M4A1 Hard surface WIP

#1

Started this in 3ds max yesterday with an intent to model the entire weapon in high detail with quads and tris only and using turbosmooth for adjustable details and poly counts.
Aim is to create a turbosquid Pro Badge product and a highlight for my portfolio.

I chose this weapon because its such a common choice for artists there are already so many great models out there both for games and personal projects. this way I can Take my favourite aspects of the approach from each different version that’s out there and test my skills against a lot of great artists.

I want to make the best model of The M4 I can, I plan to model all major details with subdivision friendly quads and Tris creating a model with no Ngons and a flawless edge layout
All major details will be modelled with polygons and smaller details like surface inlays will be done with normal Maps.

Really looking forward to hearing peoples feedback and tips as I go.

](http://s1306.photobucket.com/user/Anakin_ryan/media/M4A1_01_zps46ca1cad.jpg.html)[/IMG]

I started By making the barrel, Muzzle break, front sights and heatshields.
I’m keeping the materials simple at this point with a basic metal texture with an environment map. I will make it much more realistic when I’m done but for now I want quick renderes and bright shiny surfaces to get a good sense of the shapes as I build.

](http://s1306.photobucket.com/user/Anakin_ryan/media/M4A1_02_zpsa0beab58.jpg.html)[/IMG]

Decided to include The barrel stamp for a Milspec M4 just before the muzzle break as I couldn’t find this detail on any of the other models I’ve seen and I wanted to feel I was expanding on the standard approach.

](http://s1306.photobucket.com/user/Anakin_ryan/media/M4A1_03_zpsc8c72216.jpg.html)[/IMG]

Planning to use Normal mapping for all details like this but modelling larger features like the threading on the Barrel tip with polygons just to see if I could :slight_smile:
I’m trying to add details like normal maps as I go as its a lot easier and less disheartening than ending up with a 50 piece model to texture in one go when the whole thing is complete.
This way it breaks up the work as I go instead of becoming a big looming and ever growing nightmare to look forward to.

](http://s1306.photobucket.com/user/Anakin_ryan/media/M4A1_04_zps84361b71.jpg.html)[/IMG]

Details on the front sites.

](http://s1306.photobucket.com/user/Anakin_ryan/media/M4A1_05_zpscfa79894.jpg.html)[/IMG]

The heatshields are very much a work in progress and will be the focus of my next modelling session

](http://s1306.photobucket.com/user/Anakin_ryan/media/M4A1_06_zpsd74cbd4b.jpg.html)[/IMG]

](http://s1306.photobucket.com/user/Anakin_ryan/media/M4A1_07_zpsd98b997e.jpg.html)[/IMG]

Really looking forward to your comments And thanks for looking.
Hoping to have another session on this in the next few days and will upload some more renders as soon as I get a chance.

#2

Damn! Great job for a single days work. This looks just as sharp as a CAD model.

Is the UP and the arrow a normal map? Did you use software to generate a normal map from a 2D height/bump map?

#3

Hey thanks !
Yeah I used Photoshop to Make the Text and Arrow as a black and white Image and Then Used NDO2 to extract a normal map.

I have one large 4096 x 4096 Image I’m Using to Place all the normal maps on which will Eventually also lead to a Diffuse texture for the whole weapon or possibly a series of textures for different Parts.

Have the whole thing separated out into layers In photoshop which will
also make it easy to add a paint grain or little nicks and dents as a background normal layer to really make it look nice at close up.

](http://s1306.photobucket.com/user/Anakin_ryan/media/M4A1_08_zps1a8d9bf1.jpg.html)[/IMG]

#4

Doing it this way Also means I can bake the normals from the Turbosmooth level 2 and project them onto the low poly Base mesh which is going to come in really handy if I need to make a Realtime Model from this at any point.

Turbosmooth 2

](http://s1306.photobucket.com/user/Anakin_ryan/media/M4A1_09_zps3d05d32b.jpg.html)[/IMG]

Base mesh

#5

Hey, its coming out well. Love the details and stuffs so far. Looking forward to see the progress.

#6

This is looking great, indeed the M4A1 is one of most modeled weapons out there, i also made one and it’s a great exercise, i remember learning a lot from it so keep it up.

#7

Thanks for the Compliments guys much appreciated
Maxster your Blackhawk is awesome dude :thumbsup: I always wanted to make one of those.

Didn’t have as much free time to throw at this today as I Had a lot of other work take care of so just focused on finalising the Heatshields around the barrel.

](http://s1306.photobucket.com/user/Anakin_ryan/media/M4A1_012_zps095b582b.jpg.html)[/IMG]

Really Proud of how it turned out. I was dreading putting the holes through the Heatshield as I knew I wanted to make the ridges on the top in 3d.
This Opened up a potential nightmare keeping the holes circular and the overall mesh deforming properly. Managed to get it right after trying a few variations and ended up with something that keeps the right shape at any distance and subdivision level.

](http://s1306.photobucket.com/user/Anakin_ryan/media/M4A1_014_zps547089fb.jpg.html)[/IMG]

](http://s1306.photobucket.com/user/Anakin_ryan/media/M4A1_013_zps66d550f2.jpg.html)[/IMG]

Might make a few minor tweaks to it tomorrow but pretty happy with where I’ve ended up.
Plan to finish detailing on the front sights tomorrow and hopefully make a start on another new piece or two.
](http://s1306.photobucket.com/user/Anakin_ryan/media/M4A1_015_zps4f595a38.jpg.html)[/IMG]

](http://s1306.photobucket.com/user/Anakin_ryan/media/M4A1_011_zpsc20ab961.jpg.html)[/IMG]

Thanks again guys looking forward to your comments :thumbsup:

#8

Thanks man for the appreciation. And you should be proud of your output so far. Seriously those ridges on the holes are very hard to deal with. I was about to ask you for a wire frame before i scrolled down. It can’t get much better.

#9

Its been far far too long since I updated this Wip but last year was the busiest I ever had with work so I couldn’t found any time for personal projects at all sadly.

Finally got to return to it last week and decided to start by making the Eotech holographic sight I have planned for the weapons top Weaver rail.

Definitely not there yet but I’ve loved every minute of making it so far and cant wait to do some more work on it.
Will hopefully have time to make another pass on it next week so should be updating more regularly from now on.

#10

It looks good so far, looking forward to see more progress

#11

This is looking awesome so far.
I started work on an AR myself a while back. A lot of detail in these guns, especially when you want to model everything down to the small stuff. The polycounts tend to grow pretty quick!

Keep up the awesome work. I’m looking forward to seeing more updates.

#12

Aww dude that’s an awesome build :thumbsup:
That’s exactly the level of quality I’m hoping to achieve with this project by the end.
would really love to see a higher res picture or a mesh view if you have one available.

#13

I’ll do you one better, here’s the link to my old thread. http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=1132719

#14

Wow thanks for the link that’s some great work !
I’m really inspired by how tidy the topology is especially because that’s what I have struggled with today the most.

I spent about three hours trying to focus on the control panel for the Holographic sight and tidying up some of the existing topology I had already made.

I made the decision early on to model in all the inlay text on the buttons and surface rather than normal mapping it. I realise this isn’t the most optimal way to get the results I want but I wanted to challenge myself and push things to be a realistic as I could make them.

I’ve got most of the text in place now but I’m unhappy with the resulting topology which is too messy and chaotic.

Now I have to decide whether to continue on and add the rest of the text and marks to the surface or restart the shape.
I still haven’t made my mind up but I’m glad I chose to model in everything accurately as I haven’t run into something that challenged me like this in a long time and I find these are normally the situations that make me learn something new.

I’ve stuck to the rule of quads and tris only and no vertex can have more than 5 edges meeting. I want to make a few scale and shape adjustments but overall I’m happy with the look but just not the underlying topology.
As karabo mentioned poly count tends to get very high very fast with a model like this and its another reason to keep the underlying mesh as efficient as possible as everything increases exponentially with turbosmooth including awesomeness.

Will hopefully have more to share tomorrow providing I find a solution

#15

Man, I respect the level of detail you are going for here. Your poly counts are going to be astronomical but you’ll have an epic model when it’s all said and done.

How many iterations of turbosmooth are you putting on the model? The reason I ask is because over the years I’ve learned that if you add enough geometry to your models so that you only need one iteration of turbosmooth, your model will look better and have a lower final polycount than if you model it lower resolution and add two iterations of turbosmooth.

#16

That’s some real good advice and its exactly what I spent yesterday working on.
I decided to completely start again with the control panel and rebuilt it all from the ground up.
I was running everything at turbosmooth 2 and accepting that it would look crap on TS1 but decided I wanted to build it to look good at 1 level of subdivision by increasing the base mesh resolution were required and using cleaner topology.

The result is a model that looks just as good at 1 level of subdivision for anything except extreme close ups.

I think I’ve achieved a much closer approximation of the real thing as well.
I’m much happier with the text embossing on the surface and the ridges above the arrow buttons.

Deciding to restart a complex piece is always a painful decision for me but I’ve never regretted it once the works done and in this case I think I’ve managed to improve literally every detail.

Today’s session I hope to make a lot more progress as that shape was this models big challenge and the rest should be a lot more straight forward.

#17

Excellent work, it looks awesome.

My rule of thumb is that the mesh has to have enough resolution in it so that if I simply soften all the normals, it will look almost smoothed. If after softening the normals the model looks like it’s about 80% of the way there, then one iteration of turbosmooth will push it over the edge. The unsmoothed mesh should be able to stand on its own and turbosmooth is just to add that last bit of polish. I’ve seen too many modelers who rely on turbosmooth to make their model look good instead of putting the work on the base mesh and then using turbosmooth to just tighten it.

#18

I really like how detailed it is so far. Btw your N letter is sightly bigger than O letter and the rest

Karabo: very interesting, I usually go with two iterations, but in high profile assets (like my recent Ferrari model) I had to go your way, so round surfaces hold shape near creases. but objects get viewport heavy so I need to use proxy models instead just turning off TS

I see you have really sharp edges, some time ago I seen some discussion about the edge sharpness, that realistic sharpness is too much, because edge will not catch any highlights, and will be less visually pleasing at the end. so our models should have intentionally more round edges for easier shape reading and more detailed look. do you agree with this?

#19

Thanks guys that’s some really helpful advice.
I definitely see your point about not relying on turbosmooth to make a good shape.
Its probably good to start as simple as possible and then build towards more and more complex and complete base shapes as the denser the mesh the harder the build I find.
I do find as I’ve gotten better I tend to use more and more detail at the base mesh level so hopefully this is something I’ll keep getting better at with time.

As for tight vs Loose edge loops I think it depends a lot on how your shading and rendering the model. for this I intend to use Vray for the shaders and rendering so I’m going for a more accurate build because a Vray material with blended Fresnal reflection channels will highlight edges naturally and realistically. I always find it easiest to get realistic results in Vray when the model is as close the real life as possible.

Less physically based renders though I do think its better to have exaggerated edges and on game models its essential to the point where painting in a bit of edge darkening or lightening to the textures can really go a long way.

I’ve now completed modelling on the Eotech and I’m very happy with the results.

I’ve gone for the complete mesh approach everywhere except for the Windage and elevation Dials on the right side of the sight.
I didn’t see the point in adding another 50 thousand polys to an already dense mesh on a piece that’s internal.

I used a projection map on a basic red spotlight with limited range to achieve the holographic effect

Now I’m done with this Piece I’m going to move onto making some shaders for it and also begin work on a few more bits of equipment for the M4
The AN/PEQ-2 Target Pointer/Illuminator/Aiming Light

I’ll also have some new M4 pieces on the way soon.

#20

Have now completed the model and a set of scanline materials with normal mapping.

I’ve used Normal maps to give the paint and plastics a grain when rendered close up.

I managed to give the base mesh enough resolution that turbosmooth 2 is not required except for extreme close ups.

Looking forward to you comments and criticisms and will have another update with my next piece in a few days.