Here's something new I made in 3D

[Minimi]

It's not that I need C&C, but just for the fact that I seldom make posts, I thought, let's show what I made It's a new product to sell

modelled with Wings3D, textured with Photoshop CS, rendered with Poser6

[Ali]

I can see how much you've improved since the last time you posted a 3D render here!

The lighting is nice, I particularly like the honey jar. My only suggestion would be that you smooth the bowl more. The facets seem more noticeable than they should be, particularly around the hilights.

[MrColossal]

Before I comment I want to make something clear, you're going to sell these, right? As in you made a model pack and now want to sell it for other people to use.

[Minimi]

yes that's right...

and i was doubting about the bowl, but now changed it, I smoothened it. It was hard edged, because in real it is an rough handcrafted piece of craft

[Mordalles]

hey, minimi. it looks really nice.

i was just wondering how the market is for props? do these kind of things sell?  since it looks like a good way to make an extra buck. 

on to the crit (this is the critics lounge.)

the texture on the right object is stretched. secondly, the objects all look like basic shapes, things most 3d artists do when they learn a 3d program. i dont mean to be rude, im just thinking that in max most of these shapes can be done in a few minutes just by using the modifiers and moving a few vertices. it would be nice to see abit more detail, and complex shapes. (i hope you dont take this in the wrong way. and remember, i have no idea who your target audience are, so it might just be perfect.  )

anyway, good luck with the product!

[Minimi]

yeah, it's a great market... and this is something i had in a dusty folder on my computer, so thought, why not releasing it... this one probably won't sell that much, just as you said, it's pretty primitive.

But I've got billiard, chess and casino sets, wich sell very good. You can make with them easily about $1000 in a few months.

But you also put alot of hours in everything, so it's just something nice as a hobby

[ildu]

Dude, that much money? Hook me up. I've done 3D for so many years that it might be time to cash in . Are you selling at Turbosquid or what?

[MrColossal]

Well, you say you don't need crit but I think you do. I in no way mean offense, just when you say you want to sell these and that you don't need crit, I feel you really need to have someone tell you what is what. I'm just trying to help.

There's a lot that needs to be done to these to make them sellable, in my opinion.

first things first:



If we look at this wooden cup the first thing we see is the specular shine on the top of the inside lip. It's bright and broken up by the grain of the wood. Your images have grain in the texture but not in the shine. They read more as brass than wood.



Another older cup, one this you can see wear and tear of years of use. The lip of the cup has a different texture than the base. You can see dirt and debris collected in the base of the cup also.



This cup has a brass [or painted] rim that helps break up the monotony of the wood texture. Also you can see many scratches and dents. Look at how much character that bowl has. You can see the texture in the specular shine and it has a much more matte finish [not as shiny] which really helps.



This bown also has a lot of interesting things going on in it. Look at the knots in the wood, that's interesting. The small burnt black piece on the lip of the bowl on the left. Chips and scratches, it looks like someone has used this bowl.

http://www.vub.ac.be/BIBLIO/nieuwenhuysen/african-art/man-wood-1b.jpg

This is just a sample of old wood, it's been treated with some sort of stain that has rubbed off over the years of people touching it and just general degredation. Also, look at the mottled texture and the huge crack down the chest. Wood will do this.



And here's a completely new bowl, just made fresh. Look at the wooden texture again, the rings from the wood, the beveled edges. Stay away from completely sharp right angles when you make 3d models. Add a chamfered lip to the edges of things to make them smooth. Like so:



This will give you a nice edge that will pick up a nice highlight. Chamfered edge is on the right.



The honey pot is your best one because it looks like there is more going on there besides just lathing a line to make a cup. Also, even though it looks like brass, it has the best texture on it.

Did you paint your own textures or is it something out of poser or Wings that is default wood? If so than I suggest you learn how to UV unwrap if you can't already and then learn how to texture. There are tons of texturing tutorials on the net and they are pretty good.

I would suggest that you pick an object that you have around the house. Find an old beat up cup and try and model and texture that as best you can. Learn about specular maps and normal or bump maps. As Mordalles said, these are all very primitive shapes that could be made in maybe a half hour. Don't try and sell your first creations. Even if you've been working for years with Wings and these are not your first creations, they look it.

If you take nothing away from this post at least learn how to UV and texture your own models and at the very least learn about bump maps or normal maps.

There are a few 3d people around these parts who can help so just keep this thread alive and maybe start a new cup and I'll try and help as you go.

Eric

[fred]

Hey minimi - good render! And cool to hear you're making some bucks. Also, will you put a link to your TurboSquid items? Might want to have a go at it sometime.

For crits (even if you don't want any), the texture does seem stretched on the shot glass and a bit too glossy and undefined on the honey jar. I agree with MrColossal's advice on chamfering and texturing, although it sounds like you have an idea what sells - the items fit very much in the style of online casinos and such, at least from what I've seen.

[Cluey]

Dammit, I cant get nice looking soft shadows like that and I use 3DS Max!!

[fred]

You can change shadow parameters on the modifier roll-outs for the light-sources you place in the scene. Also, different renderers handle lights differently.

[Minimi]

MrColossal, thank you, i will check on those things later on. I was somewhat rushed by publishing it, but i'll fix some things here and there
Yes I made the textures myself, and ofcourse i know how UV mapping works.

I'm selling at Renderosity.com

here's a link to my store:
http://market.renderosity.com/mod/bcs/index.php?vendor=207286
(at this moment my store is at a sale of 30%

thanks everyone else for comments and kind words.

[Mordalles]

well, there is a big difference between uv mapping, and uv unwrap. uv unwrap is a very complicated dificult task.  uv mapping is just a modifier.  uv unwrap is when you literally unwrap the 3d object onto a 2d plane, on which you then paint in a 2d program like photoshop. its quite a task getting all the vertices in the right place so that when you finally apply the texture, parts of it don't stretch.  i think in gaming companies there are people who just unwrap the models, while others paint the textures.
having said that, unwrapping isn't really necessarry for these objects. normal uv mapping is fine.

[Minimi]

Yes I know, i used that with my billiard table, or other complicated models... i'm familiar with uv-unwrap, but as i already said, I kinda rushed this one, probably because it's going to be a flop anyway...

[ildu]

Can you tell us how much you've sold of those 4 items you have on sale? And how is the money transfered?

[Minimi]

this is what i sold

Billiard Megapack                   32   422.10
Chess Megapack                        18         221.36   
The Casino: Poker                 35       335.50
Wooden train: Construction kit   6    39.30   
Totals                                                   $1018.26


You get the check by paypal every month

[ildu]

I'm already modelling . How long did it take you to get that much cash? Which should I concentrate on more, low-poly or high-poly? Meaning, are people usually looking for things to put in real-time games or just renderable objects? Are there any restrictions for models, materials, lighting, etc.? And do you pay taxes for your income ?

[Minimi]

You should focus on low polygon, but high detailed objects, ofcourse, sometimes polygones get very high, but it really depends on the object, and the amount of detail it requires.

The market is focused on Poser, so you can best make poserprops of your models, so people can just install them, and instantly use them in Poser. That's where the market is

But i must warn you, models of objects are less popular than clothes, so if you want to make money, learn to make morphable clothes and smartprops, because i got $1000 in more than a year... hehe, so it's fun, but not a goldmine.

[ildu]

Yeah I looked at the best-sellers and they were pretty much all either clothes, hair or full character models. So what purpose do people usually buy those prefabs? I just want to get a clear sense of what kind of objects sell best and what features should be included.

Check your PMs...

EDIT: Yeah i sent the pm a bit later than i posted here. So now you should have gotten it.

[Minimi]

Yeah I looked at the best-sellers and they were pretty much all either clothes, hair or full character models. So what purpose do people usually buy those prefabs? I just want to get a clear sense of what kind of objects sell best and what features should be included.

Check your PMs...

i havent recieved a pm :o