a gun YAAAY!! *hears crickets outside*
okay, seriously: I don't want to stick with milkshape for the sake of it. I just know how to use it now and I actually liked it for my needs after 4 months of casual modeling.
I need an affordable modeling software (affordable = less than 100 dollar) that comes with a commercial license and I'm good. If there is anything better than milkshape, please link me to it.
I tried Blender...and I didn't like it at all. Not even the icons :P
Modeling in quads or squares is faster and easier, add an edge loop there, extrude that poly-loop, bevel those edges, I couldn't imagine doing that with triangles.
Hmm... Milkshape certainly cant do that, so I dont know if it is easier. I just trust your word here
Sybrix: Oh! That would have come in handy a couple of times already! Thanks for explaining this to me!!
I've heard good things about wings3d, (but also that it crashes a lot... sometimes), but its free for commercial use, so... yeah its probably worth a try.
Replies
Looks like I slipped in the wrong forum, eh?
EDIT: Scratch that, I'll stay
PS: also, when anything in art is 'hard to read', it means that the object/surface is not immediately recognizable to the human eye as what the artist intended. If you make a concrete texture, but nobody can tell that it is concrete, than that texture is 'hard to read'.
With that said it's great to see mod teams building up something this big.
Thank you for the explanation
Thanks fella, I just don't have any rendering software
I took a peek at your work and it IS professional work to me, even though you're not working in the industry
I like that, I don't plan to change much about that.
I don't like that, I'm already doing my best to reduce it to a minimum
Thanks! Your post on TGC encouraged me to stay
I made this on request for a buddy's Gunpack he is working on. He is texturing it himself but for some practice, I made one for me too. Its a bit rushed
-Serygala
4k tris for the bug seems way over what it could be, could we see the wireframe?
*coughcough*Blender*coughcough*
Seriously though, some of the best advice you can get right now is to ditch Milkshape in your modeling process. Milkshape's so arcane and limited you can't even apply suggestions like "create an edgeloop there". I don't care what modeling program you use, I'm not preaching for anyhing specific (ok so I coughed Blender up there, but only as a suggestion for free rendering), just ditch MS3D for anything else made in the past 5 years... you'll be glad you did.
Seriously, there's no reason to stick to that, as it'll only limit your abilities.
Ahm, no...I dont have that thing on my harddrive anymore. It was useless as too highpoly for my engine.
I tired 3DS max and blender but blender's user interface is just too slow and overdone to me and as 3DS max, it has way too much features I can never use or even know how to use yet. Its like giving a kid that likes to paint a set of grade A oil colors.
However, there is some new gun thing I've thrown together:
also adding like 20 more polies to your guns would make a huge difference.
As for your love of the graininess in your textures, I think you should also reconsider. I think the reason people are saying you should tone it down is because it's never good to have a texture that's too noisy. It makes it difficult on the eyes.
Also, all you need is photoshop to make specular maps and to make your color map look better haha
@Jessica Dinh: I prefer to stay with my more primitve tools for now. I have a full license for it as I'm also doing little assets and rigs for friends that want to sell their final products. I also plan to sell my future little indie games for 2 or 3 bucks a piece...and technically that is commercial use.
As you can see on the latest 2 models, I already got down on all the noise and scratches on the texture.
The point I want to make is that my game should look like an amateur game. Like something I made with basic tools and sloppy planning. Especially like something I made. "hey look! it has all this dirt, too much sharpening and contrast...Adrien did that!"
Then there is this by the book, follow tutorials stuff that is, from an objective point of view, much higher in quality but yet lagging any soul. By looking on the average sceneasset in a typical UDK project can you tell who made it? By looking at the texture of a spaceship in scene 1002492 can you say "hey! Bobby made it! Look! It looks exactly like all the other stereotypical stuff...perfect but...completely soulless."
Dont get me wrong, I do want to get better in time, but I dont want to make my stuff end up looking exactly like all the other general stuff on these forums. From my browsing experience here: There are masterpieces, really good stuff...and then there is a gaping void of well developed stuff...that looks the same over and over. Lets take morrowind. That elder scrolls game. It was rough, "unreadable textures all around the game" there where no shaders on anything but it had this hostile, alien athmosphere... then Oblivion came out and visually...everything sucked and look like a computer generated it...not an actual artist. It was just so plain boring to me... and yeah! This is only my opinion.
Or take star wars. The original trilogie was pretty cool! It had everything a memorable adventure movie (in space) needed and the simple, yet well made special effects where perfect! I really like these movies. Then they came up with those soulless CGI prequels filled with a blackhole of nothingness.
So! I wtry to get better, try to incorporate as much crits as I get...but not all of them. But thanks for the advice.
@nightshade: Maya has the license issue again. But I'm sure it really is an awesome tool.
So, any more crits on this latest model?
Its a ppsh41. I know, the wireframe is a living nightmare, but I'm kinda happy that I got the ironsights pretty cool and those holes in the barrel thing. Well you know..the front...with the holes? ah whatever!
-Serygala
I see you have a lot off fallout3 props. Are you tri-ing because they're gonna be game assets as well?
With milkshape 3d you can't do anything but triangles. This limits a lot of possible basic editing functions
What else could I do? Isn't every model made of triangles? :O
I don't understand? I don't have Fallout3 nor am I modding anything for it. What makes you think that?
And yes
Oh?
These are from my own game
But I take it as a HUGE compliment that you where thinking it would be a next gen game
edge loops are your friends
Its good you are approaching game art from this perspective though. learning the gnitty gritty of tris, edges, and verts is never a bad thing.
EDIT: I googled it...and I didnt understand it. Sorry, my english wasn't able to master the description. While looking at some images: it has something to do with connecting multiple vertices to form round shapes? (Oh...I think thats wrong)
I know you love Milkshape but you have to accept the fact it's made just for rigging Half-Life player models onto existing Half-Life skeletons and animations and compiling them. Game format import/export is its only redeeming specialty. Its terrible as a modeling tool.
it's like using q2mdlr to make high poly meshes
The shape the edge loop creates does not have to be round. It just creates a "loop" around the the object, and where it intersects with other edges it creates new geometry needed to add detail.
I highly recommend giving Maya a try. The interface is very visual, and as you get used to it you can turn off all the picture icons if you want.
okay, seriously: I don't want to stick with milkshape for the sake of it. I just know how to use it now and I actually liked it for my needs after 4 months of casual modeling.
I need an affordable modeling software (affordable = less than 100 dollar) that comes with a commercial license and I'm good. If there is anything better than milkshape, please link me to it.
I tried Blender...and I didn't like it at all. Not even the icons :P
Hmm... Milkshape certainly cant do that, so I dont know if it is easier. I just trust your word here
Sybrix: Oh! That would have come in handy a couple of times already! Thanks for explaining this to me!!
-Serygala
http://www.wings3d.com/
[ame]
http://nevercenter.com/silo/
$150 now, but that's not too bad and it has a free trial.
Silo looks pretty good and I'm almost used to its awesome interface... I think I'll buy that one. But I still hesitate as it is not that cheap for me.
Well, I keep this updatet...maybe with something more complex next time
Thanks to everyone for all the links and the support!