confussion here is I dunno if you want crits on the proccess or on the artwork.
if you don't know how to texture, that's a biggie, but you can allways try to count on some buddy helping with the textures.Some buddy with time available.
omaremad wrote:Hello im trying to develop a nice workflow that isnt too artistically or computationally demanding for blender, here is my WIP. Im looking for crits and advice regarding the model and the workflow.
I posted this on game artists.net but i didnt get any advice yet.
At least here we have vermeer and other artists which are happy to divulge their secrets.
I don't really have black magic secrets...I have hours....
Also i dont think many of them have experience with Blender/other free software.
Here is what i posted there.
For which Engine - Any one, im coding the shader myself.
Current Polycount - 2000 for whole gun(multiplied by 2 since it half modelled now)
900 for hand (this is a triangle not quad count)
Max Polycount - Doesnt matter
Texture Size - 1024 for gun 512 for the arm and hand
Description of background information on piece -
Im learning and trying to create a workflow that suits my limitations, I cant draw, paint etc...
I can code, model, uv,rig and animate but not the textureing part so im looking for most advice here.
Everything you see is done in blender except making the grunge textures seamless which was done in GIMP. The diffuse textures here are all done procedurally and then baked; i can change the uv mapping or modelling inline with your crits whithout having to repaint.
Low poly model wire:
Stayed a bit out fo time, so, gonna go fast, mentioning only some things... :
the low version could be quite lower: remember you can do a single quad out of many quads if they're coplannar. And creases are your friend. You don't have real smooth groups or real smoothing normals in Blender, but you can mark crease edges whcih actually break gemotry, which often is more or less ok to do for an smoothing crease...
Modelling crits here.
High Poly model:
I created this from the low poly model using a script i made and subsurf. I know this is the opposite of what most people do but i have no experience in high poly work. Will this be ok or are there any problems that will hit me down the line.
High poly model normals on the low poly model:
Here is the base diffuse map:
This is where i feel im the weakest, I think i should get advice on the current base and on how to progress on this texture. I am looking for speed texturing tips since hand painting scratches with a mouse is really not working for my limited art abilities.
care on the (uv) scale of each part/scale of pixels.You cannot leave a detail very big, of real small metal feature going through large area. Neither leave the texture as it comes from the regular depot.
The base photo texture, is ok to use if not better accurate photo material for the case, to use as a base metal for all the work. A base layer.
Some trick easy to explain is: in sharp borders, paint with grey whiteish brush: edges in metal become like that, whith scratches. try to first fix your UVs so that the little quads of the checker texture are quite equal in size(except detail areas). And well aligned, and no big distortions. this is reworking uv map,scale uv islands, etc. You needda paint a lot later. U can use blender's 3d painting of texture, if costs u a lot to imagine where goes what, though a color coded texture is used for that also and blender can output as well, the wires in the pixels for reference.Then paint in 2d.
A base texture largely used for metal is just a motion blur over grey noise of one pixel features, with huge scale value, even distorted later, so it makes the long scratches, several effects applied, noise of whatever in subtle layers over it, even of dirty walls if well disguised and treated. But a lot of brush work in realistic painting for the metal scratches comes very handy. Sometimes splattering real metal textures of other materials.With feathers in the countours, very ubtle one, and allways as transaprent or almost, layers.
Speculars, and real time environment maps, if well applied for the type of material, can do WONDERS.Use real refs for inspiration, of real objects. Even if doing sci fi. It helps making it better.
UV Map layout:
Here is the UV layout
try to keep all proportional, and not sides thinner than other which are eaxactly equal in real mesh. Lines kept straight if they are. All this makes harder textures, and have more resolution of pixels than othe rplaces. This can be interesting if pretended, in some areas.
Im also modelling a hand with the gun:
avoid blooby , toon likeappeareance. Do dig anatomy studies of hands, if want to do it better.As well in sleeve. Is too much of just a cilinder.
You can kill loads of polies in the low poly versions.
that hand big area could be like 4 quads only. arm seems an output of curves modeling. you can kill most of those polies. Also try to keep wires allways good flow, that one doing a zig zag in sleeve will confuse while texturing..not really, but you get the idea of method. Avoid the arm-tube. Arms even with cloth, have an anatomy, a very specific shape, depending on if is a fat guy, woman, or athletic guy.
Low poly wire:
This model was generated after sculpting on a really blocky hand(approx <100 quads) by using multires.
Arm and hand High Polygon:
I can only sculpt really general smooth features like tendons and emminances. Im looking for help with regards sculpting creases and wrinkles on knuckles etc...
first is proportions: fat finger too short.While is good five finger have different lenghts, the 2 lower ones you put em too short as well.
An fps fighter? go for stronger hand and fingers, not so thin.
Thinner sleeve, wider as it goes farer from hand, more a cone than a cilinder, but slightly. DOn't do wrinkles in gratuitious way. only if phisically logical for the pose and situation.Think of real cloth, look at your hand and arm while you model,if no better ref.
clothes must wrap around a correct anatomic arm.this forms cloth tension with direction in the wrinkles, not just random, and areas with no wrinkles, for tension or whatever.
The arm is a quick sculpt with a displacement map overlay.
Here is the diffuse:
Once again procedurally made so feel free to be harsh and make me do it from scratch. Another problem is hair, on a 512*512 texture i find really hard to get decent looking hair strands. How do you guys handle small details on low res texmaps. Should i just darken the areas?
Put more uv texture space where you guess you'll need it. If constrained in texture size, hairs can be done with slight special wacom strokes, reproducing the sensation of hair, not every strand. Impresionist way...at a distance, is even more hair that strand by strand.
A real hand texture would rock. proceduraltextures is not the way. At least, brush painting in 2d carefully.But work with good non jpeg photo material is ideal.
And here is the hand deformed by bones:
both in modelling as in weighting stage, you need that when blending a finger, is not bloobby. There's a bone just in the joint that pops there. And cant be seen in that pic. In every joint. Wrap the gun tight, not "floating." This means good rigging, that usually mean no envelopes, but careful weight painting or lasso weight asignemnte, or paint selecting+asigning weight, usual fine tunning weight I do in blender or whichever.
I dont like Blender's weight painting, Max is better in that, normalizing gets very useful.Still, can be dealt.
Because i couldnt sculpt small details either onto the hand or the high poly model i made this setup in blender that bakes tiny details into an image map that i can use as stickers.
Currently it bakes the tangent and ao and combines them into one image, so my tangent "stickers" are always alined with the AO stickers(they are in the alpha channel).
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if you have problems, in organic hi res modelling, sculpt comes very handy. And you can hide regions to allow blender's better performance while at it. As well as polies optimizing areas of no detail , and increasing ploycount where there'll be a lot of detail.
