Here we go, hard surface gun project! This time we get 3 weeks to fully model, sculpt, UV and bake a complex hard surface gun model.
For my project, I am going to try my hand at modeling this UK Carbine from 1944.
After researching this gun I came across a very useful channel on youtube, in where the host reviews all sorts of old and interesting firearms. Luckily for me, he takes his time and goes through not only the guns history but all the interesting features about the gun and the time period, as you can imagine this makes for a great reference.
Week 01
After working on this project for one week, I am a little worried about the scope of this gun. While I think I am making great progress and it's turning out a lot better than I first thought, there are so many difficult shapes to get right and a lot of interest details. Here is my current progress in Fusion 360.
When I find meself struggling to much with a component or shape of the gun, I try and move on so another until I can think of a new approach to solve my problem. Sometimes, however, I found it easier to head into Maya to great the overall shapes. I can later go into Zbrush and add the detailing.
Below you can see an example of this in the guns lower handle.
Final HighPoly
Week 02
So here we are, week 02 resurfacing! This gun has been a very complicated model for me, and the resurfacing and uving process has turned to be just as complicated as modeling the shapes. I am in the process of separating the parts based on their proximity to each other and exporting them in their own Highpoly and decimated groups. This step really helps with the baking process in that you will hopefully eliminate overlapping bakes. I found a really cool little mel script that allows me to color code my Maya outliner. I find this really helpful when I am trying to organize the low poly and decimated groups in Maya for the resurfacing effort.
As far as the Resurfacing and UVing process goes, here is my update on how far I have made it this week. Having to revisit the highly this week has put me slightly behind where I would like to be.
Zbrush Highpoly
Maya Viewport
MarmoSet Bakes
MarmoSet Bakes (WireFrame)
MarmoSet Bakes (WireFrame)
MarmoSet Bakes
Week 03
We made it, week 03, final week. This gun has given me no shortage of problems. After reworking the Highpoly and spending more time than I want to admit getting the lowly and UVs to bake correctly. Here is the final gun rendered in Marmoset.
Final Render
