Desert Eagle
 

Got distracted from finishing my Enzo and started modeling a desert eagle instead..

http://www.hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_1_1.png
http://www.hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_1_2.png
http://www.hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_1_3.png
http://www.hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_1_4.png

Used the cylinder in the middle to snap vertices from the slide to get a round shape where the slide meets the barrel.

Right now I'm trying to figure out how to connect the cylinder to the barrel and get a smooth transition, and also how to add the grip-line thingys on the back of the slide without adding a ton of resolution.

Any crits are very welcome, this is the second time I attempt to model a pistol (have also made a revolver) and it really is quite tricky to get a nice and clean topology.

Hi hummlas
Could you show a referance shot as there are a lot of differant ones out there.................dave

Sure, some of the refs I've been using:

ref 1
ref 2
ref 3
ref 4


And this one as the image plane:
http://www.the-blueprints.com/bluepr...rt-eagle-1.gif



I moved the five sided vertices away from front corner of the barrel as that might produce some funkyness when/if I smooth it.. and also it gave me some more resolution for me to connect to the cylinder, yay!
http://www.hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_2_1.png

Looks decent so far man, I don't know a thing about modeling guns, so no crits here :beer:

that looks like a good shape, but you will still get some funkyness around the barrel when you smooth it.

in these images it looks like the barrel is made from a cylinder that has been "booleaned" to create the recesses that make up the shape of the barrel..

http://images.bizrate.com/resize?sq=306&uid=1878091731
http://www.ssaa.org.au/stories/handg...rt-eagle_3.jpg


so I started from scratch with the barrel and used a cylinder as a start instead of a cube..

http://hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_3_1.png
http://hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_3_2.png
http://hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_3_3.png

right now it feels like I will end up not smoothing this at all.. but things change..

Looks like this is comming alone nicely, I was going to say do a boolean but you had done so much of the work already........dave

Do you think it would be a better idea start over with a boolean-approach, if you ignore the fact that it would be a second time I start from scratch?

I considered using booleans at first but the thought of cleaning up mesh afterwards was too daunting..

I would carry on as you are, looks like it is comming to gether...........dave

some update pics:

http://hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_4_1.png
http://hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_4_1w.png
http://hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_4_2.png
http://hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_4_2w.png

(no smoothing, 1623 faces)

Crits are welcome!

I've been trying like an mad man to get the grip stripe thingies on the back of the slide to look good with booleans, but to no luck.. so I booleaned out the entire area where the grooves are and then created the grip thingies from separate cubes..

probably not the best way to do it, but that was the technique that got me closest to what the actual gun looks like..

http://hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_5_1.png
http://hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_5_2.png
http://hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_5_3.png

think I'm gonna call the barrel done (at least for now) and start working on the rest of the gun..

I'm thinking the model is done now, unless anyone has any crits?

http://hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_6_1.png
http://hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_6_2.png
http://hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_6_3.png

I'm thinking about texturing this thing, but it'll be my first because I haven't painted a single texture before..

Looks like a nice job, does the gun not have a grip pattern...........dave

Thank you!
It does have a grip pattern, but it's pretty much just random "noise" so I'll do that with a bump map.. or would a normal or displacement map be better? Never used displacement or normal maps before..

Normal is better than bump, not sure about disp. maps though.

Looks great though man, keep at it.

what an odd thing to say.


...a bump would be fine.

But normal is better, from what I understand :confused:

Isn't a normal map a more defined bumpmap? They both get the same effect but normal maps do it from all axis, and bumpmaps only do it from one, right?

Here's an little update I did on the rear of the gun..

http://hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_7_1.png

Any crits?

http://www.hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_8_1.png

http://www.hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_8_2.png

any crits, any at all..?

Hey Hummlas

I really dig the level of detail you put into this Its very clean.

While not a critique I do have one question about the final render. What type of finish are you going for?

Because if you're going for the "Hey lookat my brand new off the shelf, never been fired chromed Hand Cannon!" Then you've hit the mark in my opinion because it looks nice.

If you want to go for more of a used look you could add a small ammount of scratches along the slide and trigger guard (Thats where they tend to collect if you're drawing and holstering the weapon) But the scratches are usually very faint and thin.

But it all really depends on what you want your final render to look like. Good Job!

:attn:

Thank you! :)

The used look would be way more awesome, but I don't know at what end to start (never really painted textures before).

Should the scratches be made with a bump-map and perhaps a map for the reflective color (using mia materials)? should I paint the scratches in the diffuse color as well?

I attached a pic with that shows what I mean.

Most weapons that see frequent use tend to look like this. They're cared for but even the best of cared for items eventually start to show wear. Unless constantly polished they loose a bit of that shine and reflectivity and pick up scratches and wear marks from use.

Unless you're going for a weapon that's been grossly neglected I'm sure you can get this look with a specular map. I think the goal would be to break up how light/reflections bounce off the surface of your model.

Update
 

I changed from a smooth chrome to a brushed metal/steel kinda look, haven't actually painted any textures, except for a bump and reflection map for the grip.

http://hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_9_1.png

http://hummlas.com/pics/desert_eagle_9_2.png