1.1 Inch Anti-Aircraft Gun - My First 3D Project - Advice Appreciated.

[KJakker]

I am working on my first scratch built 3D modeling project. A Quad 1.1 Inch anti-aircraft gun. I am doing the primary construction in Google SketchUp and then I am going to import it into Blender to give it pivots, and assign it materials. 

 

I would eventually like to get it setup in such a condition that it can be imported into MAX and make it available to the CA community. I would appreciate any advice members have to offer on improving upon this project and my own skills.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edit: Fixed a miss spelled word.

Edited August 13, 2013 by KJakker

[+russouk2004]

Good detail....one thing to watch is poly count...as you will get carried away with details lol..

[+RAVEN]

Yup, the first gun barrel I made was 5000 polys, it had more polys then the plane, Sure looked nice.

[+sophocles]

Looks great!

[+WhiteBoySamurai]

I tried to convert models from sketchup before, and it was a nightmare. I highly recommend you get gmax instead (a free version of 3ds Max specifically for making game models) because files can be ported over the Max easily and then exported. Blender is also a popular free alternative, but personally I could never get used to it after using Max for all this time.

 

Anyway, your model looks really sharp, but as others have said, be very careful of the polygon count. Remember, this is a tiny (relative to military aircraft) ground object that will mostly be seen from very high up. Even when we're mashing F7 and browsing ground objects, we can only zoom in so much, so that complexity will be wasted. For example, instead of a multi-segmented 24+ sided tube for each barrel, use an 8-sided cylinder (with a closed end). That change alone will bring the polycount down by orders of magnitude and it will look almost exactly the same in the end.

 

Remember, you can add a tremendous amount of detail in the textures alone. And the more geometrically complex you make the mesh, the harder it will be to add good-looking textures. Good luck!

[KJakker]

Thanks for the info on gmax, although now I have to figure out how to use a new piece of software. That is what I like about sketchup, the low learning curve, it is the closest thing I have yet found to my grandfather's drafting paper.

 

As for the polygon count, I took a look at some of the WWII ships and I see what you are getting at. I was trying to be to close to the photographs that I have. I think I am going to start a new low poly 1.1 model for in game use.   

Edited August 17, 2013 by KJakker

[Centurion-1]

Gmax/ 3ds max is really quite intuitive once you get used to it, and there are loads of great tutorials on the net!