Home Contests & Challenges Archives

[DS2] Multi, Turret

polycounter lvl 11
Offline / Send Message
Turret polycounter lvl 11
So I am still undecided on which weapon type I will be making, I am keeping my options open. The starting concept will play a huge part in this contest so I want to make sure I make something unique and awesome. I have a few ideas below, just quick sketches. Wanting to get some feedback and pick out 1 or 2 of them to really dig in and detail out. So let me know what you guys think.

Latest and Final:

Phew, here it is, the final submission. It was fun, I learned a lot thanks to bobo and the feedback. Good Luck to everyone and good night.*
weaponpresentation.jpg

Nice to see everyone busy working and so many great weapons popping up left and right as the night continues. Here is my latest texture update. I am finally starting to like it and get over the whole "its never going to be good enough I should just start over" phase. The spec is just a place holder while I finish up the diffuse. Going to go over it with color variation pass and then I think it might be ready. Let me know what you all think.
texturewip02.jpg

baseo.jpg


Alright here is the full, finished Hi poly. I added a little arrow brace to the bottom to bring some of the detail from the blades down and make it more solid. So have at it, tell me what you like and don't while I begin on the low poly, and once that's done I may go back and change a couple things depending on the time I have. I need to get to baking and texturing asap.

wholesides.jpg
wholetops.jpg

Final Concepts:
conceptcombopo.jpg

Replies

  • irritated1
    Offline / Send Message
    irritated1 polycounter lvl 12
    really liking the Cerberus mace and the maker mace, seems like you have a handle on the bashing weapons
  • TaylorMouse
    Offline / Send Message
    TaylorMouse polycounter lvl 10
    Going for angelic 2 and demonic 7 :)

    T.
  • Turret
    Offline / Send Message
    Turret polycounter lvl 11
    Here is an update of the concept. I decided to detail and flesh out the Cerberus mace first. I felt it had the strongest fit with the darksiders universe and with just a glance it has a strong story behind it that anyone can pick up on. Let me know what you all think, in the meantime I take a crack at number 4 and 7. I am leaning towards the maces now since I have seen some amazing axe entries already. =P
    cerberusconcept.jpg
  • Dan!
    Offline / Send Message
    Dan! polycounter lvl 6
    nice!- a little confused about whats going on below the heads though- good luck!
  • Turret
    Offline / Send Message
    Turret polycounter lvl 11
    yeah, I ran into a wall figuring out what I wanted to put between the heads and around the neck of the handle. So I am still waiting for some magical inspiration to make it better.
  • BlvdNights
    Offline / Send Message
    BlvdNights polycounter lvl 8
    I think the heads could be pushed further in the darksiders style, but really cool idea so far!
  • pulyx
    Offline / Send Message
    pulyx polycounter lvl 8
    Safe to say it's a Cerberus concept ?
    Because dude, it's looking GREAT
  • Turret
    Offline / Send Message
    Turret polycounter lvl 11
    Alright, quick update, I fleshed out the makers mace idea. Let me know what you all think. I will be tweaking the Cerberus mace and laying down some base colors for both of these so that is coming soon. =)
    makermaceconcept.jpg
  • Weapon_X
    Offline / Send Message
    Weapon_X polycounter lvl 17
    Really digging the top part mang
  • Habboi
    Offline / Send Message
    Habboi sublime tool
    That's one funky shape. No crits from me, I wanna see it in 3D.
  • Turret
    Offline / Send Message
    Turret polycounter lvl 11
    Alright, I think I am done concepting, I really should start modeling. Still can't decide between the cerberus mace or the makers mace. The makers mace seems more solid and straightforward but not as cool or flashy, while the cerberus has some problems I still need to work out like how its all connected at the neck but its much cooler. I also got an idea for an angelic axe based heavily off of designs Paul Richards did for Darksiders. It might be a cool idea to do after the mace if I have time. Let me know what you all think, my next update should be a base mesh for one of these weapons.
    conceptcombopo.jpg
  • Texelion
    Offline / Send Message
    Texelion polycounter lvl 8
    I think that the major problem of the cerberus is that it looks to smash with the "nose", it could smash with the forehead or the horns.

    Really cool designs anyway.
  • randomind
    Offline / Send Message
    randomind polycounter lvl 6
    i would go with the maker mace. to me its design works best.
    what i would add is something that holds the blades onto the rings. that could also give it a little more weight and stability.
    true, a Cerberus is awesome and a lot cooler to look at, but atm its more of a hunting trophy on a stick, if you know what i mean ;).

    looking forward to whats gonna happen
  • DiHydro
    Offline / Send Message
    DiHydro polycounter lvl 6
    These concepts look awesome. I could be mistaken, but I believe Bobo mentioned in someone else's post before that there is no reference to a cerebrus in the Darksiders series. You could possibly substitute it with a demon skull though.
  • Lennyagony
    Offline / Send Message
    Lennyagony polycounter lvl 14
    Incredible concept work all around. At first glance my personal preference is the makers mace, i like the solid feel and that its instantly recognisable as a weapon.
  • jaydon
    Offline / Send Message
    jaydon polycounter lvl 6
    I think the Cerberus is a great idea. Awesome concepts
  • pseudoBug
    Offline / Send Message
    pseudoBug polycounter lvl 18
    Bobo has stated on another thread the Cerberus is not within the art style. Gonna have to be skulls.

    http://www.polycount.com/forum/showpost.php?p=1539562&postcount=38

    Have a feeling the Griffin is out of bounds too, seeing that it is also Greek mythos.
  • Turret
    Offline / Send Message
    Turret polycounter lvl 11
    ah, thanks DiHydro and PseudoBug for the link. I see the reasoning behind not doing the Cerberus now, might make it in my own free time later. As for the griffin, there were griffins in the first game, that design was based on previous darksiders one artwork, but its just a backup really. Looks like I will move forward with making the Makers Mace. And I agree with you Randomind, will be looking into adding more bolts and bits where I can to make it more solid. I was thinking stringing up some thick chains on the inside would be cool.
  • the_rabid_rabbit
    oh my god those are looking sweet dude i cannot offer any feedback it's just that good :D
  • Turret
    Offline / Send Message
    Turret polycounter lvl 11
    Alright, so here is a quick screenshot of the mace's base mesh set up to scale. Its ready to take into zbrush and begin the fun part.
    macescaletest.jpg
  • Turret
    Offline / Send Message
    Turret polycounter lvl 11
    Small update with some work in Zbrush. I am trying to follow BoBo's workflow and techniques so any feedback on what I am missing or what needs work is appreciated. He makes it look so simple.

    Also I wanted to share my process for adapting BoBo's workflow for Maya. It is very simple and I am sure anyone familiar with Maya already figured it out but here it is just in case. The way BoBo uses smoothing groups to keep creases on his models without using holding edges can also be done in Maya in the smoothing options. Smooth all your edges, under the normal menu, and then harden the edges you want to crease. Smooth your object and under its inputs in the smooth options turn Keep Hard edge On. And there you go, up your divisions to the desired level and export. The only issue with this is Maya doesn't round curves that well. Luckily my mesh didn't have many curves but for the curves I did have I just manually adjusted the verts after 1 division, deleted history, and then re-smoothed. Its not perfect but it had a nice enough curve to take into Zbrush.


    bladezbrushwip.jpg
  • Turret
    Offline / Send Message
    Turret polycounter lvl 11
    Phew, rushed this screenshot out. I know its a little confusing with just grey everywhere, so when I get back home I will do a paint over with some color and see how that looks. Still got the handle and the end of the weapon to do. Also the view from the ortho side, the blades wont be mirrored like that, it just ended up that way while I was moving things around in Zbrush.

    headzbrushwip.jpg
  • Stinkhorse
    Offline / Send Message
    Stinkhorse polycounter lvl 12
    Wow this guy looks like a beast! The blunt force trauma this thing evokes is pretty great. Are you going to do anything with the pommel? Right now it feels a little unexciting compared to the mace head itself.
  • Turret
    Offline / Send Message
    Turret polycounter lvl 11
    I will see when I get to it, after I go crazy on it in Zbrush following the concept, if it seems lacking I will add to it. Maybe an smaller round bladed disc on the bottom that matches the top.
  • Nix
    Offline / Send Message
    Nix polycounter lvl 13
    I agree, that thing definitely looks very painful haha. Nice work.
  • Maneak
    That thing looks like a beast! I'm excited to see this after the bake; Keep it up!

    I do agree about the pommel. Once you sort that out, this will look even more awesome!
  • Turret
    Offline / Send Message
    Turret polycounter lvl 11
    Alright here is the full, finished Hi poly. I added a little arrow brace to the bottom to bring some of the detail from the blades down and make it more solid. So have at it, tell me what you like and don't while I begin on the low poly, and once that's done I may go back and change a couple things depending on the time I have. I need to get to baking and texturing asap.

    wholesides.jpg
    wholetops.jpg
  • Turret
    Offline / Send Message
    Turret polycounter lvl 11
    well dam, I have a lot of trouble getting my weapon to fit within the 1500 tris range. Here are some screen shots, if anyone has any ideas I would greatly appreciate it. At this rate I am going to have to back track to Zbrush and cut out some big things somehow. Everything without the blades is down to 758, and the vertical+horizontal blade is 266, which ends up being duplicated around in a circle 4 times. =/

    retopowip.jpg
  • kelli
    Looks nice! Perhaps you could try reducing the number of sides on the central cylinder. More floating geo could help too maybe, like the pommel doesn't look like it needs to be connected.
  • Habboi
    Offline / Send Message
    Habboi sublime tool
    If you can cut it down in any real way then try your best however I hate to point this out since I stuck to 1500 when I could have gone over but some entries thus far have been submitted with 1800+ tri's.
  • Turret
    Offline / Send Message
    Turret polycounter lvl 11
    Thanks for the feedback, I do remember Bobo saying it could go a little over, wasn't sure by how much though. So I cut out that middle edge running down the vertical blade and one of the rings, bringing it down to 1600, which I am happy with and it will stay. Going to start baking the maps now.
  • daphz
    Offline / Send Message
    daphz polycounter lvl 13
    nice sculpt! I'm a little worried some of the smaller details will be visible in a 512; and as for polycount, 1800 isnt too bad but the lower the better!...somtimes...?
  • Turret
    Offline / Send Message
    Turret polycounter lvl 11
    Alright, so I need some help. I am using Xnormals to bake my maps and it usually does just fine but there are some issues that have me scratching my head. First, a few nice shots from a distance. Base diffuse setup following BoBos method. And then the issues. I roughed up the edges everywhere with the trim dynamic brush to fit the style and weathered look, but those edges are not translating well to normal maps. Then the tip of the horizontal blade is weird, it looks alright from certain angles but sometimes the way the light catches it makes it look wrong. Also have this weird shadow in that corner of my weapon but the normal maps themselves look fine. So any ideas or tips on how to get clean bakes would be greatly appreciated. Going to have some dinner, clear my mind, and jump back onto this.
    baseo.jpg
    problem01.jpg
    problem02m.jpg
  • KRAN4e
    Try to separate the different parts on the uv map.
    I usually get similar problems when i have seams close together.
  • Turret
    Offline / Send Message
    Turret polycounter lvl 11
    O derp, I wanted to upload my normal map too, here it is. some of the areas with the problems are not even on seams, its just because its an edge =/
    nrmx.jpg
  • afisher
    Offline / Send Message
    afisher polycounter lvl 6
    Looks like you're using Maya, so have you set up your soften and harden edges? Sometimes that can cause issues, so try selecting the edges of the tip of the blade where you are having the problems and select Normals>Harden Edge see if thats any better. Hope that helps
  • Turret
    Offline / Send Message
    Turret polycounter lvl 11
    O wow, well I feel dumb now. Thanks so much afisher, hardening the edges fixed the issue with the blade. I am so used to softening everything specifically for baking that I never thought about doing the opposite for a hard surface shape like the blade.
    nrmfixed.jpg
  • afisher
    Offline / Send Message
    afisher polycounter lvl 6
    No worries mate. Glad it helped :)
  • Turret
    Offline / Send Message
    Turret polycounter lvl 11
    A quick texture WIP. Got the base color gradients down following BoBo's workflow, now time to really make things pop. This new workflow is a learning experience so I hope it turns out right in time.
    texturewipn.jpg
  • Evanescfan
    HARDCORE. I can definitely see this in a darksiders game...
  • Turret
    Offline / Send Message
    Turret polycounter lvl 11
    Nice to see everyone busy working and so many great weapons popping up left and right as the night continues. Here is my latest texture update. I am finally starting to like it and get over the whole "its never going to be good enough I should just start over" phase. The spec is just a place holder while I finish up the diffuse. Going to go over it with color variation pass and then I think it might be ready. Let me know what you all think.
    texturewip02.jpg
  • Turret
    Offline / Send Message
    Turret polycounter lvl 11
    Phew, here it is, the final submission. It was fun, I learned a lot thanks to bobo and the feedback. Good Luck to everyone and good night.
    weaponpresentation.jpg
  • chaosblade
Sign In or Register to comment.