low poly stuffs

[Xeno-Striker]

Samus in custom suit:
http://fc96.deviantart.com/fs35/f/2008/298/6/8/low_poly_Samus_by_Xeno_striker.swf
random lowpoly character:
http://fc21.deviantart.com/fs35/f/2008/300/4/0/low_poly_Uni_by_Xeno_striker.swf
Einhander:
http://fc20.deviantart.com/fs24/f/2007/350/1/0/Einhander_by_Xeno_striker.swf
Einhander chan:
http://fc68.deviantart.com/fs24/f/2007/350/6/c/Einhander_chan_by_Xeno_striker.swf
Robo Koi:
http://fc23.deviantart.com/fs28/f/2008/131/4/a/koi_02_360_view_by_Xeno_striker.swf

sorry, there really isn't any way for me to post flash here.
Any~ho, here is some of my low poly work. I don't really know how to texture properly, some pointers would be nice.
enjoy 

[ptoing]

These are all really nicely done.
Any chance to see the texture flats?

[Kazuya Mochu]

Thats some awesome looking stuff!

I'm with ptoing on the flats, but I would also love to see the wires for these!

[Conzeit]

Indeed! I specially liked Uni and the Koi...are they original designs?

[Jad]

Haha, the samus is totally not samus-like at all except that she's in a space suit and has balls for shoulders ;3 SUPER cute, though; I love them all!

When I look at this I feel that the world totally needs more low-poly games (:

[Xeno-Striker]

here are the flat textures


yeah.... I know they suck 

[Xeno-Striker]

Indeed! I specially liked Uni and the Koi...are they original designs?

yes they are

[Squiggly_P]

I ditto the wireframes and tricount requests.  These are freaking awesome.

[Conzeit]

you might not get as much negative comments as you might expect...we do pixels here.

I have NO idea why those textures are supposed to suck, I guess it must be some protocol...something

[Squiggly_P]

you might not get as much negative comments as you might expect...we do pixels here.

I have NO idea why those textures are supposed to suck, I guess it must be some protocol...something

Well, they're odd sizes (normally a texture sheet follows th same basic 'powers of two' rule that old sprite-based 2D engines used, and for the same reasons), but I think mostly he was talking about the wasted space.  The textures as they appear on the models are sweet as hell, but the texture sheets probably wouldn't look that hot in a portfolio in their current state.

On another note, Xeno-Striker, I checked out your DeviantArt page, and all your 3D work is completely awesome.  The game stuff, the high-poly stuff...  very nice

[straypixels]

I'm sorry... I have to...


"I WANT A FRIGGIN' KOI WITH A FRIGGIN' LASER ON ITS FRIGGIN' CHIN! IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK!?"

Really, really nice work. I agree with Squiggly that you need to sharpen up your textures, but it's really well done and you already know there's problems, so I'm not going to complain

Excellent work!

[TrevoriuS]

UV-space usage indeed is generally very bad. Because of the low amount of colours it should not be too hard to hide seams as long as UV-s are to scale with eachother. Therefore it should not be a problem for you to work out something to fit the textures into a square space much better.

Lovely models on the other hand Awesome Koi as stated many times before

[Conzeit]

Well, they're odd sizes (normally a texture sheet follows th same basic 'powers of two' rule that old sprite-based 2D engines used, and for the same reasons), but I think mostly he was talking about the wasted space.  The textures as they appear on the models are sweet as hell, but the texture sheets probably wouldn't look that hot in a portfolio in their current state.

I see, so it is a problem of format...like I thought.

I dont know, I feel like he's got the nack of it and that problem seems like a matter of getting used to the tool, which will easily come from practice. I mean he does already know it's important so doesnt seem a reason to sweat it.


I never really thought 3d Modeling could be fun but this stuff is kinda warming me up to it.

 
Hey man make a video tutorial of how you do these....even if there's no special technique used...I think it could be good to watch you have fun modelling these
 Who knows maybe if you do I'll even end up so pumped from it I'll be rigging models....which from what I undesrtand is the most boring and hard part. The pure animation part sure is easy enough.

Funny that his pictures are bad at establishing depth and specially perspective, while he can do 3d so easily.

[ndchristie]

actually conciet i'm going to disagree.  there is a LOT to learn about uv mapping when it comes to working with the proper sized square, working with polys in that square, and working with texels in that square as well.  it's not something that comes easy with practice if you're doing five in a row with the same galring issues. these are pretty low-poly and low-color, which is a great place to learn, but using a third of a 100x100 map is a bit like shooting kittens with a rocket lanucher sideways

that said, the models themselves are very nice  .  I assume they are rigged as well?

[Xion]

using a third of a 100x100 map is a bit like shooting kittens with a rocket lanucher sideways

What does that even mean!

[ndchristie]

using a third of a 100x100 map is a bit like shooting kittens with a rocket lanucher sideways

What does that even mean!

kittens : the samus shouldn't be too hard to unwrap compared to more complex forms
rocket launcher : the map is very big compared to the result (64x64 would be perfect i think)
sideways : the size is not only large, but unusable, and two-thirds of it are wasted, making it awkward.

sounds a bit meaner than I meant it to when i spell it out like that >.<

[Jad]

I don't really know how to texture properly, some pointers would be nice.

ndchristie: I don't think it sounds too harsh considering the above 

[Jakten]

Textures are usually sized in multiples of 8 I think it was. Otherwise it causes some kinds of problems that I have yet to encounter. UVing is hell, it's so difficult to unwrap a model and have no weird deformations on the textures while keeping everything within a small square and have minimal visible seams. High poly stuff is the worst, its like doing a puzzle with no pieces that fit together. If you use maya I found a nice tool which lets your snap UVs to pixels which makes it easier when doing stuff like this though I'm sure other programs probably have something similar. I think you could probably rearrange these texture easily though or seperate them into 2 smaller files to save wasted space.

These are incredible though, you managed to do the textures really well though despite the large empty spaces. Do you have any images of the wires? Also have you rigged them at all? I'd love to see some of them in motion.

[Xeno-Striker]

Also have you rigged them at all? I'd love to see some of them in motion.

my files are on another computer so the wire frames will have to wait. As for little animations, I'm not that good at it yet, but I'll give it a try 

[Conzeit]

sounds a bit meaner than I meant it to when i spell it out like that >.<

I found it to be a fun and clear exageration.

Thought and consideration are useful in some situations but worrying is just consideration with a tinge of fear, which is just wasteful. So I talked about something I knew nothing about simply to try to drive that fear away.

I can see now that it must be a very frustrating thing to be devoted to and it takes tweaking like hell.

Now I feel like asking a question.
Has anybody here ever found UVing fun?

[Kazuya Mochu]

I like it
its a zen moment for me since I can shut down my brain and just do it almost automaticaly. its only been like that since max 5 though. before doing uvws was a pain. now the tools are so easy to use that its really not hard at all.
uving fo me is like resting after the great battle (modeling) just before you go on that long walk back home (photoshop for texture)

[yosh64]

hey

I hope ya don't mind me asking, but how did you go about designing these characters? I have just been trying to design a character, something like Samus for a game I currently call "The Navigator", but I can't design anything cool :\.

Did you complete the designs before ya started modelling? what was going through ya mind when ya were designing them? did you think about where the characters come from, and what they do and all the sort? or did ya think, this might look cool, and one thing lead to another and so on.

Thanks

cya

[Jad]

Hey dudes, we'd like to enforce same rules here as we do in the pixel art section:

Everything that's not actual critique, constructive opinions or related info that has something to do with the art at hand will be deleted!

It's not that we don't like praise and shoulder-pats, it's just that if we don't moderate it a thread might get lots and lots of one-liner praise messages with more or less no substance, and we don't wanna see that!

-Including your praise in a message that includes critique/constructive feedback = encouraged.
- Praising the art, paying special attention to different techniques that have been used, going in-depth/analyzing = borderline, if it might give the artist or thread on-looker any 'aha'-feedback, then sure.
- just popping by to say you dig it = will be deleted, although we still appreciate the thought!

We've been loose with the rules in the low-spec area because it's still kinda new, but yeah. Here's hoping the trend changes towards more informative and in-depth feedback messages in this area too!

EDIT: if you wanna reply to this, quote this message and reply in the official off-topic thread. Thanks in advance!

PANDA EDIT: Low Spec Art section cleaned completely