3D & Animation The DrGuppy Static Mesh Thread! *applause*

[Lruce Bee]

Anything cylindrical such as the can handles should be nothing more than a pentagon based shape on a model this small - all surface polys that can't be seen such as the underside of the can should be deleted - don't model detail when a texture will do

Lruce

 

[Zell]

Don't delete the bottom of the can, sometimes you may be able to see the bottom, like when the can is tipped on its side. But I agree with the pentagon cylinders.

 

[DeV]

Don't delete the bottom of the can, sometimes you may be able to see the bottom, like when the can is tipped on its side. But I agree with the pentagon cylinders.

Agreed there is nothing as horrible as wanting to make a fallen tree and then discovering that it misses a bottom part so you'll have to cover that up with a rock or any other thing. I just can't believe that one lousy bottom square makes a lot of lag.

 

[DingBat]

Agreed there is nothing as horrible as wanting to make a fallen tree and then discovering that it misses a bottom part so you'll have to cover that up with a rock or any other thing. I just can't believe that one lousy bottom square makes a lot of lag.

A poly here and a poly there and before you know it you're talking real money.

I see the general rule of thumb about removing unseen polies as a nice framework to help modellers think about how a model will be used. Creating general, all purpose models that can be used in any situation sounds nice, but in practice it's wasteful and creates risk. That's not to say you can't do it, but it should be given careful thought.

Really, if your requirements are for standing and fallen trees, then you could consider two models.

 

[Lruce Bee]

Yeah - a few polys on one can won't make a difference but a thousand of them in a level among a million other static meshes and the triangle counts will start to resemble a mileage reading from the Voyager spacecraft - seriously - it helps to get into the habit of reducing polygons on models and not get sloppy and lazy - I often look at models in the Static mesh browser and see what kind of optimizations other modelers have come up with

Lruce

 

[[TW]DrGuppy]

Just finished up two more models today, just in time for the Holidays! I give you Corpse1 and Corpse2. These two are civilians that will be scattered along the streets in my Leningrad map. Sure beats the 2455 poly Scale Actor we were forced to use in the mod with his creepy hugging pose and all. The Petrol Can is also down to 135 and the Entrenching Tool is at 114. Corpse1 is covered in a wool blanket and Corpse2 has a spread out newspaper on his face. As always I'm keeping all suggestions in mind, so please continue!


Corpse 1 - (Poly Count = 242)

Corpse 2 - (Poly Count = 281)

 

[[-project.rattus-]]

...er... they look a little like lego :/... Also the pose of the left arm of the second one is quite unrealistic...

But then, experience and skill comes by pracising

Oh, and concerning covered corpses ona battlefield: i guess oyu usually don't see much. If time allowes, I guess most corpses will be carried away and buried, and if not, then they would just lie there openly...

I think for convincing corpses, you should build a complete model of a human, then posture it, and cover it, and then delete all the polies which are unseen...

 

[[TW]DrGuppy]

For the poses I loosely used these reference pictures:

http://pro.corbis.com/images/HU036412.jpg?size=67&uid={c109d145-4ad5-4c8b-a409-2a049f698368}

http://bmj.bmjjournals.com/content/vol328/issue7430/images/medium/coverpic7430.gif

I'm pretty sure residents would cover dead bodies of other civilians. Soldiers on a battlefield would rarely get this treatment though as you mentioned. I also covered these two to save some polys but plan to make a couple more of soldiers uncovered. I know the poly counts are pretty low for these two but they aren't vehicles or full-blown player models, they're simply decoration to be used around the level (if you can count corpses as decoration). Does anyone else think they look too blocky or have any ideas on what I could improve upon?

 

[FYROM]

Oh, and concerning covered corpses ona battlefield: i guess oyu usually don't see much. If time allowes, I guess most corpses will be carried away and buried, and if not, then they would just lie there openly...

I just finished reading The Seige of Budapest, and at least in that situation there were often corpses left out in the street for quite a while, both civilian and military. At least in Budapest's case, the city was under constant heavy bombardment for over 100 days, while the Soviets constantly launched leapfrog assaults into neighborhoods. An area that was recently bombarded could suddenly become the frontline as the attackers advanced a few blocks up the road. Up until then, life would have been "normal" in the area. There would have been time for the bodies to be moved to the side and covered, but then the enemy assault (or resumption of bombardment) would have prevented their removal.

 

[Ska Wars]

The feet definately need fleshing out as do the hands mate. As the face is covered the hands and feet are the next two main features. If they're too blocky they'll bring down the quality of the rest of the model.

The rest is fine as it's easy enough to skin in creases in the coat/cloth.

Good work fella, keep it up.

 

[[TW]DrGuppy]

Quite a large progress update for you guys today. I promised myself not to show anything else until I could texture and I finally got everything to work, I think. Here's my first attempt at skinning anything so I would really appreciate comments on how I could do better. I will probably have to redo this model once I get better but for now I'll call it a final version.

Petrol Can Final - (Poly Count = 135)

The texture is 512x512, hopefully that isn't too big and will work in RO:O.

I've also started to work on a schwack of other models, here's a few of the more interesting ones.

Leningrad Trolleybus WIP - (Poly Count = 1479)

Leningrad Streetlamp - (Poly Count = 322)

Chair - (Poly Count = 160)

Russian Long Shovel - (Poly Count = 62)

I've finished modelling some wires and street signs but I'll show them when they're completely finished. Right now I'm putting modelling on hold so I can get better at texturing to finish these items and have them ready for Ostfront. That's it for today, comments/ questions/ suggestions/ queries/ criticisms/etc. are welcome and appreciated!

 

[DeV]

Really nice guppy, wish I would model that good

 

[Krokar]

That petrol can looks realy great now that its done. Good job

 

[WickedPenguin]

Nice models Guppy! You're proving yourself quite the master of modelling from references. The bus and gascan are looking sharp!

BTW, you're welcome to use my Soviet city Tram mesh for your map, to save you the trouble of having to create one on your own. I can make a nice battered wintery skin for it to match your map (the skin in the shot there is an old unfinished one).

 

[[TW]DrGuppy]

Thanks for the comments everyone! I think I'll stick to my model WP, I'm actually enjoying making it, but thanks anyways. I saw your tram model before I started mine and was thinking of asking to use it but I need the experience. I'm still haunted when I think back to when I was making Wisla River and all the shortcuts and 'under the rug' work I did. (lampshade textures doubling as wallpaper anyone? ) *shudders*

 

[[TW]DrGuppy]

Finished up 4 more static meshes recently. I'm not too sure about the Street Lamp colour though, hard to tell in black and white photos. I also don't have another picture of the Sign so I have no idea what the symbol should really look like or represent. Both of the shovels are using the same texture for lazin...err... optimization purposes.

Leningrad Street Lamp Final - (Poly Count = 318)

Street Sign Final - (Poly Count = 56)

Entrenching Tool Final - (Poly Count = 96)

Long Shovel Final - (Poly Count = 60)

 

[FYROM]

I'll need to...borrow...your shovels, if that's all right with you

Looking really nice, I wish I could skin nearly as well.

 

[SavetheJets]

looks a little like the shovel part is being stretched, other than that great work. I guess my ramblings in IRC actually made sense

 

[[TW]DrGuppy]

Yeah it's stretched a bit, looks like it's back to the ol' UV mapping board for me(oh how I hate the UV mapping board! )

Oh and once Ostfront is released all my models will be avaliable for any custom mapper to use, I'd just like them to ask me first if that's not too much trouble. More to come next week.

 

[[TW]DrGuppy]

*Shamelessly bumps his own thread*

So I said 'more to come next week'... yeah that turned out well. I should have known by now to take the Tripwire route and not give a release date until I'm good and ready to do so. Anyways, in the past few weeks I've got a lot done, learned some new things, and most importantly went insa...err had fun! Now onto the static meshes:

Sign Board Final - (Poly Count = 112)

Not exactly sure what this thing is called so I'm calling it a Sign Board for now. This is the only picture I could find of this object so I had to improvise the back part. I came up with a display window that will have a poster or ad on the board and a pane of glass in front. I didn't model the pane of glass or the poster to allow for some customization. This way I can have broken or unbroken glass, and any poster/ad I want.

Sewer Grate Final - (Poly Count = 166)

I know 166 is a bit much for such a small and simple object such as this but I wanted players to access some parts of the sewer system in my map so a flat texture wouldn't really cut it. I may change the bars from 4 sides to 3 but for now I'll leave it as is.

Hand Cart Final - (Poly Count = 158)
Hand Cart Destroyed Final - (Poly Count = 153)
Hand Cart Wheel Final - (Poly Count = 162)

Both the destroyed and regular Hand Cart models use the same texture. I did the Wheel as a seperate static mesh for customization purposes in case you only need one wheel to be on or to have them completely seperate. A full Hand Cart model and two Wheels is under 500 polies which I think is acceptable.

Russian Tea Shop (Chaynaya) and Sport Hunting Store Signs

Each sign is a different texture but they both share the same 10 poly model. (Top texture is for the Tea Shop, bottom is the Sport Hunting store)

Russian Gaz M1 WIP - (Poly Count = 2140 combined)
- Body = 1352
- Wheel (1) = 156
- Windows = 8

Lastly I've made a Russian Gaz "Emka" M1 car. The model is about 95% complete. The model is broken down into the main body, individual wheels, and the windshield/windows. This was done for customization/optimization purposes.

*Note* No Scale Actors were harmed in the making of this Static Mesh.

That's all for now, I'll be back with more when I'm good and ready to do so. If you have any comments or questions go ahead and ask them, that's the whole purpose of this thread!