ME weapon recreation WIP- hard surface practice
polycounter lvl 8
Hi all,
I really love the sci-fi style in mass effect, and as I desperately need to work on my hard surface modeling, I decided to work from a detailed concept art piece made for the game.
Here's the current state of it:
I'm already running into some problems (this has been posted in "how do u model dem shapes") but didn't get any response and given I'm sure I'll run into a lot more problems I have made this thread. The bottom of the weapon, i want to have a square extrusion where the clip will fit into (as seen below) but I like the really soft curve of the rest of the geometry and want that to remain.
Basically I've spent hours and hours trying to get it to work, but still no luck. Here's the OBJ if anyone wouldn't mind having a look at it: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YQYTB7NI
Image:
I really appreciate any help anyone can give, i'm a bit of an newbie with this. Thanks!
I really love the sci-fi style in mass effect, and as I desperately need to work on my hard surface modeling, I decided to work from a detailed concept art piece made for the game.
Here's the current state of it:
I'm already running into some problems (this has been posted in "how do u model dem shapes") but didn't get any response and given I'm sure I'll run into a lot more problems I have made this thread. The bottom of the weapon, i want to have a square extrusion where the clip will fit into (as seen below) but I like the really soft curve of the rest of the geometry and want that to remain.
Basically I've spent hours and hours trying to get it to work, but still no luck. Here's the OBJ if anyone wouldn't mind having a look at it: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=YQYTB7NI
Image:
I really appreciate any help anyone can give, i'm a bit of an newbie with this. Thanks!
Replies
The part i'm referring to is shown below (except it's only half of it, im just symmetrying things over). Basically I'm just looking to have the obj I attached, subdivide as is, but I want it to have a square extrusion at the bottom - like what's seen in the low poly screenshot above.
I hate trying to explain this but need help :<.
download linky here
Here's just a small update:
And forgot to attach concept earlier (copyright EA and Bioware)!:
Keep it up!
Really lookign for suggestions on matching the concept better, making it look better in general, and if you find anything wrong with it basically?
I also am not sure what to put at the front (as seen in screenshot) where the barrel is, to make it look more interesting. There's something just wrong with it
I'm starting to think I could use this as a portfolio piece, but I don't know about copyrights and what not, guess I better look into it!
Thanks a lot.
Awesome modeling snow! I will be following this thread for updates
Looks like it will bake well too.
Any ideas on what that second cylinder thing (below the main barrel) could be? I feel like it needs more of a purpose instead of what I have at the moment where it's just capped off. It's also just clipping with a box. I would just prefer it to have some function, ta!
As for critique, it's looking great.
There are a couple things that I think aren't quite right yet. You have a few forms in your model which are much more blockish/squarish then what they are in the concept art.
The handle/cartridge area (not where you place your hand but what holds the cartridge) has a much more curved edge in the concept. I also perceive the black and grey areas of the handle to be at the same height with a ridge in between where as you have the grey are protruding out which is giving a pillowy type feel (instead of looking like metal).
The piece underneath the 2nd barrel and the bolt/ejector port (the opening at the top) is much more round in the concept.
Now why does the concept have a casing ejection or whatchamacallit if the guns use solid metal...but the fact that they should be railguns would rule out the gas cylinder option.
I'm in favor of the laser
Here's my low poly. Now I'm afraid I could have optimised a little too much, and may have some pretty nasty triangles, but I'm not sure. I've pointed out my main problems on the image below. Obviously, any suggestions on modeling parts better or improving on what I have please let me know - I don't want my low poly to let down the high!
Thanks in advance peepz - be gentle
SkyWay:
In ME1 the guns have a cool-down period after a few shots, the use built-in radiators of some kind to dissipate the heat.
In ME2, they use "thermal clips" which are like heat storage cartridges. After a few shots, they get ejected from the gun like bullet casings do in modern day guns.
(One of the dumbest steps backwards in ME2, imo.)
And this is my favorite gun model thread on Polycount!
Anyway, I completely forgot to say this before : Nice job on the gun!
Hey man, it's looking good!
Regarding the areas you've highlighted in blue; you're correct in that they would be a waste of uv space (if kept in line with the rest in terms of scale.) I would just scale those uvs down pretty small. You could in fact double them up on top of each other (though that could give you seams if you look close.) Anyhow, small, dark, and low detail areas are good candidates for such a procedure.
Nice work I like it. I do think however the front grip and is a bit wide and box-y
EricV - Thanks! I might taper the grip in a little bit on the sides (like it is at the front) to try break up the boxiness.
maze - Me too! Glad you like it.
ajr2764 - Thanks for clearing that up, there's tri's galore. I'll have a fiddle with that bit i circled, still unsure of how I can make it cleaner but I'll see how I go.
Busy all day today and tomorrow but hopefully after that I'll have a bake for you guys to evaluate. I appreciate all your comments as always
**Please ignore the fact there are some UV shells still offset and there are some normals I'll need to straighten out!
Final LP:
I've textured the majority of the gun (about 90% there), excluding the black grips. I'm not sure how I should best match the concept in terms of the material it's made of - I'd like to get your thoughts.
I'm not too sure either about the bland front of the gun, where the barrel connects, ignore my bad gun terminology.
I thought I'd run my diffuse by you guys before bothering with the spec, so ignore the bad specular values please!
Thank you all hope to hear from you guys!
The only thing I've seen the front of a gun collect is residue from gunpowder, but these didn't use gunpowder so I'd keep it clean.
Here's the (almost) completed model. Quick lighting setup trying to imitate the concept art (yes it's bad, ignore it for now!), using xoliul's shader.
I purchased the 3 point shader and can't seem to get lights/cubemaps working - nothing happens when I add lights (model gets a little brighter, but colour change doesn't work nor anything else?), and cubemaps dont do anything. I'm pretty new to setting up lighting scenes properly, can anyone shed any light on this problem? It's max 2011 I'm using.
Looking for some final crits from all you guys so I can make this the best it can be.
Thanks,
~snow
Have u tried http://www.8monkeylabs.com/tech/toolbag ?
I think it would be cool to set up a view exactly like the concept with the same bg and show the final reult side by side. It might help you to get the lighting just the way you want it.
edit: just noticed the red glowy thing near the front
The emissive has been done, just won't show up in this shader. I'll have to start a thread in the technical talk to get the 3 point shader working for me. Thanks!