you can stencil things - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiQ_JLJKi0M but i tihnk you're already doing that I dont really understand what isn't working - is it that the pixelated version doesn't completely cover the un-pixelated version? if so can you show an example without the offset
Be careful with the wear if the scene is actually set in the 50s, as objects from the time period wouldn't be as worn as we see them today. Also be aware of manufacturing techniques of the time. For example, they didn't have laser etching and probably not those fonts on the name plate and lighter. But they did have photo…
I sometimes encounter an issue with deformed textures and losing details in some regions of my models, like normals or edge highlights, after importing my assets to Unreal. The reason being is that Unreal rounds up UV coordinate numbers, unless full precision UVs are enabled for static mesh: Here are some examples. Left is…
While the face normals (the one from a center of each triangle ) looks perfectly up those normal are derivative as a median of vertex normals in triangles corners. The bottom left corner for example , clearly not 90 degree up . it's what creates shading gradients. Face weighting, or direct normals editing could fix it .…
This is sad news, Kevin was a huge inspiration. I adored his gear of war work and it was one of the first examples I’d seen of how z brush could be used on environment assets. RIP
I’d look into simulating a single-sided simplified version of the clothing, then using that as a control for the more complicated & textured model. Many ways to transfer the animation, for example Skin Wrap in 3ds Max.
Don't think backstory has to be anything complicated or new. Could apply an existing one just it to get started. Take that Conan character for example: was taken as a child, enslaved, former gladiator (headbutts from that noggin must hurt), now out for revenge. In sci-fi probably. How would all that imprint on the alien?
Adding that bit of patina helped a lot with the textures, however I think you've strayed a little too far from the original design of the armor. Regarding the low poly tri count: your wireframes have lots of room for optimization. For example some of the decorative plates that wouldn't deform at all