thepuglife

Current day

It’s time for yet another long-winded post…except from me this time. Let me first start by stating this; All of us here at ASTFOR have to endure the struggle of balancing academics, work, family, and our commitment to this mod, resulting in seemingly little progress over the past few months. Yet, with the holiday’s right around the corner, we are finally getting the much-desired time to continue progress with this mod! As excited as I am to continue working, I know my to-do list is endless, and the same story goes for all the modelers here at ASTFOR. Currently, we only have 3 active modelers on this team, and thus the 3 of us are forced to tackle multiple projects at the same time in order to meet our goals for the initial release of the mod. However, such circumstances bring various consequences with it. For one, it forces us to have to learn new programs, software, and techniques to reach the desired end result for a given project. While in the big picture this is far from being a bad thing, in the short term in requires us to dedicate a sizable amount of time to simply learning (which you become quite tired of as college students) and no forward progress with the mod. Next, overall quality CAN take a hit as you begin to overlook certain details to get things finished, and despite our desire to avoid this, it happens. Finally, and in my mind, most importantly, it becomes easy to lose motivation when you’re working your ass off but seemingly getting nowhere, which I have no doubt felt in recent months. As much as we would love to avoid this, it is inevitable with a team as small as ours. Thus, I am here to ask the community for assistance. We are currently looking for anyone who has experience with 3D modelling, whether it be with 3DS Max/Maya/Blender/Zbrush/Modo/etc. By no means do you have to be an expert, trust me, I am far from one, we just ask that you have a level of proficiency to where step by step guidance isn’t necessary (for the most part, there are exceptions). However, we do want to emphasize the importance of dedication. Over the course of the 5 years this project has been alive, we have had countless experiences where individuals make promises then fall through, leaving us behind with nothing but wasted time and energy. If you know that this may become an issue, we kindly ask you to disregard this post. Additionally, if you happen to be working with another major project/mod, it would be in the best interest of both projects to not make another commitment, as in the end, we all do this in our free time for free, and thus it becomes to find time to produce results for two projects, which inevitably ends in both projects being left empty handed. Speaking from experience, trust me when I say that ASTFOR is an amazing team. The ASTFOR team is a wonderful group of individuals to work with, with a ton of knowledgeable, friendly, and dedicated people that no doubt make you better at what you do. If you are interested in sharing your modeling skills with our team or have any questions, please feel free to PM any of us, we look forward to hearing from you!

considering the last post in this thread was from march 2014, I'd assume so...

Its about time someone finished those models...

WIP from the weapon/gear side of things...

I've been trying to bake picatinny rails where the teeth of the low poly rails are separate elements from the main body, but cant seem to get a good result. I don't know if I' not setting the projection cage up right or what. I've searched the forums to see if I could get an answer but didn't find anything so if anyone could guide me on the right path for the proper workflow, that would be greatly appreciated. Current projection cage:

da12thMonkey's method worked perfectly. I would definitely recommend stitching the UV space first as there can be issues if you let the program try and do it for you (which I found out)

yokhanan, wildcat, I sent you a pm

I started work on the High Poly recently and I am looking for feedback (edge tightness, etc.) Max Viewport Images: http://imgur.com/a/Lpl8X Quick Renders: http://imgur.com/a/JoTkH (edit: seems as if these images are blurry)

I am currently modelling an ADM UIC 10a rifle I was wondering if someone with experience in weapon modelling could give me their input regarding the level of detail I should go into for the hand guard pics of hand guard blockout: http://imgur.com/a/k52hp Currently, I feel as if there is too much geometry wrapped up in the hand guard and was wondering if I should just reduce the geometry of the holes already present or remove the holes that really serve no purpose all together (such as those right below the top picatinny rails). Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, ThePugLife

I have finally found time to finish the block out of the rifle, here are some pics: http://imgur.com/a/k52hp What do you think about the proportions, given that this is a .308 caliber rifle? Any input would be awesome!

Ill definitely give this a go, thank you! Ill leave the holes to the normal maps, thank you!

*delete*

Thank you for your response! This is just the block out state of the model and therefore the entire thing consists of ngons, all of which will be dealt with when i move to the high poly. But what is your opinion of the holes I have circled here, you think they are worth even having on the model as I'm contemplating removing them all together. I am aware that its a civilian rifle and thats honestly why I chose it. Its different from your run of the mill M4/sr25/m110, which already exist in Arma in numerous mods, all of which being high quality with no reason to redo them.

what is the best method to get good bakes with picatinny rails? As of now, i'm not at all satisfied with what I am currently doing (having each rail be a separate element) or am I just doing something wrong.

Hello, I am currently attempting to bring my ACR model into Arma 3. As of now, I am trying to learn the basics of normal map baking and texture resolution size. Pics: http://imgur.com/a/zadJ2 I have no experience texturing and only minimal experience modelling, so its gonna take some time. However, if I can overcome these challenges I plan on expanding this pack. I do have several questions regarding what size normal/ texture maps I should use, so any tips would be awesome

I tried to fix somethings up, but not to sure how much it helped Baked the other normal map, its not perfect and needs definite fixing in certain areas. At this point, im thinking of redoing most of the lowpoly model to better optimize it and allow for an easier baking process...but we'll see http://imgur.com/a/YY6zE For further down the road, I have no idea how to texture and have no access to photoshop, so that in itself will be an even bigger challenge As always, tell me what you think

Finally got to properly baking the first normal map. I don't know how well they translate into the engine. Tell me what you think... http://imgur.com/a/YY6zE

Noted, Thank you

Would it be possible to have different maps for the different parts of the model (i.e. handguard, stock) to allow for easier changes to the model?

I meant more in terms of the final steps of baking and low poly creation Thanks so much for the reply, Ill definitely have to check out the Skype channel