Mini Mech Droid - for crits (image heay)

[FreakyDude]

I like it, simple and clean. Only crits I have:
1. you could lose at least 2 edgeloops without affecting the shape (in the back of the "guns")
2. the uv map isn't to optimally packed.
3. it has 3 legs, which looks more fitting for something stationary, it was probably due to staying true to the concept art though, and/or a design issue.
4. The object center of the mech seems rather random. Try to place it more in the center of gravity (COG) of the mech (so close to the bodypart) or, what I would do, at the COG and then DOWN to the base of the foot. Then clear it's location and apply loc/rot/scale. I think it's just cleaner for when you start to rig, make sure the rig also has it's object center at global xyz=0

Did you already rig it?

[Swift3D]

1.could you point out where this edge loop is? I've realised that I changed the mesh a bit since those wire shots, if you meen the bit where the thiner rod that turns off into the cylinder then it's already been taken care of, if not maybe point it out cos i'm struggling to spot it. :S
2. looking back on it you're right, but i'm not prepared to go back and redo the textures for a little bit more room. I guess i'll just have to bear(sp?) this in mind next time.
3. I think when it moving long distance the legs fold up underneath it and the mini wings and jet at the back come into play. It would only really shuffle on the ground, land when stationary or be some kind of turret. I wasn't particularly keen on the 3 legged idea either to start with.
4.thanks i'll see what I can do.

Did you already rig it?
not yet, I think they want me to hand it onto somone else for rigging/animation, not sure yet though.

thanks alot for taking the time to reply :)

[JasonH]

The model looks good, though the texture seems a little flat. If it's for a RTS or simmilar themed game, it's on the right track with it being easily identified as "the blue team" You might want to punch out some details further than you normally would. You might want to take away some of the blue, and make it louder, to help it punch out a bit. If you look at starcraft or simmilar games, the color is usually a highlight, and it's very bright, surrounded by a secondary color, usually a steel grey that would be standard for whatever team the ship was on. Also, try adding some hard edges between plates of metal to sort of break up the sort of even steel blue that seems to cover most of the bot. If it IS for an RTS, don't worry too much about the minor details, but rather make the larger details more interesting and easier to see from a distance

If you wanted to make it look like it was painted blue, you could use that as an excuse to break up the specular map a bit, make edges where the paint flaked off higher spec, and the parts where the paint is still good much lower. As it is, the texture is relatively the same throughout, and the very hot spec is washing it out further. (actually, it looks like the spec is more even than what the map would hint at, it doesn't look like theres a lot of contrast on the model, though you certainly couldn't get any MORE contrast with the map...might just be the render or lights causing it to blow up)

Good luck with the application, it looks like you've already got a good handle on the modeling part of the interview, a little bit more texturing should help put you over the top.

[Swift3D]

Texturing has always been my downfall so i'm very glad to get some good advice on it, thanks :)

the games mmo, adventure style as far as I know, not RTS so I will have to build up the detail somhow.

I was planning on maybe adding a darker/deeper shade of paint in details like stripes and trims etc. do you think this would help?

[JasonH]

Well there aren't many pointers that will apply equaly to every project, but theres a few things I like to do when i'm painting something. Of course, next person to post could completely contradict me, so it's much more a matter to find what works for you.

For starters, don't worry so much about smaller details until you block out the bigger ones. Things like chipped paint can wait until you've gotten a layout of the actual architechture of the robot. I usually block off each chunk of UVs into its' own layer group, with a layer mask, and name it something specific. I usually add another layer group at the very end that includes things like rust stains and pit-marks in the metal.

I really think that for a model like this, it would really help if you tried getting a start with just flat greys. Don't worry about color just now, and paint in contrasts to a 50% grey. Fake in some shadows between adjoining metal plates, and put extra wear-and-tear to the edges of the geometry, especially on the feet. If you can convey your ideas, and manage to break up the shapes with just grey, you're ahead of the curve when you start really punching out colors, which i typically like to do with a blending option color overlay. Also, by doing that you can easily swap colors if. they are particularly displeased with the color you chose, or if you need to repeat the same character for different guilds or teams.


As for colors, you might not need a second blue tone, if you make the bare metal and blue more contrasting, and add in some illusions of depth you might not need blue on blue to get noticed.

Will be interesting to see how things progress.

[matsman]

Okay I agree about the texture needing more work... and it looking flat... but not directly because the detailing isn't there (more mechanical detail is needed) or because it doesn't seem to feel like the real thing... it actually does, it just looks kinda sketchy.

So first let me point you to Ben Mathis his texture breakdown, which was an eye-opener for me, although not from a technical point of view but more a thought process type of thing...
Texture Theory part1 (http://www.poopinmymouth.com/tutorial/tex_theory.htm)and part2 (http://www.poopinmymouth.com/process/false_geometry/false_geometry.htm)

Next, I think that you have to deal with space in your textures...

In painting you can show 3d very good with 2 coloured lights, making different sides show in different colours.
When you bring that over to 3d you can make a palette showing front, back, top and bottom.. but that would be looking a bit stupid, every side his own colour... So there is, when you are not relying to heavily on you normal map for lighting detail, another way of approaching: Light comes mostly from above so the top is lit, the bottom is in shadow and dirty! And in most models one side (front or back) is more detailed or has colour differences (locks, eyes, logo, whatever) making is show as a different side.

And with that you have a basis on texturing this thing.
(BTW if you are relying on your normalmap this still applies only not as strongly since the light will be handled with the normal... but sunlight bleaches and dirt darkens)

Second, for details don't be afraid to use photoshop layer styles, in most of the cases you can get the light to fall correctly and then you almost have instant bevels, ridges, screws and whatnot.

Good luck!

[Dekker3D]

continueing on what matsman said: if you're going that way, use a sandy or brown colour on the parts facing down, and a light-blue or purplish colour on the parts facing up. the difference between warm brown and cool blue would probably give a pretty sweet effect. and like he said, keep it on overlay so you can try different colours.

[Swift3D]

I'm going to have to give this one a break for a couple days as i'm busy but one of the things I was worrying about when I was texturing is that because this is going to be quite small on the screen (it's going to be about 2ft tall in a game full of 15-20ft mechs that most of it would be lost on screen and all it would really be doing is causing a distortion, isn't this the case? Probably me just being a 3D 'noob'.

[matsman]

Well actually.. no, unless you don't want people to see or notice your model it is extremely important to overdo things when it is only very small... Check some DS models to see what I mean.

So if you say the droid will be very small on screen it is for you to make sure it will still be seen by turning the contrast and macro details up a notch.

BTW by macro details I mean stuff like the insets, lights and switches, stuff that is large enough to notice and even larger on a small model because otherwise you won't see it.

No noobiness here I think... just needs a little more polish :)

[Swift3D]

I've kind of left this one to sebtle for a while.

Started fiddling with normals yesterday (never used them before)

here's the consequence:

Wires:
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g68/123ben123_2006/30dcf1bf.png
Normals+AO:
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g68/123ben123_2006/1dc1eb3e.png
Begining of colour:
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g68/123ben123_2006/25518b43.png

Please don't crit the colour map yet as I literaly just started it but everything else is open to critisizm.
It's 162 tris atm. I could probably cut some more off the handel but it's already starting to look quite blocky.

I'm going away in a couple weaks and doubt i'll be able to finish it before then so if I stop replying to this thread i'm not just being rude :P

[SpiralFace]

The rings around the top part of the things for some reason or another are not sampling all that well compared to everything else. The base model looks somewhat dull compared to the high poly even with normal maps applied.

Take the AO off of the model so we can see just how much the normal maps are actually doing. Because by the looks of it, they are not doing as much as they should be doing.

Oh, and if your using max, be sure that in your material, your "Bump" node leads to a "Normal Bump" node thats set to tangent. And also, by default, even if you do this, your bump is set to 30%. Make sure the value is set to 100 in order to get full use out of the normal map.

[Swift3D]

wooops... :s

http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g68/123ben123_2006/7764c256.png

better?

[SpiralFace]

much better :D

Untill you put an actual speculer map on, you should probably just ditch the speculer value on the material. As the speculer can throw off how you go about approching your color value.

Besides that really not all too much to comment on right now. Looks like you have a good bake off the normal map, your base mesh looks fine, All thats left to do is to make a Color and Speculer map.

[Swift3D]

today I tryed to make a slightly stylised obese man. So far i've modeled the body and i'll most likely work on the head tommorow.

Here it is so far:

white lab coat:
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g68/123ben123_2006/FatTestRender4.jpg

shirt:
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g68/123ben123_2006/FatTestRender5.jpg

Wires:
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g68/123ben123_2006/FatTestWires1.jpg
http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g68/123ben123_2006/FatTestWires2.jpg

I'm aware that at the minute it's looking a tad feminin but i'm pretty sure that I can fix this up with the face and textures, so please don't crit me on this. Any other crits on other problems with it would be really appreciated though.

thanks for looking :)

[Swift3D]

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

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

No replies yet? :(

This is where I got so far, i'm having trouble with the eyes though, i've had a couple attempts and realistic style eyes didn't really look right (wish I'd saved a screeny but I was so disapointed with it I just saved blender without saving) and i've never really seen any low poly topology for a more cartoony eye. :S

I'd also appreciate your opinion on whether or not you think that I've gone a bit too far with the flabby neck and any other problems you can spot with it (i'm sure you'll find pleanty to keep me busy ;))

thanks for reading... reply button located below :p ;)

(P.S: does anyone know if it's possible to change the topic title (and how) so I can change this into more of a work dump 'cos alot of my little 30min model aren't really worthy of there own thread.)

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