First model after big break

biggest_kid

Hey guys after about a 4 month break ive decided to come back to modeling and try my hand at modeling a Glock 17. This model will be for a game engine/mod, so i need to do a low poly version with normal maps. However, i usually model low poly first then high poly, but this time im going to try and model the high poly and then the low poly. The only problem is, i have no idea how to do the high poly version first.

Here is what i have done so far:



I have box modeled this much, and was then just going to chuck a turbosmooth onto it. Is this how the high poly version of a model is done? If so, how would i go about creating the low poly version later on when im finished the high poly version?

Any help is greatly appreciated,
thanks

chrisradsby

Yeah you can do it like this, though I always tend to do weapons in parts. Won't make a difference to the normalmap and you get the lines right.

Jessica Dinh

Well I assume you know that the high poly will require edge control before you turbosmooth, since you have made high poly before. Then make a copy of the high poly, put it in a new layer, and explode it. Then make another copy of the exploded version of your high poly gun, (keep it in place, right under the original exploded high poly!) and put that in a new layer. Then begin removing the turbosmooth, edge control, and basically start converting it into a low poly! Keep the exploded high poly layer shown so that you can match the silhouette of each of the low poly pieces to its original high poly clone. Unwrap! Bake! Then reassemble the exploded low pieces by snapping them to the original assembled high poly gun in the first layer.

So you will have three layers: original assembled high poly, exploded high poly, and exploded low poly (which you will later reassemble)

Hope that helps!

biggest_kid

Yeh i know you need edge control, i was just sorta having trouble getting my head around how i should do it on this shape, but i think i know how ill do it and ill give it a try tonight.

Ok i sort of understood what you said Jessica... sort of being the key words there lol. First of all, what the hell does explode mean haha?

And what do you mean by 'snapping the exploded low pieces to the assembled high poly?'

Thanks for your help so far,
big

Jessica Dinh

Exploding means taking the various pieces of your gun and spreading them out from each other. This is important because when you begin baking, you don't want the cage of one piece to come in contact with the cage from another piece and ruin your bake. So you spread the pieces out, give them a little breathing room! Do you get what I mean?

When I say snapping, I mean there is an align tool on your toolbar at the top of your screen. You use this to align one piece with another by first clicking the piece you want to align, then clicking the align tool, then clicking the piece you want the first piece aligned to. There are setting under the alighn tool that you can mess around with, like which axis you want the alignment to occur on, etc. Experiment! It's a really useful thing.

So basically at the end, you will take all the exploded low pieces after you have baked and created your normal map, and 'snap' them back in place by aligning each piece to it's original assembled high poly piece. If you don't quite get it yet, that's ok, this is like the last step before texturing haha. Do everything else first.

Jessica Dinh

Excited for updates!

biggest_kid

Yeh i get what you're talking about, you cant have the cages intersecting or else you get errors on your normal bakes, got ya

Good to see someone is following my thread, helps to keep me motivated, thanks a lot! Hopefully more updates 2morro morning because im too tired to work on the model right now.

r_fletch_r

my workflow for this is as follows.
Look at the subject matter and work out where all the parts physically connect.
You should never try to make a highpoly that is segmented in reality out of a single mesh. it makes it 10 times harder.

Next I do a blockout with simple geometry, if its practical i refine the shapes a bit with booleans getting a object that's pretty close to the ref model

Next I model my highpoly using the blockout as either reference or as a base for the model.



(if you take anything away from this post make sure its to segment your highpoly where its segmented on the real thing)

tigg

Some good advice so far.

Remember there are curves on the backstrap and so on. You need to think about these right from the beginning of the modelling.
You're on the right path at the moment, block it out quickly and then start adding details.

like this

Personally I wouldn't worry about exploding the mesh and so on, at least until you have the high poly finished.
When I'm working on a high poly mesh, I usually work with subdiv's on, as this means I see any pinching or topology problems as soon as they happen, instead of getting a nasty surprise later on.

biggest_kid

Ok i understand that there are curved edges on the backstrap and frontstrap, but wouldnt i be better to leave the turbosmooth to do that on the high poly, and then just manually implement them(using the chamfer tool) into my low poly?

tigg

No, if you try that it'll just end up blobby and soft looking. You have to define the curves with topology, the turbosmooth is just there to smooth it out.

biggest_kid

It wont end up looking blobby and soft if i use the correct edge control on the high poly though will it? And then i can just chamfer the edges to match on the low poly.

Or should i chamfer them on the high poly as well and use edge control on the chamfers?

Thanks for all your help so far guys,
big

tigg

Well, the best way to find out is to try both ways, and see what you like better, or which has the better result.