Spring RTS Engine

a way better than your first bot. the barrels could need some more details, while the wheels have to much (remove the hubcaps - this could be done by textures). maybe the spoiler at the back have also too much polys. but i like the suspension of the modell, this is a nice details

my remake of OTA core windgen

The Jeffy model looks pretty nice overall, a little more attention to the cockpit area wouldn't hurt.

Something like a rollcage or headlamps would add in some more character to it.

Thanks for the replies, will see what I can do to the cockpit and Barrels. I was even thinking of maybe adding a different spoiler maybe with slightly more character but that involves more polys. Give it a more racy look possibly. Will add head lamps and maybe bull bars not sure about a roll cage as that might detract from the original.

Edit:

Here is the changes I've made, Changed the gun, given it a different spoiler, added Bull Bars and a roll cage. Let me know what you think of the changes. Didn't touch the cockpit as I wasn't sure what to do with it.

635 polys without cleaning it up.

On models that are going to be pretty small ingame, you wouldn't really need the fine detail of poly's like you applied to the guns.

true, but looks really really good. try to uvmap it now (see the tutorials for it)

Why simplify it?I'd say make it more complex.
This model is for another 10 years minimum.

unnecessary complexity is never a good thing

Well It doesn't have to only look good from a far...It can also look good from up close.

The point being that the complexity adds absolutely nothing, it looks identical, only one version is more wasteful.

i like the design of the jeffy

i would suggest turning that front grill into 3x cubes rather than having the apparatus outlined with pipes...

nothing wrong with using extra polies but i think a good rule of thumb is to use them mainly on the top of the vehicle so they can actually be seen / appreciated ingame

IMO they arent wasted in this case but i feel that the particular enhancement of the grill is a bit of an over-investment...

but then again it's all just opinion; i tend to put details into the texture rather than the model, just out of my own habits and preferences

I refer to the blue lines on rattles image when i say waste

ah true. then i agree 100%

stuff like this adds up, it can be a mere 30 wasted polygons or a few hundred if you are not careful

Why simplify it?

because the cow bumper makes up a quarter of the total polycount

Gota wrote:Well It doesn't have to only look good from a far...It can also look good from up close.

It doesn't look any better up close with random extra poly.

It's a case of necessity. You want polygons to give large area detail or surface extrusion; ie if you have something small that points out a long way (ie, an arial or most spikes) then yeah, you'll need polygons. You're defining the shape. If it's something small like a little panel or a little edging that doesn't really affect the shape, just the appearance of said shape, then use the texture.

Granted, if this were an FPS then yeah, go for it, but you'd be expected to do it all across the model, and still have bumpmapping to deal with other small parts etc yaddah-yaddah; this is for an RTS, and it's a dirt cheap scouting unit. Prioritise. The details spread across the model are distracting and simply serve to highlight how comparatively simple the body of the machine is. And tbh, the rollcage seems slightly pointless. That thing goes over, the turret's going to stop it. Or break off. Either way, it can't actually roll.

You want to spread your polies across the entire model. If there are simple parts and extravagantly complex parts, it looks bad; the simple parts look... well, simple in comparison and the complex parts look overdone. Try to keep it even. And try to use as few separate mesh pieces as you can; it makes it look more 'together' - for example, your rollcage just cuts straight into the body of the car and your headlights are just glued onto the front. Try to build things together; only cut into separate pieces if you need to (ie to optimise or for animation purposes), and then still make it look held together rather than mysteriously hanging in place. Take a look at existing buggies and cross-country cars and get an idea of what I mean.

Still a good start though!

Ok Ive taken into consideration what everyone has said and thanks for the input. Ive shaved off what I can while trying to keep the last design I had. I haven't gotten rid of the roll cages at the moment though I do agree with what GMN said about it all looking good together. Though the headlamps in particular weren't what I was thinking of. Btw What do you guys think of the turret design in general compared to the original Jeffy style? Its inspired by the dune 2 Trike's "turret".

Here it is in all its "Glory"

Down to 475 polys.

Is it more useful to talk in tris or dose it just depend on the program you use? Wings just gives it to me in polys or faces.

That's better, still see a few edges that serve no purpose and that cow bumper...

triangle count:
select all faces -> tesselate -> triangulate from face context menu
thereafter use undo to keep working with quads/polys