The Leatherback (WIP THREAD)

Yes, he is.

*points to how "Covic" is a red name, indicating SOE employee*

If he says it's likely to be accepted, since he's among those who make that decision, believe it.

Texture work in progress

Looks great! I guess that is what 10 years of experience can do for ya

thanks, some specs on it
987 polys
texture is 256x1024
diffuse
normal
spec

have not made a fresnel yet
look to finish it up tonight, and possibly even have it submitted tonight or tomorrow night.

hope all the positive comments will lead to a quick acceptance i'd love to have something make it in the game before the next payout cycle..
soo sony guys.. you should go check out my kingmaker sword for free realms! its ready and waiting for you

As I understand it, your maps have to be 512 x 512 or something smaller for EQ2

it is 256x1024 is the same as 512x 512

quoted from their page
:Each weapon item texture map must be 512x512 (or smaller power-of-2) or an equivalent power-of-2 non-square dimension (256x1024, 256x512, etc.) not exceeding 2048 in any direction."

They may be any dimensions up to 512x512 space. This means a total of 262144 pixel space.

Coffee's map of 256x1024 is 262144 pixel space. So really they are identical maps. I later wished I used 256x1024 for my Black Sun blade, but that is in the past. Also very spot on sculpt work coffee.

Thank you for the clarification. I wasn't aware of the pixel space as being the real criteria. I did see 256x1024 mentioned in the guideline page, but I guess I didn't understand it properly.

yup and its nice with swords that are generally longer in one dimension

you still need to stay a power of 2 on your dimensions. 2,4,6,8,16,32,64,128,256,512,1024,2048
so if you are doing a spear you could do 128x2048

Well I knew that, though darn I may have used that 128x1024 for my Spear of the Grotto. Well, hindsight is 20/20 after all.

putting a fork in it, this ones done, Now just getting it all ready to submit

and what the heck i made an under 400 poly one to submit to eq1

its pretty slopy texture but it gets the job done.
the eq1 one will be split and repacked into a 512 square

Very nice work. Much better than what I could do, but it looks like it belongs in WOW not EQ2.

i found this guys portfolio with some eq stuff http://jmarcuscg.com/assets/img/content/MarcusJustin_eq2_CazicThuleWeaponSet.jpg
and i don't feel i'm far off that look. Much closer to it than to these
http://static.mmo-champion.com/mmoc/images/wotlk/models/WOTLKW8.jpg

but again i'll never know till i get it submitted, so i'm hoping to the best.
thanks for the comment tho.

and the part about better than you can do. don't think that way. if you keep pumping out stuff for playerstudio you will get a bit better each and every time. its all about practice and repetition man.

I am a hack trying to learn all the tricks I can so I can fool people into thinking I am an artist. I have no illusion of being a top artist.

Now on to your very very very nice knife.

You did a light overlay of silver over the spikes to give them a nice effect, but the sharp part of the blade could use some of that treatment as well.

The grey on your blade looks like it has a faint pattern in it. It could use a real metal base to its color. The leather could use the same, but of course a real leather texture. (I like the leather look you have above in post #22 btw. If you back tracked to that look and added a bit more realism it would rock).

I think you should lighten (or completely remove them) the painted in shadows you have in the color map and let spec and normal maps do their work. Also I can't tell for certain, but your piece would probably benefit from a fresnel map as well.

It might seem nit picky, but I am on a personal crusade to keep WoW influences out of EQ/EQ2 and eventually EQNext. It breaks my heart when I see WoW-like items in EQ especially when it's SOE's very own artists who are breaking the art style rules. It's their game and they can do what they like, but that doesn't mean I can't be against it.

thanks, the spikes seem much more hot and silver because that is the spec map working, the light is on the top side and glinting off the spikes, the sharp spot has the same hot spec so as the object moves around the light will glint off the blade. you can catch some of the glint in the middle side view screenshot of the eq2 version. the eq1 screen shot is in a scen with only default max lighting so i'm not getting any of the spec hotspots. even on the spikes. they are just as matte as the blade.
a lot of the blade detail is also in the spec and normal map so it catches the light moving around. i am not a fan of throwing super heavy overlays all over the place on the diffuse i like to let the various maps do their jobs.

the only reall painted in "shadow" is the drop under the leather on the blade, and the normal or spec would not have anything to do with that. i am concerned i may have went a little dark on the ao, such as in the crevices of the cracks, but i think it helps them pop. so unless it gets bounced back with a revision request i'm going to go with it.

as for the discoloration on the leather i removed that cause at distance it was breaking up the form and making it read as muddy. the majority of the leather texture is again in normal and spec tho there is a subtle leather texture in the diffuse.

thank you for your comments. i hope even if you don't agree with my reasons that it gives you some insight into why i made the choices i did.

I agree with you disagreeing with me. Ultimately it is your name on the item. Also it depends how it looks in game more than the screenshot. My lighting and rendering skills in Max are sorely lacking. That is why I love Sketchfab.

Are you using a fresnel map for EQ2?