This is what I have been doing over the last months during my game development studies and other smaller projects.
The model now consists of about 7000 triangles.
Im more used to working with max 2010 than max9 so I had some serious problems with normal baking but then I discovered the new nDo plug-in for photoshop and ended up doing almost all the normals with it.
I dont know if it was the best decision but I guess it turned out ok.
Tell me what do you think. Feedback appreciated
AMV is not amused.
Last edited by ukkis on 2011-01-03 21:50, edited 2 times in total.
Looking rather good, but still loads of detailing on the texture to go.
But lets go over the flaws of the current model:
1) Big z fighting problems, remember that this is not a modern engine anymore and therefore you have to compensate for the z fighting that will occur with your current vehicle. I would personally spend the few extra tris on welding up some of the pieces that are hovering on the model and that can't be baked down in the texture for further level of details. D.etails to weld into the model would be stuff like the rings on the front
2) It seems like there isn't much of an AO if any on the vehicle, making it look rather bland
3) Detailing is needed in the texture, you need scratches on crew hatches, the front of the vehicle and so forth. basically any place that it can bang itself into something, so especially straight corners, the bottom and the like
4) It needs mud in the wheel section and on the side, I am not that good at it personally and it isn't always needed. its hard to get right, but it looks brilliant if done right.
5) The current base material is looking rather good, although i do miss some minor details in it. Currently the details in the base material are rather large, and a bit of random difference here and there would not hurt.
To sum it up, the model itself is looking good, but points of notice is the lack of enough shading, lack of minor detail in the texture, and the z fighting due to the engine
[R-DEV]OkitaMakoto: "Talking squad level tactics in bed is actually a little known aphrodisiac"
[R-CON]Pantera : "maybe you might learn that we are not super intelligent beings chained in UKF's basement being forced to work on this".
1) Big z fighting problems, remember that this is not a modern engine anymore and therefore you have to compensate for the z fighting that will occur with your current vehicle. I would personally spend the few extra tris on welding up some of the pieces that are hovering on the model and that can't be baked down in the texture for further level of details. D.etails to weld into the model would be stuff like the rings on the front
Would you recommend welding all the hatches and that box on top of the vehicle too?
I would not weld everything, but a lot of things would only raise the tri count by 10 tris max, such as the big box on top, the small handles and so forth. The Handles on the side i would not weld.
Red = weld
Green = delete in level of details
For a vehicle like this adding those extra tris would not hurt. Epically if it reduces the z-fighting. But for a vehicle like this depending on the details, i would recommend about 7-8k
The big box on top would most likely not give any Z-fighting, but by welding it in. you get a lot of texture estate by adding relatively few tris.
[R-DEV]OkitaMakoto: "Talking squad level tactics in bed is actually a little known aphrodisiac"
[R-CON]Pantera : "maybe you might learn that we are not super intelligent beings chained in UKF's basement being forced to work on this".
In regards to the uvw just weld things up. then take a look at the uvw. break the points where they have been welded ( it will look a bit messy here i know) but you won't have too many regions to weld together.When you have broken the verts up it is just a matter of using target weld to get the islands back to their old shape.
[R-DEV]OkitaMakoto: "Talking squad level tactics in bed is actually a little known aphrodisiac"
[R-CON]Pantera : "maybe you might learn that we are not super intelligent beings chained in UKF's basement being forced to work on this".
Do never do the boolean method. it WILL fuck your method up.
Simply cut a hole of the proper size in the model and weld it together and adjust the uvw or delete the face that you need to connect your parts to, and then use the bridge method in the border selection.
Boolean will screw everything up and is never used. ever...
it is much easier just fixing the uvw manually. takes only a few seconds for me.
in regards to the gunners hatch. just weld it up if it can cause z fighting. the extra tri count for a beautiful model is not something that should be worried about in this one instance.
[R-DEV]OkitaMakoto: "Talking squad level tactics in bed is actually a little known aphrodisiac"
[R-CON]Pantera : "maybe you might learn that we are not super intelligent beings chained in UKF's basement being forced to work on this".
What kind of numbers did it produce in regards to tri count ?
[R-DEV]OkitaMakoto: "Talking squad level tactics in bed is actually a little known aphrodisiac"
[R-CON]Pantera : "maybe you might learn that we are not super intelligent beings chained in UKF's basement being forced to work on this".
well worth it then good work, just to make sure i assume that there are several different versions of this vehicle with different weaponry and so forth right ? and this might be a bit late, but it would be wise to consider having pieces that are to be replace with non welded geometry. Since they are easier to replace texture wise at a later stage. Not sure how this is going to affect you though, but i assume that it won't mean a lot.
No matter what, this does increase the quality of the model a great deal
[R-DEV]OkitaMakoto: "Talking squad level tactics in bed is actually a little known aphrodisiac"
[R-CON]Pantera : "maybe you might learn that we are not super intelligent beings chained in UKF's basement being forced to work on this".
Yes, we know the polish faction has an AMV, although i haven't heard a word of it in 2 and a half years and the second we noticed it, our model was already way over the 50% mark. So we'll just make a better one >: D
Edit: The Finnish Patria AMV and the Polish Rosomak also have some structual differences.