High Detail Crab

For this Art Test, we were assigned the task of making a crab with provided reference. Here is one of reference images we were given to give you an idea of the target piece:

I really enjoyed this task as I was able to produce it in a similar way to what I model most high detailed things now, in the terms of how I extract my textures.

Here is my outcome rendered in Mudbox:

I fell I was close to the correct anatomy, however if I was to do this task again, I would definitely do a lot more research and drawings of crabs to get a better understanding.

I have recorded my progress of this and it is as follows:

1. I poly modelled the body as I found it very difficult to box model it without unnecessary geometry.

2. I then created the legs separately so that I could duplicate and tweak them to save time.

3. After joining the legs to the main body, I then added extra edge loops with the geometry allowance I had remaining, and added extra details such as the eyes.

4. Once I was happy with my low-poly, I took it into road kill and unwrapped half of my model. I then took it back into 3DS Max and applied a symmetry modifier to save having to unwrap all those legs! However, after doing so it laid all the UV's on top of each other which I didn't want as I know this causes issues when baking maps from high to low poly.

5. So I took it back into road kill, and stitched the symmetry line together, Road Kill then spaced out all the unique UV islands for me.

6. I then took the model into Maya to arrange the UV islands more efficiently, and enlarged them too.

7. Once I was happy it was time to sculpt. I used Mudbox as I still have no idea what I am doing in zBrush - that's a summer project.

 8. Once I had a high and low poly, it was time to bake my maps. This was all done in xNormal apart from my edge highlight which was done in Mudbox via the Extract maps function.

9. Using the reference images provided, I was then able to project the textures onto my model.

10. Voilla

These are all the maps that went into my model:

Combined Color Map 

Cavity Map

AO Map

Edge Highlight Map

Diffuse Map 

Specular Map

Normal Map

Treasure Chest

Unfortunately I could not finish this chest in the time provided. After modelling the chest, when unwrapping I encountered several 'Fatal Errors' I lost the will to live.

I was very happy with my model however, and may come back to it over summer:

Low Poly Revolver Art Test

For this task, we were presented with a piece of concept art in a quirky cartoon style. It was to be used in a low poly environment in a top down view, hence why I have included a top-down render to show it's form.

The main difficulty with this model, a long with the low tri limit, was the small texture maps! When trying to work with the normal maps, everything just looked too pixelated and clunky.

I started with a  high poly build as I didn't want to be held back on the form. I then took this into Maya and using the new Quad Draw option I created a low poly mesh:

If I was to do the task again, I think I would make an even HIGHER poly mesh to draw more details from rather than trying to paint some of the normals using nDo.