First Models - NEED FEEDBACK

[superhero4hire]

Hey Guys,
This is my first character and prop I've ever done. I really want to be a concept artist but was told that knowing 3D and texturing was the best way to get into the business. Both were done in Maya 8 on a Mac. The trash can is 236 tris (for the little scene) and one 256x256 map. V from "V for Vendetta" has 4516 tris with 2 1024x1024 maps and alpha on the hair and belt buckle. I'm really just posting to get some feedback, no matter how brutal and also to ask if low poly modeling is even worth me spending time on. I mean is the only way to get a job now to know how to do normal maps and go back and forth from zBrush? Thanks for the feedback in advance!

[Josh Singh]

not bad for your first models!
Keep making them! Enter the minichallenges.
Youl'll get some feedback and hopefully end up with something cool
for your portfolio.
And no, there are plenty of studios that aren't using normal maps and all that.
But you can learn that if you want. Just get the basics down first.
Light and shadow.
Proportion and Weight.

[superhero4hire]

Josh: Thanks for the feedback. I appreciate the advice, since I haven't gotten much. I'll keep working on stuff and hopefully will come back with something even better next time.

[Antimagic]

Looking forward to your new work. For your first models, these already suggest a lot of promise. For the trash, you got it to look like metal and for the figure, you have all your proportions in the right place and his face mask looks great. I am positive your next models will be even better.

Keep posting your work when you have a chance.

[superhero4hire]

Antimagic: Thanks for the support. I really appreciate your positivity. It's always hard to gauge stuff on your own when you stare at it for hours at a time, so thanks for the kind words.

[Marcus Dublin]

One other tip I'd like to share when presenting your work is to avoid showing models on a pure white background, the heavy contrast makes the images harder to read. This is especially true when looking at texture work as it can make your textures look darker than they actually are. All in all nice stuff, keep building!:thumb:

[YdoUwant2know]

texture wise, for a first model, very nice!! the modeling looks very good, however, it is kind of hard to judge for sure without some wire frames. While silhouette play a big part in modeling, the flow of polygons can be just as important, if not more so.

[Deto]

Hi there :)

As Marcus said, its better to display your models on darker backgrounds than on very light ones. Which of course is true, especially on dark background forums. I myself usually use grey, bit above the mid tone one. Its easy, looks nice and you can see both light and black on yours models with it..

The trashcan. I'll do a weird analysis on it :lucky: Its very nice piece to begin with. The shape is good, I could imagine one sitting outside in my yard.. If I had a yard and if we had steel cans in Finland, but you get the idea ;) Texturing vice, its not bad at all! Though there's one thing that sort of pokes in my eye (stupid sayin I use too much) and its the 'highlights'. I mean, all around highlights sure are 'safe' in a way when you can have light hitting from everywhere, but viewing vice its a bit painful.

I would rather have every 'gap' in the can body have light coming from up right (or left, direction we imagine the sun coming from) and then have shadows that fit them. Same with the can top. It would look better, even if neither of them look totally realistic (hence there is speculars etc to fix it) but it would look nicer at least..

Same with can cover, I don't quite get 3D feeling on the circles (dunno what's the word to use from such parts in form?) but rather odd paint job.. The trash is a nice additional detail :)

The Vendetta guy. Pretty good! The mask is great and his boots and gloves look good :) The only problems I really see are the legs (knee + above) which seem a bit formless and the cloak which seems little too flat polyvise. Considering the polycount, I though you could have taken some polys out of elsewhere and added to the cloak to give it more life.. The texturing job is great at someparts, but his tunic (and cloak because of lack of form) seems a bit 'empty' and smooth. Some folds etc seams and such details would have been nice touch :)

But very good models. Good going!

Keep it up!

[cookepuss]

I like the garbage can. I'm having a bit of trouble getting a handle on V. His texture is such a basic black that it largely obscures the "landscape" of his anatomy. I won't rehash everybody else's comments except to say that I'd be happy to see his wireframe.

[superhero4hire]

I really appreciate all of the feedback and I can definitely agree with the suggestions.

The trash can:
To be honest I'm not 100% positive what channel to put specular maps in (or if there's a specific material to use) so that could be a large part of the problem.

For V:
I'll be sure to try and post the wire frames and a new version with a grey background once I tweak the cape. I'm not really sure how I can fix the torso and cape textures though. Any suggestions to make them look better?

All and all though again, I really appreciate the feedback!

[superhero4hire]

Here are the wireframes that for V. (If more views would help, please just ask.) I'm working on a specular map and applying it. I found that it needs to go in specular rolloff (using a blinn) but what about lambert? Is there a way to apply a specular map for that too? Also, notice the clipping for that hat. For some reason it does that in the viewport but not when I render it...??? More to come, but in the mean time any help with the wireframe would be great. Thanks in advance!:)