What kinda props do you need done?

Hello there, i am the new guy, and going to help out with props and the boring little stuff that you real modellers are to bussy and good to waste time on, but I kinda need to know what i should start on

Can you do hard surface high poly modelling? Or sculpting? And do you texture and UV, too?

HardSurface High poly modeling, i can UW map but not good enough with photoshop to create good enough textures for this kinda quality game.

So i can create "non organic" stuff and texturise them, i just need someone to create the textures.

Props lets see:
Door buttons,
Holotables
Computers
wires
maintenance droids
bits of rubble
random parts - look on the net for star wars images for ideas (for example - part of a dismantled fighter engine or cannon)
ladders
hanger stuff
more to come

Can you bake normals/AO etc from highpolies?

One thing I just thought of is the command center of the echo base. I don't think Sharky has begun that yet. Get some refs (we have some in the References folder in the Dropbox) and lay out a general structure with placeholder models in Max, then post it so we can discuss it. If you need to know something about 'style' of the hoth interior, talk to Sharky, he's DA GUY for the Hoth interior.
We've got plenty of people who can do texturing so as long as you can UV your models it won't be a problem. You could just try and texture them tho. Then we can give you advise/paint over the texture => everyone improves.

And another model I just remembered is a sort of R4 unit:
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/R4-series_agromech_droid
Which we could use as prop and as vehicle repair bot (like in SWBF).

Hokay, i am working on the R4 unit, but i need some textures for it, then il create bumpmapts out of the texture files. Making the small hairline cracks as shader instead of polys to keep it as low as possible.

Yes, the small insets should be in the normal map. We're all rather busy but if you have finished UVing, then upload a .obj of your model to the dropbox and someone can take a shot at the texture.
If you're gonna create a normal map from a texture anyways wouldn't it be better if you created that normal map first and then someone else does the diffuse and specular map with the normal map and the model as base? Then it would be possible to either create an AO/cavity from the normal map or straight-out bake the AO. AO/cavity make it a lot easier for the texturer.

What i got now, had to restart the entire model a couple of times, to keep it pretty low poly, but even now its kinda high in the polycount department (2446 Tris (alot of it is on the legs and for the vents on the front)).





Wireframe Tris

Some things:

• Don't model those vents into the actual mesh. That's not necessary.
  
• Don't model the vent-'bars' into the vent mesh. Just place some cubes and scale them.
  
• Remove some edges on the smooth part of the lower 'legs'. Dunno if that pic helps:
  
  But try to use a minimum of edges to smooth such areas, in-game the difference between 2 edges to smooth the main surface or 8 won't be noticed.
  
• Don't model those square parts on the lower body into the model. They'll look just as good if done in the normal map.
  

The model shouldn't go a lot over 3k polies. It's cylindrical so it will need more than for example the gonk but don't overdo it. A lot of the details like the paneling can be done in the normal map.

Yes sir, then il remove the vents and just place some "shaped boxes" there, fix the lower leggs. SHall i remove the "sphere part" on the lower part on the front too? Just to save some pollys?

Definitely detach it from the main body. That shape is not as easily faked with a normal map so maybe try to make it a bit more lowres/basic?
Looks like a good start.
Before you UV it though, think about how it would animate/move it's different parts. If you see a problem somewhere where there might be a lot of stretching add some more geo. But keep that for the end.

You don't do high poly then low? it is way more effective .

Just a question\ suggestion. I 'model' a bit sometimes (mostly modify existing meshes and re-export to different engines).
I find the decimate function to be prety useful, it keeps the overall shape and decreases vertices. Is it not always possible to use it?

In this case manually removing the polies should be fine, it's cleaner, too.
And generally we don't need baked normals for everything. Especially for props and environment stuff we can use painted normals and maybe replace them later down the line if it's really noticeable.

Lower Polybody and "ancles". And made a head.
the polycounter stoped at 1873

2029 Pollys, larger head, smoother body

1. Don't model everything from one mesh. That only makes it harder to UV and model. And it needlessly increases vert count.
2. You're missing a lot of detail, especially on the feet. Don't look too much on the poly count when you're modeling the first version of something. That's why high polies are very useful. After you've done the high poly it's easy to see where you will need more geo or where you can cut down.
3. I think you got the head wrong. As far as I can see the box-shaped thing with the camera sits on top of the cylindrical part and can move independently from the rest of the head.
4. View the model with smooth shading. Then you can see how it will look ingame.
5. Why did you remove the spherical thing on his main body? You can model parts which stick out(or in) a lot to break up the silhouette. Just make them very basic shapes. If you don't attach them to the main mesh you will be able to toggle them on/off quickly to see if they fit or not.

Could you show wireframes for every coming update? That would be helpful.
Keep it up.

2413 pollys But the other "leg" is still the one from the last model, so we are a little over that number

is it 2413 polys or tris?

Tris

Way better now.
You could take a look at how the R4 was modelled in games like SWBF to see if you can find some interesting bits to add to your model. And I still think that the head should be round with a box siting on it with the small camera. But thats not that important.

For the head, i kinda followed this as a refrence http://blog.sci-fire.com/?p=546, since it was the best "source" i found with good angles on the head
(skipped some details to save some tris)

Hmm could you draw a rough draft of what you mean about the head? I am not that sure i know what you mean.

And il take a look at the SWBF2 droid tomorrow, its getting late and SWBF is downloading on steam

It's shaping really nice so far. Maybe you can do some panels so you they can be baked later to a lower poly?

I think what Schlechtwetterfront meant is this part. This is supposed to be the camera. I think the other part is used to project holograms and things like that:

Ah ok, I think I 'mislooked'.
You could still add some more details to the feet. Look at Sharkys pic. Most of the panelling can be textured on.

up to 3k tris is ok. so 2.4k s pretty good.