Thanks for all positive responses for my previsous mini toturoials. I really enjoy getting fedback positive and negative as well:) To clarify those are not a step by step tutorials its more a brief look at techniqes and triks to make stuff faster and easier.

Today i wanted to talk about a new object made qucikly in (almost non exisiting) my free time.

Introduction:

I mentioned alraedy few times how I enjoy working on props. This time i didint really follow any restrictions like geomtery limits or texture sizes. This object was made with idea for enviroment behind it.I hope to get more free time in next few weeks after our super busy project ends and this shoudl give me time to work on my own big and complex scene. In mean while il try to model few props for it

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Modelling

I’ve used same technique as in “metalDoors” tutorial but this time i started with base geometry for speakers. Google research give me soem references as I wanted to go with realistic style. A small side note Big companies are very strick about copyright issues. Thats why tehy always have thir own references or agreement with copy right holder and permision to use their stuff in games etc.
When you do you own personal project it desent really mater but this is kind of my habit when Im using references i nver make object/texture exacly as reference but im trying to get essencea and feel of object.

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Microphone model started with cylinder and after few textures get right shape and scale in comaprision to speakers. There is not much I can say about modeling. With those simple shapes I only concetraded to have extra local details in geometry for ambient occlusion pass.

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Texturing

I spearatly modeled highres (te metalowe rinigi w speakerach) for normal map. Baked ocllusion pass and started texturiong process. Not having any restricons I made spearate texture for each element trying to archive maximum resolution.in props texturing i always use ambient oclusion pass. This is the easies effect to help archive “3d” look of any type object.

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Conclusion

There is no question that practicing make you better in you field of expretice. Thats why im trying to keep myself working even on small objects like this one.

Hope you liked this small tutorial and leave me some comments /feedback.

Its again time to look at amazing work from super talented artists from around the world!

•  GreenShadow Town, Yang Bo 
• Steam-powered Factory, Igor Rashkue
• Supercity, Stefan Morrell
• Pieces of eight 
• Malaysia Dreams, Ani Atanasova
• Game of life, hu zheng
• Red Pavilion, Giovi Lee
• The Cider House, Jaroslav Pijacek
• Industrial Rust, Andrew Averkin
• The last panthomime, duccio ierdn

Modelling:

Cartoon modelling has no rules. Objects are usually rescaled and twisted. I started this one with a box and then just carried out extruding faces until I got a chest.

I used my favourite technique for modelling elements for a normal map. Please, check my other tutorial here to read more about it. Making a normal map for the old pirate coin was especially easy using this technique. I basically created a few elements that I copied them around into a pattern, next smoothed them to create a hires version of the coin.

Texturing.

As I mentioned before, texturing is my favourite part of every project I work on. I love the creativity that cartoon style allows you to do. The tricky thing is though, just to create cartoon materials that simulate real materials.

I have been asked once, if I use an ambient occlusion for cartoon style objects – OF COURSE I DO!

An occlusion pass is very important! It gives it an extra dimension to a ‘flat’ texture. Sometimes I even copy and overlay green and red channels from the normal map onto a diffuse map to give it more details and make look more 3D.

Here are the final versions of diffuse, secular and normal textures.

Conclusion:

Us, artists need to be flexible and comfortable in working in any style that are provided by references. What is important, it’ is to keep as high quality as possible but also find ways to add your own ‘twist’ to it.

As always if you have any questions etc please leave comments or e-mail me.

From the technical point of view, you need to be very careful when preparing alphas for leaves and flowers. They need to be cut out very precisely. Normally I use real photos of flora as a source for my textures, however if you are unable to find a good quality reference photo with leaves on a natural background, use colour range selection to cut them or manually cut out shapes of the leaves and then slightly blur the edges. It is also a good idea to have a few shapes of the leaves and mix them to make the object look as much realistic and unique as possible. It is also very handy to keep all elements including alpha in one texture. In this case to create a normal map I used one of the plug-ins like Nvidia or Crazy Bump.

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 The most important thing is, to keep them in a style of surrounding environment but also be efficient with poly count and texture sizes. The best approach is to keep one texture per object. Depending on the game and engine, texture may vary from very small (for example 256×256) up to extra high (2048×2048). I usually start with 1024×1024 as it can always be scaled down if necessary. For this tutorial you require a basic knowledge of Maya/Max/ Photoshop and normal map baking techniques. If there is anything you would like to ask , please leave a comment.

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l ike to start modelling high poly elements on flat polygon. I don’t need a low poly object at this stage. I only model shapes and elements that I would like to go on my object.

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Also I don’t need to worry about keeping clean topology. This is the best part of this process as I only will use those elements to bake my normal map which means I can stack them up of top of each other. Believe me this could save hours of modelling! Look at picture below to see exactly what I mean.

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Next phase is to model low poly version of model that will go into game. At this point I am trying to be as efficient as possible in object optimisation. Saving a few polygon means a few thousands polygons less for the game engine to handle which equals better performance.

Once I have my object ready, it’s time for the UVs unwrap. Having high poly version pre- modelled I can quickly position them according to UV map, bake it and a base normal map is ready!

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Having a normal map baked and UVs snapshot, it is time to create a diffuse texture. Textures are way more important than anything else to make object look really nice:).

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My texturing workflow remains pretty much the same. I use HDTexures library with a great variety of different materials. I start with a base texture and then add more material types to build more complex materials. In this case I used a metal texture as a base and added scratches on the edges and a bit of rust to make the door gate look really old and warn out.

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To sum up this short tutorial. The main thing is to try to be as efficient as possible. Even if you work on your personal projects when time isn’t crucial, it is important not to work on one element for too long . Of course I could have modelled this object in a package like Zbrush which would have given me a better result and taken more time but in this case it wasn’t necessary.

Here are few close-ups:

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Thanks you very much for reading my tutorials and shoot if you have any questions.

That said, there are my “rules” to help me stay inspired.

Make art, not just think about it

•  This may seem really obvious, but it is actually quite amazing how often it falls to the wayside. ‘I don’t have the time‘ and ‘I don’t feel like it‘ are two regularly heard refrains. Well, if you want to be an artist, you have to make the time, and you can’t sit around waiting for inspiration to strike; inspiration does indeed make a difference in art, but it is not an essential factor and, it will usually come once you’ve begun.

Never stop growing and learning

•  Update your skills and learn new ones. Make weekly “art dates” with yourself. Use social media to connect with other artists. Keep in touch and share your sources of inspiration as well as seek inspiration from others. Regularly visit your friend blogs but also try to search for new artists once in a while. Research art history and art materials. Study the techniques of art masters, past and present. You should never need to limit yourself to just “your” art field. Broaden your scope.

Set goals and prize yourself for archiving them

• I find that having specific deadlines helped me to keep me focused and motivated, especially if work is broken down into small, achievable, manageable pieces. For me, having a time line with many milestones before reaching the final objective helps to keep me motivated.
  For example if I work on a big scene I’m trying to split time between modelling a big piece of geometry like building etc and modelling small elements for it. Goals can be no matter how big or small its up to you but don’t forget to prize yourself for archiving each one. Listen to your favourite music, go out or eat something that you like. Make your self happy and this will help to work towards a new goal/milestone.

Stay positive

•  No matter how much you work or how difficult it may be, don’t consecrate on negatives. Its very important to consciously think about positive sides of everything . It’s extremely important to surround yourself with those who have similar goals and issues to create a positive synergy. It’s a short life and you only have limited energy.

Keep your body in good shape

•  Be aware of your eating habits. Nutrition and exercise have a profound effect on your mood. Go outside to “fresh” your brain and help your eyes to rest a bit. We spend to much time in front of computers and making breaks every few hours should become your everyday habit. Don’t forget to get sufficient rest.

Don’t go hard on yourself

•  Remember you are only human and be kind to yourself. You need to realize that you cannot please everyone and you cannot be good at everything. Don’t listen to anyone who tells you that you’re too young, too old, too whatever. Go forth and be brave. And don’t forget to smile:)

 Bottom line is: find a right balance between working hard on archiving goals and having fun and good time doing it.

• Spearman, Anto Jurici
• Pieces of eight, Viktor Yakubovich
• Woodworker – Mazda CX7, Dmitriy Glazyrin
• Avalon, Maximilian – Gordon Vogt
• RobotHouse, Omer Messler
• Creating Worlds, Alberto Trujillo
• Downtown, VAYA STUDIO 

I’m curently working on small set of tutorials. Stay tuned Ill do sneak peak post soon:)