Here’s a few low poly pieces I have created just for practice. I wanted to mainly focus on texturing with these so they are REALLY low poly. I’d like some crits on my texture work and I knew everyone could tell me where I needed improvement I will add more to this as I make more, but they are all available for download and free to use on my site. If you want a look at just the texture maps, just look at the texture page on my site.
EDIT:
Poly counts (all in tri’s)
road block - 76 (I beveled the edges, should have used a normal map though hehe)
Should work with the game engine. All maps are 1024x1024 except for the monument, there all 2048, only because I’m using it with UE3.
As far as bump mapping goes - Start with a 50% grey image. Then, I just sit and stare at an object and look where its cavities are, make those areas darker (for the shipping container, the bumps are completely black), then move on to the bumps that are toward the camera, and make those lighter. To make a transition (like a ramp) just use a gradient OR make a square with the shape tools and just blur it a few times.
Hobo Joe, there’s no point in modeling small details (scratches, grooves etc.) for normal map use when you can just draw in those details and convert to normal map in a normal map filter. It’s much faster.
This work isn’t bad nfollmer but I’ll give you some big crits: These objects look too clean and dull at the moment. The barrier’s faded stripes indicate it’s old, but it has no dirt where you’d expect. Also I’d vary the contour a bit, give it some chips on the corners. Not sure what that horizontal line under the stripes is supposed to be, it doesn’t read well.
Basically the same for the monument. To make a quick & easy base for the dirt map, just bake an ambient occlusion render to the texture and make the settings so that you only get a small amount.
Again adding wear and tear to the cargo container would make it look more realistic. You can get it to look photo realistic if you combine good diffuse/normal/specular maps. Also, you could make it look the same with just 10 triangles; if you spend 132, make them all count, maybe by introducing slight dents in the contour etc.
Thank you! This is exactly what I was looking for when I started this thread. I have been meaning to make the shipping container look a little more used, just haven’t got around to it yet
Edit: That Horizontal line under the stripe is where the base starts to slope to get bigger if you looked at it from the side, it would look like this:
When showing off models like this, spend a few moments on the lighting - these pics could do with being lighter.
Try to focus on the edges of the form, these are the areas that will generally receive wear and tear. Look at how objects pick up dirt in the recesses and get scratched/chipped on the edges. Try to emulate this edge detail in your textures, with weathering and colour variation.
Also, think about the history of your objects - take the concrete road block for example - is it new? has it been outside for years? what’s the weather like where it’s been used? how hot/cold does it get? has it been repeatedly smashed into by drunk drivers? Look to incorporate the kinds of details that tell this story.
Are you using photographic reference? Even if your hand painting textures, it’s useful to grab images that contain the kind of detail your trying to emulate - flickr is usually a pretty good source, as of course is grabbing a camera yourself!
Anyway, main points are:
Light them to show them off!
Look at edge detail, chips/dirt/rust/scratches/moss
Thanks, I do handpaint all my textures, I think using photos is too noticeable, not cheating, but you can usually tell (plus I like the practice). I’m actually working on the shipping container at the moment to dirty it up some I have been letting these go for awhile due to my lack of time, so you guys actually gave me some quality feedback right when I needed to start working on these again so thanks!
I will add more to this as I make more, but they are all available for download and free to use on my site. If you want a look at just the texture maps, just look at the texture page on my site.
