What is going on with the armour 3d modelling?

[lb Cake]

I can definitely see how a critical eye would be disappointed in the quality of the armors. Since I dislike roughly 90% of the armor in the game (everyone appears to be wearing fat suits) I never really noticed.

 

[gopat]

Definitely have to agree with this critique. The armour lacks depth, especially dislike how the mail blends onto the fabric skirt.
I also find it weird how some armor sets seem to have two sets of sleeves, one that goes down just past shoulder length and another that goes down to the wrist.

 

[Kentucky 『 ＨＥＩＧＵＩ 』 James]

Gonna have to disagree with you on this one -- I think the fabric looks awful. It's like someone's used software to automatically generate the cloth rather than sculpting it (which really isn't that hard), and they haven't done any cleanup work at all. Around the shoulders especially it almost looks glitched, like the normalmap didn't bake properly. The belt / scarf thing is also really confusing to look at.

One of the "rules" of drawing or sculpting cloth is that nearby folds should lead in similar directions to lead the eye around. The problem with this is that the folds are all over the place and it's hard to tell what's going on.

 

[Terco_Viejo]

Gonna have to disagree with you on this one -- I think the fabric looks awful. It's like someone's used software to automatically generate the cloth rather than sculpting it (which really isn't that hard), and they haven't done any cleanup work at all. Around the shoulders especially it almost looks glitched, like the normalmap didn't bake properly. The belt / scarf thing is also really confusing to look at.

One of the "rules" of drawing or sculpting cloth is that nearby folds should lead in similar directions to lead the eye around. The problem with this is that the folds are all over the place and it's hard to tell what's going on.

You are right, but I see this and I go mad

 

[Teslanbenz]

I fail to see the lack of quality. TW came up with different design choices and deviated a bit towards a more fantasy approach, that doesn't mean the armours are badly looking or the 3D modelling is low quality...

I disagree. As a self taught amatuer with very little raw artistic talent.... i think many of the armor assets and textures are very poor. On the other hand some assets look amazing. Its kinda strange..... just a ride through a city and i see a carved post with an amazing amount of detail along with a painfully straight wall with its textures obviously missaligned....

 

[๖Kern]

I disagree. As a self taught amatuer with very little raw artistic talent.... i think many of the armor assets and textures are very poor. On the other hand some assets look amazing. Its kinda strange..... just a ride through a city and i see a carved post with an amazing amount of detail along with a painfully straight wall with its textures obviously missaligned....

Then it is my bad and ignorance of not knowing better. I am probably not as demanding when it comes to models and textures.

 

[JuanNieve]

Hope they add new clothes for the lords

隐藏

 

[Revverie]

Hope they add new clothes for the lords

隐藏

Yes, seeing lords in civilian clothes is a disgrace. Where is the damn beautiful fabric?

 

[musashii89]

I don't understand how this has got around the sieve of an art director

You think Taleworlds contains management? Good one ? . The evidence simply is not there.

This, but I also think that some helmets should have a lot more armor than they have now, for example, and I don't know if it's just my luck, but the vlandians helms seem to jump from 27 armor to 40+ and I never have seen a 30-40 being sold on the shops

not luck, just poor code, vlandians always come out strong due to lack of AI balance, so their cities get prosperous faster then average, so they reach top tier gear faster, peaked helmets, kettle helmets and visored helmets span this gap before you get to the bucket helmets (forget the name)

 

[musashii89]

I fail to see the lack of quality. TW came up with different design choices and deviated a bit towards a more fantasy approach, that doesn't mean the armours are badly looking or the 3D modelling is low quality...

I duno man, I dislike looking like an overfed peasant guard.

I agree, these models are really hastily done and look too thin.

Agreed, Id prefer less graphics and more design but to me it feels like no one at TW has the original founders passion for the game. Ive felt dashing on 8 bit characters, like most of this game it feels like its an empty box slapped together, hollow of content.

 

[John_M]

Gotta say, the suggested chainmail looks a lot worse. Sure the original could have cleaner borders and more volume when transitioning to the cloth, but the large rings make it look like its made for an engine from 10 years ago when they didn't have texture resolution for detailed smaller rings. Perhaps the rings are too small, but the suggestion feels like the opposite end of the extreme. Darker chainmail could look good, but there are better references out there. And the belt set up from the Bannerlord assets just feel a lot higher quality.

Nothing excuses that very obvious uv seem though.

 

[stevehoos]

Gotta say, the suggested chainmail looks a lot worse. Sure the original could have cleaner borders and more volume when transitioning to the cloth, but the large rings make it look like its made for an engine from 10 years ago when they didn't have texture resolution for detailed smaller rings. Perhaps the rings are too small, but the suggestion feels like the opposite end of the extreme. Darker chainmail could look good, but there are better references out there. And the belt set up from the Bannerlord assets just feel a lot higher quality.

Nothing excuses that very obvious uv seem though.

The seam is the big problem. So many warband mods with way better textures. Yeah....

 

[musashii89]

The seams is the big problem. So many warband mods with way better textures. Yeah....

Gotta love the khuzait lamellar shoulder on any non khuzait armor. Hover armor plating for that real immersion

 

[stevehoos]

Seriously, this stuff looks like it was painted on. Having been on modding teams for 20 years this is pretty bad.

 

[HalfMetalJacket]

Gotta say, the suggested chainmail looks a lot worse.

I don't think that's meant to be an exact final product, but a rough idea of how it could look better, namely darker metal and bigger rings. Might be a bit emphasised, but the idea does get conveyed and I like it better.

 

[musashii89]

Seriously, this stuff looks like it was painted on. Having been on modding team for 20 years this is pretty bad.

TW depends on mods too much.

 

[John_M]

I don't think that's meant to be an exact final product, but a rough idea of how it could look better, namely darker metal and bigger rings. Might be a bit emphasised, but the idea does get conveyed and I like it better.

Of course the concept art doesn`t have to look as good final product(though I've seen many examples from Terco that are better). So I can forgive things like resolution and other parts. I said it looks worse because even if massive rings and that belt set up were done perfect, they'd still be worse.

I don't think these nitpicks have any relevance to BL's art direction post EA(though I do appreciate a breakdown of an asset when accessing its own quality). Chainmail size, colour, direction of patterns, and chainmail design just feels like a matter of opinion and nitpicking. I don't think you can say the direction of BL's art is going down the drain based on these assets. You can find assets of lower quality in the game already, this doesn't really raise any red flags for me.

 

[musashii89]

Of course the concept art doesn`t have to look as good final product(though I've seen many examples from Terco that are better). So I can forgive things like resolution and other parts. I said it looks worse because even if massive rings and that belt set up were done perfect, they'd still be worse.

I don't think these nitpicks have any relevance to BL's art direction post EA(though I do appreciate a breakdown of an asset when accessing its own quality). Chainmail size, colour, direction of patterns, and chainmail design just feels like a matter of opinion and nitpicking. I don't think you can say the direction of BL's art is going down the drain based on these assets. You can find assets of lower quality in the game already, this doesn't really raise any red flags for me.

Good point, and TBH id much rather they focused on actual content. they have already wasted too much time refactoring due to the new engine BS

 

[John_M]

Good point, and TBH id much rather they focused on actual content. they have already wasted too much time refactoring due to the new engine BS

Thing is, an artist can't be tasked with 'actual content'(If you're thinking 3d is not). The art team doesn't have anything to do with the refactoring, so they have plenty of time to work on improving their art. I think criticism of their assets is valuable, and agree with a some of the critiques, but I just disagree with the conclusion of what is going on with the armour 3d modelling.

To be honest, it just feels like the artist for the recent armours was forced to follow some strict poly count that the other artists were not :p

 

[stevehoos]

Thing is, an artist can't be tasked with 'actual content'(If you're thinking 3d is not). The art team doesn't have anything to do with the refactoring, so they have plenty of time to work on improving their art. I think criticism of their assets is valuable, and agree with a some of the critiques, but I just disagree with the conclusion of what is going on with the armour 3d modelling.

Yep. Agreed about the refactoring aspect.