[WIP] Newbie pieces

hamzaaa · Aug 2011

Hi everyone,

as you can see from my post sum, I am kinda new to this forum. I am also kinda new to the 3D modeling scene and I wanted to share my first ever model with you to get some critiques. Don't hold back, I can take it

Here is the reference I am using:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Registrierkasse_Anker_20er-Jahre.gif

http://www.requisitenreindl.de/images/registrierkasse_big_1.jpg

You may notice that I am not sticking to my reference perfectly. The images below are the high poly model. I am planning to bake this to a low poly. I also want to add those nice ornaments from reference picture2 (propably via Photoshop because I am not experienced with scultping at all) and texture this thing.
I do all this just for learning purpose because I am pretty newbie ^^

thanks for reading!

hamzaaa · Aug 2011

Some update. Sorry for the crappy previous renders ^^

Twister3 · Aug 2011

That is a nice looking register!

One thing I'd probably change is the size of the buttons. You can see in your reference that the buttons almost touch each other.
The other thing is the lock on the bottom. In your reference its actually built into the wooden panel but in your model it is sticking out.

Are you going to model the display as well or are you going to leave it as a big hole?
Do you have any plans to bake and texture it? I'm sure it would look cool with all that shiny material!

Oh and welcome to the 3D modeling scene!

hamzaaa · Aug 2011

Hey,

Well, I am not sticking to the reference to the fullest. I am just taking some inspiration and model like I feel it looks good. And I feld that the lock sticking out may add more detail and break up the big plane areas. ^^
I don't know yet if I will model out the display and I am planing to bake it to a lowpoly and texture it.
thanks a lot for your answer!

hamzaaa · Aug 2011

some progress

hamzaaa · Aug 2011

small update, some things look a little too shaded and extruded because they are floated (the big handle where it is attached to the cashbox and the lock where the key is sticked into)

Twister3 · Aug 2011

Why did you use floaters if you don't mind me asking?

I mean those surfaces aren't bent so I imagine it would be rather easy to model in the round shapes of the handle and the lock.

That way (without floaters) you won't get problems when you bake AO for example.

hamzaaa · Aug 2011

I don't mind if you ask. Well, I just thought it would be easier rather than cutting into the surface and stuff. As I am pretty new to modeling I chose this easier solution. But you have a point regarding normal maps. I will try really modeling it into the surface. Thanks mate

jordan.kocon · Aug 2011

Nice work man, no crits, it's a great looking highpoly model

TylerFluharty · Aug 2011

This is looking great to me bud.
Those renders are really clean, are you using Maya or Max?

hamzaaa · Aug 2011

Hey guys,

thanks a lot! I am using 3ds Max 2012

hamzaaa · Aug 2011

Hey guys,

finally after some time an update. I called the highpoly quits and tried to bake this thing. It took some time because this was my first low poly modeling + bake ever!! I didn't do any photoshop cleanup etc. yet. If you see some things I need to improve, please tell me but in a newbie friendly manner

The lowpoly has 5515 tris. I tried to keep the roundness of that piece but I think the tricount is too high but I don't have the experience, what do you think?

I took the screens from marmoset, somehow when I added an AO the model just became grey and the AO didn't seem to work, do you know what's the problem?

Screens and Wires: (sorry for the kinda crappy light setup)

Enjoy and thanks in advance for your advice

hamzaaa · Aug 2011

Hey,

I updated the geometry and I am now left with a Tricount of 3798. Do you think this is a more appropriate tricount? I punched down the Handles and some other pieces and cleared some surfaces to be flat and let the normal map do its job. There are still errors in the Normalmap which require fixing, but I will do this later.

Thanks a lot for your help!

hamzaaa · Aug 2011

Hey guys,

yet another update. I punched down the tricount by applying tips and critiques I got around the web. As you can see the buttons are now only planes which will later look correct using an alpha map.
The tricount is now 2417.

Now I think I can call the normal mapping done and I will start texturing. I will of course show you the progress.

hamzaaa · Sep 2011

Yet another update. Before starting to create the diffuse I wanted to add more detail to the normal map. I did that using Photoshop and nDo:

hamzaaa · Sep 2011

Weeee another small update. I blocked out some colors and tested out first diffuse and specular maps. What do you think of the colors etc?

Remember the reference: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a0/Registrierkasse_Anker_20er-Jahre.gif

I am not sticking to it 100% but I will try to mirror at least the main body.

I need your opinions!!

n88tr · Sep 2011

is that red stuff supposed to be wood?
if so it looks nothing like wood

EmAr · Sep 2011

I think it's possible to make wood look like that with transparent paints etc. It didn't look unfamiliar to me.

myles · Sep 2011

Doesn't look far off polished wood to me, n88tr's just being a harsh ass.
Think there might be a tad to much purple in there, and you could do with a few lighter red highlights in the diffuse. Also introduce some scratches into the diffuse (as if the polish had been rubbed off)

hamzaaa · Sep 2011

No it's not wood. If you look at the reference you see that it's like tinted, brushed metal or something.

@myles: yeah I will definitely add scratches and all that cool stuff. This is just a first quick test. But thanks for the advice

Oniram · Sep 2011

brushed metal? get out of here thats totally wood :P you can tell from the wear of it. and generally from the wood pattern. lol

here's some more references for you to clarify.

http://www.reklame-auktion.de/03_reklame/img/Rc0547.jpg

http://www.mz-web.de/ks/images/mdsBild/1260693542883l.jpg

http://www.reklame-auktion.de/03_reklame/img/Rc0158.jpg

also (for next time): dont make your edges so tight when doing the high poly.

Ruz · Sep 2011

seems like you have just 'registered' on polycount:)

hamzaaa · Sep 2011

Oh damn, I have to apologize. I found some more ref pictures and you are right... it's wood. Shame on me I bow to thy feet ^^
Okay attempt number 2. How do you think the wood is looking? ^^

Steve Schulze · Sep 2011

The base and cashdraw are wooden in most of the shots. The rest looks like metal with a tacky fake wooden veneer over the top, hence why it doesn't really look like real wood. It's particularly obvious in that third reference shot where a lot of it has worn off the curved bit on the left hand side.

hamzaaa · Sep 2011

I found some more screenshots on the web which make me more tending to think that it really is wood, but I am still a little unsure ^^

http://img1.classistatic.com/cps/bln/110217/750r7/9258cd0_20.jpeg

http://img1.classistatic.com/cps/bln/110217/749r6/0185emf_20.jpeg

http://img1.classistatic.com/cps/bln/110217/749r2/13868i6_20.jpeg

Xaltar · Sep 2011

I seriously don't buy that this is your first ever model. If it is then take this as a compliment if it isn't then try not to say things like that in your posts, it just makes you look like an attention seeker. Its looking very good on its own so far, finish it up so we can see how it came out.

hamzaaa · Sep 2011

Well, before I made this model I did tutorials on modeling, baking and stuff only. So this is the first model I ever made completely on my own. I don't write this stuff to impress people or to get attention, but to let people know that I am a newbie and that they treat me like that, meaning to not assume advanced things I may don't be aware of and providing critiques and tips in a way, a newbie (which I seriously am) can understand.

Xaltar · Sep 2011

Ah then maybe just make that distinction next time, you have to bare in mind that a lot of newbies find their way here and have not done any tutorials or the like and for them to see someone claiming this is their first model and it looks this good is particularly demoralizing.

Great work on your first self concieved model. Its nice to see the attention to detail you are putting in. Keep up the good work Hamzaaa, you are off to a great start.

Steve Schulze · Sep 2011

There might be parts of it, like the very top that are made of chipboard, but I guarantee that that entire console part is made of metal with a veneer glued over it. You can see just from the way it's constructed.

It doesn't really matter one way or the other. As long as you match the specularity and where it's been knocked about and rubbed thin, you should have a suitably kitsch looking cash register.

hamzaaa · Sep 2011

@xaltar: Thanks a lot mate, I appreciate it!

@Jackablad: Yeah you are right. If it's metal, wood or whatnot, as long as I match it closely to the reference I will be fine

camza · Sep 2011

I'm going to take it one step further with the whole wood/not wood thing and throw in another contender:

Bakelite

It was the world's first fully synthetic plastic and everything at the time was made from it. It's rarely used now today, probably because it's a thermo-set plastic, aka it sets hard when heated once and can never be reformed afterwards, unlike more common thermoplastics that can be melted and reshaped till the cows come home.

But the best thing... It kinda looks like wood:

Pistol%20Grip,%20Bakelite,%20VZ58.JPG

...Oh! Yeah good model by the way.

hamzaaa · Sep 2011

Some texturing progress. I didn't add some specular detail yet, I just added in the colors to define reflectivity of the materials.

hamzaaa · Sep 2011

Another update. I am still working on the main body and I started with the wooden base. Still no specular detail and some parts (e.g. the black wooden handles) are too relective. I will fix this later in the spec map.

hamzaaa · Sep 2011

Update time! I pretty much finished the diffuse (I think) and now I am going to start doing the specular map. I hope you like what you see so far, I am open to C&C as always!

Twister3 · Sep 2011

That cash box is coming along great! I really like the look of the wood and the brass details. Now let that spec map shine :P

The four screws near the "display" look a bit distorted to me. Other than that I have nothing to crit.

hamzaaa · Sep 2011

Phew had a hard time doing the spec and gloss map today. Also I had a little trouble to find a good light setup in marmoset. Here is what I got now. I think it looks pretty decent and if I don't get and devastating critiques I think I will leave it at that because I want to get finished ^^

I tried to create a turntable but I haven't found a good method to do it yet..

cheers and thanks for all your comments so far

Xaltar · Sep 2011

Beautiful work. Only suggestion would be to maybe add some ink stains and other random wear on the top of the base, maybe someone scratched thier name in the wood. Possibly also have the wood grain go horizontally on the top piece, it looks a little odd the way it is atm.

Great to watch this thing from start to finish.

hamzaaa · Sep 2011

FINAL UPDATE!!
I know I could work on that piece like forever and there are always things to find which could be improved, but I am proud and satisfied with and finally I call it done!

Some trackback: The cashbox was modeled highpoly and lowpoly in 3D Studio Max 2012, baked with 3D Studio Max 2012, normal detail was added using nDo, textured in Adobe Photoshop CS4 and rendered realtime in 8Monkeylabs' Marmoset Toolbag.
Tricount is 2417, texture sizes are all 2048x2048. Working time was about one and a half month.

Thanks to everyone from game-artist.net, gameartisans.org, polycount.com, nextgenhardsurface.com and eat3d.com who provided crits and comments, you guys rock!!
Special thanks to Pac_187!

Twister3 · Sep 2011

You can create pretty decent turntables in marmoset itself. It's hidden under the "view" tab.

Pac_187 · Sep 2011

Great work!

The time we invested into Skype sessions and chatting was worth it :P
I have to admit that you are better at textures than models, so you might want to keep an eye on that

hamzaaa · Sep 2011

hey thanks pac. Damn I just see that I forgot the alpha channel in the final screenshots.. well my bad.. ^^

EDIT: Fixed

[WIP] Newbie pieces

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