[QUOTE=DOG-GY;38093425]speaking of tutorials, should I make a comprehensive video on normal mapping objects and how to model, uv and bake properly for games? with the recent correction to something that I very slightly misunderstood I could make a really dank tutorial, hopefully mostly understandable by even a novice.[/QUOTE]
If you're going to do a tutorial, include all the little things that you usually don't see in normal map tutorials. Like how to fix certain baking errors (black dots on your render, ray misses). Talk about filters, projection cages, padding etc. Mention tricks that 3d modelers use to get the best out of their normal maps (like using angled faces, softer edges on the high poly, floating geometry).
In the end, normal map baking takes a lot trial and error. I remember many problems when I first started.
Oh and this tutorial is pretty good, though not perfect:
[url]http://cg.tutsplus.com/tutorials/autodesk-3d-studio-max/how-to-bake-a-flawless-normal-map-in-3ds-max/[/url]
edit:
You might want to include a section on ambient occlusion baking, it's almost the same process just different settings. AO makes normal maps stand out much more.
edit 2:
Also, I highly recommend beginners read through this thread. Trust me, you'll save a LOT of time:
[url]http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=81154[/url]
Yeah man I am gonna cover all of that stuff.
also, that racer445 tutorial is legendary on polycount for having some major problems as outlined by their own wiki article on it [url]http://wiki.polycount.com/racer445%20Normal%20Map%20Issues[/url]
Racer445 himself even stated something along the lines of being embarrassed about the tutorial, I can't remember now, and advised against following it. I wouldn't recommend that one to anyone.
[QUOTE=TonyP;38096359]How do you render normal maps right in vray, because it just looks like shit, it looks like it's rendering the normal maps at 1/8th resolution.[/QUOTE]
So are you trying to bake normals with vray? No, never ever do that.
Why shouldn't you do that out of curiosity?
[QUOTE=Onyx3173;38098916]Why shouldn't you do that out of curiosity?[/QUOTE]
It's the most inefficient way of doing it and vray probably does it wrong because of the color output goes trough so many hoops.
PUH! Finally! Took me an hour to read through all I've missed the past week...
Only 5 pages, but damn....
[QUOTE=Stinky;38056919]First real attempt at sculpting. No piercings yet.
[img]http://i45.tinypic.com/2ey8lkm.png[/img][/QUOTE]
This wins the thread :3
[img]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10565588/Pictures/9.png[/img]
Still wip, lowpoly
though the feeling I'm getting at the minute is something of an evil manic laugh, my work.
It's DOING IT RIGHT
AHha
AHHAHAHAHAHAH
AHHHHHHAHAHHAAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA
~2400 polys atm.
[QUOTE=nVidia;38098826]So are you trying to bake normals with vray? No, never ever do that.[/QUOTE]
No i mean when i have the normal map in a material it appears as though it's rendered in a low res pass or something.
[QUOTE=ZombieDawgs;38102095][IMG]https://dl.dropbox.com/u/10565588/Pictures/9.png[/IMG]
Still wip, lowpoly
though the feeling I'm getting at the minute is something of an evil manic laugh, my work.
It's DOING IT RIGHT
AHha
AHHAHAHAHAHAH
AHHHHHHAHAHHAAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHA
~2400 polys atm.[/QUOTE]
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/ibGBm.png[/IMG]
Dat neck
I don't know how difficult it would be to shorten it up, but consider doing it, cause it looks sorta ridiculous.
Almost forgot to mention, 30 days has passed in my 100 days project:
[url]http://lazore3d.blogspot.no/?view=classic[/url]
[QUOTE=Yogkog;38104875][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/ibGBm.png[/IMG]
Dat neck
I don't know how difficult it would be to shorten it up, but consider doing it, cause it looks sorta ridiculous.[/QUOTE]
Never thought of that, I'll take a look into it tomorrow.
though I don't think it's that far inwards.
edit: I understand you now I thought you meant the hood, yeah I see what you mean (The head is separate anyway)
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/7obCJ.png[/IMG]
My first actual model.
It's a Remington Mark 3 flaregun.
What do you guys suggest I make next?
s
No, work on improving your modeling first. no point in learning to texture or light or animate if you can't even model. I've thought a lot about this, especially having taught a 3d modeling/animation course. IMO it's an iterative learning process: you gotta learn modeling before you can step into anything else. Honestly, models are the most basic thing in 3d, be that games, renders or animation. If you don't have models onscreen, you have nothing. If you don't understand modeling, how can you grasp all of the other parts of digital 3d art? It's especially bad if you try to tackle a bunch of things at once while being new: it's all going to be really shit because that's just getting to spread out. Focus yourself narrowly, and branch out slowly as you feel you are acquiring good knowledge. Seeking out good critique,[I] and acting on it[/I], from communities (like this thread, polcount, etc) is also a crucial part of this learning process. I've seen far too many people waste their time lighting or texturing shitty models, and in the end everything just looks awful because they don't know what they're doing. Beginners doing stuff like rendering a poor model or scene for 8 hours when they're just starting to learn all of this new information is the most antagonistic thing you can do towards learning.
I say all of these things because I made a lot of the same mistakes and I hope others can avoid doing the same.
As for the model, can you post the wires? overall it seems like you've got some shading issues due to smoothing, but from what i can tell so far it doesn't look too bad for a first actual. If you want to find cool stuff to model, I suggest start collecting an inspiration folder. I usually read the stickied threads of polycount's Pimping and Previews a few times every day (as well as the individual work threads) and save everything into an inspiration folder on my computer with the filename being the artist's name/username and where I found it (it's always important to pay respect to the concept artists and stuff!)
[editline]19th October 2012[/editline]
Also just as important for anyone who seeks to improve is to pick up a pencil and actually learn to draw, learn design (this means design as in stuff like this [url]http://www.johnlovett.com/test.htm[/url], but obviously do your own research), and color theory.
Pick up books on them, research on the internet, read community discussions, and take classes (if you can).
well fuck now i want to know what he said
why people gotta snip stuff :(
He suggested to kaine that rather than work on another model, try to learn to unwrap and texture it instead.
[QUOTE=Yogkog;38104875][IMG]http://i.imgur.com/ibGBm.png[/IMG]
Dat neck
I don't know how difficult it would be to shorten it up, but consider doing it, cause it looks sorta ridiculous.[/QUOTE]
ive seen real people with longer necks than that
i think the awkward shape of the hoodie makes it seem worse than it probably is. however, it's not really in line with the proportions of the rest of the body anyways so i think you should shorten it
[QUOTE=DOG-GY;38108419]No, work on improving your modeling first. no point in learning to texture or light or animate if you can't even model. I've thought a lot about this, especially having taught a 3d modeling/animation course. IMO it's an iterative learning process: you gotta learn modeling before you can step into anything else. Honestly, models are the most basic thing in 3d, be that games, renders or animation. If you don't have models onscreen, you have nothing. If you don't understand modeling, how can you grasp all of the other parts of digital 3d art? It's especially bad if you try to tackle a bunch of things at once while being new: it's all going to be really shit because that's just getting to spread out. Focus yourself narrowly, and branch out slowly as you feel you are acquiring good knowledge. Seeking out good critique,[I] and acting on it[/I], from communities (like this thread, polcount, etc) is also a crucial part of this learning process. I've seen far too many people waste their time lighting or texturing shitty models, and in the end everything just looks awful because they don't know what they're doing. Beginners doing stuff like rendering a poor model or scene for 8 hours when they're just starting to learn all of this new information is the most antagonistic thing you can do towards learning.
I say all of these things because I made a lot of the same mistakes and I hope others can avoid doing the same.
As for the model, can you post the wires? overall it seems like you've got some shading issues due to smoothing, but from what i can tell so far it doesn't look too bad for a first actual. If you want to find cool stuff to model, I suggest start collecting an inspiration folder. I usually read the stickied threads of polycount's Pimping and Previews a few times every day (as well as the individual work threads) and save everything into an inspiration folder on my computer with the filename being the artist's name/username and where I found it (it's always important to pay respect to the concept artists and stuff!)
[editline]19th October 2012[/editline]
Also just as important for anyone who seeks to improve is to pick up a pencil and actually learn to draw, learn design (this means design as in stuff like this [url]http://www.johnlovett.com/test.htm[/url], but obviously do your own research), and color theory.
Pick up books on them, research on the internet, read community discussions, and take classes (if you can).[/QUOTE]
I can support this with my own experience. I first got into games with mod tools and level editors, then I progressed into making extremely basic models. Over time I got interested in using them for games which introduced me to UV unwrapping. Then came texturing. Only after I had sufficient understanding of those three thing did I start learning how to make good renders for portfolio shots etc.
Don't suppose anyone would know a great voxel modeling software? I've checked out Qubicle ([url]http://www.qubicle-constructor.com[/url] if you never heard of it), but the basic version is too limited. I don't suppose there'd a Maya plugin for this effect?
Looking for that Ace of Spades or 3D Dot Game Heroes kind of look. Not that smooth kind that you see in 3D-coat or the CryEngine
Would that pixel-like shader for 3ds max work?
So, I found a pretty good grass tutorial based on Vray Proxies, and gave it a try by reading over the tutorial once to grasp the basic concept, close it, and get to work. I'm surprised at how quickly it managed to render out. This render took about 10 minutes to render.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/8mSGB.jpg[/IMG]
I checked back, and realized I made my grass way too broad at the base, making it more like leaves rather than grass blades. So, I followed his tutorial a lot more closely, and came up with this. This uses his proxy mesh, but my own shaders and light set-up. I did match his very closely though, so a lot of credit goes to him (almost all :v:) for the following image.
[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/c24PG.jpg[/IMG]
Tutorial is here:
[URL]http://vray.info/tutorials/grass/[/URL]
I don't like how blotchy it. The gaps would occur if it was trampled on, and that would happen in lines, not in completely random spots.
[QUOTE=~ZOMG;38112164]I don't like how blotchy it. The gaps would occur if it was trampled on, and that would happen in lines, not in completely random spots.[/QUOTE]
Aye, the grass proxies are randomly scattered, so these can appear. I just need to up the count to get rid of them, maybe use a scaling mask to create trampled lines myself.
-snip- never mind, I figured it out.
[QUOTE=~ZOMG;38079931]Perhaps I've misunderstood, but I mean complex tubular shapes. To create a plane, cylindrical tube I can just extrude a circle, but obviously the results are very basic. How can I get a cylindrical mesh to bend along a curve?[/QUOTE]
Sorry for being so unclear about this before. How may I bend a mesh along a path?
[editline]20th October 2012[/editline]
Using Maya.
[QUOTE=ZombieDawgs;38111633]Would that pixel-like shader for 3ds max work?[/QUOTE]
Something like this?
[url]http://meta.filesmelt.com/downloader.php?file=Bike_Tute.png[/url]
I don't think I did it right. :v
[IMG]http://www.niggaupload.com/images/R0ESv.jpg[/IMG]
dont use interpolation when scaling
[QUOTE=DOG-GY;38114841]dont use interpolation when scaling[/QUOTE]
Ohhhh. Thanks. :downs:
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