Spring RTS Engine

As Snipa said: first ever pistol for FPS use with 3dsmax, so I went a bit mad.

Besides, it's that high detail for the viewmodel (which will also have one side and the front culled off because it won't be seen) whilst the world model will be MUCH less poly-intensive.

lol, by realism I meant that while everyone else is making giant mechs and azermoth-type stuff and star wars stuff and WWII stuff, here is GMN with...

a pistol!

Although it is a really nice pistol

Ah, thats it, the viewmodel. Show, view, same difference

Great viewmodel, it'll look nice when you have a normalmap on it. Hope it's used in the left hand, though- so much detail on the right-hand POV, which you'd probably need to wipe before uvmapping it.

Im back! (kinda)





I don't think i did too bad :/

looks good

smoth wrote:looks good

...with 5 sided cannons

rattle wrote:

smoth wrote:looks good

...with 5 sided cannons

5 sided? whut? where?

Pressure Line wrote:Im back! (kinda)

I don't think i did too bad :/

Hehe, I remember trying to model that once. Don't worry; I think you've beaten me there

Greatly improved, Pressureline.

thx, if only i could texture worth a damn.

Pressure Line wrote:thx, if only i could texture worth a damn.

Start Early. Don't do what I did and think 'Hmm, I'll master modelling first, then I'll do texturing'. Firstly; simple 'newbie' models are easier to texture on - all my 'advanced' ones are exercises in UV Hell: I always get dragged down in the texturing stage trying to figure out what part of the model part of the UV map refers to. Secondly; starting early means you'll be able to appreciate the way textures and models work together. Thirdly; good old fashioned practise. And there's nothing weirder than looking at a good model with a crap texture. The model gives things form; the texture gives it life.

unfortunately my brain is wired in a way that makes me terrible @ 'art'. technical drawings, diagrams, even quick sketches I can do. (and i damn well should be able to, its my job lol) 'proper' art however seems to have skipped me (my sister however is a great painter, go figure)

I *have* gotten a bit better at painting/skinning in the past 2 years (yeah, its been that long! [almost]) but certainly not good enough to do the model any real justice. ill probably have something to show by the end of the week

At least you're doing it. That's what counts.

By the way, does anyone know a way of getting wings3d or 3dsmax to transfer face colours to the uv-map render? It would make things a LOT easier for me to work out what's what on the damn thing if it already has the base colours laid down.

for wings use the "draw faces" option in Create Texture, Set it to "Use (previous) texture/Vertex colors" :)

Cheers!

Two gripes/suggestions:

First, the area of the hull behind the cockpit ends abruptly in a very non-aerydynamic 90 degree angle. In the original sketch the cockpit compartment merges quite smoothly with the rest of the craft's fuselage.

Secondly, on similar note, the engine intake surface is also a very rough 90 degree angle whereas on the sketch it is noticably at an incline. I would also suggest making those engine "nacelles" have more faces for better smoothing as they are quite prominant. Even adding two more polys to the roundness would help a lot and only add 4 quads/8 tris.

Both those features really stand out because there are other parts of the craft -- the wings, the cannons, etc -- which seem much better quality and then suddenly there's this harsh edging...

Lastly (yeah I know I said two) the armatures holding those two forward cannons seem a lot thicker and bulkier than on the original sketch (which look thinner and sleeker).

all my 'advanced' ones are exercises in UV Hell

Nah... 3 hours spent unwrapping something... no problemo. Heh.

It's not a case of time it's a case of figuring out what part of the map corresponds to what part of the model. And then there's all the fun, games and joy of uv and model errors only spotted when you're halfway through the texturing stage...

3 hours

3 Hours?! my uvmaps don't take longer than 45 minutes.