Rules for me and not for thee:>Must have a budget of polys capped or lower to what a game from the year 2000 would usually have. Amount of triangles must be shown in the corner of each render. >Everything must be made from scratch. No kitbashing. Sculpting/CADmodeling then decimating/retopo is allowed. >All models must be uv mapped and fully textured and rendered in a realtime engine. No pbr.>Textures must be low resolution. Maximum 512 by 512. Pictures and premade textures are allowed but they must be posted alongside the renders in their original and modified formats if they were not made from scratch. Showing UV layout is encouraged but not mandatory.
>>1004457Nice, I'll be watching for some low poly goodness
>>1004457You can also post a wire too
forget rules man just flex your head and make whatever brings you the joy
>>1004457I'm expecting 30 good days or I'll be disappointed in you
What if I have zero ideas what should I do
>>1004517do something that's within your line of sight
>>1004517Get a list of things you would find interesting to model and just do 1 a daye.g:>pokemon in ascending order>greek gods in order of birth
Day 2>>1004504You don't have to follow them. These are just personal challenges I want to complete.>>1004509Well I have managed to make it past the 30 day mark on my other threads and those were arguable more challenging than this one. >>1004517Make your favorite animal/mythological creature.
Day 3
What’s the best way to learn how to model low poly?
>>1004638You must learn to work with triangles. Every quad is made of triangles in 3D even when you don’t see the line. Draw the lines in between your quads and strategically control your edge flow with triangles.
>>1004623Neat
>>1004623looks pretty fukken dope
Day 4
Day 5
Day 6
im not OP, nor do i do models everyday but here's my little chimed-in contribution.
>>1004813love all of these OP but this one in particular is just so simple and so cozy I can't get enough of itkeep up the good work
Will there be furries in this game? I think it would be more atmospheric
Not OP, but might as well throw mine into the ring. I wish it looked a little more authentic (probably because of the semi-HD environment), but meh.>>1004457>>1004897>>1004623My personal favorites. I'd love to see a timelapse of one of OP's for research.
This is my contribution OP>>1004717This reminds me of that silly moonbase browser glorified chatroom game. Does anyone remember it?
Day 7
Day 8
>>1005069>Day 8Looks cool
Do you have a YouTube channel where you can follow your progress?Plus I'd like to even download it when it's finished
Uhh nice low poly thread. I rarely get the chance to do low poly stuff in archviz but the other day I made a low poly apartment for a vr experience. Everything is 83k triangles but when you remove instances its around 50k triangles
>>1005102
>>1004686>>1004709>>1004919>>1005093You all honor me. >>1004897Looks great I might make a gun soon. >>1004921Making a lowpoly character using that reference sounds like a fun. I might just give it a whirl. >>1004938Neat did you rig that or give it vertex animation?
>>1004925>>1005094Hmmm I don't really know how useful that would be to someone since I don't feel like I am an expert on low res topology. I am learning as I go along but I am happy to share my workflow. As of now I have started each model using two triangles with the mirror tool turned on making a diamond like pic related and have literally worked pulling out individual triangles. I use quads too but I cut a line in the diagonal to make them represented by triangles. If you have ever looked at a game model you will notice they utilize a lot of triangles in strategic ways to break up the edge flow and do creative things with poles to avoid line breaks.
>>1005112Some tricks I use are making pyramids by cutting a quad into fours with a point in the middle. These are great for noses, fingers, horns etc. Also I study lots of game models to try to understand how the transition of edgeflow is being handled. If you want to texture or animate a low poly character it makes sense to understand what every edgebreak is doing and why.
>>1005113Just by doing that we can make a primitive face. Another tip I will give is when you are working this low res, much of the detail is obscured or compensated in the texture so you need to make up a plan on what will go where. An example is I can use the entire upper part of the face where an edge break would normally be for eyelids as a simple plane where the eyes will be drawn. Same goes for stuff like teeth/chains/foliage etc. Usually that stuff is just planes with an alpha channel strategically being deformed in ways that face the camera. The textures do a lot of the heavy lifting when you are this low frequency on the actual mesh.
>>1005116The choices you make depend on the kind of model you are making. For example the old sonic games on dreamcast have the eyeballs on separate planes so they can move around. Other games use sprite sheets on the UVs where the eyes would be to make characters blink and stuff. Most particle effects or foliage rustling in the wind is also done this way.
Day 9
>>1005108xhe's rigged
Day 10
>>1004457Are you making these daily? Pretty nice. I fail to shit out a single low poly model per week, mostly because I get bored and don't texture.
>>1005259Yep I make these from scratch, UV map and texture them. Many I also paint from scratch like this one. If I the texture isn't made by me I display it next tot he model and polycount. Day 11
here's my first attempt, tried to make a ps1 style bloody sword and shield in a cave, kept spamming red and black dots because idk how to texture, and used a free texture for the cave from opengameart called pdtextures
Day 12
Day 13
>>1005334Will a shark live there?
>>1005383His name is "Chёrt" :)
>>1005388Not a great white. They can't even live in aquariums. >>1005389I like it.
Day 14
>>1005451It's hard for me to imagine what the game will be about
>>1005471What gaame?Day 15
>>1005529Well, like, if all these models were used for a game, it’s hard to imagine what the game would be about.This house reminds me of something, as if I had seen it before. LOL
>>1005543It would involve evil pterosaur empires. Day 16
>>1005603I like your style
>>1004457>realtime engine and no pbrWhat engine are you using to render? Eevee in blender? How are you keeping PBR from being applied?
>>1005642>EeveeI use a custom shader that only displays diffuse and alpha information.
Day 17
>>1005666Nice model anon
>>1005642>>1005649You can use a Mix node with emission and transparent node
Day 18
>>1005739Fuck yes.
>>1005739I`m hungry now :/
>>1005744Waow. Coho!
Day 19
Day 20
>>1005860SOVL!
>>1005901No no that's cheating. No cylinders.
this retard pepe please
>>1005929I see no such rule. >>1005934Sounds like fun. Here is my progress.
>>1005929Technically this is an octagon not a cylinder. Day 21
>>1005956good. finally there's a 3D model of retard pepe that I can put in the 3D open world game.
>>1005980Well it's 3D so not an octagon but an octahedron. Learn your geometry you stupid blender user.
Day 22
>>1006038Cute. Your thread has inspired me.I've been grinding skill points in low poly.Any UV unwrapping tips?My UVs are all fucked up on this mess tin.
>>1006038Is this a zombie?
>>1006016It's a prism not an octahedron . I do know my geometry and don't know why you guys love gatekeeping/softwarebickering so much. I use any and all software available to me depending on what I am doing. Last thread was almost exclusively done in Zbrush while the one before that had a lot of stuff done in Houdini. Acting like all Maya or Cinema 4D users never use blender or vice versa is like saying all photoshop users never use MS paint. Grow up. Also post your work whenever you wanna talk shit on /3/.
>>1006041Best way to understand Uvs is to understand your model's topology. It's also vital to test your Uvs if you are going to paint textures on them. Texel density is very important but the orientation and shape of your Uvs are equally as important. Making sure they are flat and even to reduce distortion is key most of the time when hand painting textures. Nowadays we are lucky to have real time texture painting so this is a lot easier to visualize or get away with less orthodox UV setups.
>>1006090Many times I will save Uv space by copying over an inverted island on the second half of the mesh like I do here on the head. This can be tricky since it is esantially just mirroring itself over. Many newer games and film Uvs do this differently by unwrapping the face as a whole to avoid perfect symmetry but sometimes it is more ideal to do it this way. The way you setup your Uvs can make or break your texturing process. Sometimes you will have a piece of geometry that repeats the same instance of itself and you would actually benefit more by just copying the uvs for ever face of that model.
>>1006090>>1006092I never could figure out what to do with the mess tin. On the inside and outside it looks terrible where the faces are on opposite sides of the texture. Makes for a pretty ugly seam.That kind of seam is a little easier to hide in a different shape though. This isn't perfect either, as the stem is against the grain, but it's a low poly model it doesn't have to be realistic, and especially on such a small item, I can live with it.
Day 23
>>1006071Not sure what it is. I rushed the texturing process and just kinda drew whatever.
Day 24
There was an attempt.It was certainly a learning experience.The haphazard method of scaling down an image of scales and duplicating it for various segments of the texture wasn't ideal.The topology, while being reasonably clean, has some serious flaws.It somehow has too little detail and too many triangles at the same time, and I don't think it would deform well if rigged.Still, it was enlightening to do.
Day 25
>daily checking this thread, no frogit's truly over
Day 26
>>1006170This confirms my hunch that low-poly art is heavily advanced by baked lighting and good texture work. Compare the tri count to >>1006038 their nearly identical but 24 and 12 look better by leaps and bounds.Also noted is the power of layered textures, where a single polygon with transparent pixels can create the illusion of greater depth like the lettuce on 18 or the metal mesh on 14.
>>1005934needs actual texture work, but here´s my attempt
messing around looking for le epic workflow
>>1005997>apu apustaja simsnew obsession unlocked
>>1006332the idea was from the 2020 Apu Rpg and I'm not satisfied with it and I need MOAR.
>>1006301100%Many of these are made or broken by the textures. Evidently I am not the greatest at texture painting
Is it acceptable to have atrocious UVs in order to achieve good texel density?
Day 27
How should I learn/practice low-poly?
>>1006358Why not just put the door uv overlapping the cross?
>>1006378The best advice I can give you is learn to work with triangles. Use them to change edgeflow or finish the end of a row by making quads connect into a single vertex making a pyramid.
Day 28Gonna make this a two parter. Finished the modeling and UV mapping but didn't have time to texture. As of now he is made of 1,109 triangles tho I would like to rig him and give him some accessories tomorrow.
Where do you find the time to do this modeling? I work a full time job and when I get home I just want to not do anything. I know these probably don’t take too much time since low poly but still Anyway, don’t want to be too much of a doomer. Keep up the good work anon, it’s been inspirational. If I ever get my shit together I’ll post too. Maybe we can keep these sort of threads alive once we hit the limit
>>1006455Don't feel bad.I have no friends, no family, no hobbies, no responsibilities. 3D is my life. It's all I do. Even then the vast majority of the projects I begin I never finish. I am never able to accomplish much in the long run. That is the main reason I started these threads. It helps to have a deadline and a modicum of accountability.
>>1006427Day 29Part 2!
>>1006489Best one, you need to do it in two days more often like this
>>1006101that looks amazing...
Day 30
>>1006520You honor me. I'm kind of upset I was too lazy to rig and pose him.
>>1006521Thanks fren, but I can't take all the credit.The wood grain texture is a texture I found on opengameart and only modified slightly. "wood2", I think it's name was.
Day 31
Day 32
>>1006622>>1006668Cool shit bro.
Day 33
>>1006336>>1006170>>1005666>>1005108are you painting directly on the model in blender or taking the UVs into a program like photoshop? texturing is the one thing I still struggle with. I rely mostly on using a PBR into bake approach, or just using photo-sourced textures I can't draw for shit so making them myself is a challenge. pic related is most of my work, all low poly apart from top-right
a bit too much for this thread(even though it barely technically sticks to the rules), but here´s a demake of a disgaea 6 model
>>1006764I have done all of the methods you mentioned. Day 22 was done in Blender texture painting. Day 24 isn't my work at all. I only did the modeling. That texture is the actual one used in the game. Day 17 was hand painted in photoshop. Day 6 was hand painted in procreate.
Day 34Gonna make this one another two parter since I didn't even get to the uvmapping phase today. 778 Triangles.
2394 triangles1024x1024 texture
>>1004509https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iuRUQuG3D4
Day 35
>>1006818>>1006878Woah what happened to the body?
>>1006910I deleted it by accident. I started out making a primate but now I wanna make something a bit different. Remaking it rn.
>>1004457Consider me inspired. I should be able to use my new computer in a week or two, maybe I'll contribute to the thread when it happens.
>>1006768Where the fuck did they even fit 14K polys on a hyper stylized chibi?
Day 36
>>1004457 (OP)apparently tomorrow is the "official" 256fes day, so that could be somethig we could try>>1006933it uses a texture atlas, every single detail you see is carved into the mesh in order to look smooth no matter how close you get to the model. I used a 512x512 texture instead
>>1006976>texture atlas>a gorillion extra polygons to make it workDoesn't that defeat the entire point of atlasing - optimization?
Day 37
>>1007025Do you even understand what the original model did? Like can you not read that post and just understand what and how and why?
>>1007032I get that it's using extra polygons to UV map colors onto so they have non-pixilated edges. What I don't get are the massive numbers of extra polygons that are very clearly neither doing that nor defining the shape of the model.
gave the 256fes challenge a try, 214 and 247 respectively
Day 38
NGL op, this thread finally gave me the motivation to get off my ass and try low poly art too in blender.
>>1007085the amount of soul in this it insane
I have an idea but no idea where to start. I vaguely recall something along the lines of "block workshop" from some time ago.
>>1007106mysterious, what is this supposed to be?
>>1007130I have no idea. I have recently been experimenting with layered texture baking. It's crazy how much detail and color information can be preserved when baking at ultra high resolutions then downsizing the texture after the fact.
>>1007137Is it baked lighting? It looks some sort of a corner from some strange sci-fi architecture. Interesting, honestly. You should do more abstract stuff, it's pretty cool.
>>1007137Cool
>>1007114sounds like blockbench in which case you should avoid it and use blender instead, that program is archaic as fuck unless you want to make minecraft stuff
>>1007142Yes it is baked. Just like this one. Day 39
>>1007142Looks like some Ai garbage to me.
>>1007152pyw
how to make a big lowpoly ass that doesnt look weird?
Day 40
>>1007164same way as titties. you don´t, just fake it trough texture painting. otherwise, just look somewhere to study, time splitters models are funny in how extreme their geometry budget is, they´re basically ps1 models except for the tits, ass and face
>>1007209Nah that's more like ps2. Ps1 goes lower than that. This is 2004 topology.
Day 41
Day 42
>>1007364Looks like an ultrasound image
Day 43
>>1007426>>1007364>>1007248getting lazy man
>>1007364that looks like a turd
>>1004504pretty cool actually
>>1007435Yeah I guess those do kinda suck. Maybe they would make for okay LODs in a space game or something. >>1007449Your turds look like this?
Day 44
>>1007482What's happening to you OP? What is this garbage you have been putting out lately?
>>1006929I can indeed use my new computer. My self imposed challenge is>No more than 1000 tris>512x512 textures>Rigging is optional though I might do it>Once I start a model, I have 3 days to finish it (I'm an absolute /beg/ and slow as fuck)>I can't know what I'm gonna model beforehand, I asked my friends to give me ideas and put them in a roulette>At least 5 models by the end of FebruaryThis is 572 tris without the paws, though I still haven't cleaned up superfluous loopcuts. I could probably make this a 500 tri challenge, who knows. Also I've never seen a bear IRL so I hope this vaguely ursiform blob is close to it.
>>1007482>OP didn't even bother deleting the default cubeC'mon, man, you started off strong.
>>1007505>>1007507Why are you so mad at me?
Day 45
>>1007512Take a break anon, the quality of your work is going exponentially down, or make another 2 day one like this >>1006489
>>1007528Day 46
OP's next post will be the epitome of lowpoly: a single tri.
>hard round brush>blend >resize and indexis this a decent approach to texturing? I need to learn to draw but it seems alright also idk why but I struggle like fuck to make organic shapes in low poly like >>1006878, it feels so unnatural. hoping if I learn to draw I can make character turnarounds and just model over it
>>1007506Decided to texture it now but I've no idea how to skin a bear. How would /3/ do this? Should I keep stretch to a minimum or should I make all my UV islands rectangular so that the faces and pixels line up?
>>1007546Fug, that's the reference I was using. Meant to post this.
>>1007547I don't know how I've double screenshotted like that. I had some rum tonight, maybe that's how.
>>1007547seems like it unwrapped fine, I'd just split it down the middle like you did if you're doing low res you could section off the head though so you can increase the size of its UV so it gets more detail
>>1007552So it's okay to just leave it like that? I tried making everything square but it's all pretty stretched. I'll just whip up a texture and see if rotated pixels are worse than stretched pixels, I guess.
>>1007544Don't beat yourself up over it. Even now I still struggle with texture painting. Baking can help in blocking out the initial shapes if you are basing it off a higher res model. As a sculptor I also find low poly to be a very different approach to shape language since I have to worry about the topology and the structure of the Uvs from the getgo. Almost all of the mid and high frequency and even some detailed low frequency exists in the textures and the way they interact with each silhouette of the main shapes. There is a lot of trial and error that goes into this.
1/5Bear. 708 tris. Maybe I wasn't born to be an artist, but I wouldn't mind if this thing was chasing me in a PS1 game. Next model, as per the roulette: a gun. At least it's something inorganic, should be easier.
>>1007558Today I learned an important lesson: low poly isn't just a poly count, it's a style. This is well under the 1K tris I gave myself, but I got too carried away and now it's more of a hard surface study than an actual low poly asset. I'll finish this for the sake of finishing it then make a low poly version of it. Just like >>1004897 I'll probably just flatten everything across the X axis and make a revolver shaped box.
>>1007637its something i made a while ago not for this thread, but it might be of help
>>1007640Thanks, m8. My schtick's actually game development so something like a gun would probably be animated procedurally, but maybe one day I'll try doing pre-rendered animations too for the hell of it.
>>1007541I'm gonna make this a two parter like this anon suggested >>1007528Day 47
>>1007646Practice every day and still you are shit, a new Cris in the making
>>10076372/5Gun. 916 tris, can shave about 100 by removing the big line that goes down the middle (Courtesy of the mirror modifier) So box modelling is fun but I really need to up my texturing game. It looks kinda shite. I don't wanna waste much more time on what's supposed to be a quick modelling challenge so I'll move on. Next model is: a dwarf. Well, shit. I should've told my friends to give me OBJECTS.
>>1007646>>1007658Day 48
Its got like a hundred triangles or something. Grids count as a texture right? Day 49
>>1007767kys OP. You lost your mind and your talent. Even cris is better than this.
>>1007767>>1007824In order to build something great one must first make the scaffolding. Day 50
>>1007827>902 tris for that fucking how
>>1007827God, give us back cris and take this hack, why the best ones have to die first ?
>>1007845I know right that should be like 20 tris or something. Blender users are so dumb they don't know how to make anything without pressing the subd modifier LOL!
>>1007845>>1007858>>1007874The nobility is so particular when it comes to their architecture. What about if I tried something more temporary? Day 51. Untextured and Not Mapped. Currently made of 303 triangles.
>try making low poly axe>240 triswow i'm suck at this
>>1007890240 is fine considering your cuts contribute something to the UV space. Sometimes more triangles that share the same uv space ends up being more performant/aesthetically pleasing than the alternative.
>>1007890here's one I made a couple months back, 88 tris. best advice I can give is only add detail if it helps the silhouette, and delete interior hidden faces
Day 52
Low poly nuke (144 tris). 2nd model I've ever made, I wanna get better at this shit
>>1007937might look better if you shade smooth or auto smooth, or just manually mark which edges should be sharp, so that the top part can be smooth but the bottom angles sharp
>>1007945Not him but this is useful for me. I had no idea what marking edges as sharp, so I could've just shaded smooth and sharpened specific edges instead of fucking around with autosmooth angles this whole time?
>>1007999>I had no idea what marking edges as sharp*Had no idea what it didWasted trips on a typo'd post...
Day 53
>>1007999Yes, mark sharp if you are using blender
>>1008002I'm sorry but this kinda sucks...I know the brain might look pretty random but the shape is not even close to rightpic related: my attempt
>>1008022this is 34 tris btw
>>1008002>>1008022would look better if you lowered the texture to 64x64 or 128x128 and indexed it to 16 colors
>>1008027the cerebellum details were lost...
>>1008028now set the texture filtering to closest instead of linear like in >>1007915
>>1008029I prefer cubic desuafaik the ps2 look never had visible pixels; I think they're a sign of the "new lowpoly" style, as is flat shading instead of smooth
Day 54
>>1008056>>1008002So If I am understanding this correctly you show the texture next to the render if you didn't make the texture yourself? In that case all of the ones that don't show the texture are ones you made. If that is the case I have to ask how you make your textures. Some of them look like prerenders but some look like they were painted. Could you describe your process?
>>1008071I use any and all methods depending on the project. Today's model is being made with Substance Designer and Photoshop. My process is quite disorganized.
Day 55
Day 56
>>1008104>>1008187You are doing better stuff now, glad you took your meds.
>>1007691So much for a model every 3 days. Got busy with IRL shit and decided to spend my free time on other shit, so, uhhhhh, have the best low poly dwarf I could shit out in 15 minutes. For the low low price of 900 tris. It was a fun exercise but I want to model other things right now.
Day 57
Been working on an old school rally game for the past weeks. This is the first car I made for it, WIP
Day 58
>>1007637>>1007691Looks nice, good job.>Just like >>1004897 (You) I'll probably just flatten everything across the X axis and make a revolver shaped box.I don't know if it helps, but when i'm doing low poly work, i just block in the rough silhouette and form shapes, and i leave the finer details to the texture work. Think of it like a volumetric 3D canvas, that should be your low poly mesh.
Are disjointed limbs recommended for animating low poly characters, or is it no longer necessary?
Day 59
>>1008416It's not longer necessary since a long time anon, we still make them like that because aesthetics.
>>1008416Depends on what kind of range of motion you expect from your models. I've gone through quite a few PS1 and "PS1 style" stuff, mostly MGS and Signalis character models, and neither style stood out as vastly superior when it came to posing with a few exceptions. Stuff like a rifle aiming pose is a lot easier to do with disjointed arms since there won't be any weird deformation around the shoulder. Either way, you can hide janky deformation with texturing so it's not the end of the world.
Day 60
are handpainted texture okay?
76 triangles
