UGAC - Super Shiny and Sexy vehicle - MVP

[SHEPEIRO]

mmmm sounds interesting, i like the sound of that switch, would it be red!

[MVP]

Red you say??? Interesting....interesting.
Here is a VERY rough sketch showing THE FLYING FISH in all its awesome beauty!
Still need to work out the sizes of things and all that but basically the tail/wheel will swing up for flight and back for underwater travel. Looking forward to modelling it now!!
Just 6000 triangles hmm? okey dokey...thats doable!

http://img112.imageshack.us/img112/9107/flyingfishconcept7ik.gif

[SHEPEIRO]

he he cool im getting a 2000 league under the sea vibe here

[MVP]

Just getting a rough idea of size and shapes etc.
Not paying any mind to polygon count at the moment.
No doubt the look of it will change a lot as I work out what is needed and what isnt.
I will be mostly working in MODO and LIGHTWAVE.

http://img394.imageshack.us/img394/7015/conceptmodelstage7yh.jpg

[LiquidStorm3D]

Cool stuff, makes the whole thing look organic, which hasn't been done much :)

[woutb]

funny idea ! why dont u use those big eyes in the front as front wheels? just make them pop out the bottom . Keep going :thumbsup:

[MVP]

I wanted it all to be very assymetrical so I was thinking I would make one of the eyes the cockpit and the other one some sort of gun turret..or something. Or is that too cliche to have a needless gun on my vehicle?!

[SHEPEIRO]

the other eye, could be

- an air intake
- a big light (good for those underwater dark caverns)
- a hatch

[DevilHacker]

Very sweet looking!
:thumbsup:

[MVP]

Cheers for yer input guys!

I have rearranged the model a bit. I do not think the asymettrical thing is going to work as I wanted it to as it just looks far too awkward and not sexy enough so I have symetrized the front. The picture below shows the 3 arrangements of the wings and 2 wheel/propellors.

I won't go into the incredibly detailed technicalities of how a wheel can also become a propellor because ..well....its the future!!

Needless to ssay it is the textures that will make this bad boy sexy. I am thinking lots of shiny reflective scales and chrome and stuff and funky doodaas etc. yay! Let me know what you think, sorry for the rubbish quality!

http://img351.imageshack.us/img351/4262/landseaair2zw.jpg

[MVP]

OK, my vehicle has been through a bit of maturation, growth and a sexy overhall since my last post. Nonetheless I am proud to present the new and improved sexier, shinier and supererer Flying Fish...

http://img515.imageshack.us/img515/3810/4angles5ej.jpg

And to follow...some beauty shots of what I amigine this beast to be like in its different environments!

To be continued...

[MVP]

Here is a lovely shot of the Flying Fish in its lovely road form. I have probably just parked up to have a coffee....or maybe a muffin.


http://img211.imageshack.us/img211/8798/fishroad14kk.jpg

[GregorCZ]

I'd hate to see that vehicle in a car accident, the person in the other car would be so impaled by the car's front.

[DevilHacker]

WOW!
I am loving that render.
The texture is really pulling it off...
:thumbsup:

[MVP]

Cheers guys, I agree a head on would be fatal!


Here are the other 2 beauty shots so you can see the different forms of the vehicle.

http://img301.imageshack.us/img301/4918/fishsky10kj.jpg

http://img123.imageshack.us/img123/6011/fishsea14oq.jpg

[MVP]

Can I ask you people a question? Apart from that one.

As this is supposed to be super sleek and sexy I am just wondering what people are planning to do about texturing and normal mapping and stuff? I could just bake the reflections and all that straightonto the model but would that be considered cheating? I can't really think of a bump map that would not take away from the smoothness of it!
Any theories on this?

[MVP]

And here is the low poly wire. I still have almost nother 1000 polys left to use so I may make a man in the cockpit or something.

http://img127.imageshack.us/img127/7043/wire4xt.jpg

[SHEPEIRO]

As this is supposed to be super sleek and sexy I am just wondering what people are planning to do about texturing and normal mapping and stuff? I could just bake the reflections and all that straightonto the model but would that be considered cheating? I can't really think of a bump map that would not take away from the smoothness of it!
Any theories on this?

well i geuss your not too offay with game art, (feel free to slap me in tha face with a wet kipper if you are :-) but textures are used to add details like panel seams, rivets etc, which would be to small to model. also normal maps can be used to make low poly models have the surface appearance of high poly. for this you will need to model a high poly and a low poly and projection bake from one to another.

there are alot of tutorials about to do this.

[MVP]

You are entirely correct that I am not AT ALL offay with Game Art , which is partly why I am doing this Challenge - to learn more.

But thanks for the tips. I will have to make this very simple for myself!!

[SHEPEIRO]

simplest way to create a normal map is with the PS nvidia filter (download from their site) you just convert a greyscale into a normal map.

i think maybe some nice scale like panels would be nice.

if you want to see whats possible with game art textures etc have a browse through the game art WIP thread.

[MVP]

OK, i am understanding what a normal map is and a bump map ( do people use normal maps instead of bump maps for game models?) and a colour map, but would someone be so kind as to tell me in a little more detail what the following means:

2048x1024 colour , specular and normal maps - (does this mean 3 maps of this rectangular size, or all on the same one?...at what resolution? etc)

2 materials allowed, one with reflection cube map ...etc (?)

If anyone would be so kind as to tell me what all this means I would be greatful, then I shall never darken your door with such silly questions again! Everyone has to learn somewhere though...right?

Thanks in advance. I am using Lightwave if that helps!

[SHEPEIRO]

2048x1024 colour , specular and normal maps - (does this mean 3 maps of this rectangular size, or all on the same one?...at what resolution? etc)


= 1x 2048x1024 colour map
1x 2048x1024 specular map
1x 2048x1024 normal map

2 materials allowed, one with reflection cube map ...etc (?)


= you can assign parts of the model (polys or elements) a shiney reflective material utilising a reflection map. then you can assign other parts a material which isnt shiney and reflective (say tyres)

[MVP]

Thanks Shepiero, thats a big help.
So, to get this sorted - I have attached the following colour map I did last night:
http://img118.imageshack.us/img118/6050/question7lt.jpg
Am I right in thinking that through baking them on or whatever techniques necessary I need to get all those surfaces (materials) listed down to just 2? And those surfaces can contain a colour+alpha, specular and normal/bump map picture each of up to 2048x1024 pixels? Si?

Also, if it is possible to bake reflections onto the model what is the need of a speherical/cube relflection map? Is that so that when the model is turned its reflections also change?

Questions questions questions!!

[SHEPEIRO]

yep your only allowed 3x 2048x1024(col, norm and spec), 1x reflection map, and two materials, how you link the maps into the materials is up to you

[MVP]

Fantastic, cheers!

...until the next stoopid question!
:D

[MVP]

OK, question number 2034: As UV textures maps are square - why are the texture maps rectangular (2048x1024)?

[Pyrotechnic]

I think that's the total area, as in, you could have 2 1024^2's, or 1 1024^2 and 4 256^2's and so on, but don't quote me on that, I could well be wrong...

[MVP]

That makes sense!

cheers again again!:thumbsup:

[wybl]

If you want to use a texture with an aspect ratio of 2:1 you need to unwrap all, scale all pieces to 50% in width and allign all those pieces into the square (don't rotate the pieces anymore).

Here is an example:
UVs: http://img97.imageshack.us/img97/2871/uv0fg.jpg
Texported: http://img81.imageshack.us/img81/984/uvmap019ul.th.jpg (http://img81.imageshack.us/my.php?image=uvmap019ul.jpg)

[MVP]

Thats very helpful, Thanks wybl.

:thumbsup:

[MVP]

OK, I am getting somewhere now!! I am understanding the colour and reflection maps and the 2 materials limit - all fab and groovy.

I am not quite done with the questions though and I hate bother you all but at least I won't have to ask these questions ever again!!

The question is about the alpha channel. This may be different in Lightwave (are there any LWers out there?) but can someone explain the best way of doing this.
My present understanding is that in Photoshop I click in the CHANNELS tab and add an alpha layer. This I fill in with various shades of grey depending on how transparent I ant that area to be. Then I save the document as a .png file and use this as the colour map for my vehicle.

I have had a few tests with this and am getting nowhere fast! Any advice for me on best format to save pics in or how to get the transparency to show up?

Thanks again in advance.

\m/

[DaedraLord]

about the mapping, in next gen games, they use bump, specular, texture, reflection, and normal maps to get the most out of lowpoly models

the size of the maps is because alot of game engines dont understand textures with non-binary dimensions. any size will do as long as each side is a binary figure

[TheTon]

Yo!!
Looking good there Mr Vee! Can I make a suggestion on the vehicle design?

I thought that the original design with it's "organic" look had a bit more going for it... I liked the 20,000 leagues feel - or maybe something like the amphibious vehicle Qui-gon and Obiwan use in Episode I... but I shall shut up about that and comment on your current design...

I think that by the time this vehicle would be ready for production, tyre production would have developed too - so maybe you should replace the big old phat tyre that's there at the mo for something a little lower in profile... and maybe is some kind of polymer/alloy/rubber amalgamation... like the bird in T3 but with more rubber....

And I don't belive that the DVLA would allow such a spear to be on the front of any urban vehicle... Imagine the mess during the school run, when in his excitement to get to the paper shop to pick up his Beano comic and a Mr Freeze, Jimmy runs out into the road and you end up with a Jimmy/Mr Freeze Kebab! Nasty!

And er... lose the flames on the wings... This ain't Margate sea front... The last thing we need is Über-Urban Chavs sticking neons and go-faster stripes on their Supersexyshiny 1.4 Tdi... Let's keep it Chavless!

Just my tuppence'th

Lets Rock!

TheTon

[MVP]

http://img454.imageshack.us/img454/2396/wire0gf.jpg

Well, here it is, the final masterpiece that is the FLYING FISH!
I have seen about all I want to of this little fishy. I has been a learning struggle but I feel much better for having done it and look forward to doing better on the next one. I have posted the pictures of it on the submissions thread which can be found here:

http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=363238

I hope you like it. I was going to do detail on the cockpit and the little man that actually is sitting inside there believe it or not but my heart is no longer in it. I do actually like the end result and I love the morphing poses o fland, sea and air so maybe I will get some points for originality?

1 Bump, 1 Alpha, 1 Colour - all 1024x1024
plus one spherical hdri map called campus_probe wich can be found here:

http://www.debevec.org/Probes/

ENJOY! And good luck to all you pro's who will no doubt blow this lil fishy out of the competition water!

See the submission thread for the fancy pics!...well, here is one:

http://img381.imageshack.us/img381/6244/angle5qf.jpg

[MVP]

No crits eh?

[Pdude2K5]

The model is looking good but theres something odd about the reflections...maybe a UV
problem...you might wanna fix that...


-Pdude

[MVP]

Cheers PDUDE, i wouldn't have a clue where to start with that though!

I have 2 materials, one reflective, one not and the reflective one gets a hdri spherical image with a bit of blur on it uniformly across the untire UV - so I wouldn't really know what I can change! Have you seen the pics in the submission thread - i think it looks OK - for a first attempt!

[wybl]

I don't see how odd reflections can be caused by a UVproblem, I think it's just the intensity of the reflection map which take the detail away and that is what is distracting. For more natural reflections use fresnell reflections. I don't know they can use this type of reflections in games but for this purpose it will help showing your work a little better.

I think you have a decent model and good texture for a first try. GJ

[MVP]

Cheers for the advice and kind remarks.

I will have to have a little Google to see what you are talking about!

[DevilHacker]

Cheers for the advice and kind remarks.

I will have to have a little Google to see what you are talking about! Did/are you still using Lightwave? I seem to recall you saying somewhere in the thread that you were going to be jumping between programs. (Than again it is 3am, and I might just be a little out of it)
:D

PS: I really liked your pics of the vehicle in different environments. If I were you, (and had the time / patience) I would try to work such shots into the submissions thread. *note: remember though, I have no influence over voting, and this is just an personal opinion…

[MVP]

Hi Devil,

I am indeed using LWave and have stuck with it throughout. I have just had a look at the Fast Fresnel Shader and will try a few other test pics. I do notice that the detail is better etc with it turned on and the angle set - but if that is not allowed in games, does it really matter.

I will also do another beauty render!

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