[Snowfella]

Figured I'd open up a topic of my own so I don't clog up the WIP one. Kinda slow going as I'm still trying to get my head back into the game and remembering all the tools.

Another few hours of work done yesterday and today and I've finished off the mesh, fixed temporary smoothing plus done the UV mapping. Went up to 1799 polys all up, bout the same as the GB handguns I made oh so long ago now.



And the booring mapping shot, don't think I could of squeeed anymore in. 1/4 size to what I'll paint the texture on.

[Colin]

Nice work Snow, I don`t think you could clog up any post with work like this.

[N'kEnNy]

Looking good.

[MrFibbles]

Those uv maps are hard stuff to do without seems.  I need to do one of those for my M16a4...

[Snowfella]

There's just no way around getting seams in places though, just got to hide them away in spots that are unlikely to be seen or in places where they are easy to paint out. Plus with normal maps it's generally good practice to place seams where there are changes in smooth groups, they tend to mess up edge lighting if left seamless in the UV map.

Now onto the fun part, turning the 1800 or so mesh into a highpoly model to extract normal and occlusion maps from. Probably also render a material mask so I easier can separate metal parts from plastic parts in the colour map.
Just got to figure out how to use the "render to texture" feature all over again

[Jsonedecker]

It's like riding a bike mate.... like riding a bike!

It will all come back to you.

[Snowfella]

Likely will mate, just expecting a few scraped knees in the process. Ie a few of those "why in the ###### isn't this ###### working???" moments
Already had a few in the modeling phase with odd edge and vert behaviour forcing me to sometimes having to delete a handful of faces and then rebuild them again by hand.

[DetCord]

Good start! What's the possibility of porting your Magpuls over, if you even still have the original files that is?

[Snowfella]

Being a firm believer in backups I still have every model I've ever made saved, could go back asfar as my Ares Shrike mod for GR if I wanted to So the Masada models could be doable as they are made to "modern" standards.

[Delta[84]]

So far so good I wish I had the patience to model

[DetCord]

Snowfella, on 23 May 2012 - 05:44 PM, said:

Being a firm believer in backups I still have every model I've ever made saved, could go back asfar as my Ares Shrike mod for GR if I wanted to So the Masada models could be doable as they are made to "modern" standards.

Just out of curiosity, do you think it might be easier doing a port as opposed to starting a new weapon? Not only would I like to see them in-game, with minor tweaks for the modern ACR of course, but I'm also concerned with porting other weapon variants over. I'm just a little lost on the process involved.

[Snowfella]

Depends on what you are thinking about inregards to porting a weapon. If you already have the original 3dsm model and it's made to specs then I wouldn't call it porting, it will just be different export settings in order to get it into a new engine. If it's a model not made to current specs then it's almost easier to start over again from scratch. I tried re using some older models for some of the GB content and it turned out to be a royal pain in the rear, just having to rework a model not made with animations in mind into one that could be animated was a headache and a half!

Case in point was the original M4 model I shipped to John, it was a quick and dirty rehash of a VBS1 model I made a long time ago, well before I started using normal maps and making highpoly stuff to extract a normal map from. That model evolved from the VBS1 specs into almost GB spec when I used it in my GRAW1 mod and later was somewhat reworked again before I shipped it to John. Unfortunately it just could't hold up compared to later models made especially for GB so I had to go back and redo just about the whole thing all over again at a later date, that time around using a properly made mesh and highpoly model to bake my normal maps from. Think I showcased the highpoly mesh for that one in the donators section once upon a time, at it's most detailed state it was even to high in polys for my computer to render!

Even so I think there's still one trace of the original model and it's reference that carried over into the current GB M4 that isn't accurate to real life. You really have to be a weapons nut to pick up on it in it's current configuration though, asfar as I know no one has noticed it yet or atleast haven't commented about it yet

[DetCord]

Snowfella, on 25 May 2012 - 01:16 AM, said:

Depends on what you are thinking about inregards to porting a weapon. If you already have the original 3dsm model and it's made to specs then I wouldn't call it porting, it will just be different export settings in order to get it into a new engine. If it's a model not made to current specs then it's almost easier to start over again from scratch. I tried re using some older models for some of the GB content and it turned out to be a royal pain in the rear, just having to rework a model not made with animations in mind into one that could be animated was a headache and a half!

Case in point was the original M4 model I shipped to John, it was a quick and dirty rehash of a VBS1 model I made a long time ago, well before I started using normal maps and making highpoly stuff to extract a normal map from. That model evolved from the VBS1 specs into almost GB spec when I used it in my GRAW1 mod and later was somewhat reworked again before I shipped it to John. Unfortunately it just could't hold up compared to later models made especially for GB so I had to go back and redo just about the whole thing all over again at a later date, that time around using a properly made mesh and highpoly model to bake my normal maps from. Think I showcased the highpoly mesh for that one in the donators section once upon a time, at it's most detailed state it was even to high in polys for my computer to render!

Even so I think there's still one trace of the original model and it's reference that carried over into the current GB M4 that isn't accurate to real life. You really have to be a weapons nut to pick up on it in it's current configuration though, asfar as I know no one has noticed it yet or atleast haven't commented about it yet

Many thanks for the in-depth explanation, Snow. That certainly clears up a lot of the process for me, though it seems like a lengthy one, and all time consuming at that. Well, I see you've got your work cut out for ya, mate. I'm looking forward to what you have in store for the future, which hopefully includes the Masada/ACR at soime point, so keep them WIP pics commin'!

The GB M4? The PEQ-4 is backwards...

[Snowfella]

That's not it though mate. This thing is much smaller and harder to see for someone who doesn't know his M4!

[DetCord]

Snowfella, on 25 May 2012 - 02:10 PM, said:

That's not it though mate. This thing is much smaller and harder to see for someone who doesn't know his M4!

Can't tell. Is there a hi-res/larger photo?

[Snowfella]

Not that I have online at the moment but the good Cpr has one online from memory.



Mind you this isn't the ingame mesh but rather just something I baked normal maps from. There's one very key component missing that makes it not a proper M4.

[DetCord]

Man... I carry this thing for a living and I'm not seeing it.

Charging handle - Check
Forward Assist - Check
Dust Cover - Check
Mag Release - Check
Selector S - Check
Bolt Release - Check
Proper D-Ring - Check

It's missing the rear iron sights but those aren't necessary I spose. It also looks like the supplication or bore-well above the left tit/pin on the upper receiver in the first render isn't there.

[Snowfella]

Lol. Look closer mate. What's the main external difference between your M4 and an off the shelf AR15. Nothing you cant fix yourself if you are handy with a pillar drill although you better be a Sot or ffl or youd get the atf hunting you down!

[DetCord]

Snowfella, on 26 May 2012 - 02:04 PM, said:

Lol. Look closer mate. What's the main external difference between your M4 and an off the shelf AR15. Nothing you cant fix yourself if you are handy with a pillar drill although you better be a Sot or ffl or youd get the atf hunting you down!

Wow. It's missing a certain select-fire mode. Ahem...

[Snowfella]

Yup
I forgot the pinhole for the auto sear. Things that happen when you use an SR15 for reference I guess. lol