roy's forklift

[rhoymand]

I used a different reference for the forklift than the one on the website. the model is maxed out at the 600tri poly limit.

think I can get away with the pedals as floating decals?

[dabu]

hmmm, well I would make 2 different versions of the wheels, one with alpha, one without.

and delete the bottom faces.

looking great otherwise, nice work...

[rhoymand]

what do you mean "2 different versions of the wheels, one with alpha, one without"? also, its a "no transparency" model. forklifts with three wheels (like mine) are common, just funny looking.

[rhoymand]

here's the more popular 4-wheel forklift. deleted the bottom faces and I'm now at 598 tris.

[dabu]

I like that design better. You can also drag the center vert of each wheel down, and save an additional 4 tris.

I guess it did say no transparency...

[rhoymand]

done with UVs. base pass next...

[rhoymand]

basic color and ambient occlusion pass with a little vertex shading. dirt and details next...

[dabu]

thats lookin sick, nice work.

try some different hues of yellow...

[rhoymand]

started adding dirt/details. since I don't know how it'll be used its kinda hard to tell how much dirt it should have. I'm assuming this forklift has seen its share of work and is starting to rust up.

[dabu]

nice, why not make it a roy branded forklift? Don't forget edge hi lites...

[rhoymand]

"danymohr" is an anagram of my nickname: rhoymand. you don't think using my unaltered name would be kinda cheesy?

[dabu]

"roytek"

I thought that was an anagram...

[rhoymand]

still have to add dirt to the "black" textures.

[dabu]

I would take back the grime a bit, it looks too dirty, like a piece of heavy earth moving equipment... I pictured this more indoors...

maybe add a bit more dark color to the bottom edge... and some lighter edge hilites...

looking good.

[Sam Hagelund]

Hi Roy.
Its good to see that you aren't afraid of drawing textures from scratch.
What it needs is some creative copy pasting from reference photos.
Ex. adding functional details besides wear and dirt.
I copy-paste from reference photos as the first step and then add the wear and dirt afterwards. Even just partial copy-pasting as a reference for hand-drawing the texture detail. Start with a little and don't be afraid of highlights from the photos.
Copy pasting can also be too much, the right combination is key. It will also speed up your work. I would spend approx. 4 hours on this model from finding reference photos to implementing it into the game.

I found one good photo-ref,: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Airforce_forklift.jpg

kind regards,
Sam

[rhoymand]

hey sam,

thanks for tips. I actually do use a lot of photo reference; editing it so it looks painted. here's my latest WIP. I'll probably cut back the amount of dirt next pass as dabu suggested.

[Sam Hagelund]

Hi Roy,
I can see that now. I didn't notice the "next" button on the bottom of the page and missed the later posts. :oops:

If you send me the model, as and FBX or OBJ, I can show you what more I can do for it. Then I'll pass it back so you can check out the differences.

Sam
sp@seriousgames.dk

[rhoymand]

pretty much done (I think).

[Jasmine]

What if you added some scrapes and paint scratches? That might be a cool detail.

http://safety.1800inet.com/images/marcom/forklift.jpg

http://www.nsmachine.com/1672.jpg

[Sam Hagelund]

Hi Roy,

First thing I did was literally raise the roof. see img below.

On the texture map I keep a lot of the details u made. I used photo clips straight on the texture. It works well on mechanical parts such as the tower pipes/cable and wheels. Since the wheels won't be turning I added depth on the bottom rim of the outer wheelhub. To reduce the blocky look I added a curve on the botton panel on the side of the forklift. And overall depth tricks here and there.
This is just an example of what can be done.

Try to take your skills to the next level.

1. Create the texture in 2x the final size. ( here 1024x1024 ) then size down when done.
2. Export textures from games and study the texture maps. My favs are Half-Life 2 on diffuse tex. And Quake4 / Doom3 on normals tex. Focusing on mapobjects/props textures not wall textures.

(note to self:) I see the highlights on the scrapes on the back of the forklift are a bit much, I'd tone it down a little.

kind regards,
Sam

PS: I won't be re-working any more textures for anyone. ;)

[rhoymand]

wow. thats incredible how much a little photo reference and contrast can make. it has a greater feeling of realism. I've learned a lot from this, thanks.