MGAC 62: Bludgeoning weapons

[Swift3D]

wow, you certainly don't hang around :P

gratz on the win.

[GuruMatt]

cheers, I figured it was best to et the new one up soon so people have two weekends to work on it.

[Goffskullz]

this is a coincidince, i was actually planning on making a monkey wrench for a game, sorta like the one from bioshock just better, so i already have some references and drawings to work with, hope thats not cheating. anyway no promises but i might try for this one.

[matsman]

hah.. Cool!

I've thought of something ambitious already... so i hope this will be going well... and this time I will normal map my entry... so any tips on that once I have started, are very welcome... Off to see if this shape will work :)

I already named it the pisces scepter, also used for bludgeoning the fool :p will post my sketch tomorrow...

[Swift3D]

this is a coincidince, i was actually planning on making a monkey wrench for a game

double coincedance... I'm in the exact same situation.

I even started collecting monkey wrench referance images earlier... so, arm wrestle you for it? :p

[Pyrotechnic]

Wow, ages since I posted on here let alone entered anything, so here goes...

Inspired by God of War;

http://pyro-net.co.uk/3d/pics/gac/mgac62/BludRender_01.jpg

Yep, a breezeblock with some nails in attached to a chain :thumbsup:

Another view (http://pyro-net.co.uk/3d/pics/gac/mgac62/BludRender_02.jpg), and another (http://pyro-net.co.uk/3d/pics/gac/mgac62/BludRender_03.jpg).

Curently at 496 tris and the textures are just made in Max, so a bit more work to do...

[JasonH]

Adding nails to anything makes it a better weapon.

Drummed together a rough of my weapon today. It's a jet-hammer. Not sure how original it is at this point, i'm sure I'm not the first one to think of it. Anyway, you pull the trigger, and it sets off a miniature 1-shot jet engine that loads like bullets in a gun. They throw the hammer forward, probably shattering and dislocating the user's shoulder pretty violently, before slamming into the target. The impact compresses a spring and moves the top half of the hammer like a pistol, ejecting the spent jet cartridge. You'd have to slam the hammer on the ground to load the first cartridge, so the user would have to be pretty strong in the first place, probably making the jet cell redundant. Right now it's at 460 triangles, but i honestly don't care much for the handle connecting the pistol grip to the hammer portion. I just sorta ran out of ideas, and would have to do some optimizing to add anything interesting between there. I've got some time though, so i'll give it some thought.


http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/5985/hammer1ey1.jpg

http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/8631/hammer2zg8.jpg

http://img299.imageshack.us/img299/1985/wireframeai3.jpg

[RThomson]

man, that hammer would hurt. nice idea, although if it's a war hammer you might want to think about the size of it, it looks small atm , due to the size of the cartridges and handle, if someone had a sword and you had that hammer you wouldn't be able to hit them very easily.

so yeah, i'd think about the reach of the weapon.

[Swizzle]

JasonH, that's looking pretty badass. I really like the idea.


Here's some poop from me. It's still kind of blobby and such, but it's still a WIP.

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y29/xkostolny/deathboard001.jpg

[JasonH]

i'd think about the reach of the weapon.

Yeah I definitely agree. i was having a hard time thinking of something sci-fi to go on the handle of the weapon. I tried to make it longer, but it kept just looking like a truck engine on the end of a cardboard tube, and didn't have a huge abundance of polygons to add lots of details along the way.

Moved some polygons around a bit, added a second hand guard. When the weapon swings, the upper hand guard slides down the handle, rather than your hand sliding down on it's own. Doing so is easier on the hand, since the handle isn't ripping itself away from you every time you swing. Also has the added benefit of when the springs release, it basically lifts the weapon back up to the ready position. It's right on 500 triangles this time.

And swizzle, adding nails to something ALWAYS makes it badass.

http://img390.imageshack.us/img390/4540/hammer3ub1.jpg

[Goffskullz]

alright, heres a mid-poly model of the wrench so far, i'm not sure if i should leave the adjustable part up or down, i'm leaning towards leaving it up right now but we'll see. obviously this model is more than 500 tris, its about double that, but i'm pretty confident i can optimize the polys down a lot once i make it a low poly model, as i have a bunch of quads i dont need they're just there to keep the mesh clean, anyway, i'm gunna get working on changing this into the high rez version, shouldnt be too much work.

http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/1048/medrezwrenchbu6.png

edit: oh i forgot, JasonH thats probably the best idea i've ever heard, just add some nails and it will be perfect ;)

[CodeVeroby]

Wow, looks like nobody's waiting here ! I'l start right away !

[XepptizZ]

JasonH, love the idea aswell :). As for the proportions, Somehow I want the thing to be massive. You don't need to keep the handle thing. Imagin having a handle the size of the fat end of a baseball club, It's not to bad to hold. But moreso should help with the proportions. And you can make the head of the hammer bigger ;). You could also extend the handle guard to almost the full length, add some styly curvations and it might look less like a cardboard tube :)

Goffskullz, I like it, and agree on it being better open, but not as far as you've got there. Looking at it I'd think it would look "heavier" if you would almost close it up, leaving it open for about an inch or so.

I've got the time and want to participate with an idea I had for sometime, but I don't know if it would classify under a bludgening weapon. I want to make a mechanical brick-leuncher :P

[Goffskullz]

xepptizz i'm glad you like it, i was looking at the model a bit after i posted that and i also came to the conclusion that it should be open but a bit less than it was, so i completely agree.

here is an almost done high poly version of it, still have a tiny bit to do on the adjustable part of the grips as you may be able to tell. but other than that, i'm going to take the handle into zbrush just to sculpt some letters, as i dont feel like modeling high rez letters, i thought about sculpting some wear and tear too, to make it look more like cast metal, but i figure i can do that just as easily by taking a concrete texture and running it through the nvidia filter to get pretty random bumps. anyway, enjoy.

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/9594/wrenchhruu9.png

[GuruMatt]

looking good so far guys, good to see some many people starting already.

Pyrotechnic - My only advise at the moment would to make your nails less aligned so it looks more random.

JasonH - Really like the design it's coming along. My only feedback at this stage it, it looks much better with the longer handle, but I liked how the base of the smaller one was kind of like a shotgun, be nice to see that element back. Also the hand gurad migth be better ir it was rotated around the handle a little, makes the object more interesting from some angles.

Swizzle - Looks like you're making a good start

Geoffskullz - Nice model so far I think it does look beter half open like otheres have said. You could optimise your model a lot but you know this. Also try to make sure you dont have any polys with more than 4 sides on your low poly mesh.

XepptizZ - your idea sounds interesting go with it, unless you come up with something else you'r rather do.

[matsman]

Hi here's what I have at the mo, concept and blocked out shape, I't gonna take some stylisation to get everything in the 500 tri's but I think I can pull this off...

http://www.matstm.com/CGtalk/post01.jpg

Hopefully can make a highpoly of the fish that go up top today... That'll be nice :)

[CodeVeroby]

Just a question Mat, isn't a fish a little too soft compared to ummm, metal ?

[matsman]

Just a question Mat, isn't a fish a little too soft compared to ummm, metal ?

Nothing personal but LOL :D

I was kinda thinking it would be rather obvious this aren't going to be real fish. :) Probably the whole thing is going to be made from metal... the shape is just to give it something special, basically it is a mace or scepter which is very baroque (figurative and elaborate)

And yes this is a fantasy weapon which would be at home in a Korean mmo :)
And I am playing with the idea of making the handle glass... but only if I have extra time somehow, since I think that'll be rather difficult.

[JasonH]

I can say from experience...catfish are spikey and can cause some cuts if you're not careful. Getting clubbed with one, would certainly not be "being careful".

Changed the handles around a bit, would've liked to have the upper hand guard form a full "D", but I kinda like how everything else looks and don't want to do too much cutting to afford another box or two. Getting it all UV'ed while I kick around handle ideas.

http://img374.imageshack.us/img374/9241/wireframe2dh0.jpg

[Pyrotechnic]

Little update:

http://pyro-net.co.uk/3d/pics/gac/mgac62/BludRender_04.jpg
http://pyro-net.co.uk/3d/pics/gac/mgac62/BludRender_05.jpg

Took GuruMatt's advice and jigged the nails around a little and I redid the chain. Sits dead on 500 tris :D

Very innovative idea JasonH, I like it.

[XepptizZ]

Pyrotechnic, I liked the idea from the start, as how it mixes the down to the gritty items, associated with hardcore shizzle, cement block, chains, nails. But It keeps bothering me how you'd get nails into a block of cement, Only way I can think of is casting it with the nails already in, which in turn raises the question why'd you go with a cement shape and cement itselfe when you consider the brittleness of cement. But I'm the type of person which also quenstions if the pattern on a carpet is woven in or colourinprinted instead of properly greeting whoever I visit.

[Pyrotechnic]

But It keeps bothering me how you'd get nails into a block of cement.
The heads are cut off and then the nail is hammered in from the outside, they could be put in from the other side but if you hit something(one) they'd push back out. Not that I've thought about this...

[Spex84]

Ok, just to play devil's advocate: it would probably be impossible to put nails into cinder blocks without shattering the concrete; however, it would be possible to drill holes with a masonry drill bit and install the nails into the holes. The block would still shatter if you smacked something hard. A solid block of concrete would be MUCH stronger, with the added benefit that the nails and chain could be cast in place.
Kudos for making something that looks scary, though!

[JasonH]

The heads are cut off and then the nail is hammered in from the outside, they could be put in from the other side but if you hit something(one) they'd push back out. Not that I've thought about this...

Heres something you could do, get one of those old big metal coffee cans (or just a metal bucket would work too), and push nails through it from the inside. cut a small hole in the bottom and feed a chain through it. Get some pieces of metal that you can use to go through the last link of chain on the inside, and form an "X" with 2 of them (really big nails could work, or screwdrivers, whichever is better for the size of bucket and chain you have), to make sort of a makeshift grappling hook to keep the chain from falling out the bottom. Now, try adding some liquid nails, or something to fill in the little gaps in all the holes you made, making the perforated can more water tight. Then, fill with concrete and let dry. Certainly not as intimidating looking as a raw cinder block, and would certainly require some prep time, but would have the added benefit of not shattering on impact.


Not that I've thought about this....

[Pyrotechnic]

Valid points from both of you, and some good ideas. I'll stick with what I have though.
I love how there's a guy with a jet powered hammer and another with some fish on a stick, yet we're discussing the technicalities of putting nails in concrete :D

[JasonH]

Valid points from both of you, and some good ideas. I'll stick with what I have though.
I love how there's a guy with a jet powered hammer and another with some fish on a stick, yet we're discussing the technicalities of putting nails in concrete :D

Yeah, I wasn't digging on the aesthetics of your model or anything. I was just throwing a more practical design for a simmilar weapon out there, but this contest is about looks rather than practicality, so it only matters if the design is intimidating, and theres really nothing more intense looking than a cinder block on a chain. :) Just fill the cinder block with chips and cracks around the nails and i'm sure all critical parties will be satisfied :)

[Pyrotechnic]

Yeah, I wasn't digging on the aesthetics of your model or anything. I was just throwing a more practical design for a simmilar weapon out there, but this contest is about looks rather than practicality, so it only matters if the design is intimidating, and theres really nothing more intense looking than a cinder block on a chain. :) Just fill the cinder block with chips and cracks around the nails and i'm sure all critical parties will be satisfied :)
Haha, no I didn't take it as a dig, it's just like when someone makes a huge planet killing deamon with magical powers and a million weapons, and someone suggests that maybe the tiny wings it has wouldn't be big enough to actually generate lift...

Anyway, yeah, cracks will come with the texture, later...

[Gridur]

Sweet to see that so many are participating already! I have me concept done so now I will start working on the mesh, expect screens soon!

And as I asked a moment ago in the previously challenge thread, does anyone know any good model viewers that can render normal maps and spectacular and such? Blender seams not too keen on the normal thingie :(

[JuddWack]

You're best bet would probably be popping that sucker into a game engine.

[Gridur]

You're best bet would probably be popping that sucker into a game engine.

Yeah, I guess U3Engine is the best choice, got me a new laptop comin' up in a month or two, and I think I have to wait till then to buy me a copy of UT, aren't there any free Model Viewers available somewhere? I have one for D3 models, but it's a little hard to work with considering you'll have to export a md5mesh to watch them models properly.

[Ghostscape]

Sweet to see that so many are participating already! I have me concept done so now I will start working on the mesh, expect screens soon!

And as I asked a moment ago in the previously challenge thread, does anyone know any good model viewers that can render normal maps and spectacular and such? Blender seams not too keen on the normal thingie :(

Xnormal will do this for you.

[Gridur]

Xnormal will do this for you.

Thanx mate! Downloading it now, seams like a great application to have installed as well! :D

Anyway, I think I'm done with my mesh now, it's a chainsaw bladed sword thingie, sure to be available in any post-apocalyptic game :)
Tomorrow I will start workin' on the UV and see if I can get some neat texture maps together! See ya guys at the finish line :)

http://img241.imageshack.us/img241/2453/chainswordoj0.jpg

[Goffskullz]

alright, well i'm pretty much done the handle/base of the wrench, and to my surprise i was able to get it only 10 tris over what i had planned it to have (which was 350), unfortunatly i had to give up some minor details i had originaly wanted to keep, but its nothing that the normal maps shouldn't cover, and i have 1 more area i can take away from the handle if i really need to but i think it should be ok.

i've been working on a high rez version of the movable part, but i haven't really made anything i like yet, and my sketch of that part looks a lot better in 2D than it does in 3D, STUPID Z AXIS I HATE YOU!

anyway more updates later, hoping to have the modeling all done by the end of the day because i'm gunna need lots of time to texture, as i'm not exactly great at it...

http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/2158/wrenchlrpl1.png

[CodeVeroby]

Can you show me a wireframe Pyro ? I think I just thought of an amazing way to save more than 60 tri's without even the slightlest of differences !

[XepptizZ]

CodeVeroby, Alphamapping?

[Pyrotechnic]

Can you show me a wireframe Pyro ? I think I just thought of an amazing way to save more than 60 tri's without even the slightlest of differences !

'course I can:
http://pyro-net.co.uk/3d/pics/gac/mgac62/BludWire_01.jpg
http://pyro-net.co.uk/3d/pics/gac/mgac62/BludWire_02.jpg

Nails are probably small enough to be 3 sided, or even just 2 planes and the chain could be a lot less, but I have 500 to play with so I will.

[CodeVeroby]

CodeVeroby, Alphamapping?

You honestly think I'm stupid don't you ? I had something else in mind but unfortunatly the idea's not good :(

My entry is preety much done, I'l post it later ...

[blenderhead]

Only took 15 minutes to load up this post reply page...

:rolleyes:

http://img354.imageshack.us/img354/6696/macews0.jpg

A mace (or is a morning star? I'm not too informed on my medieval death-dealing weapons). 500 tri's on the nose.

http://img157.imageshack.us/img157/6536/77278795ax1.jpg

I'm going to have trouble with seams with the seams on the ball one, but there's little I can do to avoid that I think :(

[matsman]

Okej update...

Finished my normalmapping adventure... and I am pretty happy with how it all looks... I need to tweak it a little bit though... the eye and mouth need some more definition on my opinion. And I still need to add some gills and scales I think...
http://www.matstm.com/CGtalk/post02.jpg
Tell me what you think!

And BTW I made a second quickie yesterday... just needs a little more texture work... something I concepted years back... its the ultimate nightmare of every school bully :) well... that is for when it is finished.

And blenderhead, that is a morningstar, a handle with a chain and a weight on it. A mace would be the version with no chain just the handle.

And gridur... I was playing with idea of doing a really blunt sword... but discarded it for not really being a bludgeoning weapon... I would like to hear your excuse for making a sword :p

Take care!

[blenderhead]

And blenderhead, that is a morningstar, a handle with a chain and a weight on it. A mace would be the version with no chain just the handle.


I had my suspicions. :D

[riot9]

JasonH,


I love your concept. This isn't a crit, but just a design suggestion. As I think about the practicality of using it, I can't help but think that timing things just right with the trigger would be hard, and might result in accidental discharges. Maybe when the slide comes down all the way to the bottom it could fire off, since most people have both hands close together at the time of impact when using a sledge hammer, this might help with timing. Then maybe to reload, you'd just have to pull the slide back up to the top?
Just an idea. I love the concept though, think it's a lot of fun.

It's awesome to see so many people active in these contests again. I hope I have enough time to make an entry myself.

[JasonH]

As I think about the practicality of using it, I can't help but think that timing things just right with the trigger would be hard, and might result in accidental discharges.

Thank yeh for the input, appreciate a fresh pair of eyes giving a second opinion on stuff I've stopped trying to push. Yeah man, I really agree that the current trigger system might be a akward. I could try a few things, like making the trigger face upward more, so when the hammer pulls against your hand as you swing, you end up depressing the trigger anyway, but to be honest, the whole thing is pretty unweildly lookin to start out with. I'm sure there would be more sophisticated designs like "A computer stabilization unit in the head determines the amount of G-force being exerted on the neck and fires when a certain threshhold is reached", but an internal computer isn't as visually compelling as something external. Personally I realize that the most effective weapons are generally the most basic. Like knives....yeah, those work, we're still using those today. But, when it comes to video games, I generally just throw practicality out the window "How much would this thing weigh anyway?" I like the idea of the thing firing off when the sliding handle gets close to the bottom, but theres just something about a trigger on a melee weapon. You just need to see it there and you automatically think "whoah, whats that do?". Thanks for the input though, hope it doesn't seem like i'm going to ignore it, I would certainly take your advice to heart if I was building something like this in real life. I'll try posting whatever progress i make tonight to see how it's comin along :)

[blenderhead]

Matsman can we get some screenies that are a lot closer to the high-ply fish? I can see some details but I can't make them out at all...

[matsman]

If I can throw some thoughts out on that subject... :)

It reminded me about those final fantasy sword with guns in them... that was a good gameplay mechanic since your damage was partly skill (timing) and partly stats based (sword attack)
and BTW was in a museum in Delft (holland) about old army stuff and there actully was such a weapon... In the time that thing was made a pistol had only one shot and then you had to reload taking maybe 30 sec til a minute... so they though well why not make it a sword too, then you can shoot and after that you still got a weapon!

Nice hey :) I love history because of such things.

Blenderhead... just saw your question after I posted this... will do... but that is partly the problem :) and I think I can pull the UV's around some more so the rather detailed side fins will show up better.

[JasonH]

If I can throw some thoughts out on that subject... :)




Hah, makes my "Because I like triggers" reason seem pretty juvenile :)

[riot9]

JasonH, you're right, the visual queue of a trigger is much more valuable in a game. Good call. :)

[XepptizZ]

You honestly think I'm stupid don't you ? I had something else in mind but unfortunatly the idea's not good :(

Actually, I just thought that was one way to optimize, not at all what you were thinkin' I was just fishing for your answer really, It's an easy way out of polylimits and not one which is so terrible depending on your goal, IMO

[Vonulf]

Never entered one of these challenges before, been too busy with my university course, but seeing as I have finished I thought I would enter something. Still a work in progress though

http://img77.imageshack.us/img77/3939/flailwo2.jpg

[Spex84]

I probably won't finish, as max's render-to-texture crashes...but I thought I'd show my idea anyway. It's what's left of a lamp :Dhttp://i107.photobucket.com/albums/m312/Spex84/lamp03_june30.jpg

[matsman]

Nice one Vonulf! and Spex too :D

And as requested here is a closeup of the fish... making it painfully obvious I need to touch up things :wip: The alpha especially. BTW the texture right now is 256x256... with the handle part also having a 256x256... I definitely will go and put those two together for more detail in the maps. And as I look at it... it seems there is a smoothing problem... or weird shadow going on up top... must track that down too.

http://www.matstm.com/CGtalk/post03.jpg

anyway let me know what you think and how I can improve... also I keep having trouble with my ambient occlusion map... anyone got a way that works?

[blenderhead]

[QUOTE=matsman also I keep having trouble with my ambient occlusion map... anyone got a way that works?[/QUOTE]

What is the problem? Keeping in mind that if you try to generate it through render to texture but it doesnt come up, it has, it has just been saved in the 'images' folder of the version of max you are using on your C:/ drive...

Failing that, I have been researching XNormal and it seems like a great tool...try that!

[CodeVeroby]

Well, here's my entry :D

http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/2766/worksheetrk4.jpg

[matsman]

What is the problem?

I get just a shadow map when rendering to texture not the ambient occlusion... So I don't know what the problem is... yes I was looking into x-normal yesterday but had no option to download it just yet... thanks for reminding to do that now :D

CodeVeroby:
That looks very nice... looking forward to some detail in the texture and maybe you can use a few extra tri's to put a small ribbon or something on it to give the weapon some personality.

[Vonulf]

OK well here is my entry now finsihed, uses a diffuse, spec, bump and aplha maps and is 497 tris
http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/4772/flailfk4.jpg

[CodeVeroby]

Nice entry vonulf ! I would make the big wood cylinder a little smaller because so far it looks like it will only fit into a troll's hand ! (trolls are 2 times bigger than human in case your not a D&D geek) :D

[blenderhead]

Well, here's my entry :D

http://img359.imageshack.us/img359/2766/worksheetrk4.jpg

This needs work I think. I think you can lose a segment or two on the handle and the 'butt' at the back. Also the axe head meshflow is messy, there would be big problems if you were to light that...and there is a lot of UV space wasted...you should use as much as you can to get the best you can out of your textures.

[blenderhead]

oops...double post.

[Vonulf]

OK so now slimmed the handle down a bit, also thought the old wood texture wasnt so great that has also been replaced

http://img236.imageshack.us/img236/6195/flail2ow9.jpg

[Swift3D]

Tryed to force myself to stay out of the mgac this round but I just couldn't do it. :/

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g68/123ben123_2006/MaceRender1.jpg
knocked this up in about 25mins and I'll geta texture on it tommorow, not sure when the deadline i but hopfully i'll be able to sneak it in :P

sorry to be a bit boring/cliche with a stereotypical mace but concepting takes time which I don't have lol.

I'll make sure to put more effort into next weaks challenge

Edit: woops, forgot details, currently at 275 tris.

[LaughingBun]

I finished my entry my first mini comp in a long time.
its a nordic warhammer! 488 tri, 512 color, normal, spec, specular color

http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/8132/hammerfo8.jpg

Wires (http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/5439/hammerwireql7.jpg)

Textures (http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/5016/hammertexzp6.jpg)

[matsman]

Nice one laughing bun :thumbsup: ... I hope my entry will come near to that..

Been playing around with xNormal and that is great... And the bakes for the fin textures had no problems, but on the main body I have a lot of hard edges in the normal map that seem to come from nowhere, as that the seams are really apparent...

The AO maps are great though... no problem there... and makes the fish look scary :D

I'll post another image tonight (local GMT+1) seeing if I can get it better before that.

[blenderhead]

but on the main body I have a lot of hard edges in the normal map that seem to come from nowhere, as that the seams are really apparent...



Is that a problem you could overcome but smoothing out the normals by hand painting in Photoshop?

By the way guys, and suggestions as to good free textures sites? I'm struggling to find a good wood texture.

[Vonulf]

Nice one there Laughing Bun, i really like the hammer, all it needs now is a dwarf to hold it lol

[riot9]

Blenderhead, http://www.cgtextures.com/ is pretty good. They have a section on different types of wood, you may be able to find what you're looking for there. A notification on the site says they're running off of the backup server right now though, so it may be slow or have other issues. I was able to get into their wood textures though.

[Swift3D]

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g68/123ben123_2006/MR2.jpg

made a start on the textures... my texturing skills really need some work still :/

ah well, what do you think so far?

280ish tris and a 128* col map so far.

Planning on adding a spec, alpha and emit map once I finish the diffuse.

Edit:
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g68/123ben123_2006/MR3.jpg
new and slightly improved render... now with emit! :p

Was hoping to have the diamond glowy thing i the midle semi transparent and the bit inside glowing out but i'm having problems with alpha :/

Still need to fix the diffuse up, it's still really messy, exspecialy on the mace (head?).

[matsman]

Is that a problem you could overcome but smoothing out the normals by hand painting in Photoshop?


http://www.matstm.com/CGtalk/FishNormals.jpg

Well the hard lines I can paint/ blur out with some time investment, but those seams are going to cause me major head aches... But I want to know why this happened... this is a far shaper render then the max version.

[Swift3D]

My entry:
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g68/123ben123_2006/71c70046.png

Kind of rushed it this weak, speant around an hour in this (most of that trying to make transparency work the way I wanted it to :sad:) I'm starting to see things that I could improve already but I think i'm gonna let it slide this time.

Texturing skills are slowly getting there I think.

[JuddWack]

Hey guys. Popping into this competition sort of late. A frying pan pops into my mind as a classic bludgeoning weapon. This is the completed model at 496 tris. Moving onto the highpoly now.

http://img360.imageshack.us/img360/3439/fryingpan01vf8.jpg

[Pyrotechnic]

Well it got late, and I realised I still had this to do. Then it got a bit later and I realised I'm away tomorrow day and night, so I thought 'stuff it, I'm not going to do it'. Then it got even later and I though 'stuff it, I am going to finish it'. And then it's now, and here's my entry:

http://pyro-net.co.uk/3d/pics/gac/mgac62/BludFinal.jpg

And there we have it, and if any of you remember me from the days of yore, you might notice this is actually the first comp I have ever finished...

Spex84: Like the idea, quite original.

Vonulf: Nice design, I can imagine that could do quite a lot of damage!

JuddWack: Like the idea again, nice clean model, maybe a bit over-polyed in places, expecially if you plan on a normal map too.

Good luck to the rest of you, I'll be back after the weekend.

[JuddWack]

Chains, nails and a cinder block, that's definitely a bludgeoning weapon :P. I think you could definitely cut down the polys on the nails Pyro. I know you rushed out the texture but it could definitely use some extra love and care. Most notably a texture besides solid grey on the block and a better spec map to go with it.

Here's my entry. I'm pretty pleased with this guy. Also my first time experimenting with spec maps in full color. C & C welcome.

http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/2753/fryingpanbn1.jpg


http://img364.imageshack.us/img364/6680/pandxu5.jpg
http://img60.imageshack.us/img60/108/pandwe8.jpg
http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/7990/pansfg7.jpg

[LaughingBun]

when you guys render make sure you change your anti-aliasing filter in the render settings. Its default is AREA which makes everything blurry and ugly. Set it to Catmull-rom and it will be nice and sharp. I think it would help your entry SWIFT3D alot!

[Swift3D]

wow,thanks bun.

I'm amazed by the differance changing it makes :/ How have I never stumbled across this before :s

@pyro: The spec on the chain is kind of giving the game away on it being flat. Maybe try turning the spec in that area down to about 30% and upping the contrast of the diffuse (or adding strong highlights if there is none already). I really liked how you'd done the chains up until the spec.

Overall it looks good but I don't think you've been using alot of logic when making the cinder block texture. As far as i'm aware cinder blocks don't really crack like that they flack off in chunks, also the placement of the blood is a bit off.

[GuruMatt]

I finished my entry my first mini comp in a long time.
its a nordic warhammer! 488 tri, 512 color, normal, spec, specular color

http://img79.imageshack.us/img79/8132/hammerfo8.jpg

Wires (http://img107.imageshack.us/img107/5439/hammerwireql7.jpg)

Textures (http://img160.imageshack.us/img160/5016/hammertexzp6.jpg)

Looking good LaughingBun. All I would say is that it looks uncomfortable to hold as the handle is square, might be worth making the bae more rounded. I'd also play with the proportions a little more, maybe beef up the hammer top a bit so it looks more powerful. Also try to make sure your polys are 3 or 4 sided.

[matsman]

Hi all...

That is one nice Frying pan juddwack, the one you use yourself in case of an zombie emergency :p

So I ain't going to have much time... tonight possibly, tomorrow no way. But I think it is coming together, normal, spec and diffuse... am finishing texturing right now...

http://www.matstm.com/CGtalk/post04.jpg

Tell me if something bothers you!

[blenderhead]

Blenderhead, http://www.cgtextures.com/ is pretty good. They have a section on different types of wood, you may be able to find what you're looking for there. A notification on the site says they're running off of the backup server right now though, so it may be slow or have other issues. I was able to get into their wood textures though.

Just what I was looking for. Thanks man :)




I dunno if I will be able to submit this morning by the 6th...no internet at home. But I'll try :)

[CodeVeroby]

That's one hell of a crappy texture space distrubution Pyro ! why do the little nails get a 256X256 map while the huge concrete block that's 100X bigger gets the same texture space ?

[matsman]

Okay... Well my time is up... I got to do other stuff now... so here is my final: notice the shaded viewport grabs show no normals... just the other stuff. Can max show normals? or should I have used a 3rd party app... anyway, today I already took too much time for my liking.

Thanks everyone and Enjoy!

http://www.matstm.com/CGtalk/PiscesScepter.jpg
BTW tricount is hard to read... it states 1 scepter comes to 494 tri's


PS I mentioned I was doing another one... well this is isn't finished but will be later as I think of doing a character I designed it for. It is supposed to be anime, final fantasy style.
http://www.matstm.com/CGtalk/FinalFantasyBooks.jpg

[Swift3D]

please speand a couple minutes putting a tiny bit of alpha or somthing on the fish so they look less like ACTUAL fish :P

books look great.

[Gerzi]

Hello guys


I had the idea for the Roachbuster 2000 last weekend when I read about the MGAC 62: Bludgeoning weapons.
So I decided to give it a try and create my first entry for a Micro Challenge.
Hope you like it… :D

http://www.gerzi.ch/wip/roachbuster.jpg

[DooFi]

Roachbuster 3000 has my vote. But i think it's normal could use some more detail :)

[JasonH]

Still a few hours from the deadline, so this isn't the final draft just yet, but i am going to take a few hours break, come back....kick the textures around a little bit more before I call it quits on it. Had a hard time rendering the ambiant occlusion maps, I'm actually not used to using the method of modeling a high-poly version and baking in the low poly one. We don't use any methods like that where i work, so I'm really kinda trial-and-error with new fangledness like that. Seemed that i got an error whenever the low-poly mesh was any larger than the low poly. To fix that, I had to shrink the model on an almost per-poly basis and render out at least 3 dozen AO maps to build into the current one. I dunno, maybe thats just the way it works, but always seems like all the tutorials i see it's just a press of the button and instant perfection...

Well, gonna go watch some TV and get some grub. Will update a final version in a few hours I guess.

http://img68.imageshack.us/img68/332/hammertexture1ag8.jpg

[Swift3D]

:applause:

...

*wants to see it go bang*

[JasonH]

Alright, played with the textures a little bit more. I think it's about done as I can get it. As with most projects, theres always a few details that I'd like to change about it, but overall I'm happy enough with the results to show it around. Got to use some new methods in making it, figure next time I try to make something using similar steps it will be easier. Even though I feel I've messed with it enough, don't mind any more crits if you see something that I completely messed up on. Always appreciate it when it's pointed out wherever I made a mistake....just please be gentle :)


http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/1732/hammer1de9.jpg

http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/4643/hammer2ok9.jpg

http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/171/hammer3zj9.jpghttp://img502.imageshack.us/img502/8550/hammer3xl6.jpg


http://img383.imageshack.us/img383/6767/hammerwireframe2mw5.jpg

[xbiten]

Allright, here's my contribution. A warhammer jacked to a car battery, voíla a shockhammer :P.

http://members.lycos.co.uk/xbiten/flash/galeries/013d/presentation.JPG

[SmallPoly]

I'm floored by some of these entries. There's some really impressive stuff going on here, especially JasonH and Gerzi.


So far I just have some concept work done on my own kind of warhammer. I'll probably have to simplify a bit to keep it under 500.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v394/rrimgeaper2/art/MGAC62-doom_hammer.jpg

[Arnage]

So many entries and no one made the mother of all bludgeoning weapons?

I just had to fill in that gap...

Stats:
460 tri's
1 RGBA (diffuse + mono spec in alpha)
1 RGB (normal)

The textures are 100% baked procedurals to save some time.

Quick UnrealEngine3 beauty:
http://www.arnage.nl/images/RollingPins.jpg
That default kitchen tile texture actually fits :)

50% textures:
http://www.arnage.nl/images/PinTextures.jpg

Max viewport shot + wire:
http://www.arnage.nl/images/RollingPinWire.png

[CodeVeroby]

Damn shoe ! I just want to crush it with my war axe so that you won't win :twisted:

[SmallPoly]

Arnage - Your modeling looks alright, though your texturing needs more of a story to it. Right now it just reads as a generic rolling pin, and nothing about it says it would be used as a weapon. The texturing feels just way too simple overall.

Easiest thing to add would be a few dents and old dry blood stains.

-----

OK, modeling is done... still need to unwrap and map. Managed to get it pretty close to my concept sketch's silouhette.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v394/rrimgeaper2/art/mgac62_hammer_WIP1.jpg

[ScottHomer]

This is my first entry to this mini comp, so here it is, my baseball bat with barbed wire.
Bring back my days of WWF, ahhh the good old days.

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x211/Sabrenoose/batrendercopy.png

[JuddWack]

Nice barbie Scott, almost did one myself. Reminds me of ECW... sad what happened :(
I think you could save some polys by eliminating at least one edge loop where the thick portion becomes narrow and moves into the handle. Also the edgeloops where the grip tape is. That can be done in a bump map or texture. The barbed wire seems to have too many divisions as well, and clearly intersects the bat.

I'm not really sure what your plan was for the texture. Sort of looks like a barbie from the future with glowing alien blood.

Good presentation. Hope to see you in MGAC 63.

[ScottHomer]

Cheers for the great advice judd, i love some constructive crits. I have made a few changes to the barbed wire, messed up the mesh alittle to make it look alittle less uniform, and so that it doesnt intersect!

I have also redone the texture, and altered the lighting, hope you like what ive done with it. Lighting is my biggest issue throughout lal of my work, depending on how i have done in my exams, i will be going to uni to study how to correctly light pieces like this, to show of my hard work.

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x211/Sabrenoose/batrender4copy.png

[Swift3D]

The blood texture's a bit off, it looks really strange having such a sharp line where it stops, try to put som smearing and trickles further down the handle or move the bulk of the blood up and work on the transition there if you're worried about the seam.

The blood also seems to be a bit OTT concsidering there's no blood on the wire but you can't see through to the wood of the bat at all, would be good to have some splatter marks etc.

On more crit as 3's the lucky number, it seems a bit strange that the barb wire is wider at the top than up the bottom. Wires made up of the same ammount of strands all of the way through so it seems off to have some sections thicker than others.

Really like the presentation, keep it up.

[Clanker]

Haha, ScottHomer, it looks like an update for the scout weapon in Team Fortress 2.
Really nice contest full of humour
Congratulations to all of you.

[ScottHomer]

Cheers for all of the crits, i took your critique into account and redid the barbed wire, plus i edited some of the textures to smear blood around the grip and to show more wood through the bat.

This is my entry, thanks so much guys for your help, ive improved over the last 3 hours learning a couple of new techniques, which is priceless information.

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x211/Sabrenoose/batrender4.jpg

[GuruMatt]

there are a lot of good entries here it's gonna be hard to pick a winner. Deadline is coming up, I probably wont have time to judge until after work tomorrow. Keep it up people it's all looking really good.

When you submit your work please make sure you submit a wire view so I can see how you've built it.

[kromano]

I haven't posted to one of these in ages... Last time wasn't a very good entry either. Hmm.


Hard-edged greatsword/great katana. Very FFVII inspired I imagine. The mesh is kinda messy and the textures a little lazy, but not bad for about an hour's work I suppose.

Viewport shot using DX9 shader
http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/8748/swordyviewportch2.jpg

Wireframe of viewport shot
http://img380.imageshack.us/img380/9834/swordywirebn4.jpg

Rendered with shadows and stuff, woo!
http://img370.imageshack.us/img370/2515/swordythinglr8.jpg

Base Diffuse Map 256x256, specular and normal maps 128x128
http://img357.imageshack.us/img357/7122/swordythingdiffuseov5.jpghttp://img257.imageshack.us/img257/460/swordythingspecularjm2.jpghttp://img394.imageshack.us/img394/9722/swordythingnormalii5.jpg

My money's on the boot-swatter. That thing was just too awesome.

[JuddWack]

GuruMatt, my low poly wireframe that i posted didn't change fyi. I'm working now, although not very hard :P so I can't get out a screen shot grab with poly count before midnight. You'll have to trust me.

[xbiten]

It's raining here so I did another one. Not the most original but anyways here it goes.
Real-time screengrab from Maya with cgfx shader (color, specular, normal & reflectionmap).
It's great that so many have participated in this MGAC.
cheers!

http://members.lycos.co.uk/xbiten/flash/galeries/013d/presentation_hammer.JPG

[SmallPoly]

Okay... here's my final entry, weighing in at 478 tris and using a single 512x512 for the diffuse.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v394/rrimgeaper2/art/MGAC62_Warhammer_Final.jpg

[Dekker3D]

kro.. cute katana, i love it, but it looks like the handle would break off on the first hit. not only is it on the thin side for such a big chunk of metal, the holes also kinda ruin it. maybe you should put the holes further up the blade or to the side of where the wood would be, that would help it a lot.

i adore veleno's mace, it looks like it could have a life of it's own!

[JasonH]

Allright, here's my contribution. A warhammer jacked to a car battery, voíla a shockhammer :P.



Wow, I really like this one. Seems dangerous just to hold, but hey, you have to risk accidentally electrocuting yourself in a scuffle in order to look really cool. The lighting effect in the render helps punch it out a bit. If I had a constructive comment, and I'm kinda reaching here, is that the block the car battery is stuck in looks a bit medieval. Sort of creates a contrast in style, between red wires and big solid chunks of embossed metal. The weapon sounds like something a paranoid survivalist would piece together in his garage, so not to say that he wouldn't have access to a welder. But...how big is a car battery? This thing must be gigantic now that I look at it. Think you could get away with making the battery portion much much larger. It looks like you've got enough UV space to do that as well, so it shouldn't hurt anything. Also might not hurt anything to add an illumination map somewhere down the line. It's electric after all, might be cool to give it a charge power bar on the side or something to give it a more of a modern element (could add duct tape too to keep it together....make it look scrappier. Keep up the good work, I'm sure I wouldn't want to come across somebody with that thing.

[blenderhead]

http://img98.imageshack.us/img98/6040/splashsheetfr6.jpg

(if you are wondering about the crazy distribution of UV's...the mace was originally to have glowy runes on it but they looked dumb so there you go!)

Some damn badass entries this time! Well done guys!I love both hammers, the frying pan, and matsmans Final Fantasy style books.

Now back to Army of Small :buttrock:

[xbiten]

Wow, I really like this one. Seems dangerous just to hold, but hey, you have to risk accidentally electrocuting yourself in a scuffle in order to look really cool. The lighting effect in the render helps punch it out a bit. If I had a constructive comment, and I'm kinda reaching here, is that the block the car battery is stuck in looks a bit medieval. Sort of creates a contrast in style, between red wires and big solid chunks of embossed metal. The weapon sounds like something a paranoid survivalist would piece together in his garage, so not to say that he wouldn't have access to a welder. But...how big is a car battery? This thing must be gigantic now that I look at it. Think you could get away with making the battery portion much much larger. It looks like you've got enough UV space to do that as well, so it shouldn't hurt anything. Also might not hurt anything to add an illumination map somewhere down the line. It's electric after all, might be cool to give it a charge power bar on the side or something to give it a more of a modern element (could add duct tape too to keep it together....make it look scrappier. Keep up the good work, I'm sure I wouldn't want to come across somebody with that thing.

Hey Jason! Thanks a lot!
Yeah I know the style is kind of mixed. It was supposed to be a mixture but somewhere down the road I lost my moyo :P. I was aiming for some kind of apocalyptic style where medievil meets 20th century.
Now that you mention it you're totally right about the proportions, it's a bit off :P. the car battery is atleast 1/3 (or close) too small. damn!
I had plans to incorporate a power bar for the control of the hammer but I kind of lost interest after I did a redesign of the hammer.
I think the first iteration I did was way cooler than the submitted. The first iteration had only one "hammer" part and the car battery was jacked to the other side. It worked better I think and gave the hammer a much more asymmetrical look which I believe looks more interesting.
The illuminationmap is a good idea, would be cool with some electricity sparks(or something) around the hammers. I'm only worried that it would look too fantasy.
Hehe, one idea I had was to incorporate some needles which was going to be connected with cables on the front of the hammer and they would get stuck on the victim and shock him. Like tasers. The only difference would be that they aren't fired, they are strucken :P.
Cheers!!!

[GuruMatt]

First off well done everyone who entered this comp, seems to have been fairly popular. There are a lot of good ideas here and a lot of good work, which makes it hard to pick one winner. I think there have been a lot of really good work but some piece just needed that extra little twist like our winners entry...

WINNER Xbiten: Shock Hammer

What can I say fantasic work and a very good idea. The only thing I can think of adding would be a charge read out so players when using this see how much 'ammo' they have left.

ScottHomer: Barbed Wire Baseball Bat

Looking nice. Good simple idea ideal in any hardcore match. I would say however that the poly distribution could be improved. The polys used for the barbwire are too detailed. It would be hard to get barbed wire wrapped smoothly around the bat by hand so a less smoothed section may actually look better. As for the diffuse texture I would say the blood has a harsh line near the handle. I think maybe less here would be more with blood splats heavy on the top of the bat then less so further down. Also a very small point you probably could have done more with a normal mp had the bat been wooden.

Kromano: Greatsword

Very FF7. Looking nice. I think the holes in the sword are using up a lot of the polys and are not enough of a focal point because of their position. I think the edge of the sword should come to a point as it doesn't look very sharp. Also I think the handle needs to be beefed up a little, like someone has already said. I think the weapon is too top heavy and witht hat handle may be impossible to hold. Mayby try thickening the handle and adding a thick section to its base, and maybe even has a grip like on classic katanas.

xbiten: Hammer

This is a very nice entry. Very nice poly distribution and texture work. I would maybe space out the circles on the grip a bit more, I think you're loosing the effect as they are so bunched up. May be worth adding some blood staind to the hammer to give it a more used feel. I would say the only thing that lets the piece down is that it is a simple idea. I'm impressed you managed to get two very strong entries.

Velenosangue: War Hammer

Nice piece good to see some entries going for the fantasy feel. Not much to crit, the weapon has an interesting shape and style. Maybe the proportions coold be tweeked to make it look more powerful. I also think the blood splats become a bit washed out due to the base colour of the hammer.

blenderhead: Mace

Nice mace blenderhead. I would say that maybe when working on a weapon this low poly you should try something more basic. I think the chain eats up most of your polys yet is only a third of the model. Maybe you were hampered by the idea, however you've got a very nice result. I think the colours are a bit too contrasty, I think the metal of the chain and the ball should be the same. The handle may look better with a more sun dried colour.

Matsman: Pisces Scepter

Very orgional idea which is refreshing to see. I'm not sure how intimidating a fish club is. Looks like the textures on the handle are beeing streached a little. I think the specular map could also improved, try making the scales have more of a scale patter rather than just all white. It would look better if the scales were beefed up in the normal map.

Gerzi: Roachbuster 2000

Fantastic idea and very nice model and textures. Very good use of colour and a nice amount of detail. My oly real crit is I'm not sure what the wood section is? It may be nice if you could make it look like half of a tennis racket, maybe add a sport logo or something.

JasonH: Jet Hammer

Again another great idea and very nice texture work. I have very little to crit. I would like to see a section where the empty shells would eject, maybe this is the hole in the back, but it would be nicer animation wise on the side. I also think the pump action grip should be slightly rotated, this will make the model more interesting from different angle. Also it would make it more comfortable to hold. Texture work is very nice and a nice uv layout.

Arnage: Rollingpin

Nice basic model, good to see you, and others, take that extra step and take it into unreal. I would say that maybe the texturing could be improved. The normal map could be used to give xtra depth to some sections of the grain where maybe there is more damage and splinters.

LaughinBun: Nordic Warhammer

Very nice weapon would fit in in oblivion etc. I think the handle should be more rounded to make it easier to handle. I also think the cylinder hammer section could be scaled out a little to make the proportions seem more powerful. May also be nice if the design on the top glowed blue to give it a cold nordic feel.

Swift3D: Fantasy Club

I think you've still got a lot of polys left to play with. I think the handle needs a lot more detail. It is a lot of the model yet is very basic when compaired to the detailed top. Nice idea, similar to something I once made at work. I like the big jewl but I think more detail is needed elsewhere on the texture to stop it looking flat.

Pyrotechnic: Breezeblock Whip

Nice idea. I think maybe a bit too hard for this comp as the model is let down by the basic chain. A normal map could be used to make the chain sections look rounded. I also think the diffuse texture needs more detail as the sruface doesn't have enough detail or texture.

JuddWck: Frying Pan

Really nice model and texturing nothing to really crit. I like how you have used a lot of the poly budget to make the pan as round as possible, very impressive texture work. My only crit is that the idea is a little basic and some blood stains may make the prop seem a little more used.

Codeveroby: War- Axe

Nice idea but I don't think you're getting the most out of your polys. Maybe try reducing the number of side on the handle etc. I think with a little work the diffuse texture could be improved, maybe add a cloth grip to the handle. Adding a simple specular map may also help bring out the material. Try converting you diffuse map to a grayscale image then add a simple noise to give it a metalic shine.

Vonulf: Morning Star/Mace

Nice weapon and model, I think the handle colour is contrasting too much with the metal, maybe play around with the colour balance. Also try adding a blood staind cloth grip.

Well done again. If I've missed anyone or if anyone would like more feedback pm me and I'll try to get back to you.

[heavyness]

congrats to the winner and good job everyone, good turn out to!


better late then never, here is my late entry...
http://www.heavyness.com/dump/cgtalk/MGAC62_fin.jpg
...the deadline creeped up on me.

[heavyness]

and if you need more game art related challenges...


Game-Artist.net (http://www.game-artist.net) [our newly adopted forum that is all game art] has 3 challenges going on all the time...

Low Poly Competition (http://www.game-artist.net/forums/low-poly-competition/) - month long challenge with Ballistic Publishing offers 3 books of choice!
Speed Modeling (http://www.game-artist.net/forums/speed-modeling/) - they give you a small mesh to incorporate and you have 90 minutes to get something done... great way to keep your modeling skills sharp.
Speed Texturing (http://www.game-artist.net/forums/speed-texturing/) - they supply the model, you texture it in 90 minutes.

[kromano]

Kromano: Greatsword

Very FF7. Looking nice. I think the holes in the sword are using up a lot of the polys and are not enough of a focal point because of their position. I think the edge of the sword should come to a point as it doesn't look very sharp. Also I think the handle needs to be beefed up a little, like someone has already said. I think the weapon is too top heavy and witht hat handle may be impossible to hold. Mayby try thickening the handle and adding a thick section to its base, and maybe even has a grip like on classic katanas.

Looking at the placement of the holes, you're totally right... That leaves like, a quarter of an inch of bite into the handle, not very practical at all. However, about adding points or sharpness, it was never intended to be a stabbing or thrusting weapon. It was always about crushing bones.

And secondly... wow! I haven't seen this many entries in an MGAC, ever! Outstanding topic choice to get so many people interested and even better is the QUALITY of the entries! Cudos to all.

[JuddWack]

Thanks for the great crits Guru. I felt the same about my piece as well. I wanted to complete the competition in a day so I just made the first thing that came to mind. I asked a girl from work to compete with us in 63 so see you guys there.
Good job everyone.

[xbiten]

Great job everone!
I made a couple of changes the most noticeable is the proportions JasonH suggested. so this is just for you jason :P. 1024 maps + reflection
http://members.lycos.co.uk/xbiten/flash/galeries/013d/presentation02.JPG

Anyways I was thinking about the next challenge and come up with a couple of ideas.
* homemade weapon
* lamppost
* surveillance bot
* some kind of tree-theme
Are there any wishlist?

cheers
Rikard

[Pyrotechnic]

Some fantastic entries there, well done all. No points for spotting I can't texture though ;]

[Swift3D]

congratulations to the winner and everyone else that took part, awsome entries!

Could I just ask, how many of you are in any type of job that involves using your 3D skills on a regular basis (just to make me feel better that my entry was lagging so far behind you guys).

Thanks for the fair crits, The reason for the lowpoly is that's more towards the sort of stuff that i'm working on at the minute, but I agree it doesn't excuse the blandness of the handel. Guess i'll try harder next weak.

Topic wise you probably shouldn't go for home made weapons as alot of people have already done a simular theme for this challenge and for the 'this is junk' challenge, all the others seem good though.

[xbiten]

ok. fair enough. I think I lean towards a bot theme like "utility bot". I'll decide after work. If anyone have any suggestions please feel free submit.
Other themes that have come up at work is:
* weapon with both offensive and defensive abilities
* the ultimate bayonet

About Swift3D's question. I have co-founded a game studio in Sweden, Pieces Interactive AB, where I work as lead artist. We're a small studio and currently I work primary with GUI design and implementation, but I do some 3d work as well. But I try to keep my 3d-edge sharp on my spare time.

Cheers
Rikard

[JasonH]

Graduated with a degree in "Media Arts and Animation", which was what they were calling my major at the time. Focused as much as I could in 3d art, though at the time they didn't even offer a texturing class. Since then, worked at 2 different studios in the last 4 years.

As for the next contest, I can only assume that if you go with "The Ultimate Bayonet", nowadays, you're going to just get lots...and LOTS of chainsaws.

[Swift3D]

As for the next contest, I can only assume that if you go with "The Ultimate Bayonet", nowadays, you're going to just get lots...and LOTS of chainsaws. No way, lightsaber bayonets would beat the hell out of chainsaw bayonets :P

[Dekker3D]

no.. lightsabers and chainsaws? is that the best the two of you can think of?

swordfeesh! i just -know- someone will tie a swordfish to a gun and call it a bayonet!

[Vonulf]

In respone to swifts post.

I have just finished a computer games design course in england and am still currently looking for work

[Pyrotechnic]

In respone to swifts post.

I have just finished a computer games design course in england and am still currently looking for work

^^ What Vonulf said ^^

[Vonulf]

What Uni did you go to pyro?

[Swift3D]

It's comforting to hear how many of you are in the industry. I was really starting to worry about the level of my abilitlies "why can't I make stuff like that :("

hopefully i'll get to the same sort of level you guy sare at somday if I stick at it.

(i've been self teaching blender on and off for over a year now)

thanks for answering everyone :).

[xbiten]

thanks everyone!
The new MGAC is up 'n' running!
Hope to see you all there!

//Rikard

[heavyness]

Anyways I was thinking about the next challenge and come up with a couple of ideas.
* homemade weapon
* lamppost
* surveillance bot
* some kind of tree-theme
Are there any wishlist?


well, we just did a weapon, so homemade weapon seems like we just did that. the other three ideas are cool, even lamppost [some of the old fashion lampposts have really cool designs].

[xbiten]

yeap I thought so too. Allways wanted to do a lamppost and MGAC is a great way to motivate people to finish. But I settled with a more "open" theme, the utility bot :D. Hope to see you there!

[JuddWack]

Well it's no walk in the park Swift. Getting that first job is difficult. You really got to be a top notch artist to get a first job with out any experience or inside contacts. Even with experience and inside contacts it is difficult.

To answer your question I'm a Wireless QA Engineer, which is a fancy name for cell phone game tester. I graduated with a degree in Film and Media Arts and am self taught in 3d. I ran out of money applying for jobs and had to begin working full time again so I started to apply to QA positions and got a job right away. I think being in Philadelphia was holding me back a bit though because there is nothing there for games.

[kromano]

It's comforting to hear how many of you are in the industry. I was really starting to worry about the level of my abilitlies "why can't I make stuff like that :("

hopefully i'll get to the same sort of level you guy sare at somday if I stick at it.

(i've been self teaching blender on and off for over a year now)

thanks for answering everyone :).

Yeah chief, don't sweat it. Even if they were self taught on the side for kicks and still did "better work" it's no big deal. Just take it as a challenge and do better on the next one, and the next one and the next one. You'll perpetually run into work you feel is superior to your own, just take it as an opportunity to learn from what they did and apply it to your own work.

I know my piece kinda stunk this time and the last competition I joined in on. I just haven't been focussed and applying myself to the challenge. After seeing Wall-E twice since its release, making some kind of robot right now sounds appropriate. I vote for Surveillance Robot.

[ScottHomer]

Im currently employed 8 hours a week in a fish and chip shop. Im between college and uni, hopefully i will be moving to london in 2 months time to study 3d Games Art at Hertfordshire uni, im completely self taught (ahaha it shows!)

[urgaffel]

Well it's no walk in the park Swift. Getting that first job is difficult. You really got to be a top notch artist to get a first job with out any experience or inside contacts. Even with experience and inside contacts it is difficult. <snip> I think being in Philadelphia was holding me back a bit though because there is nothing there for games.
Getting your first job can be tricky but you don't necessarily have to be a top notch artist but you do have to have potential and whoever employs you needs to see that aswell as that you're willing to learn and evolve. JC wrote a great post on his blog about game degrees and what you need to get in to the industry, read it here: Japanmanship blogpost (http://japanmanship.blogspot.com/2008/07/hey-teacher.html)

In my case, I got my first two jobs by friends letting me know that the companies they were working for were looking for artists (and in the case of my first job, put in a good word for me). The more people you know who can give you a hand in the future the better, not to mention being able to help others once you've landed your job. Being able to relocate for your first job is really really helpful, especially if the area you live in doesn't have many studios to apply to. It's also a good experience to move out and about. Although it can get a bit tiresome, I moved between 3 countries in just over a year due to diffferent jobs (all within Europe but still) :D

[Swift3D]

thanks guys :)

I'm currently part of a small team of people trying to make an mmo. I know that this won't meen anything when I attempt to get a payed job but it feeds me concepts and inspiration which (i think) is going to help me improve. The team also has one of the graphic artists from the console game GRID working on it so now I have the guys msn and he's a fountain of knowledge (i probably bug him a little too much though :P).

I'm slowly trying to get enough pieces of work that i'm happy with to fill a portfolio.

I've just looked over all the entries again and noticed somthing very intriguing about velo's texturing and i'm very tempted to ask some questions on how you do it but I think it would seem pretty rude after everyones speant the time answering my 1st question... so just be prepared.

Have to apologize for any poor typing/complete gobbledy gook in this post, It's prety late so i'm trying to type in way that doesn't make a large noise :S.

[JuddWack]

Actually I think it will help a lot Swift. Keep it up.
And don't feel like you're being rude for asking questions. That's how we learn. :P

[Swift3D]

And don't feel like you're being rude for asking questions. That's how we learn. :P If you insist ;P

this question's mainly pointed towards velo but if anyone else has any nifty tricks for dong this or if velo misses this question i'd appreciate them.

For some time now to get the effect of darker patches or differances in texture around edges i've been paint it in manualy in PS. I've been thinking there must be some sort of simpler way than this.
On you model it you like the texture has been made in two main colour layers. a yellowy brown one and a purple one and the purple layer seems to shy away from the edges but it looks far neater than if it was done by brush, I re-looked at it a minute a go and it looks like it has been done with alpha somhow but I can't figure out how you got the effect.
Another thing that stood out is that the main blood splodge on the face of the hammer lines up perfectly even though it goes over a seam. It looks like you've used a splatter brush for this but I can't figure out how you got it to line up so well. Did you just use a test grid to make sure the size of the space distribution was exactly the same in both and then put 2 individual marks on and make them line up with a bit of trial and error (or some other technique) or, which i'm thinking more likely at the minute, did you use some sort of 3D texture painting to do it?

sorry for waffling i'd really apreciate it if you or anyone else could enlighten me on this a bit, i'm still really strugling with texture painting.

[JasonH]

If you don't have a 3d paint program like zbrush, here's a good tutorial for how to add splotches or detail that crosses over several seams

http://www.3dtotal.com/team/Tutorials/Zorro_texture/zorro_01.asp

Would typically recommend that you save that step for last, and when you did, just have a solid background and paint in a contrasting pure color, like pure red on black. You can render out the original texture and paint on a layer above it, just make sure you replace the rendered texture with an easily selectable pure color.

[blenderhead]

Nice one Jason.

Yeah...no more weapons for a while please :P Maybe the next challenge theme can be 'sidekick'. Y'know, create a character like Clank from Ratchet and Clank or Daxter from Jax and Daxter. They are small enough to be pretty low-poly, and that way it would be the contestants discretion whether to go hard surface or organic.

Kick-ass entries everyone!

[urgaffel]

For some time now to get the effect of darker patches or differances in texture around edges i've been paint it in manualy in PS. I've been thinking there must be some sort of simpler way than this.

If I'm looking at the right thing, it just looks like an ambient occlusion layer. You can render that out from within Max/Maya, then you multiply it on top of your diffuse texture. You can also render it out with colours for funky effects such as moss collecting in crevaces.

[Swift3D]

wow, I've never thahgt of adding colour and effects into the actual AO before, I noramly just multipy a black and white AO layer over the top of my texture in PS (I know I can bake the textures together in blender but pic editing programs allow you to keep them seperate and edit the seperatly and it gives you a bit more control being able to play with the opacity etc. (that's just what i feel anyway)) I'll definatly be playing around with the AO options that have since now been dorment :p.

Thanks for the tut link Jason :) I'll definatly be reading that as soon as I wake up a little.

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