NO.325 Robot (Revisit Texture)

Clark Coots

Hello,

I finished this robot character 7-8 months ago, and it's time to revisit. I'm completely re-doing the textures, and the scratch/bump detail in the normal map. So far I've re-done and re-baked a few UV islands so I don't get an ugly seam in the center, previously all UVs were mirrored. So he's ready to go, normal and AO are done.

Old Texture Version:


UPDATE:
New Texture (more images on my website http://www.clarkcoots.com)

Clark Coots

Alright first texture test, trying to see if i'm the the right track with the Diffuse and Spec defining materials well before moving on to the entire thing. I'm trying to be more strategic with the placement of rust/scratches so if anything looks out of place or unrealistic let me know please!

Maya Viewport 2.0 screenshot, and the texture resolution is actual size (part of a 2048x2048 )

Clark Coots

Update:
Gettin there, any critiques at this point would be much appreciated

Amadreaus

I think the biggest improvement is in your understanding of good texturing techniques. Just keep thinking structure, localization (big shapes) and eye rest, and you'll have a stellar piece on your hands.

My one crit is to really keep an eye on that specular, and to keep pushing it so the materials feel right. Keep it up!!

respawnrt

Hey dude just an idea, maybe make those pipes oily and dusty.The dust should nicely break the specular.Something like that maybe ?
[URL="[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/rCUZQ.jpg[/IMG]"][/URL]

artquest

Revamp looks great so far!! I feel like the textures are a little blurry, maya viewport 2.0 I think uses linear filtering so your textures end up looking more blurry than they should. Try turning the filtering in the file node down to 0.1 instead of 1.0.

Can't wait to see more of this man. Looks great. I like the idea of the pipes being more of a matte finish with a lot of changes in specularity. seems like they would get scraped up a lot with their placement.

Clark Coots

artquest, i already have the filter turned to 0.0 (it's a habit, but I don't think it actually effects Viewport2.0, unless I'm looking at the wrong Filter, it's in the file node - effects -filter ya? my guess is it looks a little blurry due to texture resolution. Unfortunately when I laid out UVs way back it wasn't the best. It's packed pretty tight, but there are a lot of polys that won't be seen such as the other side of the shoulders that are taking up the same amount of texture space as pieces that will be seen. wasted pixels unfortunately. oh well, learn from your mistakes. I would re-pack and re-bake but i was dumb enough not to save a file with an Unposed UV'd low poly *facepalm*

Clark Coots

Still thinking about the matte plastic piping, haven't tried it yet, just working on metal detail.

Oranghe

this is looking allot better keep pushing it !

rooster

looking nice! hope to see it in a better lighting setup eventually, which will really make it shine

DeathByChris

I'm diggin your robot here, it's a really cool design. I know it's still a work in progress, but my suggestion would be to put more contrast into the texture varying shades of gray maybe with a tint of color. I did a quick paint over to help give you an idea of what I was thinking, hope you don't mind.

Clark Coots

Thanks for the comments. DeathbyChris I like the color variation in the gray, I added some subtle yellow, it kinda looked like oily spots to me so I put it near pivots, it's subtle though (haven't played with the spec for that layer yet). I tried out some other color variation as well. The yellowish metal in your paintover looks decent to me though its leaning towards a Desert look when I want space/Sci Fi. Did you imagine those yellow pieces to be painted on the base metal? Or the metal itself is that color so it has the same specular strength?

I tried a darker brown and it looked pretty good, basically a darker version of the yellow. I've also tried some red metal color and changed the painted parts to black, but its looking a little like bloody Christmas to me. not sure... any thoughts? Garrr color design!!! Life was easier when it was just a base metal haha.

I also did a first lighting pass in Maya. I'll probably render this guy in CE3 or download trial version of Marmoset, but maybe this lighting helps present the model a bit better.

DeathByChris

Yeah I am noticing a little color on it now but it could definitely be pushed further. I was imagining the light parts in my paint over as the actual metal color my reason for highlighting those was to create contrast in the character for purely aesthetic reasons not practical, tint it with whatever color you like whatever fits the theme better(blues, purples or greenish blue). The red paint in your recent post is cool but still feels flat the robots head is getting lost due to the dark color it just doesn't stand out. If you take my paint over and put it side by side with yours then desaturate them both you'll see, use contrast to call attention to important parts of the character design.

Clark Coots

Ok heres another direction. I tried to pay attention to the values by adding a black layer with blending mode saturation on the top of my PS layers. Theres only a 3% black difference between the grey metal and blue. Probably needs more contrast in value?

Clark Coots

Ok DeathByChris, you win. It grew on me

DeathByChris

Heh well just trying to give some suggestions. It's cool that you tried out different looks. The blue is cool too but the white stripes really hurts it though.
It's turning out nice keep it up.

Clark Coots

last update before bed. toned down the yellow and did the legs/arms. touched up some scratches and such. updated spec maps

Clark Coots

"Final" texture and render in first post. Rendered in Marmoset, and I gotta say that software is reallly sick, first time using it today and I'm a happy camper.

jordan.kocon

First off kudos for going back and improving an old model! I think the new one is a HUGE improvement The main crit I have is some of the scratches look fairly hand painted (sorry if someone said this earlier, but it's early and I am lazy), with that said though I don't think it really takes away from the model. Perhaps next time just work on your scratches a little more, nice work man!

artquest

Looks amazing! Great render in marmoset man. Looks like there's no shadows turn on in the marmoset render though

One last thing you could do that would take this to the next level is add the chipped paint into the bump map. The addition of all the subtle details that we take for granted are what can really make a piece feel alive.

Clark Coots

Thanks Jordan for the kudos. I'll keep that in mind about the scratches, thanks.

Thanks artquest. Marmoset I was really happy with, good quality renders with a few clicks. I double checked, and shadows are on. I'm using a lighting preset - Forest Ambiance, there really isn't a strong key light to cast strong/defined shadows, but they're on. Thanks for the reference about paint chipping.

DeathByChris

Awesome, yeah it's lookin good I love the specular highlights on the hand really feels metal but I'm noticing a lack of specular highlights on the arm with the cannon.

EDIT:

Oh shit! disregard my most recent comment, I just noticed you edited your original post.
great job!