Sneak peak of Mech Beast

[pataran]

I think he deserves a return don't you think?

 

 

 

 

It's in early draft/concept phase. When creating him I wanted to add a little more flair since the original mechbeast was so darn ugly. I still haven't optimized all the poly's nor subtracted some pieces yet. Feedback or suggestions welcome.

[Flanders]

Whoah, nice stuf! Some surfaces need smoothing on the shoulders and on the head.

Do you plan to make it a working AI? If you have the skills that would be cool.

[pataran]

Whoah, nice stuf! Some surfaces need smoothing on the shoulders and on the head.

Do you plan to make it a working AI? If you have the skills that would be cool.

 

I made it low poly purposely in most areas, once I learn to bake a high poly version onto the low poly you probably couldn't see the edges at all in game. Optical illusion I guess. As for my skills, this is the first 3d model I've ever made, I learned 3ds max 2 weeks ago so I am sure I can learn to animate it, etc. The AI however would not be up to me =p.

[jdude]

cool as crap! I love it I wish we had more awesome fans like you Pataran!

[HappyCheeze]

VERY NICE!

 

Would love to see it textured (of course after you smooth it out)

[pataran]

VERY NICE!

 

Would love to see it textured (of course after you smooth it out)

 

I'm trying to figure out how to smooth it out without having crazy amounts of poly's. Right now I'm about 8,000 poly's but when I try smoothing to lowest I can get it is like 12,000. Is that acceptable for a model?

[HappyCheeze]

I'm trying to figure out how to smooth it out without having crazy amounts of poly's. Right now I'm about 8,000 poly's but when I try smoothing to lowest I can get it is like 12,000. Is that acceptable for a model?

 

I'm no modeler.

 

Prehaps our wiki can help?

 

http://wiki.thedarkmod.com/index.php/...o_Model_for_TDM

[Baddcog]

Looks really cool, great model for only a couple weeks of learning max.

 

You are probably confusing 'mesh smooth' with 'smoothing'.

 

Mesh smooth (modifier) teselates your mesh and makes it smoother by adding more polys.

 

Smooth modifier just makes the lighting appear smooth across the polys that are currently in your mesh. So you can apply it to the shoulders and they wont have all those squares from lighting but they will still have the same poly count. That's what you want to do.

 

1st, select mesh and add smooth modifier. maybe ramp it up (starts at 30) to maybe 60, see how it looks. Then select the polys of the 'ribs' over the tops and give them a smoothing group # of 2 instead of one like the rest. That will leave a sharp edge where they meet the shoulder pad (if you want that, it would look good). The smoothing group number will be at the very bottom of edit mesh modifier when you collapse the stack.

If you extrude again you will get those 'rough polys' again and will have to resmooth.

 

OK, now you can get smooth and sharp where you want. But Doom3 doesn't work that way, it will all be smooth (or rough, I forget the material file snipet for unsmoothed).

 

To get a sharp edge on a smoothed object for Doom3 you actually need to select those polys and detach them from the mesh.

So smooth whole mesh. Select any faces in groups along hard edges and detach. DON'T weld the verts again or they smooth.

Then select the main mesh and reattach the sub meshes (but don't weld). Then you get sharp creases in Doom3.

 

Practice a bit and get something in DR so you see what the effects are. Then finalize your mesh. Then rig it, then animate.

 

If you rig, then decide you want a sharp edge you will have to rerig all over again. Major pain.

[pataran]

Looks really cool, great model for only a couple weeks of learning max.

 

You are probably confusing 'mesh smooth' with 'smoothing'.

 

Mesh smooth (modifier) teselates your mesh and makes it smoother by adding more polys.

 

Smooth modifier just makes the lighting appear smooth across the polys that are currently in your mesh. So you can apply it to the shoulders and they wont have all those squares from lighting but they will still have the same poly count. That's what you want to do.

 

1st, select mesh and add smooth modifier. maybe ramp it up (starts at 30) to maybe 60, see how it looks. Then select the polys of the 'ribs' over the tops and give them a smoothing group # of 2 instead of one like the rest. That will leave a sharp edge where they meet the shoulder pad (if you want that, it would look good). The smoothing group number will be at the very bottom of edit mesh modifier when you collapse the stack.

If you extrude again you will get those 'rough polys' again and will have to resmooth.

 

OK, now you can get smooth and sharp where you want. But Doom3 doesn't work that way, it will all be smooth (or rough, I forget the material file snipet for unsmoothed).

 

To get a sharp edge on a smoothed object for Doom3 you actually need to select those polys and detach them from the mesh.

So smooth whole mesh. Select any faces in groups along hard edges and detach. DON'T weld the verts again or they smooth.

Then select the main mesh and reattach the sub meshes (but don't weld). Then you get sharp creases in Doom3.

 

Practice a bit and get something in DR so you see what the effects are. Then finalize your mesh. Then rig it, then animate.

 

If you rig, then decide you want a sharp edge you will have to rerig all over again. Major pain.

Thanks a million for all that info, however one thing. When I use the smooth modifier on my whole mesh and press 7, it shows a huge jump in poly count. Does that matter any?

[pataran]

Thanks a million for all that info, however one thing. When I use the smooth modifier on my whole mesh and press 7, it shows a huge jump in poly count. Does that matter any?

Nvm I was getting meshsmooth modifier mixed up with smooth modifier, thanks alot man.

[HappyCheeze]

You made that after 2 weeks of learning 3ds?

 

SNAP!

 

You've got my vote

[pataran]

Here we go with the smooth modifier.

[HappyCheeze]

Coming around nicely.

[swordbreaker]

you have skills pataran. to learn modelling such a thing requires more than 2 weeks in normal. really good work.

[Garrett's Violin]

Cool! Great work on him. Any plans to re-make the creepy little golden child?

[pataran]

Cool! Great work on him. Any plans to re-make the creepy little golden child?

 

Could be a possibility, right now I'm gonna focus on the Mech Beast, if he is implemented successfully by me and probably some coders you can fully expect a golden child =p. That little thing really scared the crap out of me in thief 2. My first reaction was what does it do?? Is it a friend or foe? I thought it was initially just a statue.

[BrokenArts]

*Wretched creature!*

[pataran]

*Wretched creature!*

 

Hey BrokenArts, how is Nightblade coming along? If you need some assets in the future feel free to pm me.