Renzatic on 7/3/2009 at 17:30

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I dunno. As a desk it isn't too grand, but you've still got some nice textured pipes or grating going on there. I think it'd work better if you converted it into something more industrial.

Renzatic on 8/3/2009 at 20:05

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That does look a bit better. I still think the normal on your old desk is too good just to throw away. Try and work it in with the new one. You might end up with something pretty cool.

Also, is 540 tris too much for a door? I can't normalmap edges for shit, always end up with seams and other funky artifacts. So instead of constantly working with my cages and failing considerably, I cheated a bit and beveled my edges, jacked my smoothing angle up obscenely high, added some loop constraints in to keep from getting smoothing errors, and photoshopped out the edge curves on the normal. The good news is I've not got a low poly mesh that matches the high poly almost perfectly. Texturing and normapping are done and all. The bad news is it's gone up from 100 tris to the aforementioned 450.

If that's decent, I can start on my next mesh. If not...well...I guess I'll have to screw around with it yet again.

Edit: Nevermind. I knocked down my smoothing angle a bit, cut away some of the constraints, and ended up with the happy medium: a nice door with smooth unfaceted curves at 250 tris. (http://users.chartertn.net/greymatt/door_final.jpg) Ladies and gentlemen. This door is DONE! I beter celebrate now, because I doubt my goofy cheat will work when I start getting into complicated objects.

Renzatic on 8/3/2009 at 20:46

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Show me a screenshot of your topology. I might be able to recommend something.

Actually, are you getting tris from your edge bevels? If so, you only have to worry about those when you're doing your low poly. For a mesh you intend on subdividing inside of Mudbox, you just have to add loop constraints, which only ever add quads to your mesh, or turn off smooth for your first couple of subdivision levels.

Renzatic on 8/3/2009 at 21:32

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I can't tell much from that angle. On a guess, I'd say you accidently created some ngons when you were welding and cutting all your bits and pieces together, and it's trying to reconnect them as tris and quads when you subdivide up.

Like right here:

http://users.chartertn.net/greymatt/ngon.jpg

I don't see any connecting edges leading up to that. From the shot, it looks like you've got a poly with 7 or 8 vertices on it. If that's what it is, you might have a whole bunch of those lying around.

Edit: Do you ever get the impression that we're the only ones hanging around here nowadays?

Muzman on 9/3/2009 at 00:47

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I'm watching intently ;)

This is perhaps criminally OT, but you guys aren't Shockers by any chance?
Wouldn't want to have a crack at a Von Braun or a Rickenbacker model for the purposes of (http://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=112595) cutscene recreation?
(I know it's potentially daunting or boring. I have a basic Von Braun model a friend did for me, but it needs detailing. You get to avoid game engine detail constraints! That's all the spin I've got I'm afraid)