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Crossbow for School

polycounter lvl 4
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NickWilliams polycounter lvl 4
Started a weapon project for my 3D class this week. we'll have 4 more weeks to complete it. I chose to do a crossbow. First time modeling a "gun" like this.
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Here's a rough block in.
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If anyone could give any pointers for how to better handle those cam wheels, it would be much appreciated. They were a bit of a challenge. They're working at the moment but i know they can be much MUCH cleaner.

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  • NickWilliams
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    NickWilliams polycounter lvl 4
    I'm just going to keep posting progress here as i move along with this piece. Tonight, i've just readdressed some of my geo in the but of the gun and began smoothing things. I'm in the process of my first smoothing pass from my blockout and i'm aware of the stepping in certain places. Will have it fixed soon.
    Not a terribly huge update but crits are always welcome.

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  • Joltya
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    Joltya polycounter lvl 10
    Looks pretty alright so far. Are you planning on getting this to be a low poly asset, or just a high poly one? Also, it would help if you could highlight where you are having trouble modeling on the reference image.
  • Natulini
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    Is everything part of the same object? When you create more geometry from the existing model(beveling, extruding and etc) instead of create "new geometry" (create panel)?

    Thanks, and nice work btw
  • NickWilliams
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    NickWilliams polycounter lvl 4
    @JoltZero Yeah this will be brought to a low in the next week or so. Though, it will be more for portfolio so it may end up being a little higher than optimal just to get a nicer render.
    As for the trouble with the Cam Wheels, I spoke with my teacher last week, and for now, they'll be fine since its the high-poly the low poly is where my geo will actually matter a lot more.

    @Natulini Nope. a lot of this is all separated to compartmentalize things. Typically around wherever an overlap or a seam appears in the reference, is where i'll break up the geo as separate objects entirely. So yes, most of the time its new shapes from the create panel. sometimes it can end up being detached extrusions etc. whatever is faster really. :)
    Thanks!

    Ok so i've basically just kept on smoothing things. I'll go back after this initial pass to start laying in the finer details. I like working from big to small. Still have a few places like the grip in front of the handle which obviously need a lot more love, but I've been up almost 24 hours now (working on other stuff as well), i need some sleep...
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  • WesleyArthur
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    Very nice, some excellent details in there. It looks nicely proportioned too.

    A couple of minor things that catch my eye are the back of the crossbow, where it would contact your shoulder, looks a bit too sharp. Your reference photo has a nice rounded shape, and looks like it would cushion any recoil more than your current model.

    The grip for your other hand (the one not on the trigger) looks a bit too rounded. I think it could do with a bit more of an ergonomic shape; although as I can't see that part in your reference it might be how it is.

    Apologies for the lack of weapon terminology haha, and you might have already considered these points, but I thought I'd offer some minor crit in case you were after some. It's a really nice model so far, I look forward to seeing more!
  • wolf_rt
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    I think the string looks a little thick, and is routed incorrectly. It should go from the back of the arrow, around the cam wheel, then to the bottom center of the opposite lower arm. (I think? perhaps look at other crossbow pics...)

    Also i believe the bolt should sit in some kind of groove.

    The center of the sight looks a little boxy, and the rear of it should be a
    smooth curve.

    The arms should taper in then out at the ends (looking from the top)

    Not knocking you though, it generally looks great!
  • NickWilliams
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    NickWilliams polycounter lvl 4
    @WesleyArthur Yeah I was feeling the same way. So i did my best at touching up those areas a bit. feel like the front grip is a bit too blocky now though. :P i'll have to play with it some more.

    @wolf_rt All great point wolf! I'll do my best to address as much of that as possible in the next update. That point about the groove has actually been eating at me as well so i'll get on that first. (I only have about 1 more day to get this high done, and then its on to the low.)

    Ok so here's just another lil update from tonight.
    Hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! And if you don't celebrate thanksgiving then i hope it was an awesome Thursday for ya! ;)

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  • Chronicle
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    Chronicle polycounter lvl 5
    This looks excellent, do you think you could post some closeups of the wireframes around the back half and the forward grip? Really interested in seeing how you routed that area.
  • WesleyArthur
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    Ahh much better! That shoulder support bit looks much more functional now. Yeah I agree with the front grip. It's much better, but the underside could maybe do with being a tiny bit softer.
  • NickWilliams
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    NickWilliams polycounter lvl 4
    Alright i'll have to call it here for my high poly. I'm fine with where its at. Sure there will always be something more to fix but i did my best to address your suggestions everyone. Thanks! On to the low!
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    @Chronicle I'll get some wireframe renders for you in the next update. Its nothing real fancy to look at. Turbosmooth+smoothing groups does most of the work. ;)
  • NickWilliams
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    NickWilliams polycounter lvl 4
    Ok so i got a low built out and I'm finishing up my unwraps. Will be packing it later tonight, and starting my bakes. Going to bed for now.
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    @Chronicle my bad, i forgot to get those renders for you tonight, i'll pm them to ya soon.
    I need sleep right now though. :)
  • NickWilliams
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    NickWilliams polycounter lvl 4
    Ok just posting a progress update. Got everything unwrapped and made my first baking pass. This is FULL of fun errors that I'm very aware of, but feel free to chime in if you must. :)

    In the next week, I'll have all these baking errors resolved and it should be textured as well.

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  • JennaJenga
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    bolt point is pretty blunt
    no real head on it or sharpness. looks more like a knockdown arrow instead of piercing??
  • NickWilliams
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    NickWilliams polycounter lvl 4
    Yeah, i can sharpen it a bit for sure.
  • NickWilliams
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    NickWilliams polycounter lvl 4
    Ok another update here.
    Ran it through Ddo for my bases.
    I've got plenty of refining ahead of me, but feels like things are coming along.
    Onward through finals!
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  • Quack!
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    Quack! polycounter lvl 17
    It looks like you split the UV maps on the chamfer on the arms? Judging from the pixels it also looks like that UV island is at an angle instead of straight. There seems to be some nasty errors coming out of it that I think can get resolved with a little bit of tweaking. But I do understand if you have moved past that point.

    Keep it up.
  • NickWilliams
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    NickWilliams polycounter lvl 4
    @Quack! Yep. I did just that. :/ Yeah I can fix it but it will probably need to wait until after my finals since I'll have to move a few UVs around and that's just going to be too much of a headache for me right now. In the mean-time I fixed some of the stretching going on in the front that came from some swift loops i added to round that piece out a bit more. I intend on fixing that area before/if I add this to my portfolio though. Thanks for the crit!

    Ok here's what I have for the end of this week.
    Not a huge leap from my last update. Focused more on some smaller details. Kind of wishing I went with a 4k map now but I still like where its at for the moment.

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  • NickWilliams
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    NickWilliams polycounter lvl 4
    Alright, added a bit of dirt and some detail to the scope lens.
    Still some tweaking left but this'll be wrapped up pretty soon.
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  • Stirls
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    Stirls polycounter lvl 8
    Really nice texture work.
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