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LOW-POLY ART

polycounter lvl 19
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Pinned
hawken polycounter lvl 19
This is the sweet spot for your low-poly models. Post 'em if you've got 'em!

Low-poly hasn't really been a requirement in the games industry for a long while now. This thread is for low-poly art style appreciation, so please take note of these rough guidelines:
  • Keep models under 1,000 triangles.
  • Scenes are fine, if all models are low poly.
Some dedicated low-poly modelling tools now exist that make this art style a lot easier to produce; Crocotile3D & Blockbench

Here's a handy list of ways to make your art look right in mainstream 3D software: Low-Poly Art Style Guide

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  • 9skulls
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    9skulls polycounter lvl 13
    Snader wrote: »
    drinkspin3.gif
    Oh man that is so hardcore :D Did you really draw it pixel by pixel, or is it just 3d rendered with like the size of 32x32 and then upscaled? :D
  • JR
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    JR polycounter lvl 15
    stabbington: Excellent dump, man. I love all these chars :) Straight to the inspiration folder.
  • woodesh
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    stabbington what kind of game is moops. the artwork looks beautiful but i can't seem to gauge exactly what the gameplay will be like, even going to the official site i'm still at a loss.

    are you using unity?
  • fabio brasilien
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    fabio brasilien polycounter lvl 11
    stabbington: I loved your characters! I didn´t find anything about them too. Is there anything about this game?
  • Snader
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    Snader polycounter lvl 15
    9skulls wrote: »
    Did you really draw it pixel by pixel?

    Of course! Hm. I forgot my name here is just 'Snader' and not 'PixelSnader'. Anyway, yeah. I do pixel art, and this is for a game I'm working on:

    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/448525/SnaRunner/SnaRunner.swf

    Swipe (click, drag, release) right to start running, swipe up to jump.
    It's quite rough, still, but this link will be updated with the latest version quite regularly.

    It should end up somewhere alongside iPhone Mirrors' Edge, and Canabalt.
  • Darvokan
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    Hi everyone.

    I'm new around here and very amateur on 3D.
    I've been looking around this thread (seen almost 200 pages lol) and loving more and more the lowpoly modeling chalenge. Many cool stuff here and some with really amazing details for low poly count.

    I'm going along with and share something I made in 2009 while trying low poly modeling. Hope to get some feedback.
    I'm trying to get back on 3D and also on creating my own textures.
    This barrel here has textures made from pics, so it doesn't have that same feeling like some works have around here – that gamming touch.

    dLIhX.jpg

    I know I can probably reduce the poly count and that map, to make it repeat the texture. But, as I said, this was made some years ago and I don't 3D experience, specially on texturing.

    You guys keep up the good work on this thread, cause it's really inspirational thumbup.gif
  • Delko
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    Delko polycounter lvl 15
  • GabrielP
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    GabrielP polycounter lvl 7
    Alright so Ive finished up this chick, would love some feedback:
    EDIT: some quick updates
    Lylandra-2.png
  • TonyNowak
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    qxvAz.png

    Low poly speaker, actually just a rectangle with pixel art skills applied.
  • woodesh
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    farmer-1.png

    old Farmer for current iphone/ipad game,
    textured ever so lovely by hev.
  • Snader
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    Snader polycounter lvl 15
    How does that face animation work?
  • woodesh
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    since udks face features are disabled in ios we decided on using material switches. basically it will switch between the different msterials, i got the idea while playing the order up! iphone game.

    [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xcyeteczWgg"]Order Up! (Wii) - Trailer - YouTube[/ame]
  • [SF]Three9
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    pewpew
    Lil ships I'm making for a possible iphone game
    oh, and 500-600 tris each
    Ship1.png
    Ship2.png
  • stabbington
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    stabbington polycounter lvl 10
    Leilei - Haha! Unintentional but I wish it hadn’t been..!

    jramauri – Thanks so much! Loved your orc, I had it up as reference for painting styles just the other day!

    woodesh - Cheers! Farmer George is looking ace! Are you swapping the whole texture sheet out for each expression or are you using some kind of UV shift/head swap each time? I’ve always wanted to try out that kind of technique!


    We are indeed using Unity, although the programming and game design is being done by another studio entirely. I’m only dealing with the characters and lighting when we come to that, and hopefully our awesome one man animation machine can post up what he’s been doing soon.

    As for the gameplay, I guess it’s best described as a side-scrolling 3d beat-em-up with some platforming elements. You’re a freelance pest controller trying to hunt down and capture critters for profit, although along the way you’ll be met by NPC’s who’ll give you the option to clear out especially big infestations where you’ll switch to a variety of touch-based arcadey mini-games. I think!

    Fabio – Cheers! Hopefully once the gameplay starts getting fleshed out we can get some videos up!

    snader – That’s too cool!


    Delko – Great looking tree! Would love to see your texture sheet!
  • Hatsya
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    [SF]Three9: Your ship designs motivate me to do the same... and how would your space iPhone game will play? RTS?
  • Oleg
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    Oleg polycounter lvl 14
    puff long time no posts ! So many hot stuff is around here !

    Anyway here is a screenshot from a small project I am working on at this moment.
    Still need to fix a lot of things like uv map , clouds , vegs , etc.

    60919329.jpg
  • renderhjs
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    renderhjs sublime tool
    Oleg wrote: »
    puff long time no posts ! So many hot stuff is around here !

    Anyway here is a screenshot from a small project I am working on at this moment.
    Still need to fix a lot of things like uv map , clouds , vegs , etc.
    How about you explain what it is, because the screenshot doesn't tell much.
  • Oleg
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    Oleg polycounter lvl 14
    oh my bad , you are right the image lack completely of information !
    Well , basically you are this Astro dude that is travels in space and harvest materials on small planets and kills monsters etc.. I hope you can get more info out of the second picture.

    Kind regards,

    Oleg

    59797811.jpg
  • [SF]Three9
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    Hatsya: thanks man! I used a lot of reference and tried to mix designs along with my own style. Unfortunately I don't want to say too much about the actual game idea yet; it's something I'd like to run by my boss and see if we can either get a contract for or actually develop it as a project. It's a game that I haven't ever seen before though :). It's something I'm really excited about it; hopefully I'll be able to tell you more soon
  • mcunha98
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    mcunha98 polycounter lvl 7
  • Veko
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    @mcunha98, thats a lot of tris for almost no extra definition in the eyes
  • tntcheats
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    tntcheats polycounter lvl 7
    Agreed, unless the tree's going to be animated
  • woodesh
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    even the mouths not really nessasary, from every angle shown you can hardly tell the mouths indented in. the texture on the mouth doesn't lend itself as the outline appears to be in the indent rather than around it.

    stabbington - im just going to swap out the whole texture maps, if resources become an issue ill probably behead him and give him his own map. udk materials really don't hog the virtual memory that much.
  • lean
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    lean polycounter lvl 5
    I always wanted to do one of those dancing gifs haha:
    boy.gif
  • achillesian
  • Moesly
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    I had this one on my mind for quite some time now. My favourite comic character:

    Mr. Wade Wilson aka Deadpool

    Lowpoly_Deadpool.jpg
    A 360°-View is coming soon...

    EDIT:
    Lowpoly_Deadpool_360.gif
  • Hatsya
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    ^ AMAZING DUDE! Just really amazing. Seems that the specs of this character is either for a portable RPG or for an RTS eh?
  • Strkl
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    Strkl polycounter lvl 7
    lean wrote: »
    I always wanted to do one of those dancing gifs haha:
    boy.gif

    That's so funny ! I need to do one now :D
  • stabbington
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    stabbington polycounter lvl 10
    lean wrote: »
    I always wanted to do one of those dancing gifs haha:
    boy.gif
    So cute! Haha!

    woodesh - If it works, it works! I shall thieve this technique one day :D
  • Jakten_hizeme
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    Working on making the characters from the NES game Mendel Palace. Not entirely finished yet I want to touch up the textures some more. Both are about 750 tris.
    Carton_Quinty.png
  • achillesian
  • woodesh
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    i find moesly's low poly work so awesome. the textures are low enough to make them look old school while still retaining this newness, if half of the shitty comic book adaptations on ios and DS embraced this style then they would be better off for it.
  • Hatsya
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    Jakten_hizeme: Wires please, and texture size. Lemme see if they can be rigged decently...
  • n88tr
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    michael milano - Love her! Really beautiful work!

    Some more of these things from our iPhone game; having to knock them out in around 3-4 hours each. Gotta love crunch!

    Flanella.jpg
    Flanella - 918 tris

    GenMale02.jpg
    Snooty NPC - 856 tris

    GenFemale02.jpg
    Snooty NPC - 694 tris

    GenFemale01.jpg
    NPC - 822 tris

    FoogaSmooga.jpg
    Fooga Smooga - 4c40 tris

    how do you come with ideas for charcters like this? i rack my brains and i just can't make silly characters to texture.
  • Essence
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    Think you guys could give me a close up of a low poly hand? Need some techniques, having some trouble. (With fingers)
  • Shiro_the Albino_Deadman
    pretty good you probably have plenty more practice then me I'm still just beginning to learn the basics of 3-D modelling what program do you use?
  • Tysho
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    Friggin' loving the Deadpool comic/model- great way of presenting it, man! Those Moop things are really cool too- great characters.

    Here's what I'm working on at the moment- not sure whether to leave it as it is or work into it some more after I've finished putting some jewellry on his hands. Suggestions are appreciated, though.

    He's 778 triangles with a 256 x 256 texture.

    smilesunfinished.jpg
  • [SF]Three9
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    pewpew
    update



    sort of a mock screen with a camera angle for this part of gameplay

    Updates on the next page :x
  • Ratchet
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    Hello community !
    They are amzingly skilled people here.

    Here is my recent work, some low poly thief :
    rodertexture.jpg
  • shaka
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    shaka polycounter lvl 7
    Amy32 wrote: »
    ht3.jpgjh.jpgbh.jpg
    images don't work.
  • Hatsya
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    [SF]Three9
    NICE SHIPS, really nice, if textured! I bet your design inspirations are from Gundam, and Star Wars.

    ship_minerva_a.gif
    Pic: Minerva from Gundam SEED Destiny (from Sunrise)
  • Tigerfeet
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    Daaaayum such awesome stuff here lately! I love it all :D

    Moesly, I love your presentation. However, I think he maybe looks a bit scrawny, or maybe it's the porportions. Heroic comic porportions usually have the heroes being 8 heads tall, this guy is six. I also think his collar is too low (in you're reference he's looking up) and he's missing that sloping muscle from his neck to his shoulders above the clavicle (my anatomy is rusty)

    I did a paintover though :)
    MoeslyDeadpool.jpg
  • Ged
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    Ged interpolator
    three9 those spaceships are really nice but very dark are you going to paint in lighting or have some more in engine?
  • Moesly
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    Tigerfeet: Thx for the feedback and for making a paintover to illustrate what exactly you mean by "scrawny". :)
    I'll keep that in mind when I get back to polishing deadpool.
  • lean
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    lean polycounter lvl 5
    Tysho: I think that the model looks great. About the texture, I preffer the palette and style of your concept.

    Moesly:
    if you plan polishing him, maybe you could consider making his legs longer. they look a bit short now. It would also add a head tall doing that.
  • ZeroCartin
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    ZeroCartin polycounter lvl 16
    Stabbington that is fkn amazing :)
  • TonyNowak
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    How does one go about low poly modeling a character. I got props down, but characters. It dazzles me the ones here. I am a pixel artist with 3D skill, it's just doing organic stuff is difficult.
  • Hatsya
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    low%20poly%20base%202012%202.png
    Another shot of creating low poly character bases. :)

    Basing from:
    leloughCOMP.gif
    In attempts to create a "pretty boy"/bishounen body type in low poly.
  • Snader
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    Snader polycounter lvl 15
    TonyNowak
    More specific questions please. Why are characters more difficult than props for you? If I know that, maybe I can help you cross that obstacle.

    [SF]Three9
    Nice model, but the texture seems to be rather boring, flat and dark. Y u no colors/decals? Also, I'm not sure how you're currently handling things, but this thing looks like it would work very well with a generic modular texture, that has a bunch of different island shapes, to be reused on other ships.

    Tysho
    Couple of crits: texture resolution seems to be uneven, and there are very sharps seams (most notable on the belly). Your face also seems to be overly detailed, you could use some of that to round out some larger shapes (e.g. top of the neck/ead). Lastly, the segments on the tail are unevenly spread, but I assume thats for a 'standing' pose or something?

    n88tr
    Simply by doing a lot of them. You seem to ever only be making weapons, so you'll never get better at character work. Just make some critters, and see where you end up.

    Shiro_the Albino_Deadman
    Sure, here are some images:
    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/448525/keep/Polycount/cheaphand_95tris.png
    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/448525/keep/Polycount/hands001.png
    http://dl.dropbox.com/u/448525/keep/Polycount/hands002.png

    Jakten_hizeme
    I'd add a few more polies to the hands, and slightly round out the guy's hairline. Texturewise, your UV islands don't seem to be 'straight'. Try doing that next time, because it'll generally look a lot better.

    Moesly
    Some proportion issues (short legs, no hips, large head) and some small issues with the model. The buckle doesn't need that many sides, for instance, and you need to raise the rear-neck a bit to simulate the trapezius. I think the fists could be optimized some, too. And the head is a bit long (back-front, not top-bottom). Your texture only seems half finished though. There's no proper shading, just 'pillow shading', and the pixelwork is rather roughh. You're also missing some details like nose, mouth, and suspenders(?).

    mcunha98
    I agree with the rest. Too many polygons in the eye and mouth. Those would better be used for tree roots, or more detail in the top 'crown'.

    Oleg
    To get rid of seams, try making a cube with neatly tiling textures, and then subdivide it a few times. You can either make a texture that tiles all directions with itself (which is very tricky), or have unique textures for the poles, and only tile around the equator. I recommend the latter, because it is easier to do and allows for a more realistic feel, but costs texturespace. Example.


    And to keep this from being just a huge wall of text, here's (something from) me.

    volvo440_driver003.gif
    434 triangles for the model, and another 434 for the outline. So 868 in total. No textures, just colored polies.
  • Hatsya
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    Snader: Wires please. Seeing your character, seems it'll be for a shooter-type game eh?
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