whoa!!great!!!
Thanks, pinkarman, glad you like him. 
Hey, alannoon, I wanted to ask you another question about normal maps. Do you have any good resources on how to edit them in Photoshop? I could really use some of those. The normal maps I’m creating here have some flaws, and it would probably be easier and quicker to edit them in Photoshop than constantly re-rendering in Max.
nice stuff man. Love the asymmetry of the design. Thanks for taking the time to put the wires up.
Not a problem, lt_ethe.
I’ve been working on those normal maps today, and I can say with all honesty, I wish someone else could do that job. Do modellers normally have to do their own normal map rendering in the gaming industry? If they do, I guess I better get used to it, if they don’t, man will that make my life easier.
Ah well, I guess since I’m making this for my demo reel, I’d better get used to it. Back to rendering I go. I’ll post some renders of the low-poly model with the normals applied when I get them looking decent.
Alrighty, how about some results? This is what I have for the normal maps so far. There’s still some obvious errors, and some details just refuse to show up, but I think it’s looking pretty good right now. The bicep on the mech arm refuses to show a few lines of details, and the whole bicep/tricep area is fighting me.
Anyway, this is the lowpoly version, with the normal maps on it. Hope you like it. 
Artists often do the normal maps for the game-res models at game studios, but not always. At larger studios, the odds are higher that they have seperate high-res and game-res modelers. In any case, its a great skill to have, and it gets reasonably easy after you are used to the workflow.
looking good and making good progress! 
is the low poly you’re using the 4000-ish one?
Ok, kalbers, that kinda makes sense. I’m sure I’ll get used to it faster now, and I’m gonna have more experience with them since all the models in my demo reel will have corresponding low-poly model with normal maps applied.
pete330, thanks for the commest. He’s closer to 5000-ish. If I knew how to get those mech parts to be one solid mesh, while keeping the continuity between low-poly and high-res good enough, that might help. For now, though, it’ll be staying at 5000-ish. 
came out pretty damn good, now you just need to rig it:D
5000-ish… whatever! still go! go! go!
UUuuggh!
pete330, I will, I promise.
The Normal Mapped lowpoly is very good ! I’d love to see it rigged and posed too;)
Alrighty, I think the normal mapping is finally done. I’m pretty happy with it.
Next comes a rigging test, and some textures. Thanks a lot for the help everyone.
congrats and great work!
That really looks good for a normal map. I would have thought that only a dissplacement map would have that much of an effect on your mesh.
-WOODY- gives 2 thumbs upsmall_orange_diamond
Hey thanks guys. Of course, now I notice that he doesn’t have the cables in his stomach… I’ll fix that though
Oh, and I had the next parts backwards. I’m going to texture THEN rig him. And the rigging will just be for fun/testing, I won’t be doing anything signifcant with it.
sounds like a plan, from here it looks to me like its gonna be quite a bitch to rig, because you have non-deformables connecting to deformables which is gonna be just a headache to get rid of.
Fantastic Job
The normal map is good[though a tiny weeny bit off in some areas:p ]…could you post a render of the model with and without the normal map so that we can see how good the normal map is ?
Well, I’m not sure about rigging him anymore, as I’m not very good at it to begin with, and it will be a pain. I’m gonna try of course, you never know till you do, but I’m not expecting any miracles.
I’ve been working on his texture though, and it’s coming pretty nicely so far. I’m not a very good texture artist, but I can do decent work. So far, I’m pretty happy with the way the textures look.
Lemme know what ya think, 
Texture AND model look top notch!! looks like something that belongs in Doom3 or similar type of game.
Liking a lot
Tolu Abisola
Baby Dragon & Metahuman WIP
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthread.php?t=25203
Cardassian Woman
http://www.zbrushcentral.com/zbc/showthrea…ardassian+woman
Harpie