Okay, so.You used too much edge highlighting. And dark shades inside those highlights, so currently it looks like the edges are "extruded".First, choose the light's direction.Then paint shadows compared to this.Then paint a little lighting compared to this.Again, your edges are too highlighted or what and doesnt shows any…
three are no sharp edges in real life. That's the main reason I can see for making a HP of the kind of model you've got there. All edges have a slight curve to them which catches light in a certain way- otherwise it'd be razor-edged on each side! The HP and bake will reflect this. It might seem subtle but the result to the…
Good job man. The only thing I would say is to ease up on some of the edge control you have. Some of your edges are extremely tight, exaggerate them a little more for better a better normals map. I only notice one part of your claw that has soft edges, so have that idea in mind.
There's probably ways to reduce how apparent it is by getting finicky with your modeling and adding extra edge loops but, but it'll only reduce it not solve it. Your best bet is really to hide the seam, so instead of splitting in the middle of a tile like that split where the flat edge meets the rounded edge and come up…
Looks good, but the one thing I notice is that the edges for most of the detailing is mostly softer than I would expect, especially from the metallic parts. Everything seems to have this same soft edge width; its about contrast and such, hard surfaces have harder edges and softer surfaces will be softer, with some…
Your edges are really sharp. While machined edges are really sharp in real life and that looks great in the HP, it won't catch the light at all once baked down into the LP due to aliasing. Loosen up/smooth some of those edges and you'll have really good normals to work with when you finally bake it. Good work! :)
The falloff of the glow is way too sharp in my opinion, it would look a lot more natural with a softer falloff. The glow effect itself is way too strong as well. Edges with harsh angles (say >60 degrees) should have a hard edge or smoothing group split. Other than those edges you want the rest smoothed.
Actually, what's that you're using in the video to display hard edges? I've been meaning to add a single checkbox to my edge MM to toggle the display and selection constraint for hard edges like that but haven't gotten to it yet. So on account of my laziness, I'd also like this. Also, I really appreciate that command list…
When texturing, remember this sage advice: metal means scratches. Everywhere! Consistency across all edges is important. If you have an edge that is worn to a different degree from the other edges it will just look weird! The ideal effect is to make it look like someone carefully took a fine-grained sheet of sandpaper to…
As throttlekitty said above, bevel (at least in maya) is not meant for what you are doing. It tends to try to split the flow between geometry, which would be good if you were beveling corners, not so much in cases like this. So try offset edge loop, split edge loop and collapse edge ring to get the density you desire.