M41a Pulse Rifle (Aliens)

[[HP]]

Hey guys! :) I thought I should open up a thread and post WIP pics of this piece I'm working on, It's good for feedback and personal motivation.

It's the M41a Pulse Rifle from the movie Aliens (http://www.google.pt/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=AfC&q=M41a+Pulse+Rifle&btnG=Search) we all know and love, this is basically my first "serious" high poly object, and especially my first weapon! So please, go ahead and critic the hell out of it, ya all PC weapon experts! ;)

http://i42.tinypic.com/b7fmab.jpg

http://i42.tinypic.com/ppvzb.jpg

I gathered dozens of reference material for this piece, way before I started modeling it, here's two refs pics:
http://i39.tinypic.com/2v115s8.jpg
http://i41.tinypic.com/9tfwgi.jpg

[Kimono]

Looking smooth mate, few things I can see are:

The cuts in the pistol grip look too sharp, try removing a few cuts there (EDIT: Sorry i didn't check out your refs, it's actually pretty close, maybe a tad too sharp still though),

On the right hand side, the little LCD display that i assume displays remaining rounds, you've modelled the text on (I'd advise you paint it on the texture since the numerals shouldn't actually be raised off of the surface) http://www.fpga4fun.com/images/LCD_FPGAs_are_fun.jpg ,

Also it seems the most interesting end of the rifle is unfortunately the front, do you want to stick 100% to your references or are you willing to deviate? I'd say something like moving the little LCD from the right to the rear of the rifle would add something appealing to look at and if wanted you could actually animate the display with a bunch of frames (If this were to make it in-engine).

[tekkbrogan]

Lookin pretty sweet dude. I'm a big fan of the Aliens props. Classic-oldschool. You're model is really lookin spot-on to the reference. I think if anything, too spot on. It looks like your reference is a toy maybe? I'd try and get your model a little more realistic by checking references for some real guns that they likely drew inspiration from while designing that one.

Primarily, what stands out to me is the porting on the barrels. You've matched your reference by giving it those cool 'holes' but, like your reference, they're just indents. If you've got the polygons, I'd really cut those out and expose the barrel inside.

Example: http://www.fmft.net/Sub%20Machine%20Gun%20Sterling%20Sub%20Machine%20G un%209mm.jpg

http://www.ameetecarms.com/store/images/ASA%20Rifle.JPG


Also, it looks really thick/wide. I'm not sure if that's just true to form for Aliens (it's been a while) but it does take a little of the realism away.

Also, as Kimono said, adding some extra detail work to the back end wouldn't hurt it. Not sure I'd go so far as to move the LED, since that's a pretty noticible change from the source, but if it was going to be seen in a FPS, that thing could get a little boring back there. It was obviously designed as a movie prop, not a FPS prop.

Anyway, as far as your reference goes, it's looking really great. If you're just trying to match that, I think you're golden.

[[HP]]

Thanks for the feedback man, very useful! :)

just been to your website, very inspirational stuff, love the rifle! Cheers

[quyeno]

nice modelling dude. my only crit would be the edges could be a bit tighter, at the mo i think its slightly too soft. tightening it would give it a more realistic feel.

[dolemite]

It looks pretty good. Not sure, but I think parts of it are way too wide. Possibly the entire thing is too wide? It seems particularly wide around the butt stock and the magazine.

Good work though. The modeling is very solid.

[EricV]

my only crit would be that some of the edges seem a little harsh. Like especially on the back part of the magazine. In the ref it looks a lot more beveled than what you have...other than that its looking nice so far

[Sandbag]

Something that might help is that that pulse rifle is actually made of three real weapons and a little extra plastic. The body was mostly a Thompson M1A1, the front end was a Franchi Spas-12, Remington 12 Gauge Model 870P receiver and barrel.

Here's a site that explains how to make one 'for real' out of those parts that could provide some nice reference

http://www.tk560.com/m41a.html

The model has some good stuff going on for sure, though like others have said it feels very wide and some of the edges and areas are too soft or blobby while other areas are very sharp, so I would go over all your edges with a shot of the gun up and examine which ones can be loosened, and which can be tightened.

[dehebo]

Something that might help would be to know that that pulse rifle is actually made of three real weapons and a little extra plastic. The body was mostly a Thompson M1A1, the front end was a Franchi Spas-12, Remington 12 Gauge Model 870P receiver and barrel.

Here's a site that explains how to make one 'for real' out of those parts that could provide some nice reference

http://www.tk560.com/m41a.html

The model has some good stuff going on for sure, though like others have said it feels very wide and some of the edges and areas are too soft or blobby while other areas are very sharp, so I would go over all your edges with a shot of the gun up and examine which ones can be loosened, and which can be tightened.

that is so frickin cool. which I lived in a gun-nut harbouring country.

[Lee3dee]

i hear the Aliens Crysis mod starting ;) Looks stunning HP, get that ingame asap!

[[HP]]

thanks everyone for the feedback!

Running kinda low on free time the last few days/weeks, but here's a few progresses, low poly stands at 7500 tris, which is more or less my budget.
Hit me with with a few more crits! ;)

And btw, as you probably can notice, I'm keeping the bolts on the low poly, I made 8 or 6 sided cylinders, depending. Is this a good move? I know those details are suposed to be baked into the normal map, but it definitely gives more depth to the low poly, opinions on this?



http://i39.tinypic.com/14xi7gp.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/2me1tzt.jpg

I worked on the HighP a little bit more, here's two cool renders I made with this technique:
http://boards.polycount.net/showthread.php?t=60887

http://i41.tinypic.com/2pzmafl.jpg

http://i39.tinypic.com/35cl79e.jpg

[nrek]

Hey HP the gun looks sick. You did a great job with both the low and the high poly. I do have a few suggestions on where you could possibly cut some stuff though. Also, do you plan on getting this working in the cry engine? Keep at it man, I look forward to seeing some textures on this bad boy.

http://img30.imageshack.us/img30/3762/hpidea.jpg

[|Buddy|]

You can optimize the the LP a bit, including what nrek mentioned. You got quite a few unneeded slices here and there (like the cylindrical hole on the left next to the handle)

[[HP]]

I'm on it! Thanks guys!

Yeah, I do play to import this o CE2 nrek, I'm gonna try and put it as a playable weapon as well, but I don't know how hard is it to do, and if there is any documentation out there to do it.

[dolemite]

LOL, i was about to say it still looks too thick, but pictures on the net changed my mind.

It must be the jealousy talking :)


Good work!

[dejawolf]

great model!