Home 3D Art Showcase & Critiques

UT99 HD Weapons

polycounter lvl 8
Offline / Send Message
Rooster128 polycounter lvl 8
So this is an update on this project I have been working on for a couple of years off and on. So many people have told me it's not worth it, that I shouldn't bother, but I think I have something here. Just not sure what to do with it now, since development of UT4 seems to be moving quite slowly and I am not sure if I can implement these as a mod or a standalone game or just use the marketplace. Between that and the criticisms of the project, I've become pretty jaded. But hey, let's see what polycount thinks... haha.

The idea was to bring the classic UT99 weapons through a modern-day PBR workflow, and then rig/animated/code them into the game. Possibly with mastered soundbytes and better FX.

I've always liked the simpler designs of the UT99 weapons. I am aware other people have tried remakes of these weapons, but I wanted to try bringing them through a PBR pipeline. Eventually, I hope to get all of them fully rigged, animated, and playable in UE4- I have the skills to do it.

I do take creative liberty when I need to, in order to sell more detail. But so far, I haven't gone overboard with the detailing. I honestly think most weapon designs have far too much greeble these days- I want to be able to tell I'm looking at a gun. I think the funnest part about remaking these weapons is figuring out how they ought to function and building around what I come up with.







Replies

  • Rooster128
    Offline / Send Message
    Rooster128 polycounter lvl 8
    More...

    Ripper2.jpg
    The Ripper is interesting because the blade that it fires is nowhere near the size that it should be if it were to fit in the cylindrical magazine below the gun.
    RipperDisc1.jpg
    RipperDisc2.jpg

    I experimented making the disc fold up in order for it to fit in the magazine, somewhat like a folding shuriken. That didn't end up working so well.

    RipperDisc3.jpg

    RipperDisc4.jpg

    I think what I'm going to opt with on the ripper ammo is to have the blades just extend from the center, while scaling outwards. With a little smoke and mirrors I think I can sell the look easily.

    How should the ripper work? What I came up with, is that the two prongs above and below the projectile have magnets with opposing poles that slide along rails. The opposing poles keeps the razor hovering in place. When you fire, the magnets jolt towards the tip of the gun, propelling the razor forward before becoming demagnetized and letting the razor free.


    ShockRifle9.jpg

    The Shock Rifle is the first weapon I've retopoligized, UV'd, and textured.

    I'm using Substance Designer 4.2.1 atm- and I'm finding getting the PBR maps from Substance Designer to UE4 to be a bit nit-picky. I know a plugin is being built to streamline that process, but since its beta atm I guess I'll have to wait it out. Right now I'm taking the roughness map that SD gives me and brightening it by 100% to give me a similar result in UE4. SD's parameterization is pretty awesome, but I think I need to invest in Painter or use Materialing to get the deliberate grunge I'm looking for.

    ShockRifle20.jpg
    ShockRifle21.jpg
  • Rooster128
    Offline / Send Message
    Rooster128 polycounter lvl 8
    The translocator was an interesting one... through crafting it, I realized that many of the weapons in UT are flipped horizontally, for some reason.

    translol.jpg

    Other weapons are guilty of this as well. You'll notice on the flak cannon in the game the numbers on the pistons read backwards. It's because it's flipped.

    I took creative liberty here and built the translocator facing the correct way, while flipping some of the details over to the other side in order for it to 'read' somewhat like it used to in the game, so it looked familiar to players.

    Translocator2.jpg
  • Gazu
    Offline / Send Message
    Gazu polycounter lvl 12
    Hey cool works.
    I would love to see a UT4 as a UT99 HD ^^
  • Nosslak
    Offline / Send Message
    Nosslak polycounter lvl 12
    This will probably be a bit of a controversial opinion, but I think the biggest problem is definitely that the models are very blocky, I know that the originals are as well but I feel that it makes your models look very dated and frankly quite boring. You could add some more shapes to the weapons to make them more interesting. However at the end of the day the base designs themselves are IMO boring and won't show off your skill as much as a more interesting design (like this) would, executed by someone with a similar level of skill. If you're mostly just making these for fun then go ahead, but if you're making these for a portfolio I'd honestly reconsider the choice.

    This is just my opinion and I know everyone won't share it. I'm sorry if this sounded harsh, but I'm saying this to help you.
  • Rooster128
    Offline / Send Message
    Rooster128 polycounter lvl 8
    I hear what you're saying Nosslak. They are blocky designs- I guess I'm in love with blocky. It's one reason I like the Old Trilogy of Star Wars over the New Trilogy. In the Old Trilogy everything looks like it could have conceivably been made in someone's garage.

    I big problem for me is finding the right balance of greeble.

    I personally love the industrial simple blocky look of the UT99 weapons myself- it's one of the reasons I started working on this pet project of mine. I'll admit I'm still learning on how to better detail my guns and make them look like they can actually function in the real world. There's no denying I need work there. But that being said, honestly I think most artists spend way too much time detailing their assets these days. There is such a thing as too much greeble, and a lot of artists cross over that line. I prefer simple over messy. I want to tell a gun is a gun the second I look at it, and not just see a mess of polygons.

    Look at most modern guns even today. Most of them aren't super detailed. Most have clean sleek elegant lines. That's what I'm trying to do.
  • igi
    Offline / Send Message
    igi polycounter lvl 12
    I really like enthusiasm here. These are looking very accurate recreations of the ol' classic ut weapons. Hope you reflect the type of futurism they have. I might have some words about hardsurface modeling. Some parts of it looking too blocky, especially around the handles and grips. For example the sideways depth of the enforer and shock rifle can be pushed more. You can push the silhouette more since you don't have to worry about extremely low-poly counts back in ut99 days. Similar thing goes for all other models too. Try to get rid of too boxy appearance. I know the original weapons are created back in days with more technical limitations but I might dare to say that the original shock rifle is looking less boxy than yours. By this way imo you're missing some of design elements too. Are you modeling from mostly side views? It might be cause that.
  • AlexCatMasterSupreme
    Offline / Send Message
    AlexCatMasterSupreme interpolator
    I think you're doing a good job re-doing them, I just think the original designs are horrendous. Your models are fine though. Just my opinion.
  • Gazu
    Offline / Send Message
    Gazu polycounter lvl 12
    I like them,too.
    And i wouldn´t change the shape because its then no more a UT99 Weapon! ;)

    What do you want to reach with this weapons? Maybe to become a Weapon Modelerer for the new UT4 @ Epic? ;)
  • Rooster128
    Offline / Send Message
    Rooster128 polycounter lvl 8
    Yeah, it was a project for passion- also trying to get some more work under me. What Nosslak said may be right though- the UT99 models might simply be too dated for me to make significant updates to, while bolstering my portfolio. And I'm really hurting for a job right now. This is what I like to do though.

    I'm going to revisit some parts- like the grip of the enforcer, and the muzzle break of the shock rifle.
  • Gazu
    Offline / Send Message
    Gazu polycounter lvl 12
    I like how nice and clean it look in UE4:
    ShockRifle20.jpg
  • JoshWilkinson
    Offline / Send Message
    JoshWilkinson polycounter lvl 9
    Rooster128 wrote: »
    Yeah, it was a project for passion- also trying to get some more work under me. What Nosslak said may be right though- the UT99 models might simply be too dated for me to make significant updates to, while bolstering my portfolio. And I'm really hurting for a job right now. This is what I like to do though.

    This part concerns me. I think these models are designed with limitations that existed in 1999 and the artists who designed them would probably do things very differently today. I recognize your sentimentality to the project and that's definitely admirable but if you're goal is employment in the industry, modeling weapons with so many restrictions does not help your goal.

    If I may propose a suggestion? Whatever your style is, hone in on that. Show employers that you possess the skills they need. They pay you to collaborate with a team on a game with an already established style. Certain styles are trendy and that's what will get you noticed. Have you seen any of the guns from the borderlands series? The shapes are quite simple but everything is so well designed. Do something like that in your style?

    I was recently employed as a environment designer on a game with a realistic style. I've never done hand painted textures but recently did a lot of research on the topic and would really like to try some. That said, my free time is spent researching techniques that will further my employer. It may not be "as fun" but damnit, I get paid to make video games! In the end, the juice is worth the squeeze.
  • InvertedVantage
    Hey man. :) Good to see you on here, and nice work with the modeling.

    The quality is pretty good in terms of technical level, but your weakness has always been and still is in design. You're a great modeler, but your work lacks finesse and always looks and feels too chunky.

    What I'd recommend is trying to model some really curvy shapes. Check out http://www.yankodesign.com/ or another industrial design object, and use your modeling prowess to do some more well-designed objects. It will push your style and your skills to the next level.

    Something like this might be a good choice for you;

    brammo-empulse-100-electric-motorcycle-5.jpg

    Don't get me wrong though - I'm not saying to model curvy shapes because you can't do that or anything. I'm saying that you should model some well-designed objects, to increase your appreciation and understanding of beautiful forms and how to improve your own design ability.

    Stuff like this;

    hanging-Unique-and-Beautiful-Lamp-with-Leaf-Base-Hanger.jpg

    or this;

    Beautiful-Penta-Lamp-by-Coscadesign-1.jpg

    ...would also be good for you to learn from.
  • Rooster128
    Offline / Send Message
    Rooster128 polycounter lvl 8
    Thanks for the feedback InvertedVantage. I think I know who you are- not sure.
  • Rooster128
    Offline / Send Message
    Rooster128 polycounter lvl 8
    Figured I'd update this with pictures





    See more at:
    https://www.epicgames.com/unrealtournament/forums/showthread.php?17997-CONTENT-DUMP-UT99-classic-weapons

    As far as these not helping my case as far as employments goes... we'll see. I don't really care at this point though.
  • CrackRockSteady
    Don't know about anyone else but none of your images are loading for me

    edit: nm they are loading now
  • kohg
    Offline / Send Message
    kohg polycounter lvl 9
    It's been said before, but the UT weapons, the original ones, are indeed atrocious. I remember when i was playing q3a, which had gorgeous weapons imo, and looking at UT with "disgust".
  • Rooster128
  • igi
    Offline / Send Message
    igi polycounter lvl 12
    kohg said:
    It's been said before, but the UT weapons, the original ones, are indeed atrocious. I remember when i was playing q3a, which had gorgeous weapons imo, and looking at UT with "disgust".
    I like UT99 weapons more. They got better detail and cooler industrial/mechanical appearance than Q3A in my opinion.
  • Rooster128
    Offline / Send Message
    Rooster128 polycounter lvl 8
    Bump. Edited main post.
Sign In or Register to comment.