Cgtuts+ Workshop #27 “The BlackTrap”

Ben Tate on Sep 12th 2012 with 9 comments

We’re back with another entry in our weekly community project, where we post a render or animation created by a member of the Cgtuts+ community, and ask you to provide feedback and constructive criticism on their work. It’s a great way to learn more about the intricacies of computer graphics, express your viewpoint, and have your own content critiqued by your fellow artists!

Quick Ground Rules

Be nice! We’ve deliberately chosen work that isn’t perfect, so please be constructive with any criticism.
Feel free to offer any type of advice on – Modeling, Texturing, Materials, Lighting, Rendering, Composition, etc.
You can also link to another render that you feel offers a great example of this type of content done exceptionally well.

So let’s get to it, here’s this week’s entry created by Neil Jones!

“The BlackTrap”

Cgtuts+ Borderlands Game Claptrap - Blacktrap Render critique

Click To Enlarge

A Little Background

I like to call this “The BlackTrap” named by my teacher. I modeled this based off borderlands “ClapTrap” because I really like the style that they use. When I modeled him I first made him really low poly with a ink & paint texture. But I wanted to also have more of a realistic shot, So I remodeled and texture him.

This one is 4,272 polys with a 512×512 texture map. Please comment and any criticism is welcome, hope you like it!

Also be sure to check out more of Neil’s work on his Website

Please let us know what you think in the comments – how would you have approached this project or done things differently? Any thoughts on how it could be improved or taken to the next level. Chime in below!

The most constructive and helpful comments will be featured on the site. Interested in submitting your own video or 3D render? You can do so here! and have your work featured in a future Cgtuts+ Workshop!

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By Ben Tate

Rollover to read this author's bio or click through to see a full list of posts by this author.

Ben is one half (literally) of the editor duo here at Cgtuts+. Ben has over eight years of experience in the computer graphics field and although he's primarily a hard surface modeler, he's also experienced in the fields of uvmapping, texturing, lighting and rendering. He has authored many tutorials and training materials focused on 3d Studio Max and hard surface modeling. You can check out Ben's website at bentateonline.com to see more of his work.

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Flapjack
I like the concept and also the composition. Nice work :)
However I have three comments :
1) The noise on the texture(bump??) is somehow not fancy. I don’t like it ;)
2) Was the socket below the camera(??) intentionally not rounded ? the painting suggest differently. If yes, compare it to the cylinder above the arm (which might have too much sides) some of that geometry could go to the socket. In contrary forget about this comment.
3) There is a part of the model that is not visible on the render (chassis). Could you provide wire of the full model ?? I am wondering whether this 4,2k budget polys were spent wisely :D as this is also important part of low poly modelling :)
In general Good Job , and forgive my English :)

http://Neil3d.com Neil Jones
Thank you for your feed back Flapjack you make some good points, I have a better brake down with a wire frame on my site Neil3D if you would like to take a better look. :D

http://create3dgames.wordpress.com Elijah
Very nice work! I especially like the bokeh effect in the background. Contrary to what Flapjack said, I actually think your bump map makes the BlackTrap look pretty good. The only thing I have to say is that those three lights on the top somehow look out of place. They are kind of floating. Are they moons? But overall, great work!

http://Neil3d.com Neil Jones
Thank you Elijah I didn’t make the background but I kept the lights so the top on the picture wouldn’t be so dark. Without them the picture looks like it’s missing something.

falsepromise
i hate to turn this into a virtual ping pong game but the bump map is the only thing that struck me as off as well overall awesome work I’d just consider tweaking the bump a little less of it and maybe more selective in its application but that is just my opinion but it looks awesome i would love to see claptrap and blacktrap have a conversation lol
http://www.jaysonmiller.com Jay Miller
Hello! I’m also a huge fan of Borderlands and definitely think the modeling does it justice! Great work! I do have to agree though with a few of the other comments. The bump map you have on there takes away from what I think could be an awesome piece. Not only is the bumps noise to evenly distributed, I actually think to pull off a piece with the nice rendering and background (and especially up so close) I’d definitely bump up your texture resolution to at least 1024×1024!
I’m also sorry for this random question, as I’m relatively new here, how do I gain access to figure out these “weekly community projects”? I’ve looked everywhere it seems, and found the link to simply submit, but never found out how to figure out the actual community THEME to submit to. Any pointers? Cheers :)
Flapjack
@Jay Miller
From they facebook page :
“We’re looking for Workshop submissions. If you have a render or animation you’d like a critique on, please submit it using the following form and get valuable feedback from the Cgtuts+ community:
http://www.formstack.com/forms/envato-tuts_workshop
Note* Please ensure you include a detailed description or we will not be able to post it!
Thanks guys!
”
So actually any 3d work is good. :D
@Neil Jones
I’ve seen the wire it is ok. As you have seen here other people also comment about the bump.
BTW I’ve seen your other works they are pretty cool I like especially environments !!!!
http://fangsui0918.woostore.net.br Cyrus Koehring Blog
If you dont mind, exactly where do you host your web page? I am looking for a very good host and your weblog appears to be extremely fast and up just about all the time