Hi-detail Pyro GX

[Agent4054]

Alright, according to my post history, I haven't visited these forums since 2004, yet Descent still retains a large chunk for my love of video games. Over the years since 2004, I went from sound design, to programming, and eventually landed on 3D animation and hardsurface modeling, and actually have a job in the gaming industry doing just that. So in what little time I've set aside for myself doing personal projects, it occurred to me that it would be completely kick-ass if I would remake the Pyro-GX in high-poly/high-detail form. Then I says to myself, "swing for the fence man!". I have amended my project to include a 100% remake of the Descent 2 intro cinematic.

Granted, I have no current projection on when I could possibly finish this undertaking. The average work week is 60-80 hours, and I'm in the process of moving to a new apartment. BUT, I did get at least some stuff done of it. I wouldn't be making this post if I didn't have at least something to show you. I've been using one of the Pyro-GX models floating around on the interwebs to use as a starting point, and redoing parts as I go.

Concussion missiles
Lasers
Engines

Still needs a lot of work, but it's getting there. Still need the body, the cockpit, the top and bottom wings, and surface detail, etc. And I'm modeling this with the intent to be fully animated (including the top wings). I will be taking this through the usual pipeline; high-poly detail model, retopo to low poly, texture with baked maps, and render in 3dsmax with 3PointShader. In case you're curious, I will happily supply all project files and resources used when I finish it.

Current poly count: 660,810 quads (no tris or n-gons)

Cheers

[Isaac]

Hey, it's looking great! Keep it up!

[MetalBeast]

Yeah, this is looking awesome, but over 600000 quads is lot of stuff
This seems to be more like "very-high-polygon monster"

I think, you must have slide-show in wireframe mode in your max

If you like, I can send you my high-poly version of PYRO GX showed up here, so you would have a better basis.

Just let me know,

Anyway keep up the great work.

Greetings, MB

[Agent4054]

Actually, 3dsmax 2012 does a very good job at running many polys in the viewport and still keep a smooth frame rate. One of the organic modelers I work with handed me a 60mil poly sculpt from zbrush to animate and max ran like a champ with a steady 48fps (albeit the card in my work machine is a Quadro 5800). This ~700k model is handling at around 90fps with my GTX 460. So still not too bad. I suspect this will end up somewhere at a couple million polys. That's mostly just so I can bake the normals to a lower poly model and still retain detail.

And yeah, a different reference model should help a ton. The one I have been using was a complete mess (was the D4 model. importing the old .3ds file into max screwed it up a bit I think).

[Aus-RED-5]

Very nice work Agent!

You could use Bubbalou's model as reference as well. He's made a few added features to his model too. Such as a cockpit and a pilot model.

[MetalBeast]

@Agent4054: you have PM.

I have uploaded my PYRO for you.

But 13.000 polys sounds more like low-poly against 600.000

Greetings, MB

[Agent4054]

Thanks, much appreciated

Will have to put this on hold until next week. Crunch time here. Pulling a 100+ hour week =/

[Agent4054]

Just a heads up, I haven't forgotten about this project. I have just been completely swamped at work. Busy building assets for multiple games, barely able to find time for personal projects, but I will try. My friend pATChes (does he still post on these forums?) suggested that I use a 3D printer and paint over it when I'm done. Good thing I have direct and free access to one (Thank you, Harrisburg University)

[sdfgeoff]

Oh you lucky person for having a 3D printer, wish I could do that.....

[Agent4054]

So a little over a year later, and I'm FINALLY getting back to it. I've been concentrating a lot on hard surface modeling, and decided it was time to revisit this and crunch on it between gigs. Detailed the engines yesterday and moving onto the body.



The engines are up to 2.4 mil polys. Fortunately, 3ds Max 2014 had a viewport speed increase, so it's not killing my machine. The above result is a mix of Max, Zbrush, and V-ray. I might utilize Houdini and its gorgeous particle solvers for the engine VFX. I'm unsure if I'll be baking this down to a low poly as I originally planned. I REALLY don't want to retopologize this thing.

I imagine there will be people not fond of the direction I'm taking it, as I know Descentr's are passionate about the franchise. If there is anything you don't like, let me know. I have it sectioned into parts to complete: engines, body, cockpit, back fins, wings, concs, and lasers. And then rendering the crazy thing. So hoping to get the body section done within a week or so. Cheers!

[BUBBALOU]

Looks good, I notice all the cooling conduit is before the actual engine exhaust ... Any plans for the output side?

[Agent4054]

Can you clarify what you mean by 'output side'? As in what do I have planned for the actual exhaust visuals, or still geometry-wise? For the engine/coolant details, I was mostly grabbing from jet engine references both realistic and sci-fi. Trying to find an even balance between cleanliness, random greebling, and functional detail is tricky business. This was my primary moodboard for the engines:

[BUBBALOU]

variable geometry jet engine nozzle

[Agent4054]

Holy... That is incredibly awesome, but the thought of building an animation rig for that is terrifying. I had thought about going the route of realism, but wasn't sure how much I should stray from the original design, since it defies realism. Among other things, the original design offers no indicators as to how the ship has the ability to strafe or tri-coord. But I want to do this right. How much do you think people would freak out if I altered the design in order to incorporate engines like that? Too much creative liberty?

[BUBBALOU]

You can build that into the engine nacel with the detail pushed back, and add in the after burner rings/chargers. Only when full burner is engaged would you truly see the ceramic leaves/fingers extent out.

[Agent4054]

Ok! Apparently I am destined to never finish this project. My break between jobs was shorter than I was expecting. Got a 3-month contract for more hard surface work, so that means no more free time. Off I go into the land of Zbrush again...