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Rens and Halo

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  • Rens
    Thank you good lads!
    Really great comments :)

    Got this low poly done and been working on some texture.
    Though i've figured out i should move on. Get a life.

    I could go with building something else now.

    Therefor i will be leaving you without textures for now! maybe i will wrap these up over the next few months, but it is time to do something else first.

    However, i did make some screenshots and threw together an explaination of unwrapping,
    Don't expect much of it and don't pay attention to spelling. Will need to clean it up a bit.
    http://www.artbyrens.com/uvworkflow.php

    Some normalmapping
    shotgunlowpoly.jpg

    time to start building something else :)
  • Oniram
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    Oniram polycounter lvl 15
    wow thanks for that explanation of unwrapping.. ill definitely pass that along to some friends i have who can really benefit from this.

    normals look good too. only thing that seems kind of weird is the grip. even tho its rarely seen.. it looks a bit too soft.
  • Skamberin
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    Skamberin polycounter lvl 13
    Rens I am angry that you're not being offered jobs, angry I tell you!
    Your stuff is great, only thing your folio is missing is more 3D stuff designed entirely by you :)
    Honestly 343 should hire you, yesterday. Remake Halo 1 in UDK and coincide it's release with the new Halo :D

    But more on topic: Loving the bake on the shotgun, max or xnormal?
  • c0ldhands
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    c0ldhands polycounter lvl 15
    Fuck, If I had the money I would hire you tomorrow! Anyway keep doing what you are doing and you will surely attract some attention. May I ask why you are remaking everything thats Halo related? Favourite game or you thought you could make a better job? Just curious to know what drives a man.
  • Rens
    Oniram, glad it can help some :)
    The grip does look a bit out of style and soft, maybe some normalmapped details/patterns on it will help it out.

    Skamberin, It is oke man :P
    I never expected them to hire me just because i am doing some halo pieces.
    That would be a silly thing to do.

    I don't blame them either, cause at the end of the day they need to pick what is best for the company, and an overseas kid with no exp is not it.

    I suppose a job now would be nice :(
    I'm done messing around and want to roll with the big boys now.
    I enjoy working on things by myself but it just feels empty. Would be nice to be somewhere new, meet new people and work on things together.

    As for the normalmap, i tested both out. I baked everything in an "exploded" way, so it could be done all at once. Max gave me a clean result, while with xnormal i had a lot of weird deformed shades in my normals. Almost making it look like my red channel was inverted. I also tried baking a few single pieces in xnormal, but that gave me the same results. Still not sure why it does this and why it sometimes works better or worse. Main reason i like it is that it handles large zbrush files vs having to import it into chunks in max.

    Coldhands,
    Thanks a lot man,
    I did a bunch of halo things cause i love the stories/universe, making motivation a no brainer aswell.
    It was a way of just doing more and enjoying what i could do with it, not so much "give me a job cause look at me".
    It would come natural though that 343 would be a favorite studio to work at.
    But there is more out there then that.


    As skamberin mentioned, i have little things in my portfolio that are totaly my own mix of things, so now would be a good time to move on from practicing skills to applying them. Won't say that i will never come back to this, though it needs a long break.

    Thanks for the compliments guys, means a lot and kept me happy during long dark cave days. Been a good ride for now.
  • Mezz
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    Mezz polycounter lvl 8
    I still think you can do anything and work anywhere--you've worked damn hard enough for that.

    But, if working at a studio in Europe for a while is the next step, get some real life experience under your belt, and from there find your way over to North America, even 343, then so be it.
    It's all possible, it's just about finding the realistic way to do it.

    Even so, pretty dumb that 343 hasn't hired you yet. :P
  • WillMac
    Good bakes.

    your UV mapping tips are quality, really easy to follow. Is only this year i began "resetting xform", glad you do confirm some stuff. Also i do like the black pixel of death naming.

    Is the Festival of Games in Utrecht at end of April... careers days also.. might be of interest to you? Go if you can?!

    @ Mezz... oh shit i totally crossed my wires and totally made a fool of myself, am getting used to it now. Where is the tutorial for not making a fool ever. :D
  • Rens
    Opened the file for my AR again and thought it was only fair to post the rifle attempt,

    It was fun when i started this, cause the design seems to have some nice shapes to it, but i .. fuckedup on the lowpoly and texture. It is actualy too lowpoly and should use alot more detail, specialy aiming for a piece for these days/portfolio.

    I also included a fpview cause i know that will be asked for, but yeah,
    it comes down to delete, sleep, start with something else and dont suck as much.


    haloassaultrifle.jpg

    haloassaultrifle2.jpg

    haloassaultrifle3.jpg

    haloassaultrifle4.jpg

    haloassaultrifle6.jpg

    haloassaultrifle5.jpg
  • Moosey_G
    I came Rens... Absolutely Ace. You and X-convict need to get together and jive (read: make your own studio ;D )
  • seth.
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    seth. polycounter lvl 14
    beautiful stuff rens, extra thanks for the UVW walkthrough too :D
  • X-Convict
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    X-Convict polycounter lvl 18
    Nice work in here Rens!
  • Ged
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    Ged interpolator
    love the textures, lol you normal mapped the ammo led? =o crazy dude haha
  • raul
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    raul polycounter lvl 11
    awesome stuff! that last update is my favorite!
  • Lazerus Reborn
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    Lazerus Reborn polycounter lvl 8
    This thread should be Pay per view. Its upper class poly porn...

    Brilliant work, have you tried bungie about a job? I mean your masterchief is much better than the 'new' Combat evoled remake. ;)
  • Cheez
    Great stuff, Rens !
  • Pedro Amorim
  • EiGHT
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    EiGHT polycounter lvl 10
    *Seconds Pedro*
  • Grimm_Wrecking
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    Grimm_Wrecking polycounter lvl 8
    I'm envious of your metal sir. Great stuff looking forward to more.
  • Rens
    Moosey, who knows! working with artem on a project would be killer.

    seth, thanks man, and np, i might do an update on that sometime, make it a bit cleaner and add some tricks.

    artem, highfive!
    I will be trying your rendermaterial and see if i can get a result that comes close to what you create. I will be stealing that smoothinggroup bevel trick aswell :P

    ged, hehehe, yeah felt like i normalmapped too little, and for some reason i had that counter still in, is a bit odd since a display should be flat.. oops.
    It does add definition, but yeah, the counter should not be in the texture, should be seperate so it can be animated.

    raul, thanks! then im sure you will like the next one ;)

    lazerus, hahaha <3
    I am really curious to that remake, should be good fun.
    I have not applied to Bungie in a while, i have been trying my luck at 343 industries. maybe with enough work and a visa my luck will change at some point.

    Cheez, good to hear from you man!
    You should get that halo art dump of yours up sometime, keeping us from all the bad ass stuff you have been working on.

    pedro, *\o/*

    8, *\o/* *\o/*

    grim, thanks, it can be done alot better and the settings are wrong :P
    -caugh- shader spot on the nose of the rifle too, oops.


    Ok so for now i just got what ive been working on yesterday,
    I got tired of having to go into menus and grabbing what i need.
    Instead you can create your own menus and toolbars in max, and drag in any option you want.

    For work i added groups/export options since i use that alot, or if you animate you can add those. Try making your own panels to speed up the process.

    quicktools.jpg

    I really like to use the reset x form from this menu cause it will auto collapse.
    Also you can set everything to your rightmouse menu and keyboard.

    I will look more into customizations and see if i can upload something useful that does not replace all your settings, just adds a new bar to it.
    I will atleast upload my keyboard settings soon so you can have a go at it.
    (basicly replaces uselesskeys with editable poly tools/modifiers i need)
  • lloyd
    dear rens, i hate all of your halo work, thank you and good night XD


    you guys tried http://www.matthewlichy.com/Scripts.html


    some great scripts to help speed things up
  • Rens
    hahaha,

    well eventhough some are nice, it beats the point of keeping it basic and keeping modifiers near hand. It is not only about the tricks and smart scripts, but also about most used options that normaly take time to grab if not set to a hotkey.

    Having to search between colorful icons to find what i was looking for is just what i try to avoid.

    thanks for the recommendation though :)
  • Electro
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    Electro polycounter lvl 18
    Nice work Rens. Your points about the rifle are good and all, but it's still nice :) Definitely a tad low poly for first person these days, but 3rd person it looks great.

    Learn and apply to your next piece ;) Which I look forward to seeing.
  • Rens
    Oh shit, you guys remember this thread!?
    Man those were the days of delivering new pieces.

    I have not shown anything new in a long time, not because i slowed down but I have been reading tons of tech about games instead. Leaning into another direction for a while.

    I miss building things and because of that I took a spin in my career and am looking at freelancing for a while now.
    With time on my hands I finaly managed to finish this piece, so happy its done because even now the last few days I have been pushing it and my head is spinning.

    I will be posting a follow up with some breakdowns, what kind of work went into this and how I set things up, for now im going to walk around a bit and relax... pfff




    It has been two years since I started this project. It may sound like a long time, but I just worked a few hours here and there before I put this sculpt aside for weeks or months at a time.

    This project would be a learning experience and im glad I managed to never rush it.
    I reworked the armor parts for instance over and over till it all worked out.
    It might not give the fast reward of having something to show.
    But at the end of it you understand why you went for this one shape rather than another and that lesson is most valuable.

    At some point thought I had to say enough and it needed to be wrapped up.
    So you imagine after all this time I am happy to show you the result.

    The character is based on various designs of Halo's elite but holds most true to its earlier appearance. I build upon it and took it into a different direction, hope I did it justice.

    elitebyrensback1920.jpg

    elitebyrensfront1920resized.jpg

    http://artbyrens.com/elitebyrensback.jpg 2400px
    http://artbyrens.com/elitebyrensback1920.jpg cropped
    http://artbyrens.com/elitebyrensback1920resized.jpg scaled

    http://artbyrens.com/elitebyrensfront.jpg 2400 px
    http://artbyrens.com/elitebyrensfront1920.jpg cropped
    http://artbyrens.com/elitebyrensfront1920resized.jpg scaled


    Also to make the thread complete, I never posted this one

    article-final.jpg
  • Neox
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    Neox veteran polycounter
    hm i think you forgot about the mid frequency shapes, it looks almost like a subdivided basemesh and some surface noise
  • Rens
  • PogoP
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    PogoP polycounter lvl 10
    Yeah it does look cool but I'm finding it hard to read some of the shapes. I can't tell what's meant to be flesh and what's the suit. Is the whole thing a suit, or is there meant to be flesh? His bum could use a bit more definition lol, feels weird looking at a Covenant behind..

    I haven't played Halo in a long time though, so I might be completely wrong on that. :)
  • Neox
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    Neox veteran polycounter
    sorry dude but it is as it is, contrary to what you wrote it looks rushed.

    The weapon is cool, the hallway is cool, that elite dude is unfinished.

    it's some base shapes (not bad baseshapes) smoothed up, added some fine lines and surface detail, it totally lacks the mid frequency shapes.
  • Shiniku
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    Shiniku polycounter lvl 9
    The render looks really cool, and I love the attitude of the piece, but I have to agree on the surface confusion and the lack of mid frequency form. At first glance it didn't really catch me, I had to really look at it to appreciate the effort you put in - I don't think it would take too much to really push this and have an outstanding piece.

    It also appears stylized, meant to look like it's sculpted out of stone or something - I'm assuming that's intentional.
  • Sam Hatami
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    Sam Hatami polycounter lvl 16
    Aw shet saaaan!

    Now, you can go on pointing out things that's obviously a personal piece which has matured over time. Rens, great job, and congrats on finishing the piece(s).

    Your style is in there, it's personal, rough and it's your own. I get a very cool 3D printed feel over it, ready to be painted on with some sexy acrylics.

    So for what it's worth, you don't always have to "hit next level" or raise the bar. Something should just be left as for what they are, a piece of your artistic journey.
  • Rens
    neox dont get upset now, i was agreeing with you as it is a valid point.

    pogo, shiniku, yeah it would have benefited from a better surface definition, i tried a lot of variations like the honeycomb, bubbles, fabric types ect but they did not have the wanted affect on it. I tried to enhance the look with midrange shapes but found that it became too busy for my liking. I mostly stuck with line work.

    The shot on the back side shows it best i think. there are a lot of lines that i found difficult to pull off on a 360 turnable pose. I in this case made use of curved / circular shapes. It does not justify mistakes or anything, please tear it apart so i can focus on things the next time. As for now it is what it is.

    Sam, thanks!
    It actually will be on its way to ownage to be printed. It will be my first printed piece so im quite excited to see what it becomes!

    Nah you always have to raise the bar otherwise you did it wrong haha, but in this case its hard to tell from the end result, but its been a journey for sure, specialy if you see it now compared to where it started (no you wont get to see that).
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