Android Platform - FPS Project

#21

Hi Dillster:

Thankyou

laughs… yes I think the “novice” label is a bit of a misnomer altho still applies I think…

I’ve never bothered to move beyond the initial model stage and learn to UV/AO/bump and spec map my creations for export out into a third party 3D middleware package.

Hence this M4 assault rifle modelling exercise I’ve set myself due to its lower complexity rather than the Abrams tank to specifically nail down my art pipeline.

Once I’m happy with the end result I’ll continue with the tank to completion plus other in game assets.

Cheers :wink:

#22

Hi guys:

Completed both sides of the M4 working parts assembly group with the addition of the round ejection port right side - on the left side various details.




The final touches to be added will be the rear iron/telescopic sights plus the charging handle - source file updated.

Cheers :wink:

#23

Wow thats looking fantastic! How on earth did you get the grip pattern though, is that in the mesh or textured?

I was bored so I played around with the high res abrams file, just edited it to look slightly more sci-fi / futuristic. I found a cool feature of the bevel tool, on the track wheels you had the mesh set smooth and an edge split modifier applied. What I did was get rid of the edge split modifier, select all the faces of the mesh and recalculate normals, then apply a bevel modifier, ramp up the segments to 2 and change limit method to angle (which retains the cylindrical smoothness)

#24

Hi tek5828:

Cool a really awesome! re-edit of the tank model looks totally Si-Fi badass and geared up to kick some alien butt…

The pistol grip as with the entire M4 rifle is just a basic mesh/poly model at this point - textures to be applied in later updates.

To create the pattern for the grip two Array’s are added to the Object Modifier stack:

This is how I did it in Blender:

1 - Add a mesh in front view for this example I used a cube - center point of origin, delete/re-work into something like a four tri faced pyramid roughly a diamond shape:

2 - In Edit Mode front view add an Array modifier check Relative Offset - default setting remains at 1, when duplicate count is increased eg: 16 instances assigned to the X axis

3 - Add the second Array check Relative Offset in this example set to -.03 X axis and -.5 Z axis, duplicate count increased to the desired length of the pistol grip eg: 28 instances assigned to the Z axis

4 - Almost forgot you need to add a Mirror Modifier, move it to the top of the stack - highlight mesh in Edit Mode grab and move along the Y axis to adjust desired width

5 - Then once your happy with the desired result hit Apply in Object Mode to modify mesh

I’ve linked this Pistol Grip Pattern .blend file Here

Edit: quick update

Here’s two screens of the finished iron and telescopic sights I’ll update source file when I complete the optical glass sight lenses.

Cheers :wink:

#25

Hey thats fantastic! Thanks for going to the effort of telling me how you got the grip pattern, looks like a great technique! I’m sure it will look fantastic if baked out for normals etc.

Scope is looking great too, really smooth and high quality, great work!

#26

Thanks @tek5828

The pistol grip was a headache to model along with some other parts of the weapon simply because of the poly intensive detail manufactured into the real thing, arrays are always a time saver

The rifle is now complete after I had finished the glass optics this morning [pulled an all nighter… lol] amazing when your in the zone what you can achieve - [yyyawns…]

anyways here’s some render screens, sorry for the low res I’m crap at full render capture passes, you can just see the telescopic lenses both front and rear

also here’s some pics of Blender’s Matcap or Material Capture shader I enabled to simulate a high res/reflective surface when applied to a mesh that is non-textured


interesting results handy when exposing inconsistencies such as deformations and/or pinching which there are aplenty in this particular model lol…

updated source file.

Cheers :wink:

#27

Hi Sakboi,

Those are some very clean gun details! Nice! :smiley:

Whats the poly count up to?
Do you have any plans for the gun? like for a game?

Can’t wait to see your next Asset! :beer:

  • Bergquist
#28

Hi Bergquist:

Thankyou for your kind comments much appreciated

Blender face count - 727,000
Tri’s - 1,455,768

My development machine I’m using for this project seems to be handling the load FTM without any noticable lag: - its a entry level gaming rig I built in 2011

System specs:

  • OS WIN 7 64bit OEM
  • 128 SSD
  • 1TB HDD
  • CPU Intel core i5 ivy bridge 1155 pin
  • GPU AMD 7800 7450 ATI chipset
  • RAM 32GB low profile blue Corsair x4 sticks

Munches through my current FPS library of games on ultra high settings not a problem [but will upgrade for next gen BF3, CoD ver’s.

I’m developing a Military FPS game for Android mobile and console platforms plus a tentative Windows PC release to follow, the first iteration will be an open Beta my coding is a bit rusty and release date 1st QTR 2015 [hopefully].

With Unity’s engine under the hood - the gun will be an in game dynamic object in first person with character animations, I’m using this M4 assault rifle as a prototype to tweak my workflow modelling/texturing/animating etc.

When satisfied with the outcome I’ll complete the Abrams tank and up coming character/s/level’s - a horrendous amount of work short timeline I’ve set myself - its either the loony bin or a page 3 Game Informer review [laughs…]

Cheer’s:

P.S Also Good luck with your project

#29

Hi guys:

It was a challenge to reduce the poly count whilst at the same time retain the M4’s overall “character” as much as possible ie: an instrument of modern warfare with its hard surfaced machined steel angular shape.

So I decided to focus on its silhouette and those parts of the gun that will be seen in game - I guess a trade off or compromise is made in terms of finding a viable solution on what detail/s remain and/or to discard.

As this is a WIP test piece I’m using to validate my art workflow coupled with identifying possible issues that may arise when exporting/importing content between both CG and game engine software I think lessons learned now will be invaluable further down the track.

Anyway’s the side view screenshots are of the hi-poly and medium poly models in silhouette, mesh and wire I’m happy with the result as the screens display a close match between the two

I reduced the poly count manually, not as laborious as I thought it would be - edge loops certainly are helpful in this phase of the DCC pipe.

High Poly Model:
Poly count - 726K



Medium Poly Model:
Poly count - 3K



I"ve yet to triangulate also may have to tweak [no will] the mesh here and there as problems crop up - next all the good stuff mapping textures to this puppy very exciting since this is a first for me.

Cheers :wink:

#30

Wow, thats looking great!

I think you made a good decision deciding to focus on silhouette, I think for me, the secondary focus would be circular or smooth areas of the gun and how visible faces are from a first person perspective. Also, its good to know what detail you get get back from texturing and normals and what detail would be lost without the geometry.

Can’t wait to see it textured! Love your work.

#31

Hi tek5828:

Thanks a lot man…

You are correct, I guess that’s where the trade off comes into play - when deciding whether to add or subtract graphic fidelity from the first person view point.

An example these screens of both models in FP - you can already see the difference in res close up so a bit more tweaking:


also another consideration is the processing parameters within a mobile architecture - tight dynamic object poly budgets will be key for smooth framerates.

Cheers :wink:

#32

Hi guys:

Started the first steps in applying textures to this model - due to its complexity and my inexperience -

I’ll tackle this section of game asset creation in bite size chunks.

From my own learning’s UV mapping can easily develope into a crazy intense journey of trial and error to achieve the artist’s vision for his or hers project - with that said I’ll document my efforts in each stage of the process “warts n all” from problems that may occur to possible solutions to resolve a given issue.

1 - UV Mapping The M4 Colt Carbine Assault Rifle:

I opted for a planar approach with seams, since the mesh is mostly geometrical in design - I placed the medium poly model in a separate layer and unjoined all the separate weapon components, then worked from the front to rear barrel/jacket/receiver/stock etc…

A 1024x1024 UV test grid checker image was applied to highlight mesh distortion, checked Average Island Scale and UV Angle Based unwrap method when each piece was individually unwrapped on completion.

fig 1: Partial Distortion

fig 2: Test Unwrap “Receiver”

I paid particular attention to seam placement on those area’s that will be viewed in first person by the player - rear/top/left side of the gun, however to effect an optimal unwrap additional seams were added due in part I think an over complex topology - possible corrective options I’ll explore, either painting in photo-shop and/or welding uv’s when manually packing the islands

hmmm… I followed where possible the basic tenet of placing seams in less seen area’s- all parts were then rejoined then a test unwrap of the completed rifle.

fig 3: Seam Placement

fig 4: M4 Carbine UV’s Complete

fig 5: UV Map Layout

I’ve yet to pack islands or weld anything - however very happy with the outcome as a first time effort - a heap of work specifically seam placement a real headache plus ridding the mesh of distortion - on a whim I baked a test Normal map as is…

fig 6: Test Normal Map

Wow looks like more of the same truck load of effort to rectify a few issues in the next update: Normal Maps - I’ve also linked a source file.

Cheers :wink:

#33

Hi guys:

I’ve been working over the last few days to correct most of the funky stuff I had happening in the test bake - one thing… my observation about UV’s and the DCC pipeline [previous post] as a “crazy trip into the unknown” in terms of both error checking/issue resolve and such like - sooo… true! I think [extended pause… tentative exhausted laughs]

Anyway’s back on topic:

2 - Normal Mapping the M4 Colt Carbine Assault Rifle

The second stage in applying textures to the model by process of a ray casted 2D projected image/normal’s of the high resolution/geometry 3D model onto the low/medium poly’s surface which will result in a [hopefully] real world CGI “skinned” representation with all the “lumps n bumps” to the viewer.

As mentioned above I error checked and attempted viable solutions, however not all the mistakes were corrected by any means - but for the sake of self imposed timelines and my faltering sanity I invoked the “near enough is good enough” principle lol…

Ocky Docky then: the following lists some corrective options employed and error’s found -

  • a. Sub-Surf modifier was set to render at render time
  • b. Some smoothing groups did not have Shade Smooth applied
  • c. Projected ray mist: yet to resolve - primary region of concern perforated barrel jacket [will modify hi-poly mesh geometry at a later date + some post painting in photoshop]
  • d. Right angled hard edges: yet to resolve - will taper/bevel/ to enable a smooth edge
  • e. Reduced Bake Bias to correct projection errors
  • f. Reset Bake default margin 16 to 2 and checked Selected to Active in bake to enable increased projected detail
  • g. Marked/Cleared/deleted UV seam’s or UV splits
  • h. Baked separate meshes - unchecked Clear option in bake properties to mitigate detail loss in both Normal/AO
  • i. AO bake set Samples to 20 to increase hi-res detail
  • j. Modified both Hi - medium poly objects geometry

These fixes can be seen in fig: 1 - there are still area’s of mesh tension/distortion,geometry mostly so I’ll attempt a fix in post - on the whole my opinion meh… a cleaner pass than the previous test bake.

fig 1: M4 Carbine - Normal “Cleaned”

To validate the projected detail from high to medium poly the GLSL shader was enabled as seen in fig 2, my aim has always been from this test M4 WIP exercise’s inception is that the gun “looks” the real deal in game to the player, to some extent I think this has been achieved.

fig 2: M4 Carbine - Normal GLSL

Next I baked out an Ambient Occlusion map fig 3, to illustrate regions in shadow - really cool, as a self taught portraiture artist/painter I appreciate its “arty painterly” characteristics - awesome!

fig 3: M4 Carbine - AO

The inclusion of the ao and normal in GLSL fig 4 enhances the shading qualities of the M4 I think - a baked colour or Diffuse map plus Full Render were also created for future use.

fig 4: M4 Carbine - Normal/AO GLSL

fig 5: M4 Carbine - Full Render

fig 6: M4 Carbine - AO/Normal/Color/Full Render Maps

The next update will be the detail normal created in photoshop v cs6, this will be the M4’s battle grunge default gun metal or camo I’ve not decided on the final design - the source file has been updated, till next time.

Cheers :wink:

#34

Dude that’s looking fantastic! Is the image I quoted above the lowpoly model? Really looking good sakboi. Can’t wait to see the tank textured!

#35

Hi tek5828:

Thankyou:

The full render screen is the low/medium poly version - 3K, I’m currently working to further optimise the model reference the UV islands ie: pixal/padding space and unwrap method etc.

Also the textures are yet to be applied, however on the whole satisfied with the progress so far.

Cheers :wink:

#36

Hi guys:

quick update:

I’m still working to fix the primary issues highlighted in the pevious post namely island pixal margins and UV seam placement, I’ve opted to modify the high poly mesh into a simpler design because some elements of the rifle are to be quite frank beyond my current ability to obtain an optimal unwrap to be of any use as a game asset.

The following screen displays what the streamlined design hopefully will look like once the high poly mesh together with its low poly textured version are complete [yayyy…] by the next full update.

It is the M4 Carbine CQB [close quarters battle] variant deployed by various military SF units and/or law enforcement agencies - added objects will be: an EOtech Holographic Red Dot military sight plus a generic silencer.

I created this image inside a weapon vendor’s virtual GFX tool that enables its customers to “build” a virtual version of their purchase before delivery - [very handy]

Updated WIP M4 CQB Rifle:

The “stripped” down look also translates into less geometry and bothersome UV splits - to further illustrate what I’m trying to achieve, here’s some original/collaborative game content authored by: @Evan “racer445” Herbert - of who’s work I’m a fan

M4 CQB Base Model made by @Tim Curry
Sight Model made by @Ben Bolton
Silencer, Stock, and Magazine made by @Evan Herbert

Texture Map made by @Evan Herbert

He is a freelance 3D artist working in the games industry for a number of years - specialises in hardsurface asset creation ie: weapons, vehicles etc - the polish and attention to detail he exhibits in his creations is what I aspire to. Hopefully I can obtain a similar result, specifically the layout/packing in his texture maps a huge challenge to say the least: - anyways till next time.

Cheers :wink:

#37

great modelling & very good textures map i like it very much
keep on & good luck

#38

Hi Mr-Evil-studio:
Sorry for the very late reply thanks for the comment, haven’t updated/visited this thread since Jan 24th, had been researching a solution to resolve a texturing issue - reference posts #33, #34, #35, as a result opted to redesign the gun ie: clean the geometry/edgeflow in order to retopologise an optimal game asset, the CQB M4 redesign is currently still incomplete will hopefully complete a textured low poly model in the next couple of weeks if not sooner.

CQB M4 Base:

CQB M4 Wire:

Also I’ve been busy practicing my 2D sketching/drawing skills by working on a character concept art side project - for full details check out my sketchbook thread here.

Cheers :wink:

#39

I don’t really have any critiques, great work :slight_smile: ! Really cool project.

#40

Thanks editablepauly - BTW great work on your bob omb project the attention to detail is amazing don’t know how you can juggle multiple projects and remain lucid/sane astounding as you’ve said “not enough hours in a day” soooo… true.

Cheers :wink: