Hi, nope no hi poly for this one. Just a diffuse and maaaybe a specular. I'm using duplicate special in Maya to get the symmetry. And when I'm happy I will weld the seams :)
this suggestion is exactly the stuff that makes games look... gamey. so, be careful. keep it subtle, go for more specular lighting and contrast, get away from "spotty" diffuse lighting.
Yeah, that whole front part is pretty bad. It's pretty diffuse in the concept what goes there, but thicker, definitely! I need to find a function for that crazy pointy thing in the bottom front..
You could also copy the model, straighten out the UVs, texture the straightened model, and then use transfer maps in maya to transfer the diffuse color onto the UVs of the old model.
Loving the progress on this, the straps look so chunky(that's good)! On the texturing I think you can add more lighting information to your diffuse and some stronger overall gradient.
Base diffuse/spec/gloss values are the foundation of a good material OP. If the basic material properties are wrong then nothing else will look right, patterns and details will only muddy things.
yes the glossiness doesnt affect the diffuse mapping of the material... i'd say read the documentation of the arch and design material, or better a book on mental ray rendering, youll understand a lot.