TUTORIAL: Making of the Spherebot. |
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Before you get started, I'd recommended you to take a look at this article from gamedev.net. |
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The next picture shows the creation of the rough model in five steps. Notice how I've used the edit poly modifier in the modifier stack. This way, you can delete recent changes without losing the whole thing just by deleting the modifiers you need to. |
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The rough model finished: |
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Starting from the rough model, I start working on the high-poly model. Have a look at the modifier stack. I keep the same method for the creation of the details. |
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The high-poly model almost finished. Basically I've used the bevel polygon tool combined with the chamfer edges tool to get more detail on the model. In addition, I take advantage of the smoothing groups so I can control surfaces' smoothing and how the turbosmooth modifier will work. |
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To finish the high-poly model, I've also assigned basic materials to the different surfaces. I'll take advantage of this later on, for the texture maps. |
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You can also add different meshes for more detail.
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A little tip: You can take advantage of the reference coordinate system and transformations center tools. In this picture you can see how I've used these tools to get an easy and quick circular distribution. |
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The high-poly model finished. |
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Once the high-poly model has been finished, I start working on the low-poly model, which is a modified version of the rough model. In the next picture you can see how the low-poly model covers the high-poly model. The high-poly model is shown with the 'see-through' option of the object properties. |
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The low-poly model finished. |
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At this stage I recommended to do two steps. First, use the Reset XForm utility, within utilities pannel (the one with the hammer at the right). This prevents possible problems derivated from, for example, non-uniform scale transformation. The second step is to add the STL Check modifier to the object. This one detects possible mesh problems such holes and double polygons. Once you have used these tools, you should collapse the mesh. |
The next step is to create a good UVW mapping. You can see the mesh collapsed and ready for the unwrapping phase. I've applied a UVW Mapping modifier before the Unwrap UVW modifier. This UVW Mapping modifier applys a basic Sphere mapping. This makes easier working with the Unwrap UVW modifier later. |
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You can see the rendered UV template. |
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I recommended to analyze the model before to start working on the Unwrap UVW modifier. First check for holes and cracks which could help you to hide texture seams. You can also take advantage of surface hard changes (different material, ramps). If you can't hide good enough the texture seams, try to place them in areas where it will be difficult to see them. |
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Now you can use the Render to Texture tools (RTT) to extract the texture maps. The RTT menu is shown by pressing the '0' key or Rendering menu->Render to texture. A projection modifier will be automatically added to the object following the next steps: Select the low-poly object and activate the 'Enabled' option within the 'Projection Mapping' pannel. Next, click in 'Pick' option to add the object or objects that will participate in the projection. |
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The low-poly object looks like this: |
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The blue mesh is the cage. You need to reset it before to adjust it. This cage must cover the high-poly objects. In this case is easy because the model has a spherical shape. Use the 'Amount' or 'Percent' options to increase/decrease the size of the cage. |
In the next picture you can see the cage adjusted. |
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For complex objects you can modify the cage through its elements in sub-object level. |
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There are another fantastic tutorials out there about creating normal maps: |
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You can see the basic setup I've used for the texture projection and the basic texture maps I got. |
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The Light Tracer parameters for the generation of the lighting map. |
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In the next picture you can see the texture maps generated from the Render to Texture tool. These texture maps help as base maps for the creation of the textures. |
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The texture maps finished ( C4 Engine fully-oriented). |
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