This is a recent project for a video game done at school. We had about 3 weeks to get the assignment finished.
I started with a 15,000 poly model then tweaked it to form a 40,000 high poly model to get the normal map from.
Then reduced it again down to 3,000 polys and again down to about 1,500 polys for the final in game version.
The normal map still has a few issues, but that’s mainly due to time management. I’m getting better at it, but I still find myself taking too long on certain things than I really need to be.
Here is a link to my blog with more images at higher resolution.
http://clinesr.blogspot.com/2012/10/turret-for-game-project.html
For starters, what is this thing? It is definitely sci-fi, a laser gun of sorts, or maybe a space-age abacus? Any way, The normal map looks decent. Can’t see any artifacts on the model, that may be that there are none, or clever camera placement. Any rate, good on ya.
For the critique, there are too many broad forms with too little detail. Basically, everywhere from the neck (I guess that’s what you’d call it) down are simple cubes and cylinders. Those forms should be broken up, even if with more cubes and cylinders just to add variation. Here is an example I plucked off of the Googles. It’s an image from the Unearthly Blog. Hope they don’t mind me using it here.
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/62983865/foliotiled_unearthly.jpg
This is a really good example. Putting a simple rectangle within and on top of another rectangle goes a long way. These details can be added via normal map or geometry or both, depending on what this thing is and your polygon budget. Also, a few bumps, nicks, and scratches in the texture wouldn’t hurt either. Especially on the exposed and mostly used edges. Hope this was helpful.
It’s a turret for a sci-fi game.
I think I get what you mean. I should make sure that all the “parts” of the object I’m created are fleshed out and defined.
I got the idea from a simple sketch I found on the internet so I guess that could be part of the problem as it wasn’t fully fleshed out. I should have used more photo references to at least get a clearer idea of what each piece should look like. I’m fairly new at normal mapping so I’m still wrapping my head around what I can and can’t do with them.
Thanks for the comments, they definitely helped.
