Predator S

[Patrice Terrier]

Mike

I know you will love that one 

from
https://sketchfab.com/models/3921d70ad5dd45d1861a1cdd9c49a228

[Patrice Terrier]

Here is my first WIP, there are still a few errors to fix, but all in one it is looking good.

[Michael Lobko-Lobanovsky]

Yes, I like the concept but I must say the SketchFab render is downright trash. This isn't how reptiloid predator warriors look in reality!

Your render is much much more promising. But I doubt we will be able to avoid specular maps; the pitch black velvet areas of the armor that generally has so vivid specular metallic "patches" all over should in fact look like black paint rather than "black hole" matter. We should light them somehow, and this can only be done with the aid of a specular map.

Why don't you smooth out your models, Patrice?

(Your wallpaper is a killer. I love it! That's where true predators come and catch careless humans unawares from!  )

[Patrice Terrier]

Is that color set any better ?

#Light frontAmbient 19 19 19
#Light frontDiffuse 19 19 0
#Light frontSpecular 24 102 172

#Light leftAmbient 136 8 17
#Light leftDiffuse 47 79 79
#Light leftSpecular 47 79 79

#Light rightAmbient 0 19 0
#Light rightDiffuse 70 35 0
#Light rightSpecular 0 191 255

Why don't you smooth out your models, Patrice?

If i do that, then i would have to recreate all the textures, because there is no easy way to rebuild the LOW poly textures in c4d.

I converted the .glb format to .obj, using the Windows 10 Microsoft 3D Builder

[Michael Lobko-Lobanovsky]

Hehe,

Your spec map ist gut for starters. It does reveal the relief of machinery though it doesn't add much to specularity proper.

But the raw body color ist sehr schleht IMHO. The predator is a reptiloid and his skin should be of a dynosauric greenish, rather than leathery brownish, color. Besides, it spoils the grayscale specularity of armor bare metal...

Regarding the glTF/glb formats, I have the corresponding importer/exporter plugins for both my 3ds Max and Blender.

[Michael Lobko-Lobanovsky]

While we're at it and just for your info, there is this free Microsoft code editor -- Visual Studio Code (kinda "kindergarten Visual Studio") -- that allows you to code and convert glTF<->glb 3D files and, what's more important, it can verify their compliance with the Khronos Group glTF specification on the fly and it can even let you preview the model and its assets directly in the editor while you're typing the model's code!

This misshaped glTF predator model has 94 errors in its inner code!

(you will have to install an extension called glTF Tools available in the editor's View->Extensions browser)

[Patrice Terrier]

Lezard...

[Michael Lobko-Lobanovsky]

Heh Patrice,

I think we're a little ahead of time with our lighting putting the cart before the horse. There are still some other issues with this model that should be resolved beforehand.

First, there are some bad artifacts in the predator's hair: triangular sideways geo "spikes" due to brutal decimation. Next, judging by the dark spots on the hair diff map left over from baking the model's AO into it, some nut-like hair clips have been moved off their original positions after the AO was baked; that's very visible at least to my eyes. Finally, the model should be split further to some smaller meshes (hair, hair clips, face, weaponry, armor, etc.) to be able to properly smooth them out. Then again those meshes should be supplied with their own spec maps (probably colorful) to correctly light them with respect to each other.

Overall, the original model is way too low quality and careless to go into the model library without the fixes I described above.

P.S. I will probably do all that myself tonight and/or tomorrow. May I?

[Patrice Terrier]

P.S. I will probably do all that myself tonight and/or tomorrow. May I?

Of course you may!

Indeed i would be very glad to see what you could do with it and 3ds max (i think the SketchFab original version was derivated from it)

Here is a link to a newest version from 2017.
https://tomisaksen.com/project/predator

[Michael Lobko-Lobanovsky]

Here is a link to a newest version from 2017.
https://tomisaksen.com/project/predator

No Patrice,

Those are mere renders. I gather the model was created commercially for a particular customer and therefore it isn't publicly available anywhere on the net. The author is just showing himself off.

[Patrice Terrier]

Sorry, i was speaking of the new version of the movie, not about the 3D model, however these pictures are handy for the skin color, and mesh details.

[Michael Lobko-Lobanovsky]

OK Patrice,

The model is horribly non-maintainable geometry-wise: "spikes" are welded to the dreadlocks (I managed to fix only two of them), eyeball hemispheres are welded to the skull out of the eye sockets, dreadlocks are welded to each other, etc. That's why the model cannot be split accurately into additional meshes. I did a few hasty separations just to be able to smooth out the objects appropriately and then fused them again under common mesh-materials though it would've been better to fine-tune their looks separately.

I also generated and fixed a few textures in CrazyBump and Photoshop. I think the current lighting is a good compromise between what we can currently do on the scene and what a genuine Predator should look like. (I still think reptiloids should look and feel slimy to the touch)

I am not going to come back to that model ever again. It's a complete disaster.

[Patrice Terrier]

Thank you my firend !!!

To say the truth i was very surprised that you challenged to fix that model, because i know it was full of errors, and not intended to be closely examinated.

The time i spent on bad models downloaded from the internet is countless, indeed i think i could count on the fingers of a single hand those that were effortless

May be i will further rework some parts of it, but i make no promess there 

I shall post soon a new car from the CCCP time "du petit père des peuples", that i have also downloaded from SketchFab ...

[Michael Lobko-Lobanovsky]

En temps " du petit père des peuples " there were practically no personal cars en l'URSS , my friend.

Those few that existed were primarily used as public taxis, and secondarily, to bring the parteigenossen to and from their "work". Petrol was cheaper than drinking water because noone really needed it. Townsfolk were supposed to travel by public buses, street cars and trams while les paysans had to use carts and horses for their everyday needs. Note the carts and horses were not their property but rather in possession of kolkhoz'es (collective farms).

Personal cars first appeared in Nikita Khrushchev's times, and cost a couple years worth of average annual salary. The cheapest one called Pobeda (Victory) cost some 900 roubles with 60 roubles being an average monthly salary at those times.

[Michael Lobko-Lobanovsky]

This is exactly how the Predator's bare skin looks in the most recent movie of the series.

Which proves my original instinctive assumption about glister and sliminess.