Taking Model Requests

[Legacy_EolwynRanger]

               Wow! Your models are awesome! If you are still taking requests or ideas (I think you already have work  for the rest of your life '>), I would really like to see some hats for NWN! Especially the top hat. I was surprised that I couldnt find any! Its just an idea but I think everyone can enjoy their adventures better with top hat! I mean...like a sir '> Please continue with your amazing work!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_henesua]

               A good start!

Some ways to reduce polygons.
(1) That sphere in the center doesn't need to appear round given how small it is. You could probably lose half of those tris if not more.
(2) The serpents don't need to separate from the shaft until the top. Subtle modelling and some nice texture work would be enough to render the serpents.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_B_Harrison]

               @Builder__Anthony
You just need a 3D question mark? Or a lit and animated scene? Anyone with any 3D package could use a text tool + extrude (or some equivalent) to make a question mark mesh, but if you want something specific I'll need some more details.

@Eolwyn
Thank you! Hats might be fun, although I still wake up with nightmares of NWN's plt texture system and the detail-devouring omni-sheen of metal1 & metal2's envmapping. I'll add a low-poly top hat to my project list anyway.

@henesua
Thanks for the advice.

The sphere at the top consists of two hemispheres, of 20 tris each; half that or less would essentially reduce them to triangles, unless there's a sphere modeling technique or trick I'm unaware of. I did consider simply removing that geometry and painting the round extrusions in the texture, but at extreme angles the illusion would break down or cease to be visible at all. Might still be worth it if 668 is too many tris...

The serpents are definitely kinda heavy. I took the reference images a little too literally -- in which the serpents seem to be universally, significantly separate from the staff where they part -- and might just remodel the whole thing based on your comments, since I haven't spent any time on the texture yet anyway (and unwrapping it took like 20 mins).

What kind of upper limit are you guys working with nowadays for polycounts?
               
               

               

                     Modifié par B_Harrison, 31 mai 2012 - 09:38 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_henesua]

               One important factor when considering how many polygons a model should have is how close the camera gets to the object - or put another way - how much of the screen could be used to render it. So in this case - a small object that will only be seen on a small portion of the screen - you don't need to go with many polygons to get the affect you want.

B_Harrison wrote...
The sphere at the top consists of two hemispheres, of 20 tris each; half that or less would essentially reduce them to triangles, unless there's a sphere modeling technique or trick I'm unaware of. I did consider simply removing that geometry and painting the round extrusions in the texture, but at extreme angles the illusion would break down or cease to be visible at all. Might still be worth it if 668 is too many tris...

Given how tiny that sphere is, a cube is probably adequate, a cube with 1 extrusion is definitely adequate. (12-22 tris) You'll work on "softening" the "sphere" with shading in your texture.

B_Harrison wrote...
The serpents are definitely kinda heavy. I took the reference images a little too literally -- in which the serpents seem to be universally, significantly separate from the staff where they part -- and might just remodel the whole thing based on your comments, since I haven't spent any time on the texture yet anyway (and unwrapping it took like 20 mins).

My recommendation is based on how small the object is. I don't think the modelled serpents would be clear on the screen. Creating some contrasting shading in a texture - I think - will look better.

B_Harrison wrote...
What kind of upper limit are you guys working with nowadays for polycounts?

I don't model in NWN so i don't know what the range is. But my way of operating is to always produce the least number of polygons as possible (unless you are working in an engine that has a good LOD system). In that case its best to model bigger than you need, and scale down later.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Leurnid]

               Octahedron would only clock 8, but if you want to maintain 'roundness' use an icosahedron, 20 tris, and smoother than a cube.

I don't know which software you are using, but most either have native -hedron primitives, have them for DL on a support site, and worst case, can be had for free from a variety of 3d model depots.  Mapping to icosahedron in some software can be annoying but in this case, I don't see that being an issue.

*knife edging the bottom of the wings and merging those nodes will also reduce poly count and make it look more sculpted (less 'face-extruded').
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Leurnid, 31 mai 2012 - 08:02 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_henesua]

               @Leurnid
Its not necessarily a good idea for your polygons to be triangles to start with. Best practice is for your polygons to be four sided. My own experience has born this out.

Subdivision does not work as efficiently with 3-gons as it does with 4-gons. And scaling down in polygons likewise does not work as well.

I've also found it easier to unwrap a model built with 4-gons than one with 3-gons.

Lastly, you can always convert one 4-gon into (2) 3-gons. But its not as easy to go in the other direction as the geometry is not necessarily compatible.

I've encountered other issues too with tri only modelling, but its been a number of years since I transitioned to code from art so I am no longer close enough to it to be able to articulate all the reasons why 4-gons are better to work with than 3-gons.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Rubies]

               As a small note I already did hats like the top hats mentioned back as one of my first model sets, though BH might be able to do them to a better standard.

http://vnmedia.ign.c...999_fullres.jpg
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Rubies, 31 mai 2012 - 07:58 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_Leurnid]

               

henesua wrote...

@Leurnid
Its not necessarily a good idea for your polygons to be triangles to start with. Best practice is for your polygons to be four sided. My own experience has born this out.

Subdivision does not work as efficiently with 3-gons as it does with 4-gons. And scaling down in polygons likewise does not work as well.

I've also found it easier to unwrap a model built with 4-gons than one with 3-gons.

Lastly, you can always convert one 4-gon into (2) 3-gons. But its not as easy to go in the other direction as the geometry is not necessarily compatible.

I've encountered other issues too with tri only modelling, but its been a number of years since I transitioned to code from art so I am no longer close enough to it to be able to articulate all the reasons why 4-gons are better to work with than 3-gons.

considering he is already using a primative sphere made of tris, all of that is academic.

*You are functionally right, but this is a solitary and simple texture sphere, and a cube will look cubic, even with a smoothing texture. There are quite a few bioware placeables that tried to get away with using cubes in place of small spheres that aren't fooling anybody. If somebody is going to be walking around with that in hand all the time, the gloss is going to come off the cube pretty fast.
               
               

               

                     Modifié par Leurnid, 31 mai 2012 - 08:06 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_B_Harrison]

               Whoa, this thread suddenly zoomed way over my head.

Luckily this trial edition of "FreeDee Grafix 4 Kids Learning Edition" software I'm using seems to be producing functional models for me so far.

[cough]

@Rubies
I doubt I can improve upon that - very nice work!
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_Builder__Anthony]

               yes just a white extruded question mark with a black background.lower poly or a decent poly count.it should take up most of the photo no other information will be added to photo.any angle as long as i can get some beveled edges visable.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_henesua]

               To put it simplest: Whether it is a cube or a 1000-tri sphere, considering how small the model will be on the screen it won't make a difference to the viewer. Economy is better in that situation.
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_EolwynRanger]

               

Rubies wrote...

As a small note I already did hats like the top hats mentioned back as one of my first model sets, though BH might be able to do them to a better standard.

http://vnmedia.ign.c...999_fullres.jpg

Those are amazing! It´s strange I couldn´t find them. I tried nwvault and google too with no positive results. But anyway, those hats are amazing news! Could you please send me a link for that hakpak? 

P.S.: Sorry for OT guys. 

EDIT: Found them! Thank you all!
               
               

               

                     Modifié par EolwynRanger, 05 juin 2012 - 09:04 .
                     
                  

            

[Legacy_KlatchainCoffee]

               An animate placable of a hand and part of an arm, half-transparent and exhibiting a grabbing motion (if possible only when someone comes close enough)--- imagine going through a room full of grabbing ghostly hands.


I'd also ask for better-looking hands for PC models than are out there or better-looking elven heads, but having an idea of the amount of work involved.... I'll stick to my first request for the time being. '>
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_ehye_khandee]

               Gibbering Mouther  LOL or has it been done?
               
               

               
            

[Legacy_NWN_baba yaga]

               

ehye_khandee wrote...

Gibbering Mouther  LOL or has it been done?

For nwn2 it can be found here:
http://nwvault.ign.c...ts.Detail&id=54

...strange creature and a hard to animate it seems.