Armor parts with Normal Map but no Textures

So far I only have the normal maps done for some of the armor parts. Here is the remaining parts.

Belt

 Base model

 With normal map

 Side

 Back

 Sandals

Base model

 With normal map

 Side

 Back

 Shield

 Base model

 With normal map

 Side

 Back

 Sword

 Base model

 With normal map

 Handle close up

 Hilt close up

Details

Helmet Final

The helmet proved to be a challenge for me, each step of the way there was a new problem I had to overcome. Firstly, it was hard to model because of all the weird shapes, I hadn't modeled anything quite like it before. Then when I had to prepare it for Mudbox I ran into problems. I ended up having to remodel some of it because Mudbox didn't like it, but after that it was a much better model. Then when I was sculpting it in Mudbox it was tough because there was a lot of crevices than were hard to get at. The only part that went smooth with the helmet was the texturing, I didn't run into any problems.

In the end I really like how the helmet turned out though, it might be my favorite part of the armor.

 Base model

 With normal map

 With normal map and textures

 Side

Back

Forearm Armor Final

Here's the forearm armor completed with normal map and textures.

 Base model

 With normal map

 With normal map and textures

 Side

Back

Shoulder Armor Final

Not much to say about this. Here it is, the shoulder armor, with normal map and textures.

 Base model

 With normal map

With normal map and textures

  Side

About time for a post!

Its been a long time since my last post, about a month to be exact, but be assured I have been working steady during the time. The next few posts will be proof of that.

During the month I have created all the normal maps for each armor part in Mudbox, and I have gotten about half of the textures done. The normal maps turned out much better than I was expecting them to. I was able to get a lot of detail on each armor part.

I am also trying to create game friendly versions of each armor part encase I ever turn it into a character to be used in a game. Most of the parts are already pretty low poly, but some, like the breastplate are really high poly. I worked really hard to create a low poly version of the breastplate that would still maintain the shape of the sculpted version, I think I did a pretty decent job as you will see below in the pictures.

In this post I am going to show you the completed breastplate. The high poly and low poly, with and without textures, and with and without normal maps.

Base model

 With normal map

 With normal map and textures

 Side

Back

 High poly wireframe (27176 polys)

 Low poly wireframe (3624 polys)

Low poly final

As you can see there is a significant cut in polys from the high to the low. There is also a drop in quality though, but luckily it isn't very much. 

Mudbox preps

Before I take the models in to mudbox I need to make sure everything is in order. All of the UVs need to be properly layed out and everything need to be properly aligned. All of this is done but I also noticed something else. When you smooth something in Maya or Mudbox the program will average out the edges like you'd expect but sometime it can get rid of any hard edges to want to keep on your model. This could be a problem because when I got to create the normal maps in Mudbox I will be sculpting on a mesh that isn't exactly the same as the original mesh, this could cause the normal maps to not line up correctly. To fix this I added extra edges in Maya before taking it into Mudbox. These edges are positioned very close to any edge that I want to remain sharp, so that when you smooth it, the edge won't be completely smoothed out.

Here's an example.

 Original model

 

Model smoothed without extra edges added

Model smoothed with extra edges added

You can see that there is a big difference and that the one with the extra edges is much closer to the original. 

Mudbox?

So, I recently used Mudbox in my professional project to add high quality details to a lizard, like scales and wrinkles, etc. I then used a feature that creates a normal map from the high poly version so you can apply it to the low poly version and keep all of the details but still have something useable in Maya. I found that it worked really well and I think that I am going to do the same thing for all of the armor parts. It's the best way to have full control over the normal maps. It also seems to be what all the professionals do, you always see on their portfolios a high poly sculpted model used to create normal maps for the low poly model. I think this will also make my models to extremely better. It also might be quicker than trying to create normal maps from random textures I find online.

Here's an example of normal maps being created in Mudbox and being applied to a low poly model. Click to enlarge.

This will hopefully help me catch up on texturing because time is running out and I'm going to have to put in a lot of hours in order to finish. The same thing happened last semester but I managed to finish in time so I'm not to worried.