Depends on the program, but every 3D modeling program capable of producing anything with graphics past the StarFox-era is gonna have the smooth shading option, which will do some form of interpolating on the vertex normals when checked, vs. flat shading which just renders the face normals. Might have some additional stuff they would do, like define some hard edges/break up smoothing groups/again depending on what the program is they call it different things, but the basic jist is they check the “make it smooth” option.
fuck I was expecting a paint job funny 
There’s also normal/bump mapping to add additional detail to the surface of a mesh, which could potentially be used to make the model look smoother. However, normal mapping doesn’t actually affect the surface of a model the way bump mapping does, it just tricks the lighting calculations into thinking the surface is different, or, at least, that’s my understanding. Could be wrong, though.
You’re thinking of displacement mapping, which is a different technique using the same kind of greyscale image as bump mapping.
Bump mapping affects the surface lighting via an intensity value, normal mapping affects it through intensity and a direction, and displacement mapping affects the vertex positions.
Out of the three I’m pretty sure source only supports normal mapping. (which it calls a bumpmap fsr. I guess technically it’s right in the same sense that a square is a rectange.)
It’d be cool to be able to have a lod-based displacement map on the model, though.
Damn, that looks really nice! He definitely looks like an alien war machine!
My one criticism is how the hivehand is connected. Gordon seems to be able to slip his on and off at will, and scientists seemed to be able to remove it, as seen on the naked grunt in QE, so I don’t really picture it being connected at the skin like it is on the current concept.
I also like how the armor seems to match the hivehand’s colors! It makes sense that they’d match like a set. Nobody says the Nihilanth has to have no sense of fashion, eh?
I could see it going either way. Maybe the hivehand “grows” onto the user after a while and Gordon just doesn’t keep his on long enough for that to happen. If that is the case, it explains why the scientists have several intact grunts but no hands- after growth, the removal process causes way more trauma to the hivehand than the user.
Hey MenteR, just wondering how progress’s coming along
Any progress on the model? Textures?
It´s been a while … how´re you? And how´s your a-grunt model?