[JGZinv]

Ok so in 2007 I wasn't where I am now Photoshop skills wise, but we had a need for a texture on a rather small
drone, say 1/4th the size of a fighter... or about 3 to 4 meters.

I recently dug this out of the dusty corner of my drive, thought about completing it. Realized I'm somewhat split on how I feel about it.
So here's your chance to punch holes in it or suggest improvements.

My main concerns are:

A. Is it faithful to the original (top) design?

B. What could be done better?




I'm aware the wing "block" is missing this was just a side-at-a-time thing...
Not sure about the tubes... never figured out a way to make 2D tubes look good without a lot of drop shadow.

[Flipside]

The only nitpick I could have is that the black line looks like a groove in the original but is raised in the remake, but it's very minor and impossible to prove either way

[JGZinv]

I was actually wondering that while I was staring at it a few minutes ago...  it would probably look better if it were normal mapped as a groove.

Here's the original side views of the thing for some perspective on what it looked like.

[z64555]

The steels and greys look pretty good to me, but for some reason the greasy yellow screams "neglect" to me.

Not that you've neglected it, mind you, I mean that in a setting sense, it looks as if whoever was supposed to be taking care of it, didn't.

[Flipside]

True, but in most space games, it seems that for all our technological gains, T-Cut and Chamois Leather are kind of like the Babylonian battery, ancient technology now lost to us

[JGZinv]

Well really I made it with the intention of it looking worn. These are drones, they probably see basic maintenance at best.
The original texture is faint, but it looks like it has been beat up some too. I figured they either launch from a container, or are
rack mount items in larger ships that swarm out.

I've got the thing in dirty brown too...

[Thaeris]

Personally, I think it looks quite good. The only thing I can note as being a problem is that the lateral extrusions which were on the original drone are not textured in your rendition. That's merely a matter of how you re-do the UV map, of course, but is my only worthwhile critique at this time.

[JGZinv]

It's not a matter of not doing the wing / lateral extrusion, I did the side only here. The wing is a separate piece in terms of texturing.
Ultimately the wing chunk will "sit over" a portion of the texture above; however since I don't want gaps when I apply the texture,
I created the whole section "underneath" the wing geometry.

The side is roughly the 2nd largest single surface on the model, so I did that as one unit.

[z64555]

Well really I made it with the intention of it looking worn. These are drones, they probably see basic maintenance at best.
The original texture is faint, but it looks like it has been beat up some too. I figured they either launch from a container, or are
rack mount items in larger ships that swarm out.

I've got the thing in dirty brown too...

Maybe its just me, I always had a bit of a thing for Safety Yellow.