Quantum Gothic - Sentry Turret

engelmanna

Hey everyone,

I just started a new model based off Quantum Gothic's Sentry turret ( Click here to see the reference ). I'm just about done modeling the high poly, but I find myself thinking it's a little lackluster. I'm going to bring parts of it into zbrush to beat it up a bit, but even still it feels like it doesn't have as high of a level of polish as I'd like.

Personally, I think the issue stems from either a lack of insane greebling, or something to do with the how tight/loose bevels are on the corners. I would love it if anyone could give their two cents on the matter. Feel free to be brutal, I'd like to get this piece to really shine for my portfolio. Thanks!


Wires:

Shogan

Holy Polys Man!
Good job. Great concept and great model.
I can see this in a movie.

Jeremi Eldridge

Honestly I don't see a problem with this piece at all, and the fact that "lack of greeble" is a bad thing doesn't make sense to me :P I think your renders are great, I think if you get around to texturing it and make it look as awesome as the concept you have, you'll have a bad@$$ piece on your hands.

engelmanna

Well here is my low poly bake. There are still a few errors I need to fix, but I feel like it's almost ready to start texturing.

Also, for those interested, I think I figured out my issue with my bevels. I'll post more about it a bit later when I can put a visual example together.

As always, any feedback would most appreciated. Thanks!

letronrael

wireframe and normal map would be cool to see there...good job

engelmanna

Here is a shot with the wire frame and normal map as requested. The model comes in at 6622 tris. I'm feeling pretty good with the progress so far, so i'll be moving on to texturing. Any thoughts on color schemes?



Normal Map:

engelmanna

I'm knee deep in texturing now. I have a ways to go, but I figured I'd show it in progress just in case anyone had any crits or suggestions. (The spec is temporary for now)

Lazerus Reborn

Looking very nice!

Add blast scratches and black marks around the missile tubing areas. Missiles aren't clean

The moving area where it rotates needs some roughing up too. Its looking very good and the normal bake is superb. X normal? or some other method?

Mcejn

No crits.

Good progress. That's a fun looking turret.

DLoud

This is looking really great. High poly looks superb and the details transferred well in the bake.

I have a couple crits though. First, I feel like some of the larger bolts should have been modeled in. The normal map looks off with them baked in.

Second, The green pain could use some color variety. Maybe some rust or dirt to break up the green?

Great piece, I really like where it's going

nfrrtycmplx

Top Row

actually, this should get its own forum and maybe a .com... good job

ajr2764

awesome job man

TheScreamingEagles

Lovely work, but I do feel like that green paint needs some subtle colour variation.

Alphavader

Good job so far, i diddnt really get what this material is ?
Some kind of grid ?

jeremiah_bigley

pretty clean and slick! I think the texture needs something to make it really pop. It is kinda coming off as generic in a way. And I think the 6000 tri count probably could have been knocked down a bit. There are a few places that I see that have quite a few unnecessary tris.

Keep it coming sir!

aajohnny

Nice! and I am curious about how you went about baking that?

Alberto Rdrgz

watch the jaggedness of your bake. Good job with the textures so far!

engelmanna

Thanks everyone for the critiques! I've been away at my brother's wedding this weekend, so I didn't have much time to work on this. However your feedback has given me a ton of motivation and things to work on this week.

@Lazerus - Yeah, the tubes and front of the turret needs wear and tear from the launching missles. I haven't gotten to that part yet, but I will certainly add it.

@DLoud - In retrospect I see the issue with the bolts. I still have some uv space, so if I can cut the polycount down, i'll probably add them in.

@AlphaVader - It's actually a ridged metal. The aliasing from the maya viewport is messing with it though.

@Jeremiah - I see what you mean with the polycount. I'll see what I can do. I'm thinking of adding a camo pattern to the green to give it more personality. Or perhaps i'll add more color variation between the different panels.

@aajohnny - I just used xnormal. It is by far the easiest and quickest method I've found.

engelmanna

Update time! Here it is with all the proper texture maps applied (Diff/Spec/Norm/Gloss). I'll be moving on to the missile next. Any feedback is certainly appreciated. Also, feel free to laugh at me for trying out the Marmoset Toolbag for the first time today. I had no idea how awesome it was.

Vimeo Turntable Video: http://www.vimeo.com/28683388

engelmanna

Here it is all done. It comes in at around 5900 tris with all the missles. I might tweak a few things here and there but overall, I think it's done. Thank you everyone for the feedback the past week or so.



Textures:


Thanks!

jeremiah_bigley

ah! I know what it is. The spec on your green paint is super boring. The prop could overall be a ton more interesting if you did something to it. Right now it almost looks like a copy of the diffuse. I know it is not, but there is really not much difference. The most interesting part of your final textures is how the light and reflections play across the unpainted metal (though it is a bit much).

When I looked at your turntable that is when I noticed it isn't really shining at all. Could also be the angle of you camera and lights... but it really needs some attention.

It is coming along sir! Keep it up!

Mathew O

I think it's looking great, I do think that Jermeiah is right about the spec on the green. Also, have you thought about some little caution stickers around the mechanisms?

riddlaz

Very good progress, I agree with the other crits about the spec map. To add more to it:

-When doing metals, create more contrast on the spec map.
-Make the edges very bright in comparison to the rest.
-The black metal areas also need higher spec on the edges, and darker on the rest. Right now they have almost the same amount.

A few other crits:

-It could look good if you add more dirt to the areas where the AO is the darkest, try using blend-if on a copy of the AO above the diffuse map. Then colorize the AO so its a dirt color. Then, experiment with the blend-if until the 'dirt' is more apparent on the areas where it would collect. You can use a mask to randomize it afterwards.
-I agree that some of the bigger bolts could use some thickness.

Overall, it's coming along very well!

engelmanna

Wow, thank you guys for the good critiques. Spec maps are something I usually have a hard time doing, so I really appreciate the detailed comments. I overhauled the spec map, especially the paint part. I also added geometry for the larger bolts.

@jeremiah - (off topic) I saw your modular dungeon set on 3D Ocean, I didn't realize you were the guy who made it. I love the style of it!

jeremiah_bigley

Thanks man! Yeah that is me... >.> Glad you like it.

I think your spec on your unpainted metal is too noisy. It is looking a bit like concrete... I don't think that trim would get as damaged as it is. And especially sense nothing else is that scratched and beat up. Might be the extra normal information you added? If you did add any... You also might take out some of that black splotchiness on the metal.

Glad you went back and added the bolts... it helps.

*sigh* I am just going to do a paint over...