WIP Western Stagecoach

TheGoozah · Dec 2011

Hey,

i'm going to model a western stagecoach for ingame use. The Concord Coach to be exact. I also want to model a horse. I've never sculpted before so I don't know if my end result will be good enough. But I'll try!!

Oke, enough chatting. I just made my base model in Max so I can start sculpting this weekend. After reading some stuff on the net I'm not sure if I have to unwrap my model before I start sculpting. I've read that it was possible to import the uv afterwards? I think it would be better to unwrap it right now so i'll not run into trouble.
But what if you want to change the base mesh to a better low poly mesh for ingame usage? Because right now, the base mesh doesn't have much details...
Or is it better to wait with the unwrap, model the high res sculpt, import that one into max and project it onto my (new)lowpoly model?

Thank you for the respons in advance.
Here is a quick screen from my base mesh. C&C welcome!!

TheGoozah · Dec 2011

Allright... sculpted the horse. Still need to adjust the hair, because atm it isn't very realistic. Probably going to fix it with alpha mapped textures.
Also created the base model for the coach. Going to create the high poly and the optimized low poly out of it.

TheGoozah · Jan 2012

Oke, made the lowpoly horse and textured it. I'm now focusing on the coach' body. C&C would be very welcome because the textures are a very important part of the model

Cheers

ps never mind the rather bad screengrab from 3ds max. The alpha channel doesn't really pop out... I'll post a Marmoset Grab as soon as I made some now progress

Ow yeah, still need to adjust the harness!

Wonkey · Jan 2012

Looking pretty good! What are you using for referance for your stage coach? Are you planning on adding some paint to it, to let you vary the spec map on the wood?

TheGoozah · Jan 2012

Thank you! I took some artistic liberty and changed some small things on my coach (sides, etc), but in general you can say I've used reference from The Concord Coach.

If wanted the coach to look rather old and used but not overdone like it is +100 years old, so I'll definitely need to adjust the body. I'll probably add more dirt and scratches. And I will indeed create a specular map with variations into so, so it looks like it has been painted. Though, I'm not sure it will create the wanted result. I think wood is one of the most difficult things to texture at the moment. I want to create sometime in between this (but other color and less damaged):

Any tips and tricks are always welcome!!
Cheers

TheGoozah · Jan 2012

Here are some renders
C&C welcome!!!!

Wonkey · Jan 2012

I wish more knowledgeable people would comment.... but, imo you need to boost the interest in the piece. Change the color of the trims, Add a faded logo on the door, Use a masked in an alpha channel to make the horses look different. Rig the horses to give them a more interesting pose. Maybe make some <colorful> luggage. Make the piece fun!

And I think brighter spec on the horse's hooves and eyes.

AlexLeighton · Jan 2012

+1 on the horses, they look a bit depressed or something, get their heads up as if they're looking around, maybe you've caught them in the middle of shaking their head around when you snapped the picture. And certainly do something to make it less obvious that they're the same model, even different poses would help the scene alot.

TheGoozah · Jan 2012

Thx! I'll definitely need to take a look into rigging so I can indeed give the horses good and interesting poses. The shaking thing can indeed be very cool!
Because this is part of an exam I had to spend some precious time to all my classes, but I was planning on make a second skin for the other horse.
After my exam (end this week) I'll drop in Max and PS again and add more stuff to it (adding luggage and more props, refine and make the texture better, pose the horse, adjust some of the spec maps, change the harnes, etc.).

Thx again for the interesting crits. More C&C always welcome!!

WIP Western Stagecoach

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