40K Source

Hi I'm Farseer, I'm already acquainted with the team (some of them) through the IRC channel so i wont be introducing myself.

So I'm currently working on a Drop-Pod, which is proving to be hard.... very hard....
And i remembered that the team needed props, so i decided to make a quick lamp post that felt 40k-ish (b2tc% be needin mo' emperor pimpin, ya dig g?) to kinda relieve some of the pressure that the drop pod applied to me.....

(http://img8.imageshack.us/img8/5390/lamppost.jpg)

It Weighs (i refer to data size and tri's as weight, its easier) 412 tri's and is very flexible, it can be made into a corner lamp post. The "Branch" is not attached to the pole and therefore can be duplicated and become a 2 branch lamp post (even a 3 and 4 Branch Lamp post, but it will surpass the Tri limit on props). It's not UV mapped, 1st i wish to make it perfect.

Its Roughly based on this: http://dawn.of.war.free.fr/dawn-of-war/photos/025.jpg (http://dawn.of.war.free.fr/dawn-of-war/photos/025.jpg) (Bottom Right Corner. near the power line).

So any suggestions/Comments to make it better? more spikes, less spikes, something instead of spikes, something bit longer, something shorter. Etc. Etc. Etc.

Your polygon distribution seems to be a bit off. How many sided are those cylinders? I think you could shave off a bunch of tris by removing some of the segments in the arch with almost no visible difference. And you might want to chamfer/bevel(or whatever it's called in modeling tool) the part of the bottom cube thingy where it connects with the cylinder, like in your reference. It's only 8 more tris, but I think would make it look a bit better. Overall I have to say that I like. :D

Wow, thanks. But i was hoping for pimping advice, like a cross or an iron halo?

The cylinders are between 12-14 sides (well, lets say when i made the cylinders i set it on 12-14), 10 makes it look a bit squared.... I use XSI and its called beveling, personally i didnt see in the reference that the edges on top of the cement block (which connects to the post) should be beveled, but ill give it a try.

And the Semi-Arch metal pipe (that connects to the lamp) weighs 200 tri's, i dont want it to look like its not arched, you know? i want it to look, pipe-ee? (tis not a word). So i might just leave that, besides how many lamp posts have 3 branches? 2 is max i believe....

The amount of branches would depend on where the lamp post would be situated. I've seen some with four branches at docks or near piers. Ones with two branches between roads and ones with just one branch at the sides of the roads. I don't think I've seen one with three branches though, although it is completely possible.

Also here's a picture to illustrate my point.
(http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/7564/canyoutell.jpg)

There are two arches there, the other one has 12 sides and the other only 8, can you tell which one is which(A or B)? The blocks are there only to illustrate what I meant about the bevel(you can see it at the connection point, if you look carefully). :D

As for crosses and such I think it would look cool with a skull or a cross at the bottom part and the part connecting the L shape.  :)

No i really cant tell the difference.... but my guess is A is 12, and B is 8.

And what do you mean by: As for crosses and such I think it would look cool with a skull or a cross at the bottom part and the part connecting the L shape. what is the L shape? regarding the lamp post i mean.

:D I'm not making much sense today. I mean the cube on top of the vertical cylinder.

its actually suppose to have a big spike on it, but i forgot to put it in. Well i can do a skull, i just dont know how a real skull looks, and an iron halo? also dont know... same with cross, like what style?

I like it, it's a good first shot.

I think I would have made the arched part with a square cross-section, so I could have a smoother curve.

The upright post looks a bit thin to take the weight of the arm and lamp, can you make it about 50% thicker.

Maybe an eagle head at the end of the arm rather than a spike would look more imperial.

If you give the lamp a separate material it will be easier to do on and off versions.

So i made the Pole a bit bigger, added some crosses, beveled the cement block and lowered the tri's on the semi-arch support beam and moved it down a bit. did i miss anything?

(http://img27.imageshack.us/img27/4066/lamp2.jpg)

I think its missing something... something on top of the Pole, on the cube with the crosses.

Simplify the horizontal spike above the lantern(up and left on the second image). It's a small detail at a height that's not looked at very often(I think four sided spike would actually look cooler). I can't think of anything more right now, just check that if you can get away with less sides on the vertical cylinder(probably irrelevant amount of tris to be saved, but it still somehow bothers me  8)). How many tris does it have now?

The Vertical pole's tri's are irrelevant, maybe like 30-50 tri's..... What do you mean by 4 sided Spike? IMAGEPLOXWTFBBQ!

i think he means the spike thats on the end of the Arm pointing out, away from the pole, above the lantern, its overkill for what it is and could easily be replaced by the use of a single triangular spike like the ones on top of the arm.

Typheron is right, that's what I meant. :D And I meant the tri count on the whole model... I really should sleep more, I don't make much sense when I'm tired.

the spike at the end of the branch is actually a cylinder with a cone....  i dont know if a spike would translate that feeling.... anyway, more pimping ideas! crosses, halos.... and ah, how to make chains? cause a chain hanging would be good.... or something like death decorated/Battle marks (Lets say, an ork choppa embedded on the cement block, or a SM shoulder pad lying near the lamp post).

Any Ideas? cause i presume if nids are there, then the local populace is already dead... and therefore battles (or carnages) already took place, so we cant have a shiny lamp post.

i would not bother adding anything else to it as a prop, its skin will show wear and tear on it and we will want to replicate it many times in a level, so a generic lampost would be the best bet. I would still say ditch the tube-cone spike on the end of the lampost, it looks out of place with the detailwork on the rest of the model.

Reducing the poly counts of the tube sections and adding framing detail to the lantern part of it would be my preferance

i would advise saving the current one, creating a copy and creating broken versions of it if you wanted to go that way. Also you could make additional "addon" parts, such as chains and the liek that could be positioned onto it in Hammer, as well as being useable elsewhere in maps.

Whats the current polygon count on the model as it stands anyway?

Between 400 and 600

(http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/821/lamp3.jpg)

Ok so i changed the spike at the end of the branch to a 4-faced one, added a spike to the block (on top and on the right)....

Now here's the thing, the entire lamp post weighs 476 tri's (if i remove hidden faces, maybe 450 tri's), Now as shown in the image above, Exhibit A has 196 tri's and Exhibit B has 98 tri's..... which one should i use? note i can move the circulate edges around the pipe, to make it curve at the right spot(s). Currently its using Exhibit A, so if i use "B" the lamp post's tri's would be a total of 320-360 tri's.... so which one is better?

oh, and it turns out i have Soulstorm installed, (after i tried installing it again) and i checked the lamp post... it turns out the Pole is not a cylinder but a square.... and that the semi-arch is a square too... thats like 6-10 tri's compared to 50-60 for the vertical pole...... so now what? square metal pipes/beams or cylindrical?

I'd like the upright pole kept as a cylinder, but the arched part as a square cross-section.

ok the support-arch is cubic, less tri's.... i believe its done, only thing left is for me to UV map it, but im worried bout the height, in relation to the SM.... as for versions with 2-4 branches, ima premake em, but 1st i need to understand what did you mean by having 2 versions of texture on the lamp? to have a turned on version and a turned off version. i really dont know how to do that....

In other news, President Obam.... er... Wrong newscast, in other news, i've made a wall prop, it's basically 2 models, 1st is a Wall hub and the other is a wall section, then the mapper can place a wall hub and wall section to form perimeters. Note this a metropolitan city-type wall, it has spikes, and is short, like to the waist or maybe a bit more. The Whole purpose is to have a place to duck behind (you can crouch jump over it) but the height in relation to the SM needs to be tweaked.... Basically its another form of cover....

(http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/5499/wall1h.jpg)

Comments/Constructive Criticism.

UV map the model across 2 materials/textures, with the lamp on one and the rest of it on the other.  I don't recall how XSI handles multiple materials on a model, so I cant be any more detailed i'm afraid.

It's best if you leave wall building to the map makers.  Making details like spiky tops or decorative skulls is good, but leave the big blocky walls to the mappers.

For two skins you only need to paint the two different textures with their .vmts and .vtfs and do the skin changing in the .QC file.  Using texture groups. (http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/%24texturegroup) But don't worry about that just yet, just do the UVs and paint the textures for them, you can look at this stuff once it's more relevant. :)

I dont understand the 2nd part... Why leave the big walls to the mappers? and this is a short wall BTW, to the waist, so it can be ducked behind yet can be crouch-jumped over.

As you know I preferred a more modular approach with a separate lamp and post.  HL2 seems to get by with just one "branch" lampposts.

Sorry i was absent, Warhammer online is VERY addictive.... been doing nothing except playing that, which is kinda sad.... any-who, back to modeling...