Let's make a wagon!

Susanne

So, during the next two weeks and a half, I am going to work on a wagon for a class in school. I am aiming for a realistic-looking wagon that is under 16 000 tris (which is the limit we got for the assigment). So far, it is around 7 500 tris, but I still got quite a bit of modelling left, so I am expecting it to come closer to the set limit.

I plan to make most of the minor details that doesn't affect the silhouette with a height field/bake. At the moment, I don't have super clear images of how the end result will look, instead I'm mixing various details from various different wagons to get the look I want.

Right now I've made a moodboard and started the modelling. The plan is to finish the modelling, and maybe even the UV-mapping, before the week ends, leaving me with about two weeks for texturing. And, if all goes as planned, I might even make a small scene for the wagon to show it off better, but that is on a rather low-priority.

Any feedback is highly appreciated!

Moodboard:



Model so far:

salacious_Crumb

Looks pretty solid so far. Wheels might be a little small. And I would model one of the scroll work bits or something fancy near the door for interest>
I think the textures are really going to sell this. Personally I like the peeling paint photos.
Keep going!

Pedro Amorim

Reference: http://www.alecmoody.com/8/index.html

Korrax

Agree with Pedro, Alec did an outstanding job on his texture. Use his work as ur benchmark.

The texturing will definitely sell this like salacious_Crumb said. I also agree with the peeling paint and worn out look, it will give more interest.


edit: Pedro beat me to the link! lol

Alberto Rdrgz

fuck, pedro beat me to it.

Susanne

@salacious_Crumb: Yeah, I agree with the wheels being too small and I scaled them up a bit, hopefully they won't feel small any more.

Thanks for the awesome reference! I will be sure to use it and take inspiration from what he did! I will definitely go for a more worn out look and try to get some sort of peeling paint. Texturing isn't my strong side, but if you never practise, you never get better.

I've finished most of the modelling now, still got some optimizing left to do as well as bake some things, for example the wheels. The wagon is on 12 500 tris atm, but I am hoping to get it down to around 10 000. If you have any tips on the matter, please share Tomorrow, I will go over the model with a fresh pair of eyes, trying to figure out if I need to change something. I am a bit unsure if I should add something more around the door area, as it feels a bit plain right now.

Also, I am going to start uv-mapping it tomorrow, but I am a bit unsure how to proceed. We got a texture budget on one 2048x2048 map and at the moment, I don't seem to be able to fit in that many small props as I would have hoped. Most likely I will add those extra props in later, but that will be after this course is finished.

If you got any ideas, tips or feedback, please tell me

Korrax

Stairs seem a little steep to me. But overall, the model looks pretty good! You got a nice silhouette. You got a color pallet that you are going to go with for the textuing?

Susanne

@Korrax: Yeah, I saw that too and I've tried my best to correct that. And thank you, I am quite happy with it myself ^.^ As for the color pallet, I haven't quite decided it yet, but for the moment I was think about red and some other color (which will most likely be some shade of green). However, I am still a bit unsure about that and therefore I will try some different ones tomorrow when I start texturing.

A little update now then:

Finished the uv-mapping and packing. Re-packed it a couple of times and this one was the best packing out of them all. Still got some empty spaces here and there, but for now I will leave them, hoping that I might create a small prop later that I will be able to fill them with.

Any critique is much appreciated

UV-checker on model:



Uv-map

Susanne

Posting a quick update.

Optimized the model, making it about 9 400 tris. The tris count might go a bit higher if I decided to add something to the wagon in order to make it more interesting, but it shouldn't go over 10 000 tris.

For today, I've tried to fix some things on the AO as well as decide a color scheme. I might tweak some bits of the color scheme, but for the most part I am satisfied with it ^ ^

Any critique is much appreciated

Susanne

Another update. Got the deadline for this particular course tomorrow and unfortunetly I won't be able to finish everything before that. Therefore I have decided not to rush the texture and instead take it as far as I can until tomorrow and then return to it later and continue to work on it.

For now, I have tried to defined the materials a bit, so it doesn't jsut have an AO and flat colors. It has a temp normal map and doesn't have that much of a specular atm.

Any feedback is appreciated ^.^

Sliterin

Sorry for only short comment but this is your feedback :

http://www.alecmoody.com/8/index.html

You se there great textures, good model, god idea for details it's just great so go and get some of Alec Moody greatness

Shogun3d

Please don't use Alec Moody's wagon as reference. You're not going to learn anything and your robbing yourself of setting a personal benchmark.

Compare work after your done, see where you can improve, and then profit from the experience.

This is my advice, the best artist is yourself, and the level of competitive quality compared to similair pieces is how much effort you put into.

I think you're off to a great start, I like the style in proportions and the base textures seem to be holding up for a start. Keep going and lets see how things go. Great work!

Susanne

@Sliterin: Yes, Alec makes a great wagon , in all categories, and since early on in the project, this wagon has been in my ref folder

@Kaburan: I haven't really thought about it like that, but it makes sense. Once I get back on working with this wagon, I'll definetly keep that in mind! And thank you

Susanne

So, I'm bumping this thread with an update version of the wagon. Decided to add som props and turn the whole thing into a diorama. I imported everything into UDK as well made the lightning in it. I have some fixes left to do as well as texturing work on everything (with the main focus being the wagon as I still have to fix some wear and tear on it).

Torch

Its nice but the 100% flat circular grass base kinda kills it... imo it would be better to see the wagon somewhere with a bit more uneven ground, maybe in something like a forest clearing, if you have the time to edit your scene.