My biggest issue with this sort of scheme is that, even if you've got good textures there, and they look cool in your preview renders, that doesn't mean they will easily fit into the art style/tech of any given game/engine. If you consider this, while your textures look finished, there is a very low likely hood that i…
Looking great so far! Though I wonder if the crab's tail should be hidden inside the houses? Usually they're poking their front out of a shell, and they retreat fully back into the shell when frightened. Looks a bit odd to see the backside sticking out.
Joe, would you recommend leaving a little bit more space inbetween UV shells to accommodate for this issue? I usually use Moderate passing but pack the UV shells real tight for my Artstation pieces but in a game environment this might cause issues?
Don't want to hijack your thread, just that also I found another tool for Maya that mimics Max's shell modifier, check this out and see what you think: http://hugobozzshih007.blogspot.com/2010/12/my-mel-tools-shell-modifier.html
SO AWESOME DUDE :D !!!!! This Cyborg gives me huge ghost in the shell vibes :D and I love ghost in the shell!!! As for you replyto my first comment My portfolio website just went up I'll be adding stuff throughout the week :)
Before baking, make sure that each UV shell in your lowpoly is composed of a single smoothing group. In other words, smooth the lowpoly normals on every edge that isn't a UV seam. Also, remember to leave some space between shells, and bake with padding.
The eyes don't really match the insectoid feel of the rest of the creature. You might want to try it with larger, faceted eyes. You might also play with giving a slight iridescent sheen to the shell; even dark beetles will often have a semi-iridescent shell.
If you delete half of the model and mirror it again the UV shells will be stacked/flipped exactly on top of each other. However, you might have to split the UVS along the middle edge and offset the shell +/- 1 in any direction in order for your normals to work properly.
Yes, take the uv shells of the main part and the sides, and snap them at the same place in the grid,but keep them as 2 seperate uv shells. This way one starts exactly where the other one ends but you also get proper lightimg from the edge
One of Max's standard material types is called a Shell material, so chances are they mean that. Just click on the top right area of the material where it says "Standard" in the material editor, and a window will pop up allowing you to change the material type, Shell should be in the list.