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WIP => WIP => Topic started by: Patrice Terrier on June 20, 2019, 06:21:10 pm

Title: Elysium Raven
Post by: Patrice Terrier on June 20, 2019, 06:21:10 pm
Here is what i came with...

The whole texture set has been created from scratch, and a few meshes have been added to match the attached reference.jpg.
Title: Re: Elysium Raven
Post by: Michael Lobko-Lobanovsky on June 21, 2019, 02:42:00 pm
My friend,

I'm back home and available for correspondence. :)

You did a nice job overall. The hull damage is very prominent due to good normal mapping and I think you can even add yet more drama to its looks by weathering it out at random places and scratching and rusting it more...

But it has one strategic drawback in its concept: each armor plate on the hull looks as if it were painted at its own production area at the factory separately from the other hull plates, parts and accessories. The mosaic's individual bits and pieces don't fall in place as a finished camouflage pattern when assembled into a common hull.

This isn't how it's done in real life. I was born into the family of a high ranking army officer, and I saw it many times with my own eyes at the military bases I used to travel with my parents in my childhood and green years before I went to college.

Military armor doesn't get final factory painting at all. When it comes to the deployment sites, it is only pre-painted with common greenish dark gray primer. And only once stationed, it gets finally camouflaged in actual colors and patterns of terrain and scenery it is deployed on: black and white zebra of snowy tundra, bright khaki of rain forest, or pale beige of sandy desert. But in all cases, the camouflage pattern will be continuous and consistent across the entire hull.

Look again at your reference picture (or even the original .blend model) to see what I mean. Your diffuse maps don't look like veritable military camouflage. You will have to redesign the diffuse map topology and/or even remap the UVs of certain model meshes to correct it.
Title: Re: Elysium Raven
Post by: Patrice Terrier on June 21, 2019, 03:22:16 pm
Here is the model, see if you can do any better with the current UV mapping (requested by C4D's AO computation).

Things would have been much easier if a single mesh was used for the whole body, rather than 8 distinct parts.
So far it is very hard in PhotoShop to figure wich parts will be put aside each other  ::)

By the way, welcome back!



Title: Re: Elysium Raven
Post by: Michael Lobko-Lobanovsky on June 21, 2019, 07:16:24 pm
Thanks for the model Patrice! (sometimes the download starts very slow and I have to restart it another time to get usual normal speed)

Quote
... see if you can do any better with the current UV mapping (requested by C4D's AO computation).

Why, I won't even try! It is ridiculous to be bound by a set of subsidiary UVs when creating the main diffuse texture!

Tell you what, just gimme the missing diffuse texture design based on the UVs that are still stored in the original .blend model for its middle mesh, and I will generate for you: ;)

(Hint: you can use a "3D surface paint" tool to create the missing diff map, of course if only your C4D supports it)
Title: Re: Elysium Raven
Post by: Michael Lobko-Lobanovsky on June 21, 2019, 07:25:39 pm
Yes, those two textures seem a little better but wings coloration is still entirely chaotic from both top and bottom. :(
Title: Re: Elysium Raven
Post by: Patrice Terrier on June 21, 2019, 07:33:34 pm
What about this?
Title: Re: Elysium Raven
Post by: Michael Lobko-Lobanovsky on June 21, 2019, 08:28:09 pm
Patrice,

I'd say it's "passable" though of course not perfect. If you dare make the camouflage spot borders more prominent (less blurry or gradient-ated), you'll see immediately how many discontinuities there still are...

But overall, if you manage to make your top and bottom wing textures at least as good as those last ones, your set of textures will have a chance to live. If not, then, alas, no chance. The model's looks will not be professional enough for a military-grade model, my friend. :-\
Title: Re: Elysium Raven
Post by: Michael Lobko-Lobanovsky on June 22, 2019, 02:04:52 pm
You almost did it, Patrice!

Just try and add a pinch of green to the other wing and enjoy a well-deserved rest! :D
Title: Re: Elysium Raven
Post by: Michael Lobko-Lobanovsky on June 22, 2019, 05:09:15 pm
I like the one with symmetric wings the most. But of course you can release any one you like -- I've got them all.

And I appreciate your persistence. :)
Title: Re: Elysium Raven
Post by: Patrice Terrier on June 22, 2019, 06:38:49 pm
The final version (symmetric reworked) has been released ;)
Title: Re: Elysium Raven
Post by: Michael Lobko-Lobanovsky on June 22, 2019, 08:41:24 pm
Probably the Lords of War of the future can have their own notion of what perfect military camouflage should look like in their space and time, after all... :)
Title: Re: Elysium Raven
Post by: Patrice Terrier on June 23, 2019, 04:53:32 pm
For those who prefer a more military camouflage...
Title: Re: Elysium Raven
Post by: Michael Lobko-Lobanovsky on June 23, 2019, 05:29:23 pm
Thank you Patrice,

The model looks nice indeed! :)