Student work: Mech Model
polycounter lvl 5
Hi there! I just got a new project for school and will be updating here. Any critiques are welcome!
Main reference:
I have a few more that detail out how the mech is made, might post them later if asked
Requirements:
Art must be packaged in UDK package that can be opened and viewed on other machines
Model must not exceed 30k triangles
Texture size must not exceed 2048x2 (Diffuse,Spec,Bump,Gloss)
Must have player actor in level to walk around model
Default skybox/lighting
Milestones:
3/13- Highpoly Done
3/17- Low Poly Done
3/18- UV's Done
3/24- Completely done, in UDK and packaged
Main reference:
I have a few more that detail out how the mech is made, might post them later if asked
Requirements:
Art must be packaged in UDK package that can be opened and viewed on other machines
Model must not exceed 30k triangles
Texture size must not exceed 2048x2 (Diffuse,Spec,Bump,Gloss)
Must have player actor in level to walk around model
Default skybox/lighting
Milestones:
3/13- Highpoly Done
3/17- Low Poly Done
3/18- UV's Done
3/24- Completely done, in UDK and packaged
Replies
I am not saying this to scare you or try to push you away from the concept/schedule you have laid out, but as having a bit of hard surface experience I can say that you have a super super tight time budget. I say spend like 2/3 days texturing at tops, and spend a majority of your time working on your HP. Spend like a day or two on your LP. A good High Poly will carry this project, especially if you are allowed a 2048 texture set. Planning on going with physically based materials?
My school is open from 7am to 1am everyday, I am already prepared to be here most of those hours to get this done @.@ I hope to get the legs done tonight, the top part tomorrow, and the body on Wednesday before 7pm when its due.
I will definitely try to do my best at the HP, I usually try to fake a lot with the textures but I think it'll be good to try a different way this time.
I have never heard of physically based materials, what are those?
the highpoly should be done by the deadline.
Cheers!
I feel like at my skill level right now I could barely make those deadlines you set. Just a friendly warning, goodluck.
I mean, by all means go for it, but if you find yourself way behind with you schedule, don't be surprised.
Also, I'd recommend getting the quad chamfer plugin if you're doing sub-d modeling.
http://www.mariussilaghi.com/products/quad-chamfer-modifier
I appreciate the warning though ^_^
I will look into the quad chamfer plugin, though I do not think I have access to download things. Thank you!
In the U.K. at university projects like that would typically get 3 - 6 months, along with 3 other subjects. Great that you've got such long access hours to computers though.
Also pbr = https://www.marmoset.co/toolbag/learn/pbr-theory
I think I fixed the issues you pointed out, and the ones that I missed will have to wait until I finish a majority of the mech.
Thank you ^_^
@Stevston89 - Eek! You are completely right, I will add that to my list and try to rework some edgeloops in places
@Chillydog12345 - I have never done thought of that before, I'll give it a try.
But yeah, dem deadlines!
Even on the professional level, that's cutting it close, and that's with 40 hour (or more) work weeks. My general suggest for deadline management with class assignments is to vet the project scope a bit and perhaps choose something slightly less complex if you can't change the due date. You can scale one or the other, but it sounds like the teacher won't give in.
However, I still admire the hell outta your dedication and ambition. Just don't burn yourself out on too many hardcore assignments. You'll end up learning a lot, but not having much fun doing it after a while.
Still, it seems to be coming along pretty well!
Have you already done a full body block in? I find it's easier to catch mistakes when I can compare the scale to the rest of the model as a whole.
Ie: You may think that the bolts on the leg look fine when modeling only the leg, but notice that they're too big/small when the leg is attached to the rest of the mech. The block in can start very low detail for the whole thing, and then you can refine it further bit by bit as you go along.
@Marshkin- I wish I would have done a body block out before hand, it was very dumb of me not to and I am still kicking myself for not. I am going to do that for my next high poly for sure.
24 hours to go until the deadline
I used to love those tight deadlines while in school
Your model is coming along nicely.
Some things on the lower body to look out for if you still have the time.
The vent on the side is angled out more in the first concept than what you have it.
Not a huge deal, I find it directs the eye towards the turret and would be nice to have in there.
The tower seems to be beefier in the concept. Yours is rather flat in comparison.
It's fairly flat in the schematic next to the main concept too though so do what you will
Can't wait to see this textured. Should be badass!
Cheers
- i think your edges might be quite a bit too tight to come over properly
- i would also suggest to use a darker base material with more specular
- how much detail do you plan on putting into the lowpoly and whats is going to be baked in?
This +1. Your edges are absolutely too tight for any sort of baking, if this is SubD'ed that is. If its still the LP blockout, then awesome stuff so far, gotta keep pushing! No stopping now! But yeah, look around the forums for the many hard surface threads and you will see some awesome examples of soft edges for baking. Right now, if you bake, you are only going to get surface detail, all of your edges will read razor sharp. You want to exaggerate the edges so when baked down and applied to the hard edges of the LP, it counter acts and attempts to smooth them out with the NM. (if that makes sense) Once again, not to beat a dead horse, but look around. There are SO many Hard surface threads recently that have SO much invaluable knowledge waiting to be soaked up, on hard surfacing.
@Neox - I completely agree. I will do my best to soften some edges today as I go over for final details. I'll try switching, what is the purpose of using a darker material, is it easier to see? I plan to put as much detail in as I can within the next few hours before I turn it in. @.@ I will bake it in xNormal or do some Photoshop work to use Knald.
@Add3r - Lol It is all subd'ed x) I was not aware of exaggerating edges, I will do my best to loosen them up now. Thank you, I'll lurk through the forums and get a better idea.
@Popol - I'll get to work now on getting them better ^_^
I have a little over 5 hours until turn in, in this time I am going to add as many floaters as I can as well as go over my edges and play with them until they are as soft as a kitten. Thank you all for the advice!
I tried my best to soften the edges but some of the geo was too messy for it, particularly the front of the legs.
Thanks for the help so far!
Bonus Venusaur x)
I am attempting to make this so I will be able to rig it later, is there anything I should know for that?
You need to make your edge highlights in the diffuse a loooot more subtle, you can absolutely tell right now that you've run the normalmap through something like knald or something similar and overlayed it into your texture. this is a big nono... using it as a mask to create some cool edge-wearing effects is a good way to use those maps in future.
Would you mind sharing your material network? it looks like the spec/gloss are almost non-existant. Have you tried rendering in another package like marmoset? i realise you're probably being graded on your ability to import into an engine but it might be worth seeing a comparison.
The spec is plugged directly into the shader, and the Gloss is hooked up to a multiply times about 50-70, if I recall correctly. (I'll take a screen capture of it all in the morning)
As for marmoset, I have noticed a lot of people here on poly count recommend it and I have never understood why. Is it just to make renders look better and does it show the same as game engines? (I am still very new and learning, sorry if this is an obvious question) I will try it out tomorrow as well!
your node should look like this:
a: 8 (constant)
b: 256 (constant)
alpha : glossmap
plug that into your spec power.
I played with the gloss a bit more and also created a showcase environment.
[SKETCHFAB]3914614e0c8c459ab86e82b312f22455[/SKETCHFAB]
On a side note, does anyone know how to get the importer to sketchfab from Max to work? o.o
yep, def killing the whole feeling of the model. The base is ultra low res. Why?
You aren't going to win any awards for having ultra low poly and low res textures. At this point unless you are shipping to mobile you should be kicking out much higher res stuff.