Treasure Chest
Hello Polycounters 
Me and a friend have decided that a great way of learning to model would be to work on the same project at the same time - I'm calling it dual modelling, and we literally sit at the same computer, taking it in turns to use the software and over time slowly develop something. It's a great learning experience, as we're also noticing methods that we wouldn't even mention due to the assumption of it being the "norm".
Here's the screenshots so far. Any crit is welcomed!
Pre-Detail
Some detail was then added to the front and the back of the chest. The front detail being the latch mechanism and the padlock itself, and the back are hinges. The chest is hollowed out, and when rotated the hinges and lock/latch are affected along with it.
Close Ups of the detail
Then the padlock was added, and the bar that supports the padlock was smoothed, going off of peer feedback.
And finally, a close up of the padlock
We plan next to add some more details such as handles on the sides of the chest.
As for texture plans, we haven't finalised a style yet but we have a few in mind. We will likely try a few different styles of diffuse before deciding (and I'm sure they will show up here for feedback!).
Thanks for your time
Me and a friend have decided that a great way of learning to model would be to work on the same project at the same time - I'm calling it dual modelling, and we literally sit at the same computer, taking it in turns to use the software and over time slowly develop something. It's a great learning experience, as we're also noticing methods that we wouldn't even mention due to the assumption of it being the "norm".
Here's the screenshots so far. Any crit is welcomed!
Pre-Detail
Some detail was then added to the front and the back of the chest. The front detail being the latch mechanism and the padlock itself, and the back are hinges. The chest is hollowed out, and when rotated the hinges and lock/latch are affected along with it.
Close Ups of the detail
Then the padlock was added, and the bar that supports the padlock was smoothed, going off of peer feedback.
And finally, a close up of the padlock
We plan next to add some more details such as handles on the sides of the chest.
As for texture plans, we haven't finalised a style yet but we have a few in mind. We will likely try a few different styles of diffuse before deciding (and I'm sure they will show up here for feedback!).
Thanks for your time
Replies
also, i think the cross shaped holes in screws weren't used until late XIX or early XX century so if chest's supposed to be older you might want to change that.
I'd definately agree that buddying up and watching other people work is a great way to learn new techniques.
Good Stuff
Yes we are planning on making a low version of this and then texturing it with a normal and spec map too. We were originally planning on having an asset that would go into an engine (such as replacing a chest in Skyrim) but it might just end up in UDK for final shots. We may also end up making a small island scene with a palm tree and a lump of sand in the middle of the sea, but we are undecided on that yet, this project has been going pretty smoothly so far though.
Here's an update from the feedback so far, hopefully making this chest look a bit more secure and beefy:
Close up:
Example
Could the hinges support the weight of the lid well when the chest is open?
When you say thicker do you mean bigger in general or actually thicker?
As for the hinges, making them bigger would provide the problem of going over through metal superstructure of the chest and hanging down looking a little odd.
We could redesign the hinges as sideways mounted though.
Suggestions welcome
Agree about the hinges too, the thing is if it looks like if you kicked it you would be able to open it then it just doesn't look right.
Until then, keep the feedback coming, I'm glad there seems to be nothing immediately wrong yet. My tutor actually gave us some feedback on Facebook, saying something about 90 degree edges and how that might cause a problem with baking the normal map.
Could anybody shed some light on what he meant?