It's just a scientific illustration, but it's the first 3D modeling I've ever done. I used the XSI Mod Tool... while I'm at it, does anyone know how they've crippled their shaders and rendering for the mod tool? Maybe I just suck at setting up shaders (probable), but I couldn't figure out how to get a good metalic shader or any kind of reflections.

IIRC mentalray (the main renderer) was disabled in the old 4.2 version, this might also be the case for 6.X mod tool.

2 minutes later...
Yeah mentalray is gimped in the modtool

http://www.softimage.com/products/modtool/limitations.aspx said:
Mod Tool supports only DXFX and CGFX material types. Mental ray materials are not supported.
...
The mental ray renderer is used only for Rendermap and Ultimapper. All other mental ray rendering is disabled.

If you can export to something like .obj and render with another app. POV-Ray does reflections well.

Oh, yeah... a scientific illustration of what?! looks creepy.

---

o

I love the Turtle Crono, very cool stuff. Is there any reason why though, as to it being so small?

TB, what can I say.. it looks like some biological mess :biggrin: I think it would probably looka bit better with some improved shading/lighting but you know that so.. :biggrin:

There are size constraints.

---

Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

It is supposed to be an atomic force microscope tip (grey lever thingy) in contact with a polymer surface. The surface is actually a real topography image of one of the polymers I work with. I used a grayscale microscope image to drive the "push" deformer applied to a grid polymesh. I know it seems a bit abstract, but anyone in my field who sees it will know instantly what it is supposed to be.

-Gwil, I spent days trying to figure out how to get better shading, particularly on the grey object. In view of what Snickers said, that was probably time completely wasted.

My first decent sketch in weeks, been in a slump =/

---

o

Nice!

My instincts from drawing school come up and I can't help but telling you he's slightly out of balance, i.e. leaning to the right. If he was a real man he'd fall down.

His left foot (to the right in the drawing), because it is further away in the picture, should stand a little bit higher than his other foot. Also his neck bone should be balanced in one 90? vertical line with exactly the middle between between his feet.

I'm telling you this because these tricks helped me a lot with giving my drawings the last polish. It's subtle but it makes the whole thing look more stable. Probably something you do at an earlier phase of sketching, though.

The rest looks great!

---

Why snark works.

That's a nice sketch indeed. I like the face especially. Nice relief there.

@reaper47: I didn't really notice the unbalancedness, to me it seemed to convey some sort of motion, initiative. Though the left foot would indeed need to be placed a bit higher, and at an angle, to show that he's starting to move.

---

Create-ivity - a game development blog

The pose looked a lot better as a gesture, it lost the feel it had somewhere along the way.

My assessment: the pose is kind of poor (he's just standing there holding his sword out in front of him, there's no action or movement or motive, the left arm is a big culprit here) in addition to the balance problems. My intent was that he's got his weight on his front foot, on the defense but ready to strike. After mirroring it I realized his feet are on the same plane, thus there is no real front foot and it just looks strange.

The shoulders are low and wide because it didn't start as human and I wanted the anatomy to be familiar but different, I'll definitely fix this.

The shield on his back, the wonky placement of the helmet, the right shoulder pad (his right) being too low and the left shoulder pad being larger all add to the unbalance, but his stance is definitely off, if only a little.

I'll probably polish this up for a portfolio piece. Thanks for the input guys.

---

o

My first real attempt at modeling:

Colt Python
I actually used an image of Colt Python and an S&W .357 Magnum as a reference; if you look closely just above the trigger guard, that rounded metal bar is actually a .357 magnum, not a Colt Python unlike the rest of the gun.

Reference 1
Reference 2 (Huge file size warning!)

---

Breaking the laws of mapping since 2003 and doing a damn fine job at it

Here is something I made a little while back with Paint.

Its kinda post-apocalyptic.

<div class="abouttext">Message submitted 0 minutes after original post:</b></div>
Here is something I made a little while back with Paint.

Its kinda post-apocalyptic.

<div class="abouttext">Message submitted 0 minutes after original post:</b></div>
Here is something I made a little while back with Paint.



Its kinda post-apocalyptic.

Too red.

And when I say that I mean the sky is way too red. Lower the saturation or value or both.

I think the thing in the foreground on the left isn't adding anything to the image. In my opinion a mass of dark clouds on the left, leading diagonally toward the figure on the right, would draw the eye to the figure and give a more ominous tone with the tanks marching toward it. Good depth on the buildings, the ones on the left could be lighter and closer in color to the distant ground (more atmospheric perspective)

Good overview of landscape composition with examples
http://www.wetcanvas.com/Articles2/135/120/

Red skies from google
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bc/Redskyatnight.jpg
http://www.blueventures.org/images/Red-Sky-at-NightB.jpg
http://continuouswave.com/sail-logs/ottawaRiver2006/images/7_RedSkyOttawaRiver.jpg

---

o

That's an interesting article on composition, Baron. Thanks for sharing. :smile:

---

Create-ivity - a game development blog

I found my old portfolio:

This is something I did way back in high school (2001)



It was the first time I used charcoals. It's of some girl in the class who volunteered to be the subject for everyone to draw. (If I remember correctly she was a bitch)

---

Blame it on Microsoft, God does.

That's pretty good, Crono!

---

Why snark works.

Thanks for the artistic criticism. Here is some more of my old stuff.

Hmm ok, don't laugh. I initially made this because I'm still a noobie at drawing and wanted to figure-out how to make rust. The tank turned out better than expected, but the problem is I now wanna do SOMETHING with it though I have no idea what to do with the background.



I'll fix the perspective later.

I'll fix the perspective later.

Famous last words! :biggrin:

I think the perspective is OK, as you're deliberately going for a more stylized look. What I can tell you right now that perspective can't be "fixed". It's like a skeletal structure for a painting that either is right from the start or will stay wrong forever. The tank has all kinds of different perspectives for different parts and all in all it works because the over-all structure is very readable. It could be subtly malformed from battle or - indeed - rust, so the look works.

It seems you've already found one of the best rules for photoshop concept-drawing: Don't use smooth brushes. Everywhere you did use them it looks a bit too smooth. Don't be afraid to use any other kinds of brush-options (transparency, "wet edges", all the different kinds of special-palettes).

Can't help you with the background, but don't place the tank in the middle of the picture, put it slightly to the lower right. Should work best for composition.

---

Why snark works.

Gmod stuff...

---

don't sweat the petty stuff,just pet the sweaty stuff.

Thanks for the input reaper. And I DID fix the perspective. Well, sorta. Ok, i just cut a slice from the front side. :biggrin:
The tank is still dead though, I can't for the life of me figure out
what I should put in the background, I even considered making something
abstract or poster-ish but meh. Anyway, MOAR andrei randomness (bear with me, i got a bigger chance at criticism here than on deviantart :heee: ):

Here's something I've been working on lately:

---

''Everyone wades in s**t until they're competent enough to walk on it. Jesus style.''
Dystopia - Empires

How's this one?

How's this one?

Uhmm... sorry, but this is too weird for me. ^^
Is the blurriness intentional?

---

Why snark works.

I wasn't planning on making quite that blurry, but it was supposed to be a little blurry.
On the plus side, I was hoping someone would think it was weird. I've always been good at making things look bizarre, but that is far from being the weirdest thing I've made.

Here are some drawings I made while I was waiting for people to shut up during class.





I know its just doodling, not really art, but whatever. Its here now.

---

Anyone who is pregnant, has been pregnant, could ever become pregnant, or who could ever impregnate others should not read this.
I told you not to read that.

I guess you can consider this art...right??

Go HERE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkneE1czMBs

Dont laugh my first gmod video :smile:

Dont fall asleep either

---

YeaY! Fer MesPehling WerDs

The expression for success is
(energy x enthusiasm)

~Zein

/me blows dust off thread

Anyways, here's some model work I whipped up the other day in Silo 2. Furniture stuff really -- the next big wall I'm up against is whether or not I want to try and learn UV mapping, or just solid color the models.

---

Breaking the laws of mapping since 2003 and doing a damn fine job at it

Oh dear this forum has changed quite a bit.

Anyways here's my current WIP: 670 tris
256x256 color map

Looking good!

What game are you going to make the model for?

---

Aaron's Stuff

aaron_da_killa said:
Looking good!

What game are you going to make the model for?

It's just personal practice, so it's probably not going anywhere.

Ah, possibly a worthy addition to a portfolio if that's your kind of thing.

What program did you use to make the model?

---

Aaron's Stuff

aaron_da_killa said:
Ah, possibly a worthy addition to a portfolio if that's your kind of thing.

What program did you use to make the model?

Who knows. The program I used for the model and unwrapping the UV is Blender 3D 2.47, which can be obtained from http://www.blender.org for free. The texture is done in The GIMP 2.2(there's probably a lot newer version of this one out there). There is a nasty seam on top of the wooden part that I'll have to make disappear and I guess after that I can call it done.

[IMG]http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y80/Naklajat/stumpmodel.jpg[/IMG]
149 tris @ LOD 0, 85 @ LOD 1(35m), 61 @ LOD 2(60m)
The bark texture is from photos of a tree in my yard, the top is from google. Used XSI for modelling, and CrazyBump for the normal map. The texture is 1024x1024

Naklajat: 1024x1024 seems a bit excessive for a tree stump. Even for a very big one. Can you post the UV layout?

I don't know how to say it in modeling terms, but the stumps seems over bump mapped and the stump on the right, closest in looks a bit overly slimy.

Other than that the texture and mesh is great, good stuff. Will you be releasing this for download?

I suppose 1024x1024 is a bit big, but it means the texture will be more detailed and I suppose these kinda standards continue to rise. But hey, I once downloaded a 1024x1024 skin for a fish which I thought that was overkill.

---

Aaron's Stuff

That's a good idea, don't see many tree stumps. I don't know the bump mapping looks a lot like trees here in Texas.

My first decent texture and second attempt at making textures.

This is a road sign based off road signs commonly seen in Australia. I made this one from scratch in about 25 minutes.

I made this texture for my upcoming Night Terror singeplayer map.

---

Aaron's Stuff

I have made a little 3D building:
[URL=http://img237.imageshack.us/my.php?image=3dbuldingti3.jpg][IMG]http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/4864/3dbuldingti3.th.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

---

Never think about bad things!
TNKqwe:The New Killer qwe
[img]http://images.quiz.wegame.com/production/personalities/22/badge.jpg[/img]
I am Engineer - Play Free Online Games
[img]http://media.moddb.com/images/global/moddb_88x31_v12.png[/img]
Citizen Arms

Did you make that in Hammer or a 3D modeling program tnkqwe?

When are you going to add some proper textures to it? :dodgy:

---

Aaron's Stuff

Hammer is the program.That was just an idea which came to me from a video.

---

Never think about bad things!
TNKqwe:The New Killer qwe
[img]http://images.quiz.wegame.com/production/personalities/22/badge.jpg[/img]
I am Engineer - Play Free Online Games
[img]http://media.moddb.com/images/global/moddb_88x31_v12.png[/img]
Citizen Arms

Ah, I see. I still want to see it in proper textures .

---

Aaron's Stuff

Just thought I'd post my first model I'm semi happy with, the texture is a little rough though, perhaps next time I'll make the texture 1024x1024 instead of 512x512. Its a sign warning that various wildlife (Koala, Wombat, Kangaroo) may be ahead, these signs are commonly seen on Australian roads in bushland, rural and outback areas. A cookie to the person who can figure out what game this sign has a reference to .

---

Aaron's Stuff

I dont know.. but I think you did a great job on the texture and model.. great work man!

Thanks Muhnay .

---

Aaron's Stuff

Aaron... I think the sign looks great. As far as the texture resolution goes - try optimizing the model uv's so that the most important bits get the most space (hence the most pixels). You could have made the sign images take up 2/3rds of the texture space and used the rest for the metal supports, since they are secondary to the images.

Yeah that's true, thanks finger.

I'll be making this model available for download on the Snarkpit downloads section after I finish a few other models.

---

Aaron's Stuff

Arise, thread!

So I got a tablet, made some sketches and dicked around in photoshop.
Still learning how to draw with it, not to mention drawing in general.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v685/natus/WHAT.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v685/natus/nothingedible.jpg[/IMG]

Also, some olde 3D stuff.

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v685/natus/ut3gun5.jpg[/IMG]
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v685/natus/olawd.png[/IMG]
[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v685/natus/csnark1.jpg[/IMG]

That last one was supposed to be some sort of combine snark.
(This post shows up as shit on the preview page, apologies if it's shit when posted)

Great Natus! I'm so glad to see the 2d/3d art thread being used!

Some nice stuff there. You should make the first drawing a spray for css/tf2 ;).

Nice models also, what program did you use to make them and are you going to texture them?

---

Aaron's Stuff

A texture I made when I had nothing else better to do. I created it from a photograph of a brick wall and moss both from CG Textures.

---

Aaron's Stuff

Love the combine snark, Natus!