What are you working on? II

[S_L_A_V_A]

Just for fun, from overpaint training on gamedev.ru

original:
http://www.gamedev.ru/images/upl/3_copy_2.jpg

[aphexx]

hey slava. this guy is very funny

[Templar]

slowly learning... slowly

[Ghostscape]

Originally Posted by PixelMasher

AE:

There are a couple things that could be improved on. The white paint has no real textural detail besides the dirt over top of it. You said that there is no real photo sourcing going on besides the lights, and to be honest thing is the biggest problem i think. It looks like you are trying to go photoreal and i would highly recommend using photos to achieve that result.

some people seem to have this stigma that photo sourcing is cheating or you will be a better artist for hand painting everything. I would say this is a bad way of thinking, especially if you are planning on being in a production environment where this truck could be due in 2-3 days in a worse case scenario, 5 in a realistic one.

crit wise, the dirt on the wind shield doesn't make too much sense its kinda pillowy and doesn't read as wiper marks really. the overall sense of normal mapping seems quite blobby with some edges that could use refinement, I think this is coming from your highpoly bake, it could use some tighter edge control and detailing i think. things like panel seam lines beside the rivets might add some interesting detail and these could be added with 2d normal overlays for quick results.

this looks like it could turn out pretty dope, so hope these crits dont seem to harsh, but then again no one gets anywhere with ass pats right

keep givin'er and im sure itll turn out a beaut, and dont be afraid to use photos/overlays!

did a super quicky paintover to help better explain what i mean i hope, just some photos from cgtextures.

This is true, but especially for practicing, getting into the habit of hand-painting stuff helps a lot, because it teaches you more about what exactly gives a material certain qualities and how they're built up, rather than just grabbing "dirty metal 87L.jpg" off of cgtextures.

It's not bad to handpaint stuff.

Overall I think your quickie version looks a lot better and addresses a lot of issues, but that has more to do with a good eye for detail and the more fnished nature that the photos give, and not much to do with workflow.

[PixelMasher]

Ghostscape:

awesome points man! Its totaly critical to analyze surface attributes of materials and be able to create them from scratch for any given situation. especially since cgtextures is pretty much the most over used/recognizable source of textures on the planet.

what I should have really gone into was trying to hammer was that some people get this idea that they have to hand paint everything from scratch to be an elite artist. Some take it as an ego hit when incorporating photos, and would rather try to hand detail everything.

I was totally like that myself about 9 months ago when i first started, trying to make photo real stuff for Socom by making all my own metals and painting in details. I soon discovered not only did it take twice as long but the end result still didnt have the added realism, imperfections and just finer details that i got once i started incorporating photographic elements.key word being incorporating, not just straight up slapping photos in place with no hand painting/editing.

that said there are some dope artist on these boards that create most of their stuff from scratch and have great results. Like you said it comes down to really 2 things:

having an eye for detail and what really works well together and also knowing how surfaces type interact and how best to recreate that effect.

so sorry if i came off as saying hand painting is lame and or ineffective, not at all. In AE's case (formerly Arman guy?) hes trying to find a job asap if i remember rightly, so I would recommend pumping out the best looking work as possible in the quickest amount of time. especially given the spurty nature of vancouver when it comes to jobs. (of course i may be wrong and in which case this is totally invalid :P)

So in closing what im trying to say really is each person has to find the way that works for them to create the most kick ass result in the most efficient manner for the given piece .

[Talon]

If looking for a job, I'd make sure the portfolio is rock solid. Not kicking out good pieces as fast as possible, but spending time making sure you're doing everything right and you've got a good understanding of what it is you're actually doing.

Because when you're asked to do something that's actually hard or complex in the job and you can't do it because all you know is hacked together short-cuts... you won't be lasting long in said job :P

Kicking out pieces for practice, sure, but they probably shouldn't be folio material. As it stands, that truck isn't portfolio quality.

[fabiodan]

Originally Posted by Templar

slowly learning... slowly

To create the glasses properly you have to remember to split your object into several objects by looking into the real life counterpart: The glasses have the lenses that are made of glass, which you have to split off the structure. Also the arms (parts that hinge in and out to allow the person to store his/her glasses, but I don't know how to say that in english :P) are not only split off the rest of the structure, as they have hinges. After splitting stuff off you must add an edge loop in in each arm's end and inset the final faces, in order to add sharpness, niceness and reality to your edges.
It's a nice start for the piece though. Good luck from now on!

[ae.]

love to paint over and tips pixelmasher ill be giving this model another normal pass and more texture love hope to get an update out when i can

and talon once this is portfolio ready be sure to say so i dont want to add shitty models in my portfolio if its not up to standards i dont want it in there thanks for the tips guys

update:



attached update

[ae.]

also threw it into ut3 but the normal and specular are not coming out as strong as i would like

[fabiodan]

I had the very same problem in ue3: models being sucked out of their niceness. Are you making it as a static prop? If you import as a static prop it will be messed with a bit. Use an add operator for the specular power portion of the material. Add will make the specular stronger.