[Contest #1] X82 "Earth Hammer" Cannon

[SeanEG]

Hey guys, first time posting on these forums. I browsed around for a bit and there is some great stuff here.

So far for the contest I have just completed a very basic blockout in 3ds Max of what I'd like to do. I am a horrible 2D artist, so this is my way of concepting. I also wanted to make sure I had a decent shape and silhouette before going any further. I scrapped a few ideas before I ultimately came up with this, a futuristic field cannon that uses a propulsion system similar to a gauss rifle. There were a few things I knew I wanted to keep in the design for sure, and that was the barricade on the front, the loading station on the left, the computer targeting system on the right, and the stabilizers on the ground.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/832936/NGHS/blockout.png

I know its not much yet, but now that I have the proportions and ideas down, I can start going in and adding detail. On past projects, I had a bad habit of rushing through the planning phase, which led to poor results. Hopefully the extra time I put into thinking things through will pay off. I plan to have the high poly done by tomorrow night.

[Disting]

Cool design!
Looks like something you could definately see on a battlefield in the future.

Keep it up! :)

[SeanEG]

Finally got a chance to work on this some more after a full day of classes. So far just made some progress on the high poly of the barricade for the cannon. I'm still planning on adding some more details and greebles to make it more interesting before moving on to the cannon itself.

And I promise the final version will be shown in real time. I have a weakness for high poly rendering.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/832936/NGHS/barricade_wip.png

[SeanEG]

Small update on the barrier

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/832936/NGHS/barricade_wip2.png

[Disting]

Very nice highpoly work man!
This is turning out really cool. :)

[TomDeVis]

I'm looking forward to see you baking it!

[MitchEG]

Sean, this concept looks great. Something about your last update vs. the previous ones has made me realize that you are designing the barricade in the front to be immobile. I am also assuming you don't plan on the barricade being attached to the Earth Hammer itself? If that is the idea, than I would put some impact support on the inside of the barricade for the sake of stabilization (much like what you have on the base of the Earth Hammer). This will add protection from it falling back and damaging the Earth Hammer. You also do not want it falling on the cannon and/or moving or even damaging the targeting system. Best of luck to you!

[SeanEG]

Thanks for the comments guys.

I added a few more details and some stabilizers on the front and back. I'd like to do more with it, but it took me longer than expected and I need to move on to the actual cannon.

[Bewolkt]

that is F****ing amazing.

[SeanEG]

Thanks for the comment Bewolkt!

Here is some progress on the barrel of the weapon. I'll probably end up starting over on this part, since I don't really like what I have so far. But for now it's time for some sleep.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/832936/NGHS/barrel_wip.png

[sankalp]

looking gr8.. I like the hires model. Keep it up dude..... :thumbup:

[SeanEG]

Hey guys, here is an update on the high poly. I think that I may call this done, and just add in a lot of detail to the normal map in Photoshop, just for the sake of getting it finished. Between classes and work, I couldn't put as much time into the high poly as I wanted to. I'm not really happy with the design of the actual ballista, but like I said, it will have to do.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/832936/NGHS/high_wip.png

[raul]

i really like the shield! Is very simple yet very stylished. Keep it up!

[SeanEG]

Here is the final low poly, coming in at 2,618 tris. There will be a lot added to the normal map in Photoshop. Hopefully I can get it unwrapped and baked before I have to leave for class tonight.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/832936/NGHS/low_final.png

[SeanEG]

Test bake of the normals. Still have to go back and fix some smoothing groups and other errors before I can start the diffuse.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/832936/NGHS/test_bake.png

[Bewolkt]

looking nice, I would've like to see this without a time limit being in the way :)

good job.

[komradkyle]

I like the little ridges and detailing. My normal Map skills are lacking atm. Maya transfer maps, and x normal are not working too good but x normal is working the best for now. Any suggestions for getting those small details in the normal map?

[SeanEG]

@Bewolkt - Thanks for the comment! I agree, the time limit really killed some of the quality I think I could have gotten out of this otherwise. It wouldn't have been such an issue if I didn't have to worry about work and classes as well.

@komradkyle - I'm not too familiar with Maya, but for getting small details, it shouldn't really matter what program you are using. The most important thing is to make sure you have enough texture resolution to pick up the details. The bigger the resolution, the smaller the details you can capture. Also, you want to make sure you have the cage set up correctly to capture the details during the baking process.

So here are the final normals I'm going with. I'm using Xoliul's Max viewport shader. There are still a few errors here and there, but it's time to move on and finish this.

[SeanEG]

Time to get this thing finished. Just gotta spend the next couple hours on the diffuse and spec and I can call it done.

Here is a shot of the base diffuse colors to show what I'm starting with. I'm using Xoliul's viewport shaders and post process effects.

[SeanEG]

So here's my final turn in. I didn't get nearly as far on it as I had hoped to, but oh well. I had fun with it and learned a lot. Best of luck to everyone!

Tris: 3204
All maps are 2048x2048. They're resized for the sake of uploading to here.

Rendered with Xoliul's 3ds Max viewport shader.

[SeanEG]

So I guess you can only attach 3 images at a time.

Here is my normal map.

[SeanEG]

Here are some more views of my final entry, as I forgot to post them last night.

[komradkyle]

just curious what kind of custom brush do you use for the wear and tare around the edges (the worn paint)

[SeanEG]

I use a couple different brushes. For the smaller scratches I use racer445's scratch brush that you can get from his site. For the larger ones I use my own custom brushes. I can upload and share them with you once I get back to my home computer.

[raul]

That is a nice piece. The textures could use a bit more work. Good job on finishing! :)

[SeanEG]

Thanks a lot raul! I completely agree the textures need more work. They aren't finished and I had to rush through it without much planning. I can't say I'm very pleased with the final submission (of course, I'm never happy with my own work), but I'm just happy that I had something to submit.