M-586C
interpolator
So, I've been working for a week trying to find a design I like for this rifle, trying to get the basic shape and direction down, so I can start adding all the fine details, I have a long way to go and I'm working on scope concepts, the scope isn't even part-done, just to see how it looks as I've been told that if I had it on it would drastically change the look of the rifle overall, I agree.
The main point and feel I want to portray is power, thus I avoided having a lot of very round shapes, as I felt this would be counter-productive, as having large round shapes would make it feel less powerful.
The number 1 critique I get is that the rifle needs depth, I don't know how to satisfy that entirely, but there is a lot left to be done, so that might change that opinion...
I want to build some sort of rail coming up and surrounding the barrel out of under the grip, a few other things that are hard to explain, this render doesn't do my edges justice so I'll upload two.
Technically, I don't know what I'm doing as far as making sure this will bake to a normal map well at ALL, I have no experience in that, and have only been doing 3d for about 4 1/2 months, I plan to make this the first asset I have baked dowm, and fully textured, for me, it is a sizable task, so I want to make sure I'm at least getting part of it looking okay and that my edges will bake well, I know some are sharp, I just hope not TOO sharp.
I'd like some pretty harsh feedback please.
The main point and feel I want to portray is power, thus I avoided having a lot of very round shapes, as I felt this would be counter-productive, as having large round shapes would make it feel less powerful.
The number 1 critique I get is that the rifle needs depth, I don't know how to satisfy that entirely, but there is a lot left to be done, so that might change that opinion...
I want to build some sort of rail coming up and surrounding the barrel out of under the grip, a few other things that are hard to explain, this render doesn't do my edges justice so I'll upload two.
Technically, I don't know what I'm doing as far as making sure this will bake to a normal map well at ALL, I have no experience in that, and have only been doing 3d for about 4 1/2 months, I plan to make this the first asset I have baked dowm, and fully textured, for me, it is a sizable task, so I want to make sure I'm at least getting part of it looking okay and that my edges will bake well, I know some are sharp, I just hope not TOO sharp.
I'd like some pretty harsh feedback please.
Replies
i did a quick photoshop of the barrel and made it a little thicker to show an example of what i mean, bigger/thicker barrel equals bigger round/more force
like i said though just a thought lol
I somehow missed this post, yeah I'm messing around with the barrel right now, trying to think about how I want to execute it, thanks for the feedback though.
Do you think I could overcome this and make a low poly?
I don't even know how to go about doing that, I've only modeled low-high.
Is this a low poly? I'm guessing not, but if it was its far too high. I'm guessing not however, but in that case...
Is this a high poly? Its far too low! You have sharp angles and right angles everywhere, these simply will not work well when it comes to a render to texture for the normal map, you need some good chamfering of edges in there.
THIS:
\___________/
NOT THIS:
|___________|
Spend some time re rotating things and freeze transforms (not sure what program your in) so that the base orientation of everything at 0,0,0 lines up good. That way you wont accidentally move stuff and not be able to fix it.
Dont give up! Its a good start!
The stock seems incredibly short for a rifle and not very comfortable if you plan on firing a larger round.
Where would the magazine go?
Where would Ejected casings come out from?
How would he hold the gun? I understand hand on grip and under but maybe he wants a forgrip or and angled grip or an underslung attachment?
Assuming this would be carried for hours on end what material is it made out of? Whatever the answer make sure to trim an fat, the design should be lean and everything have a purpose.
I feel like I'm ranting :poly122:
Jusdt my 2 cents
That was my thoughts for the next one I make so it doesn't happen again.
As for the angles, thank you, that's the kinda feed back I really needed, as, I have no idea what I'm doing.
It WAS based of concept art, then when I had the basic shapes done it looked awful, I was having a hard time reading the shapes, and with limited experience it made things hard.
The weapon (if you're familiar with Halo) is for a spartan alone, I decided to deviate and make something out of cannon, but something logical, they are bigger and many many times stronger than the average person.
You can see that the magazine goes into the back.
As for edge angles, what exact edges to I need to chamfer and how much, I'll upload the file so someone can give me an example on my model or critque it further.
Here is some quick loosening, I only had five minutes, I want to know if that helped on some parts.
and the concept art
please give me some feedback I really need it, thanks everyone for the help thus far.
For example the thing that was most glaring to me were the holes at the bottom of the grenade launcher where ideally the soldier would be gripping the weapon for balance.
This muzzle-flash like design would probably burn the hands of anyone gripping there... (this is especially important if you go for bull-up design)
If you look at the Anatomy of real rifles like the M-16 these types of holes are usually surrounding a floating barrel of some kind that gets heated during fire and the holes are meant to vent the buildup of excessive heat during auto-fire so it would not burn the hands of anyone struggling to hold the gun in place..
I was attempting the exact model in the picture, but ultimately I could not read it right and just was like fuck it, and decided to go make this for myself, it just looked awkward. I still have a lot of details to add so I want to make that clear and I have done many variations, seeing what does and doesn't work by people's opinions. I have not really done anything to the other side yet. I will, after I get it how I like and try a few things. Since it will be nearly identical but a few things different.
If you look at the BR in Halo 4, the grip looks similar to mine, just mine is bigger, and more bulky.
Here are the wires
They are nurms so its not 1:1 wire positioning wise, I if you'd like I can upload the unsmoothed wires.
Here is how far I got trying the concept art, It was too horrendous, I just couldn't take it.
I tightened it up a bit, I hope this makes more sense and looks better
I'll losen those edges up some day when I wanna bake it, for now, no.
It's crap, I know I have to loosen the edges, but what ones, what needs to be beveled, I'm very new to all this and don't know where to start. I could just use the control mesh with removed edge loops couldn't I? I'm not really worried about the polycount.
Another point, do not try to build your low poly using the retopology tools for hard surfaces, just works better for organic forms.
Once you have the pieces welded together, unwrapped, and optimized, it's baking time. You have an option in 3D Studio max (look up tutorials on render to texture and projection mapping-shortcut 0 to pull up the render to texture dialogue) Look up tutorials on baking/projecting normals in 3ds Max on youtube or something and don't forget the term 2.5 star and you can only project normals with the default renderer.
OR, I just tried XNormal for the first time and on a gun-it worked pretty well but you have to make sure that if you have pieces and the gun isn't completely one piece you will need to pull a few things apart (make sure that the low poly is always aligned with the high poly you are trying to project or the bake is going to suck). It may sound funny but go to poopinmymouth.com and there are tutorials there that will help you add to the normal map base, or easily correct errors (these will almost always occur) in Photoshop (don't forget to renormalize or it won't work properly).
So, that is where you can start but along the way you have to be patient because this part is more technical than anything.
http://wiki.polycount.com/NormalMap?action=show&redirect=Normal+Map#Modeling_The_High-Poly_Mesh
The only 90 degrees question I have is what exactly needs to not be at it, for example, the bottom of the rifle, it's rounded on the corner, if it's loose enough I don't need to touch it right?
Also, as far as the cage goes, I am getting used to it, I even baked out a good one last night, but it was on a flat object, wouldn't on something this complex there be a lot of issues making the cage perfect?
Also is it okay for the high poly mesh to be penetrated by the low during the bake?
I've tried xnormal and get about the same results as 3ds max, it's more work in my opinion.
That link was super helpful as well and cleared up a lot of my questions.