First off, I apologize for confusing you good people with two names. I typically go by Spear in #modeling_design and thus, I am labeling the thread likewise.

Figured it's high time I start posting and updating consistently in my own thread, so here goes!

*Updated 3/16/07*

Alright, out with the old and in with the new or something. Originally, I'd chose to stick with a diffuse only material setup, but decided against that after some careful consideration and convincing from the awesome Andrew Morris. I'd done some normal/spec work awhile back, but the results weren't as up to par as I'd have liked. Anyway, Andrew was incredibly helpful in sharing his knowledge on the matter and we also discovered the awesomeness of Crazy Bump!

This will probably be my last update on this piece as I have to move on with another project. Please don't let this detour anyone from throwing their 2 rubbles in [img]/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Anyway, pix:



Maps Used:



Thanks for your comments everyone.

It looks pretty nice. Care to show your wireframe and texture flats?

As it's very preliminary, I'm not going to suggest too much for the texture, but I think some more color could do it wonders. Working some greens and different shades of gray in could really help.

I'd also like to see a bit more shadow detail, even if it is going to have normal, specular, and ambient occlusion maps.

Overall, it looks like you're going in a good direction. Keep it up. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Thanks for your comments J. I think I've taken most of them into consideration [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] Maybe I posted too early to get a larger reaction out of everyone else, oh well.

As promised, I'm going to keep my progress posted here. This time I'll also be posting my flats for your viewing pleasure.


Stats
-406 tris
-1 512 Diffuse

Flats:


Collage:



Please, rip this thing apart!

I think you could also size down that texture to a 256x256 without much detail loss - you're using up a lot of space and not utilizing any of it for asymmetry.

One thing to consider is if this is a helicopter pad, and you want it to look dirty and used, you might want to have all the dirt and grime blasted outward from the center, either by wind from rotors or rockets or whatever futuristic means of lift that this helicopter might have. Right now it looks like it's fallen into disuse--especially with the really splotchy center area, which looks more like the floor of a car garage than wind-blasted helipad.

Updated at top!

I hope I don't seem desperate for feedback by bumping my own thread again, but in a way, I guess I am. Right now, I'm not exactly sure where my level of skill is at and I'd like to hear ways I can improve my work.

I've updated my diffuse and have added new spec, normal and glow maps to the piece. If anyone has some time, I'd appreciate some c & c.

Thanks!

Ok, well, this piece doesn't really read to me. I know it's supposed to be a helicopter landing pad, or something similar, but it took me a bit to figure that out.

I guess in my mind, if someone wants to land a helicopter someplace, all they need is a bit of a flat area, and this seems overly complicated. Maybe this somehow grabs the craft, opens up & takes it inside or something, but if that's the case I'd like to see that.

If not, I think your efforts could be better served by using the detail & polys for the area around the actual landing platform (which again in my mind should be fairly simple & clean)

I agree you could mirror the main texture twice, to nearly the same effect and save a lot of texture space. Normal maps are great and all, but only use them on things that need them. Maybe this does, I don't know how close the player will be getting to this. Is this for an FPS? or will you be flying the landing craft? Honestly, if the view your showing is what I'll actually see in game, I can't really tell the difference between the Just diffuse map, and the full material version, other than the latter is a bit lighter.