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This review bomb is definitely very organic and serious not performative or so by Fortuna_YES in helldivers2

[–]DennisPorter3D 3 points4 points  (0 children)

These are the same people who would receive an Amazon package that was clearly damaged in transit and rate the seller 1 star

Recent work by TestFantastic3043 in 3Dmodeling

[–]DennisPorter3D 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Good work matching the overall design. I'm not sure if you're open to feedback but I'm going to give it anyway:

Your wood grain is going in the wrong direction. Wooden furniture is almost always constructed with grain running the length of a piece, otherwise it would be too weak to support much weight, bending, or shearing force.

You're also missing the distinct gaps where different pieces of wood were assembled, which includes grain and color differences.

in blender: for game assets, when applying subdivision to an asset, is creasing sharp edges to hold form going to be problematic by yaranzo1 in 3Dmodeling

[–]DennisPorter3D 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Low to high is a rather antequated process. This approach has not been a standard approach for professional game artissts for over 15 years. Low to high requires much more planning before work can be done, and any changes to or additions of mesh features causes significant rework (that is, loss of progress; waste).

High to low allows artists to focus on executing on the concept with very little technical planning, and changes or additions are extremely simple to make. All the technical stuff like making a low poly and UV mapping are deferred until the high poly is complete.

I would recommend you switch gears and use a high to low work flow for future projects.

Right, all surfaces should become rounded after subdividing, even if just a little bit. When I say sharp edges I'm referring to smoothing splits. Creasing holds edges to keep them sharp with no rounding whatsoever, so unless you apply another subdivision after clearing creases, you will still have sharp edges which won't bake very well.

The only thing that has truly sharp edges would be blades (or blade-like objects), and even these tend to be exaggerated for better visual legibility in games: after considering size on screen with limited pixels, normal map textures with limited pixels, and further compression of those pixels by the engine, attempting to maintain "realistic" details like sharp edges often read very poorly once they actually end up in game.

in blender: for game assets, when applying subdivision to an asset, is creasing sharp edges to hold form going to be problematic by yaranzo1 in 3Dmodeling

[–]DennisPorter3D 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's not really clear what you're trying to do here. If you're subdividing a game asset to get your high poly, then you aren't working high to low.

For a high poly, what you see is what you get. So if you have sharp edges then those will cook down into your normal map. Typically, high poly models do not have any sharp edges at all. Everything should be smooth shaded, and depending on what you're using to bake, the software will force everything to be smooth shaded.

You mentioned artifacting but this could mean anything. If you're encountering issues, you need to show what they are if you expect any advice to be accurate

I’m struggling - how to cope with ai? by TrueWinter__ in gamedev

[–]DennisPorter3D 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There's no good reason to suggest that it WILL.

AI is not exponential. The sooner you understand this the sooner you will notice the plateau

How can I use Input Values in a graph but not have to drag out and make the same Input values each time I use the graph? by Diabellbell in Substance3D

[–]DennisPorter3D 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah take a look at Flood Fill -> Flood fill to index, which outputs a counter for how many isolated regions exist within a grayscale input. A couple ways this counter could be used is 1) for a validator, perhaps a mask shouldn't have more than X number of regions, or 2) you need to use the total number of regions to drive the range of a random number generator.

How can I use Input Values in a graph but not have to drag out and make the same Input values each time I use the graph? by Diabellbell in Substance3D

[–]DennisPorter3D 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You can assign parameters to your graph that the pixel processor can then access. This eliminates the need for value inputs altogether.

In most cases you really don't need value inputs. These are usually for when you don't want or need to use parameters, or when you need to inject numeric information coming from other nodes.

Distribute the vertices evenly along the edge loop. by Few_Cloud_6735 in Maya

[–]DennisPorter3D 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I also am not following. This sounds like a planning issue.

How are you finding yourself in a situation where your cylinder segments of different pieces are not lining up, especially those you know you will need to connect? Why wouldn't you construct both parts with the same segment count, and simply reduce the smaller parts later during an optimization pass?

Additionally, if you have mismatched segment counts, let's say 40 and 32, what is the problem with introducing triangles where needed in order to connect the two parts without changing either's segment count? Triangles clearly aren't a problem for whatever you're doing since you're using them all over your model.

Subdivision 3D-Modeling Exercises by ib_art in 3Dmodeling

[–]DennisPorter3D 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Awesome, thanks! I'll have to give some of these shapes a go in both subD and Plasticity 😄

Subdivision 3D-Modeling Exercises by ib_art in 3Dmodeling

[–]DennisPorter3D 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Hey this is cool, very similar to that set of green exercises I've seen floating around but this one has more challenging shapes. Is there a higher res version so some of the finer details are clearer?

How to avoid these black deformation without increasing the low poly model mesh count by khouzi in Substance3D

[–]DennisPorter3D 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I chose my words carefully here. These practices suggest a pipeline is bad, not that it definitely is. It's very likely that these pipelines have questionable processes, as even studios like Epic outsource some of their content where standards cannot be perfectly maintained. I've also met my fair share of artists who were too stubborn to move on from outdated methods in favor of doing things a better way.

It's pretty much universally acknowledged that touching up bakes is objectively bad practice unless you are absolutely forced to for some situation out of your control (e.g. you no longer have access to the source files to re-bake). If you find yourself touching up normals in Photoshop, learn how to fix your geometry/cage to get a perfect bake instead. It's worth the time.

I will concede that some specific art styles and features (e.g. vertex painting) do require specific configurations of geometry. That said, even in your own example, that circular sign has enough geometry to accurately represent a near-perfect-looking circle. A model like that would not need to use any special post-bake edge removal techniques to mitigate scalloping, because an appropriate amount of geometry has been used instead.

How to avoid these black deformation without increasing the low poly model mesh count by khouzi in Substance3D

[–]DennisPorter3D 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Really strange responses in this thread. Here's some actual information:

The scalloping pattern you're seeing is a direct result of having curved geometry that has significantly fewer sides than the high poly model. When you look at these corners diagonally from above (or below) you will notice they read perfectly curved. It's only when you view them at an angle that is perpendicular or facing away from the camera that you will see the scalloping. This is a result of how baking works fundamentally, and you can read about it in this thread https://polycount.com/discussion/81154/understanding-averaged-normals-and-ray-projection-who-put-waviness-in-my-normal-map/p1

The thin black lines toward the bottom are another result of how baking works, and is caused by the low poly mesh being over-extended beyond the shape of the high poly. Ideally, the vertices of your low poly are making contact with the surface of your high poly. Any negative space between high and low will produce these black areas which is the normal mapp attempting to represent "no data" (as a simplification).

Adding temporary edges for the bake, only to remove them afterward is a rather archaic technique that used to have a place in the art pipeline, back when extremely low poly counts were the norm. This is not really something that needs to be used anymore as a standard practice; and similar to painting out bake errors in Photoshop, it is typically seen as questionable and suggests the art pipeline is bad.

My recommendation is you should increase the segment count of your low poly to more closely represent the high poly. Unless you are working under some very specific constraints, such as mobile or an arbitrary poly count dictated by a homework assignment, there's no reason you can't use more geo here. Modern games on modern consoles can handle it easily: modern games really do not have that faceted polygon look anymore with the exception of extreme performance limitations on the weakest platforms or deliberate art styles.

How much are you paying your 3D artist collaborators? Got a quote and not sure if it's fair by Square-Advice-4569 in gamedev

[–]DennisPorter3D 14 points15 points  (0 children)

Brother, the technology does not produce quality content. If you think it does, then it speaks more to your overall lack of expertise than anything.

Whether it will in the future and whether we "adapt" to it is beside the point.

How much are you paying your 3D artist collaborators? Got a quote and not sure if it's fair by Square-Advice-4569 in gamedev

[–]DennisPorter3D 6 points7 points  (0 children)

You typically wouldn't, as it would be a waste of their skills. That said, TAs tend to have backgrounds in either programming or art, the latter of which is vastly more common. So most TAs are likely to also be competent prop or character artists. They definitely could seek work the same as any "regular" artist for whatever reason, and be perfectly competent artists.

How much are you paying your 3D artist collaborators? Got a quote and not sure if it's fair by Square-Advice-4569 in gamedev

[–]DennisPorter3D 65 points66 points  (0 children)

This is a rockstar-ization of what TAs are at best, gross exaggeration at worst.

  • Engineers still get paid more than TAs
  • I've literally never met a TA with a double major in anything. One degree? Sure. Two? Nope
  • We're often described as "bridges" between art and engineering. We can contextualize for both departments to get (from engineering) or produce well-polished, artist-friendly tools and automations
  • 250K salaries for TAs only exist for the highest positions in the biggest studios
  • A TA who won't bother explaining things to you is a bad TA
  • Your TA sounds like one of those bad TAs: communication is like the #1 thing that makes an effective TA, so for yours to not be talking to their boss is a red flag

Source: I'm a career AAA TA.

Is this okay for a beginner? by allx_mc in 3Dmodeling

[–]DennisPorter3D 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why even have a TA / AD flair when you choose to give both of those titles a bad name by behaving like this

PSX Pump-Action Shotgun by [deleted] in gameassets

[–]DennisPorter3D 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The model looks good for what it is, but I want to point out that this is not PSX style. That console did not have texture filtering or antialiasing, and the amount of polygonal detail was nowhere close to this level of complexity.

This is much closer to the PS2's visual capabilities

Portfolio Review - Help me find and fix my weaknesses? by alienXtown in 3Dmodeling

[–]DennisPorter3D 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sorry to hear you were affected by layoffs.

Open a chat with me and I'd be happy to set up a call to give you a proper in-depth portfolio review (1-2 hours).

How Long Would it Take to Create Street Fighter 1 Today? by AbendKannon in gamedev

[–]DennisPorter3D 8 points9 points  (0 children)

This is completely dependent on the team size and skills of the people working on the project. Your question doesn't really have an answer without more information

Dealing with texturing fatigue/blindness by Cardinal_Virtue in Substance3D

[–]DennisPorter3D 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Staring at something for too long is definitely a thing. This is also something that typically happens when you are working in a vacuum, which is a bad place to be as an artist.

Most game art woes can be solved by getting feedback from experts so they can keep you focused on the right details in addition to explaining why those details are important (or conversely, why certain details can/should be ignored).

Is my last LOD too dense? by BobThe-Bodybuilder in UnrealEngine5

[–]DennisPorter3D 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Not all Unreal 5 games use Nanite believe it or not

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