It's just a meteorite...

Hi guys!

I’ve recreated the Viper probe droid from Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Note that the bolts are extruded outward since I couldn’t find any proper way to cut holes in the main body.

Verts: 359 000
Samples: 1000
Render time: 25 minutes






Any feedback is welcome :slight_smile:

Cool! Really nice work!

Thank you :smiley:

Very cool. I like the color and texture. Very cool asymmetrical pose. So, why would you need to cut holes for the bolts?

Thanks for your kind words :slight_smile:
The only reason I wanted holes in the mesh was due to accuracy…

Here’s one of the reference images I used


You could make holes a few ways. Use subsurf and delete the faces. You could also make a cylinder and intersect the mesh and use the boolean modifier to cut out the hole, although it might make your mesh a little messy but it’s not a huge deal.

Really appreciate your suggestions! I’ve already tried making holes with the BoolTool, but the shading was pretty messed up afterwards :frowning:

Yeah, holes are really hard to maintain shading on. I think the visual difference of extruded bolts rather than holes is minimal.

Great result!

This is the hole workflow I use. You need the LoopTools addon. (You can also bevel your edges instead of creasing them or just add support edges, the result would be more or less the same)

http://s11.postimg.org/3zmoqnofl/holes_workflow.gif

I like this one, especially the second render that you posted.

@SterlingRoth and MmAaXx Thanks :smiley:

@ToshiCG It seems like your image doesn’t display correctly. Could you upload it again? Thanks in advance.

How is this? Alternatively try this direct link…
http://www.todornikolov.com/3D/holes_workflow.gif
If it doesn’t work then I’m done trying to post animated GIFs. :smiley:
I forgot to say that you have an excellent model there!

http://www.todornikolov.com/3D/holes_workflow.gif

Nice work!

Wouldn’t it work to draw the holes in a displacement map/normal map? Maybe not sharp enough for a closeup but could be worth a try.

@ToshiCG Now it shows up perfectly :slight_smile: I actually forgot using LoopTools for the holes but I’ll give it a try.

@jonlemur Nice idea but I think that a normal map will not be sufficient and a displacement map probably needs too many polygons :frowning: I’ll try it anyways

You could use a matte and use the transparent shader as well.

Beautiful work and render!

@paulchambers3D Thanks

@LetWritersWrite That’s a nice idea :cool:

@ToshiCG Using LoopTools would work quite well but it’s also quite time consuming. I decided to give BoolTools another shot and discovered the auto-smooth option…here’s the comparison:


Great work on texturing and shading. Putting that droid into some real snowy/icy/rocky scene and choosing some good camera angle could be a great base for a really nice render.

Nice, holes are looking good!

Thanks. I didn’t model the environment because it would look a lot less realistic if I did it myself :o otherwise I share your opinion.