In the spring of 2021, I began working on a modelling project in Autodesk Maya, baking a high poly version of it onto a low poly and texturing it in Substance Painter, and then putting the finished asset into Unreal Engine. I chose the Desert Eagle XIX, as I find it be a particularly aesthetically pleasing pistol.
This was my first time baking a high poly mesh onto a low poly, so I had some hurdles to cross. I had previously used Substance for hand texturing only, and thus needed to learn a different workflow with PBR materials and node based texture design. I learned much about the industry standard modelling pipeline during this project, and I am now much more comfortable with the process.
I managed to put a little flair on my model via some quick engravings, though at that point I was a bit pressed for time and thus couldn't polish them. Nonetheless, my friends enjoyed it, noting how they liked the personal touch. The completed model clocks in at around 10k tris.