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[DS2] Hammer, Zombie Acorn

Hello all, this is my first contest here and I am also fairly new to modeling in general compared to some of the talent I have seen here so I am looking to improve. I don't have internet on my main computer so I have to kind of compile my progress as I go and post it.

My concept currently is a hammer that captures human souls in stone. I want to show that the human parts are not entirely decorative and I want some color/life in them as if they were once living. Currently I just put a quick polypaint over the top as I wanted to test in unreal.

My biggest issue right now is the UV mapping. I am not sure if it is better to pelt map the whole thing as I did with the lighting channel (which also needs to be re-uved). The face is currently sharing UV space in my first UV channel so I think this will help me get more detail.

Anyways, any crits are welcome I am going to continue working on this.

Current poly count is: ~1099.

progessshotszombie.png

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  • dproeder
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    dproeder polycounter lvl 5
    Are you working from any Concept Art? Always helps to have blueprints! Good Start.
  • Habboi
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    Habboi sublime tool
    As for UV mapping I would personally select each side, 1 at a time and use the Planar button and Best Align. (3DS Max) I'd then select the edges and stitch them back together in the tools menu.
  • Zombie Acorn
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    dproeder wrote: »
    Are you working from any Concept Art? Always helps to have blueprints! Good Start.

    I made a small sketch and just fleshed it out in zbrush so I am not really working directly from concept (retopologized it afterwards which was a good learning experience). If I have time to do a second weapon I might try to get a full concept drawing.
  • Zombie Acorn
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    Habboi wrote: »
    As for UV mapping I would personally select each side, 1 at a time and use the Planar button and Best Align. (3DS Max) I'd then select the edges and stitch them back together in the tools menu.

    I will definitely give this a try, UVing and getting the light UV channel to look proper has me tearing my hair out. Thanks for the advice.
  • Zombie Acorn
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    Just wanted to post a quick update, have been working on some programming projects so didn't get back to post as quickly as I planned.

    I took Habboi's advice and I am much happier with the UV layout at this time so I posted a quick shot of that layout as well. Both of the shots are in unreal with a default directional light applied. I am still working on the diffuse a bit.

    progress2.png
    progress2text.png
  • Habboi
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    Habboi sublime tool
    Good to see you were successful, keep it up.
  • Zombie Acorn
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    Final update on this one. This is actually my first weapon I have completed. Really enjoying the community here and all of the chances to learn and be inspired. Thanks.

    Oh I thought I would post my first sketch also, its quite the masterpiece. LOL

    firstsketch.png

    ZombieAcornDarksidersFinal.jpg
  • Habboi
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    Habboi sublime tool
    Better than my sketch. Anyway if you want my advice I suggest redoing your presentation slightly. I see you used UDK to render it but I don't really see it. It looks like a quick low quality render done in 3DS Max with scanline.

    Don't take that as an attack. I think you can really push out the presentation to make it more eye catching. Personally I'd use Marmoset which has a free trial but that's up to you. What really bothers me however is the green background. It kind of reminds me of something from Windows 98.

    Your weapon came out quite nicely and it has that disturbing vibe to it. If you can just really improve the presentation and quality, it'll really shine among the other stars.
  • Zombie Acorn
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    Habboi wrote: »
    Better than my sketch. Anyway if you want my advice I suggest redoing your presentation slightly. I see you used UDK to render it but I don't really see it. It looks like a quick low quality render done in 3DS Max with scanline.

    Don't take that as an attack. I think you can really push out the presentation to make it more eye catching. Personally I'd use Marmoset which has a free trial but that's up to you. What really bothers me however is the green background. It kind of reminds me of something from Windows 98.

    Your weapon came out quite nicely and it has that disturbing vibe to it. If you can just really improve the presentation and quality, it'll really shine among the other stars.

    I just checked the background on my other computer and you are right it is a bit overdone. Its much subtler on my other monitor. As for rendering it in UDK maybe I should take some more time with that.

    Currently i just put the static mesh in with a Diffuse/Normal Texture map linked directly to each of those channels. I will do some more research. I thought they wanted us to keep it "natural" but maybe I am under doing it.

    Are we allowed to use Marmoset for this?

    Thanks again for your help in my project.
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