|
Big Brother | Artist Home | Employer Home | FAQ | About | Contact Us | Register |
| Specific Tutorial |
        |
 |
Introduction TIPS & TRICKS: MODELING HI / LOW POLY MODELS FOR NEXT-GEN GAMES Being an artist working on next-gen games, or mods for those games, is becoming increasingly more complex. New procedures are popping up everyday, while established procedures are still unmastered. Today I will talk about modeling, creating game assets for next-gen engines (UE3 and Cryengine 2, for example), with an emphasis on the Normal Mapping process. However, the purpose of this tutorial isn't to actually teach the technical aspects of processing Normal Maps in your application, since there are a lot of them, both integrated (Max, Maya, Lightwave, XSI, etc) and standalone (xNormal, for example). Instead, in this tutorial I'll be delving into what you need to do, modeling-wise, to really bring out those details in the generated map, the hows and why's, what works and what doesn't. I’ll be using my Daedalus HK model for examples. 1 - Pre-Production: Evaluate One thing you will learn through experience is that not all details need to be modeled in the Hi model, specially if unwrap layout and texture size are low. A lot of smaller details, like nuts, bolts, indents, paneling, scratches, holes and others will be lost at target resolution. You need to be able to identify what's too small, and what's viable to be modeled. Also, remember your Hi Poly model isn't being made for movies or pretty renders, what matters is the final result, in-game, so you can reduce and exaggerate detail as you see fit, so it translates better on the generated Normal Map. The lesson here is - think fast, evaluate, use different techniques and whatever fits you best, what matters is the end result. 2 - Pre-Production: Acquire & Evolve Just as 2d artists acquire libraries of photos and reference, today's 3d modeler must acquire/build libraries of meshes, greebles, 3d textures, alpha brushes, etc. to utilize in their work, speeding up your workflow. It's also critical to keep learning new scripts, tools, shortcuts, etc. keep acquiring skills, and keep improving existing and new ones. Experiment and learn, improving your level of quality and your speed. Don't be afraid to modify and/or add details to your Normal Map after you have processed it from the Hi geometry - it's important to have strong traditional art skills, after all, you might be a superb modeler, but if you suck at Photoshop you won't be able to make your own textures, or bring your work to another level using Zbrush / Mudbox.  Essential tools / references (some 3DS Max specific):
3 - Pre-Production: Work Smart This might seem obvious, but for a lot of people it isn't - don't be lazy with your program and your production pipeline. Customize your Menus and Hotkey Shortcuts so you can maximize speed and efficiency. Keep your most used tools on the forefront of the interface. Use the right tools for the right job - don't be afraid to switch to Zbrush/Mudbox for some organic modeling and details, leave dents, scratches, bolts, holes, small details to paint in Photoshop, and use DeepUV to relax and finish off the UVs. If you aren't animating your models, make sure they will work correctly, otherwise your animator will be pissed lol. When UV Mapping, consider what's immediately visible and what's seldom seen, and maximize areas accordingly. Don’t be lazy and redo mesh aspects that could be improved, even after the UVs are done. Finally, and like Jon Jones says, Failure is Awesome!! Don't be afraid to try out new things and new ways of reaching an optimal result.  4 - Production: Hi Poly Modeling Remember, you're not making an art piece; the Hi Polys sole purpose is to generate high quality detail maps for the Low Poly. Don’t be concerned if the model flow and topology is squeaky clean, float geometry on top of each other instead of modeling everything in one object, countersink meshes, reduce / exaggerate details so they come out more cleanly in the Normal Map. It doesn't matter if the model is a mess on the inside, what matters is the outer shell, as that is what's going to be rendered out.   Smooth edges are critical to a good Normal Map, to mask the Low Polys hard, accented edges, provide excellent highlights for lighting, and quality shading for the diffuse & specular maps. Don't worry about small errors and glitches, it's faster to fix them in Photoshop, than fixing them in the geometry and reprocessing.    A final tip for all the 3DS Max users out there - learn to model by Turbosmooth, it can be your best friend when it comes to Hi Poly modeling for game assets, you just have to prepare a lower geometry version, add some chamfers, rings and edge loops, and then let Turbosmooth calculate and perfect the mesh, using as many iterations as you wish, reducing or increasing detail on the fly, as well as saving performance. 5 - Production: Low Poly Modeling: Like Epic Games' Pete Hayes said in his lecture at GDC'06, Low Poly is King! Repeat that as a mantra, and keep it close to your mind. Like I said before, the purpose of a Hi Poly model is to provide a quality detail map for the game assets. While some artists like to do the Hi Poly first and then the Low Poly and others like to do the Low Poly first, and build from there, one thing is always true - you need to fit your Hi version to the needs of the Low version, and not the other way around. Remember that you have a budget for the game asset, you might be doing a Hi model that is too complex and will cause your Low version to go over the poly limit. Keep your Low Poly clean, with correct geometry, proper edge loops and a solid structure, modify your Hi Poly to fit the Low before processing, making them match as closely as possible. As long as you don't disturb the UV boundaries, you are free to modify, optimize or re-evaluate the game assets and geometry, even after post-processing. Don't be afraid to modify the Low Poly geometry or UVs after processing the detail map, your ability to be flexible, and correctly evaluate what is needed and what's not will be an invaluable tool to your skillset. One critical aspect I'd like to mention is smooth groups. The way you set them up before you generate the Normal Maps is very important, it can make the difference between a good job and a bad job. Another mantra to memorize, in the words of Ben Cloward, smoothing groups are an enemy to Normal Maps! Why? Because they accentuate hard edges. Let's look at the graph:    6 - Post-Production in Photoshop After processing the individual maps, you're going to use your favorite image editing application (I use Photoshop) to composite them, and work on them. Like we discussed previously, use a library of brushes, grunge & scratches, rust, dirt, and others, depending on your subject matter, to add some extra details to the skin. Furthermore, you can also use photos for reference and for overlays, like I used above. Use your library of generated Normals (see 2 near the top) to add modeled and non-modeled details to the skin. It's beyond the scope of this tutorial to show all that texture work, so I’m not going to do it here. 7 - Closing Thoughts Thanks for reading this tutorial, i hope some of my knowledge will help you better understand the game asset creation process. I’m by no means an expert, so if you have alternate methods which serve you well, by all means keep doing them! What matters is the quality of the end result! If you are a hobbyist, hopefully you will have gained some insight into the procedure, and if you are an aspiring professional or student, like me, I hope this will help you improve. In the end, if you want to go pro, remember you're competing against other artists, many already in the industry, that log 40 to 80 hours per week on this. So if you’re just dedicating a few hours per day or per week, you're not gonna to catch up to the curve level anytime soon! Dedicate yourself to your art, work long and hard, read tutorials and post on forums around the net, being open to criticism, and you will improve and be increasingly satisfied with your work. Finally, be your own worst critic, and don't lose motivation at every bump in the road, you'll be kicked a lot, and your ability to get up is what counts! Keep trying, keep improving, and you will get there! :) The End
|
|
This Tutorial was brought to you by: |
Home | Forum | Galleries | Archives | Spotlights | Tutorials | Jobs | FAQ | About | Contact Us
| ©GameArtisans.org is brought to you by ©GCCore Arts - All Rights Reserved Special thanks to the 3D/CG community at large! This website is a result of your support |
 |