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LOW-POLY ART

polycounter lvl 19
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hawken polycounter lvl 19
This is the sweet spot for your low-poly models. Post 'em if you've got 'em!

Low-poly hasn't really been a requirement in the games industry for a long while now. This thread is for low-poly art style appreciation, so please take note of these rough guidelines:
  • Keep models under 1,000 triangles.
  • Scenes are fine, if all models are low poly.
Some dedicated low-poly modelling tools now exist that make this art style a lot easier to produce; Crocotile3D & Blockbench

Here's a handy list of ways to make your art look right in mainstream 3D software: Low-Poly Art Style Guide

Replies

  • Leisure Centaur
    Some grading and glowy stuff added with Photoshop, but this was a fun one to do! I'll post an untreated version with meshes etc next :)

    sahaguin_by_papercaves-d4xn91w.jpg

    sahaguin_gang_by_papercaves-d4xn9bq.jpg
  • hobodactyl
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    hobodactyl polycounter lvl 18
    @Leisure Centaur: That's awesome, I love the mood :)
  • Leisure Centaur
    Cheers hobodactyl!

    Here's an original render sans treatment and a wireframe...

    saha_wireframes.jpg
  • stabbington
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    stabbington polycounter lvl 10
    Leisure Centaur - full of the delicious taste of awesome, especially your first graded shot. Love it!

    Svven - Mjollnir is looking ace too!
  • Sveen
    Amatobahn - thanks! It the same mesh, but we will swap the diffuse once fully assembled so the cracks between each fragment goes away. If we need to, I can remove the insides and optimize the complete mesh, but since it's shown in a very controlled environment it should be fine I think.

    Stabbington - Cheers!
  • gavku
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    gavku polycounter lvl 18
    Leisure Centaur that is fkn rad!!!
  • Leyto
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    Leyto polycounter lvl 7
    Leisure centaur, youre model is nice, clean but yet appealing. :)

    Amatoban, did you achieve it with occlusion/diffuse baking, or ? (and maybe you would have save some texture space by duplicating your rivets)
  • Amatobahn
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    Amatobahn polycounter lvl 7
    Leyto wrote: »
    Amatoban, did you achieve it with occlusion/diffuse baking, or ? (and maybe you would have save some texture space by duplicating your rivets)
    I am actually using a normal map with my diffuse. I didn't bake details from a high poly model, they were all done manually.

    I think the only way [now] to free some texture space was to break up the surface of my current long-pieces to where I could stack the square twice on itself since it is just a duplication. However, I don't know if it is worth adding those 4 hefty polys, ha ha :P. I am going to look into it, and see how it goes =]

    If I do free some space, I could potentially add in more assets — which is ideal.
  • Squiggly_P
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    Squiggly_P polycounter lvl 11
    Some grading and glowy stuff added with Photoshop, but this was a fun one to do! I'll post an untreated version with meshes etc next :)

    AWESOME IMAGE

    ANOTHER AWESOME IMAGE

    The only thing I don't like about the first image is that it's not wallpaper size.
  • Leisure Centaur
    @Leyto @gavku @stabbington Thanks very much guys, hope to get him in Unity at some point in a simple swamp exploration game or something.

    @Squiggly_P I'll try to sort some wallpapers, can Maya render to wallpaper sizes easily?
  • lean
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    lean polycounter lvl 5
    Leisure Centaur - man, that one looks awesome! (too late, everyone already said it). no, but seriously, i love it. I was expecting the non-treated version to be a bit disappointing, but against my expectations it looks great! About the model, I think you're working on a level that is requiring larger textures. maybe a larger texture with the same amount of synthesis, but with a vectorized look instead of the pixelated look. It's just an opinion, though.

    I was going to talk further about the to be or not to be of pixel-art textures, but I remembered that i'm not famous lol (not the right place to mumble about it either I guess)

    anyways, that render was the cooler thing I've seen today, Leisure Centaur!
  • Stinkhorse
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    Stinkhorse polycounter lvl 12
    I know it's not much to get excited about, but I've finally figured out how to unwrap and skin a model.

    2fODw.png
  • Mr_Drayton
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    Mr_Drayton polycounter lvl 14
    irloading wrote: »
    a little spaceship with pilot :)

    7xX6D.gif

    edit: erhm, i mean polys. 106 polys in 3dsmax

    This is so F-Zero! I like it quite much. :D

    You might want to add some shape on the sides, like the green circular "wings" of the Wild Goose:

    fzeroinside_071503_car.jpg
  • Stinkhorse
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    Stinkhorse polycounter lvl 12
    It's really awesome when you take a risk that could cost you several hours worth of time and have it pay off. In the coming days I'm willing to bet I'm going to start dreaming of UV space management.

    The floor is made up of three pieces sharing the same 512x512 texture space. I've got a lot of work ahead of me this weekend if I'm going to get the other three or four wall pieces done.

    XJE9h.png
  • Stinkhorse
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    Stinkhorse polycounter lvl 12
    Also I'm suddenly understanding why everyone hates seams. How do you fight them?
  • D4V1DC
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    D4V1DC polycounter lvl 18
    BodyPaint 3D, Zbrush, Max: viewport Canvas.
  • RAWTalent
    Stinkhorse wrote: »
    Also I'm suddenly understanding why everyone hates seams. How do you fight them?

    Best way I have found is once your texture is done, re unwrap all of the poly's either side of where the seam appears, then you are free to fix the seam.
  • Stinkhorse
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    Stinkhorse polycounter lvl 12
    Hey that's an idea! I'll give it a shot. One of the issues I'm finding is that putting the seams to the edge of the texture seems to always include one pixel past it. Should I design my textures with one extra pixel of margin to compensate?

    Also I'm working in blender if that changes anything.
  • Snader
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    Snader polycounter lvl 15
    Yes. One pixel extra is good enough to fix texel-interpolation seams. (except for when you use mipmaps, then you need 2, 4, 8 or 16 pixel borders)

    They don't, however, fix seams in the actual texture. By that I mean, the pixel color on one side of the seam needs to be the same as the opposing pixel on the other side. This is pretty doable with flat colors and technical materials, but a lot harder on organically shaded stuff and clothing.

    Like RAWtalent said, easiest method to paint away texture seams is to unwrap the seams (just the seams) and paint over the seams in PS. Then rebake those textures onto the original ones, and presto.

    It also helps if both sides of the seam use the exact same amount of pixels. (shouldn't be hard for a tiling square texture =P) In fact, if they're not exactly the same there will ALWAYS be some form of seam, but it can be pretty much negligible if you follow the second paragraph.

    Your 3D package should have no influence. The only thing you can do (to not have to use the extra 1 pixel border) is to turn of texture filtering, and make the texture all pixely, like this:
    volvo440.png
  • Stinkhorse
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    Stinkhorse polycounter lvl 12
    Texture filtering, ok. I might want to do that in the project I'm working on. Thanks for the advice!
  • TacitusD
    Railroad track styled munitions cart. It has 1k for color and normal maps and I used the green channel in UDK for the spec

    cart.jpg
  • Stinkhorse
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    Stinkhorse polycounter lvl 12
    @Tacticus:
    Nice. Is it part of a larger project or is it on it's own? The colors seem a little diffuse, any way you could punch the saturation up a bit?
  • scotthomer
    @TacitusD - I know its not THAT important (for portfolio work at least) but I see alot of wasted space, or more space that could be gained by more tiling/reuse. The tiles ontop of the cart could be condensed into 1x corner, 1x outside and 1x inside. so the 12 square pieces of metal would become 3 pieces (with alot more resolution for your texture space!).

    Looking good tho man, those wheels could do with some more divides, they're looking very faceted. Feels like metal and wood, so you've definately defined the materials quite well.
  • renderhjs
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    renderhjs sublime tool
    why does this stuff end up here in the low poly thread? Please no normal map current gen stuff, there are other threads for that.
  • TacitusD
    @scotthomer - most often I would stake it. One of the requirements of this assets was that only the wheels could be stacked. Also if i stacked them I wouldn't have been able to get away with the text on top as easy. With a decal or alpha I could of course but that's another draw call. Thanks for the complement about the materials. I have been trying to get better with UDK shaders. Doesn't matter what you with the texture if the spec value hits it and then looks just wrong.

    @ Stinkhorse - it is part of a larger pieces but I honestly didn't get the detail into the other parts that I wanted to.

    @renderhjs - Sorry to offend you there. I didn't see a sticky saying no normal's or other stuff. It just says under 1k and that's what it is. No offense. If you have the link to the other low-poly with hi res style work on it please let me know.
  • lean
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    lean polycounter lvl 5
    hawken wrote: »
    (normal mapped items ok, if for mobile devices)

    it is kinda high poly though, considering that a player character would be around 1000 tris . I don't think it's such a big deal either way..
  • TacitusD
    lean wrote: »
    it is kinda high poly though, considering that a player character would be around 1000 tris . I don't think it's such a big deal either way..
    Guess I miss understood the gist of this forum. Is there anyway a moderator can put that up at the top. I wouldn't have posted had I seen that, but since I didn't check the last page I didn't see it. My fault, sorry.
  • funkdelic
    Hi hi there! First post here!

    I was browsing a mass effect art book that I have, and found a nice piece of concept art, and tried to make a really low poly version of it.

    So here it is, hope you like it, and feel free to give critics and comments

    769 Tris and a 256* Texture

    NbUvS.png
    9YETg.png

    also, a Unity webplayer :D
    http://www.rahmorais.com/me_diagnostic_station.html
  • Tennis
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    Tennis polycounter lvl 16
    just finished working on this guy
    penjira.jpg
    a character for a IOS game im currently working on.
    about 480 poly's, screenshot taken from unity
  • Tigerfeet
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    Tigerfeet polycounter lvl 12
    Tennis, I want to see your dino-penguin and LeisureCentaur's frog people battle.... please? :3
  • wizo
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    wizo polycounter lvl 17
    for an IOS project
    concept:
    Fodderp_Castle_Guard_00.jpg
    3D @ 256x256
    CastleGuard_LowPoly-1.jpg
  • Tennis
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    Tennis polycounter lvl 16
    wizo: really cool design, what type of game is it going to be ?
  • wizo
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    wizo polycounter lvl 17
    Tennis : Thanks! It's gonna be a tower defense game. This is a unit you have to defeat you can check my sb for more unit designs.
  • celark
    First post on the forums. Just wanted to show what I'm working on, it is about 800 tris.

    sword3.jpg

    Crits and suggestions would be appreciated.
  • Leisure Centaur
    Looks ace. My first thought is that it needs a bit more contrast, looking a little dull. Perhaps a few too may grey tones in the shading?
  • celark
    I think you are right. I have added contrast and more colour and it is looking much better, thanks!

    sword4.jpg

    One question, how long would you be expected to take in making something like this in a studio?
  • dirty bassett
    Hand painted texture practice WIP. 256x256
    scaled.php?server=840&filename=previewbarba.png&res=landing
  • Amsterdam Hilton Hotel
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    Amsterdam Hilton Hotel insane polycounter
    practice thing

    UQnvH.jpg

    he has trouble hearing.
  • MonkeyKing
    So insanely jealous of this stuff,trying some low poly stuff now myself but I cannot get the textures working such as how to spread them out to draw on,any advice?
  • MonkeyKing
    QT5U9.png
    This is what I'm working on so maybe gives you a better idea but I really appreciate any input or advice!
  • S_ource
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    S_ource polycounter lvl 9
    MonkeyKing wrote: »
    QT5U9.png
    This is what I'm working on so maybe gives you a better idea but I really appreciate any input or advice!
    Looks like a solid and good start i would ditch the belt buckle or what its called, will probably look better just making it with texture. I would also suggest to make the head/hair having more round shapes. Hope that helps.? :)
  • e2rd
    Hi guys! just want to share my low poly mini Dovahkiin from Skyrim.
    Was inspired to make this guy when I saw the mini version of ME characters (Thanks Nix) ^_^
    Crits and comments are very welcome.

    386 Tris, 512x512 Map
    Fus Ro Dah! :D!

    MiniDovahkiin_small.gif
  • Kingsize
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    Kingsize polycounter lvl 16
    Great stuff in this thread! Thought I'd post.

    lpchar01.jpg

    Any tips or tricks welcome. :)
  • 3dmaxter
    e2rd: Love to see him with a mace or hammer ^__^
    Kingsize: I can't see your image T__T
  • ToothyMang
    LampPost.PNG
    LampPost_d.PNG

    First attempt at hand painted textures. Would really appreciate any critique.
  • rabidbaboy
    ToothyMang: i like the textures, but there is a seam halfway down and along the whole length, making a cross.
  • Helgezone
    @e2rd: I was this >-< close to making some silly simulation with my own character getting blown away, lol. Maybe you could paint out some minor spec onto the helmet. It looks a bit stone-ish next to the pauldron. I'd work in some ambient shadows by the arms and under the, uh, skirt thingy :p Cool stuff!

    @ToothyMang: As mentioned, have a look at those seams. I really like the texture on the wood, but the metal doesn't match its style too well. The rust damage could be simplified a bit, and don't forget to put some on the lower part of the lantern as well!

    -
    So, I textured this. Not sure what I did, but I managed to lose some tris along the way.
    822 tris (682 char, 140 sword, scabbard, shield). 512x512 diffuse. C&C most welcome!

    jJb2C.png
    XTfZR.gif
  • Ged
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    Ged interpolator
    helgezone that is ace! love all your painted in specular on the metal. As for crits well its hard to say as Im not sure what the game environment for this guy is like but personally I feel his head, arms, shoulders, hands and weapons are a good contrast and brightness whereas the hat, body,legs and feet seem rather dark and desaturated to really pop. Could just be that hes on a black background...
  • Snader
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    Snader polycounter lvl 15
    Helgezone - What kind of material is that hat supposed to be? it looks like it wants to be metal but right now it feels more like leather. Oh and one small other thing: the colors could have a bit more variety in hue. The blue is pure blue for instance, with no shading or dirt or lighting on it. Zero remarks about the model - that's ace.

    Kingsize - the head is what people will be looking at the most, it's also the largest shape on this model. You definitely need to smooth it out some. I think you could remove 2 or 3 (half) loops on the shoulders, and get rid of the centerline on the chest and back to free some triangles.

    e2rd - those eyes really don't jive with the rest of the model/texture

    MonkeyKing, that's really not showing enough detail for the amount of triangles. Keep in mind that 1 quad is two triangles, so your model is actually around 1750 triangles. By comparison, this uses only 1648. Try throwing on a flat color/material on it (pure white or black) and look at the silhouette to see where you can cut away polygons.
  • MonkeyKing
    Cheers for the advice there Snader I decided to just redo the whole thing seeing as the person I'm doing it for wanted it diffent.

    0c2kb.png

    So there ya go plus it's really one model so just hald the poly's and tri's and comes to 728 Tri's and 431 poly's. Still need to texture and such which I'm trying to learn to do the last week or so heh.
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