WEAPON MODELLING: SHOTGUN DEVELOPMENT AND COMPLETE

      Somehow I've managed to overcome a thousand different crippling issues with my Shotgun Model. Even after begin told to start a new model half way through the assignment, I managed to get this done - it's a miracle!

   To be honest, I love the design and final result, but there are clearly a few flaws in it. What I will say though, is that these flaws could of been fixed if I had the time. I had issues with the Diffuse Map (not showing true colors), the Specular Map (not reflecting light correctly) and baking (low poly / high poly translation issues). Even so, I think the final shotgun turned out as well as it could of done given the time I had and the issues I overcome and still need to overcome.

   For my final hand-in of the year, I shall (along with all the previous sheets) these three presentation sheets showing the development of the shotgun model and it's final result.

COMMENTS AND CRITICISMS APPRECIATED!

WEAPON MODELLING: FINAL MODEL
by Christian Whelan

WEAPON MODELLING: SHOTGUN DEVELOPMENT
by Christian Whelan

WEAPON MODELLING: SHOTGUN BAKED TURN-AROUND
by Christian Whelan

WEAPON MODELLING: FINAL MODEL AND MAPS TURN-AROUND
by Christian Whelan

  
     From my last post on the shotgun model and it's Specular Map, I think the final model has decreased in quality. I think this is largely due to my issues with the Specular Maps and Diffuse Map. I wish I could of fixed it but hopefully this will do (for now).

  Actually, just this second, I've realized I've been an idiot. My diffuse texture is higher than the 1024x1024 limit out tutor has set. I guess that and the final presentation sheet will have to be changed! Brilliant...

NOTE: THE FINAL PRESENTATION SHEET ON THIS POST IS THE FINAL ONE NOW

NEXT POST: WEAPON MODELLING: MARMOSET RENDERING

WEAPON MODELLING: SHOTGUN BAKED (NORMAL AND COMPLETE MAP)

      I overcame way to many issues to talk about here, to get this weapon baked. I spent at least 3 hours figuring out why the hell the shotgun wouldnt bake the normal texture. As it turns out, Nitrous was enabled... again! Sick of that thing. Anyway, the weapon is finally baked and ready to be painted and textured.

 

I used the Xoliul Shader to get this done for three reason - it's intuitive, it more effective and finally, I need a 'free' engine to shade the weapon for when I present the final model. Xoliul lets me do that (forget paying for Marmoset! I havent enough money as it is!).

 

WEAPON MODELLING - SHOTGUN BAKED
by Christian Whelan

WAEPOON MODELLING - NORMAL MAP
by Christian Whelan

WEAPON MODELLING - COMPLETE MAP
by Christian Whelan

    

      As I type, I'm attempting to develop a specular map - maybe I have to paint it first? I don't know, but if that's the case, I'll have to wait to get home where I stupidly left my digital pad. So far though, even though there are a couple of unfixable missing rays, the shotgun it turning out "Really smart" as my tutor puts it! So far so good!

 

NEXT POST: WEAPON MODELLING: ASSAULT RIFLE BAKED (NORMAL MAP)

WEAPON MODELLING: MAPPED MODEL / UV MAP

     My computer seems to be dying a slow death, but as it hangs onto it's life, I managed to get the low polygon shotgun model mapped, and exported the UV. I 'thought' I ran into a massive issue, but thankfully, it was just my stupidity - I still had the subdivision tools selected and the Nitrous driver was causing some graphical problems...

Anyhow, with a little help from the lifesaver that is Textools, I've produced a pretty good UV Map - it's organised, as efficient as it can be, and hopefully, once its baked, it will be as effective as I hope it will be. Although, I think that in some areas, the difference in topology between the Low Poly and High Poly models will become detrimental to the quality of the overall bake. I hope not, otherwise I'd have to UV Map the entire thing again...

WEAPON MODELLING - SHOTGUN UV MAPPED
by Christian Whelan

WEAPON MODELLING - UV MAP
by Christian Whelan

 

This UV Map will come in handy when it comes to painting the shotgun's texture.

NEXT POST: WEAPON MODELLING - SHOTGUN BAKED (NORMAL AND COMPLETE MAP)

WEAPON MODELLING: SHOTGUN HIGH / LOW POLY

      3 hours from start to finish, I've managed to develop a shotgun using two references two create a more unique weapon , rather than a bog standard shotgun. Personally, I absolutely love the results. Don't get me wrong, there were a few issues along the way, and it was a slog adding in all the supporting geometry. But in the end, even though there is still one graphical inconsistency (the bottom barrel thingy...), it doesn't matter, because it's only a minor detail. Thank god the hard part is over. Have a look at both versions below!

Oh, I haven't made the .GIF files yet, but I'm sure they'll screw up like they usually do...

COMMENTS AND CRITICISMS APPRECIATED!

WEAPON MODELLING - LOW POLY SHOTGUN
by Christian Whelan

WEAPON MODELLING - HIGH POLY SHOTGUN
by Christian Whelan

WEAPON MODELLING - COMPARISON .GIF
by Christian Whelan

WEAPON MODELLING - DETAILS COMPARISON
by Christian Whelan

       Ok, so maybe the .GIF images didn't screw up (makes a change). As you can probably tell, the majority of the turbo smoothing just gives the shotgun those nice lines and curves, but when the supporting topology is most present (the pump, the barrel and the trigger), you can really see the difference, and if successful, it will show when I bake the normal map to the low poly model.

     So that's it, it done. This time, I've made show there are no inconsistencies, and that I added in all the side specific details 'after' I added the symmetry modifier. The result, hopefully, is a model that will look good at all future stages, leaving me with a nicely modelled, mapped and textured weapon. 

It's a shame I didn't pay this must attention to detail on my first model!

NEXT POST: WEAPON MODELLING - MAPPED MODEL / UV MAP

WEAPON MODELLING - MODELLING A NEW WEAPON

I have to start a new model, UV Map it, and bake it from scratch. Here's why.

       As much as I hated the idea, I 'have' to start a new model for the assignment. It's not just the fact that I had spent hours researching, designing and developing the model, it's that I actually loved my design - I was over the moon with my model. Unfortunately, after UV Mapping and baking it, I took it into university to receive some tutor feedback. If you look below, you can see that the weapon's stock doesn't smooth out as well as my tutor wants (I agree with him), additionally, being the stupid guy I am, I forgot to use symmetry early in the development  The smoothing issue was both mine an his fault, but the symmetry predicament is all down to me. 

WEAPON MODELLING - SMOOTHING ISSUES
by Christian Whelan

   
  I could continue with this weapon, texture it, add a specular map and present it, but these two issues will effect consistency in design, and the quality of the texture and specular map. So, rather than present a ugly looking model at the end (even though I spent a long time on it), my tutor feels its better for me to start a new and simpler model to continue the assignment - he advised I model a basic shotgun.

     The silver lining in this is that all the hardest parts are over, and my tutor likes the result. So he accepted my assault rifle model for this submission and is allowing my to continue on with a simple shotgun as if nothing happened. Which will one, turn out looking better and two, be easier to texture and present. 

     Not all is lost though, he says I can continue developing the assault rifle simultaneously if I feel strongly about it, and I will. By doing that, I'll have two weapons to hand in for the assignment, not just one. It's a win/win scenario on the most part. 

I'll start modelling the shotgun now.

NEXT POST: WEAPON MODELLING - SHOTGUN LOW / HIGH POLY