Desert Eagle .50

Anima

Ok here she is.



Its about 85 - 90% complete and its 1396 polys which is by far the highest amount in one of my models. The pic isn't fantastic but they will give you the jist of the model. Any comments?

DRakE

top quality.

do nice skin now and it'll be my dealge replacement!

Magic Monkey

Hi Raven,

That Desert Eagle looks deadly. Would you mind me asking you some questions?

- What 3D modelling program do you use?
- Do you create 1/2 the model first (e.g. left side) and then
mirror an instance on the x-axis?
- What is an acceptable amount of polys for a weapon model?
- What do you use to create the skins?

How did you get into 3D weapon modelling, and do you have any tips or pointers for good tutorials/resources?

TIA,

Anima

Well i use 3D Studio Max 3.1. I do that technique of mirroring sometimes. On this model i did it for the grip and some parts on the slide but i usually just make a brick and then start extruding and cutting etc.. Well 500 - 700 is what valve recommend but the half-life engine is old and newer computers could handle up to 1500 - 1700. For skins i use Photoshop but i'm not brilliant at skinning so i can't really offer any advice. Try studying skins already made by good artists like Sixshooter or Iono. I started modelling last December. I had the program and i wanted to learn so i looked for some tutorials and i've been modelling ever since
For modelling, I would say that you should try and plan how you are going to do the model so that you don't create alot of polys. Also i would stay away or keep booleans to a minimum because they can create alot of polys to. And taking your time is always a good thing :0
For skining though I would find alot of tutorials and just keep practicing. I find skining to be the hardest thing to do. Pm me if you need anything.

Anima

Here are some new pics I added the hammer at the back.

RopeDrink

Looks gorgeous, as does pretty much all of your projects Rav
Keep it up!

po0k

Monkey, I don't think you could just mirror it - for realism's/accuracy's sake at elast.
The gun is assymetric around the safety catch, as aremost guns.
As for right/left hand positoning, it *may* save time in making accurate models for each.

Would be handy for improving general modeling skills in the future too

Magic Monkey

Raven - Looks great, and thanks for the help!

SyxPak - For the weapon I'm currently working on (Mach 2), the
mirroring technique will probably work well. I'm working from an image profile, and once all the detail is done, I'll mirror it and see how it turns out. Pics will be posted when it's done.

Bear in mind I'm only a beginner, and I'll probably have WAY too many polys in, and other model/skinning issues, etc.

Um, do weapon modellers make seperate left/right hand models when creating their work?

Anima

No in the last cs update valve added some new thing that flips the right handed model to the left hand automatically. Whats a Mach2?

Magic Monkey

The Mach 2 machine gun(?) from the film "Blade".

I've attached a pic of what I've done so far...



Needs more work!

Anima

Lookin' good M.Monkey by any chance can you animate?

DRakE

M.Monkey, were you working from a refernece photo?

po0k

Cursed Valve..that's just being lazy.
Should eb able to turn flipping on or off.
The two models aren't loaded, are they? And if it's a filesize issue, they can go ram it, after wrapping that pointless ricoshít mod in with it- just like HLDM before it. Waste of D/ling time (on a 20Meg line )

DRakE

Originally posted by SyxPak
Waste of D/ling time (on a 20Meg line )

lol!

RopeDrink

Bastard...
Anyway enough about connections and stuff along those lines, lets all have a massive discussion about tea bags!

Anima

I prefer the triangular shaped tea bags myself
Syx how do you mean the guns aren't loaded?

Magic Monkey

Raven - I haven't really explored animation in 3Ds Max yet (aside from rotating teapots ), just modelling, but I am interested in it, and intend to give it a go soon, in the context of animation in Half-Life for weapons/characters. Why do you ask?

Drake - Yes, in the left viewport I used this picture from the Blade 2 screensaver.

Anima

I was asking because i thought you might be able to help me. I have been having probs with it and i was wondering if you could help.

Magic Monkey

Raven - What's the problem exactly?

Anima

Well i can't get the bones to move the mesh in max and i can do it in milkshape but the mesh is all messed up. You have any good tutorials?

Magic Monkey

Maybe try this?

http://www.planetfortress.com/tf2models/tuto.htm

The last 5 tutorials...

Anima

Oh yeah i forgot to ask. What kind of skin should i put on it? I was thinkin of a dark grey one like the reference pic i used. I would rather not try and make a silver one like the cs one cause its very hard to get the shading and highlights right. Any thoughts?

Magic Monkey

Umm, I would go for dark grey, or perhaps grey/silver/black.
Tempting to do a "psychedelic rainbow" skin for the gun

ThrAx

Make it shiney, shiney guns rule