Photorealism: Formation Flight Training

[Jenner]

Great man :thumbsup: :drool: .. Your creations are always awesome man, Thumbs up!

[Skyraider3D]

Hi Jenner! Thanks very much for your reply :)

Seems characters are more popyular than aircraft though... :shrug: Maybe I should paint a shark-mouth on my plane to give it more character? :D

[An Erased One]

Really cool! :drool:

That's really close to a Photo, the lighting, the highlight on the top plane's cockpit, it fit's the background colors and grain... only the fact that the planes look identical (except the numbers :D) show it's CG (I hope this is understandable?).

The plane itself looks just real.:thumbsup:

[edit: sorry, my formulations are somewhat messed up - it's too late here ]

[MoThBall]

LOVE IT!!!

Love the Composure, Love the lighting, Love the fact that’s its something interesting like an old Swedish plane. AND I LOVE THE FACT YOU HAVE DIFFRENT NUMBERS ONE EVERY PLANE. That always annoys me when i see a few planes flying in a scene and they all have the same flight number.

:thumbsup:

[wbate]

Nice image. I noticed the landing gear are down, are they fixed or can they fold? It makes the planes seem more static to me. Also, it would be nice to see more weathering, especially the numbers which seem almost too crisp.

Also, I don't have a great suggestion, but did you use old photos as reference for the final look? Grain and a bit of desaturation doesn't seem quite enough. I think there needs to be specific coloration to it, many old photos seem to have a limited but slightly oversaturated feel. Depends on what era of photo your looking for. (1040's = Black and White???) I'd have to do research myself to figure out a more specific suggestion.

I'm sorry if this seems too nit-picky! Overall it's a good image.

[evanM]

Nice work as usual! Nothing to comment on really, just.... great work and very convincing!

Dont worrry, there are many of us out there who appreciate the non character work! Keep it coming.

[Cynical_Saint]

Heh, kinda funny I just posted this in another old aircraft thread. The technique used in saving private ryan was using alot of desaturation. I took your pic into Photoshop and applied some serious desaturation, some gaussian blur (1.0 pixel), some vertical grain lines, and some normal grain and found that in my opinion it seriously added to the realism. It of course causes alot of loss in the details you so painstakingly created, and gets rid of most of the color, but in the case of vintage photography, everything was very desaturated and not very sharp.

Anyways, thats just my thoughts. :)

[STRAT]

this is probably ur most realistic image to date. very smart m8.

only 1 crit - they look like they got strong sunlight shining on them but the cloud scene looks drabber than that. maybe just a cloud burst maybe?

good stuff indeedy

what software you using these days for ur aircraft rendering? not still on R3.1 and e-light i hope? :p

[Jol]

Realy like it Ronnie,

Great feeling of space. Only tweak I'd make is that I think the light 'bloom' on the canopy of the furthest away plane is possibly a bit too strong.

Keep up the good work

Jol

[CA3D]

Great image!

I really like the image of the wing on the foreground of the picture - cool idea dude!

BTW, is it your reference picture or actually the 3d render?;)

ps common guys, didnt you dream about planes as kiddos? Then give your comments dudes!

[Nosalis]

Wow skyrider, it`s amazing. Very nicely done, it looks like a photo, so I think, that you`ve achieved what you wanted to :)

Great work, I just hope I`ll finish my F-117 soon...

[B.R.Rajeev]

hi Skyraider3D,

cool image :beer:

u surely have got that old photograph look in it.

[mmiller]

Hi Ronnie
Nice image :thumbsup:

only crit I have is that as is I would probably crop out a couple of inches from the left side.

any chance we can see it with the text.
Looks to me like you have composed this with the copy in mind
(as well you should)
I would kinda like to see what the final product looked like.
Mark

[Banshee]

It looks simply fantastic!
For some reason it doesn´t really look like a real Photo but it´s close enough. Anyway: It´s great and very individual as well.

Great homepage and artwork by the way! :applause:

cheers!
:beer:

[arai]

Nice one skyraider, I like how you choose rare or at least unfamiliar aircraft to work with, definatly makes it you only see rarely. the hardest part of these threads is they disapear so quick sometimes you miss them. Theres only so many good aircraft for every 50 characters or cars

[ZonemaN]

Hey great picture dud, only thing missing is some noise in the picture, you know like from old movies they always hawe those vertical lines down and uh stuff.

[plumser]

just gotta love that!!!:applause:

[elfling bard]

Great work indeed...the only thing is that they look a bit static.Maybe some blur can do the trick...:eek:

[Cynical_Saint]

Yeah I agree about the noise and blur. I played around with his pic in Photoshop and added some great noise and blur, and some desat, but I don't want to post it without his permission. :)

[eirenicon]

Hey Ronnie,

I just have one thing to say.

They aren't dirty enough!

:beer:

[Aevium Viemme]

I suppose an animation is too much to ask :D.

Looks almost meticulous, but one thing that would make the scene less redundant is the gear, if it's in different positions for all the planes, I think it'd break up the visual assumption that they're all copied :shrug:.

But who cares what I have to say? :D

Awesome!

[Skyraider3D]

Wow! Thanks for all the replies! Very very much appreciated!

Quite a few comments, suggestions and questions... I'll try to reply them all here.


Firstly I want to comment on those who suggested to add grain/blur/scratches:

wbate, there are many WW2 photos that look nearly new, apart from some colour shifts. In those days they had sharp, colourful and fine-grain photos too.
O yes, these planes have fixed gear indeed.

Cynical Saint and ZonemaN, making virtual photos of a "lesser quality" (adding scratches, blur, desaturate further) indeed enhances realism sometimes. The problem is, this image was made for a bookcover - thus it needed to be "fresh and clean".

Let me show you a typical WW2 colour photo. The kind I had in mind when making this book cover:

http://home.wanadoo.nl/r.j.o/skyraider/temp/Typical_WW2_Colour_Photo.jpg

As you can see the colours are quite vivid and the image is pretty sharp as well. There is some dust here and there, but no scratches at all. Nor is the picture grainy or blurry.
Since this image was for a book cover, I didn't want a damaged, blurry, colour-less image, as you'll understand.

But Cynical Saint, feel free to post your modified image! I'm curious about it!
Here's a grainy, blurry, damaged and very desturated image I made a few years ago! Maybe that's what you're after?

http://skyraider.allaboutwarfare.com/files/offtopic/yaks_over_romania_bw.jpg




An Erased One, I see what you mean. I didn't have much time to finish the cover, so the basic textures on these planes are very similar indeed. I varied the scratched and stains on the individual planes, but didn't alter their grungemap layers and bumpmaps, because of lack of time. I will make more variations next time, as I see I can't get away with that! :blush:

Hi STRRRRRRRRRRAT! The background is quite sunny actually. But this "drabby" effect is often seen on WW2 photographs. It's caused by the lenses and shutters used, which cause the centre of the image to be brighter, and the corners to be rather dark.
O and yes, it's MAX (R4) and E-Light!!!

Jol, most people I showed it really like the bloom - and I do so myself. When taking the brightness down, it dramatically loses realism. It starts to look like a grey blob.

Nosalis, I'm looking forward to that Nighthawk of yours. Last time I saw it was stunning already! I'd say: paint it black! (a song comes to mind...) :D


...to be continued...

[Skyraider3D]

part 2 (as I couldn't include more images in the first one!)



Mark, you're right, it was made this way for the book cover. Here is it:
http://www.lumaf.se/11209/pix/TC-full_cover_big.jpg (http://www.lumaf.se/11209/tc-ad.htm)
I hope the composition makes more sense now :)

Click on the image if you would like to know more about the book!


Arai, thanks! And I agree, we need more planes here! You're dogfight scene is nearly the only 3D airplane in the CGTalk Gallery, unfortunately. When's your Mitchell going to be finished? Maybe it'll add a second!! ;)

Elfling bard, the image is nearly static, as these planes fly in formation, making their relative speeds close to 0. The background is far away, so this isn't moving fast either, especially since these are quite slow planes.

Yea yea Tim! Say, how's your Messerschmitt coming along??? ;)

Aevium Viemme, the gear is fixed. It can not be retracted or anything, so they'd always be in the same position. Or maybe I am not understanding your comments?
In any case, the planes are all pertty much identical in real-life too. They're mass-produced by the same factory, get the same paint, are used for the same purposes. So especially aircraft from the same unit as in this case), will look very alike. I should've added more variations to bump and grunge maps though... Will do so next time!


THANKS AGAIN EVERYBODY FOR ALL THE COMMENTS!!!
Very much appreciated indeed!

[Mr.Sanders]

Nice :thumbsup:

[Cynical_Saint]

Sky: I completely understand your point. For a book cover, a clean color photo is most likely a better choice.

My version is below, I may have over-desaturated it, but personally I like the result.

I really love the pic tho dude, it is very realistic.

http://home.carolina.rr.com/cynical/images/sk14.jpg

[alexbox]

Jag måste säga att jag gillar bilden värkligen!!!

[wbate]

It was great to see the ww2 photo, I really underestimated the quality of photo they had at the time. Your color choices make much more sense. I will be more careful abt uninformed critique! (blush)

Looking back and forth, your image is pretty damn close. There may be just a slightly better sense of integration in the real photo, but that's really nit-picking. Myabe the grunge/weathering maps would make the difference!

Good work!

[Skyraider3D]

Thanks guys! :)

Mr Sanders, any secret ways to enter your website?

Cynical Saint, it's an interesting effect, but somehow looks more like a still from a movie. Thanks for showing! :)

Alexbox, I'm afraid even my Romanian is better than my Swedish :rolleyes:
What on earth did you say? :D

wbate, the image I showed was a typical one. I've seen some that are much better quality, rivalling today's standards. I can show you if you're interested?

[mmiller]

Hi Ronnie
Thanks for the cover image.
It looks great :thumbsup:

ok - from a graphic design standpoint I would probably have moved the title text up a little and perhaps reduced the line letting as well.
and darkening the top a little might have helped punch the title out a little more.
Not sure the way the authors name was handled is optimal as well as it is overlayed on that rather busy area at bottom.

Well, sorry this isn't graphic design forum and none of these crits has anything to do with your illustration
Which is excelent.

Mark

[Nosalis]

Original pic is better. The one from Cynical_Saint is IMHO overeffected. First one is best, nice, clean.

[Skyraider3D]

Mark, I totally agree with you on all your comments concerning the layout. I didn't do the layout though. I only supplied the image, you see! :D


PS. What did you think of this cover? On this one I did do the layout:
http://www.luft46.com/taraaf.jpg (http://www.luft46.com/taraaf.html)

[mmiller]

Hi Ronnie
Yes, that's more like it - to my eye anyway.
Everything seems to fit quite well.;)

And I think it has the right look for a book on aviation history.
Nothing fancy
just straightforward and well balanced.

Mark

[Nosalis]

Yes, this second looks better.

You probbably haven`t done the aircrafts, do you? The mustang in front need a bit more detail :)

[Skyraider3D]

Thanks Mark!


Nosalis, yes I did do the aircraft, but the front aircraft is not a Mustang!!! :D
It's a CA-15 Kangaroo - an Australian plane. The plane on fire is a Mustang however. But this one is 2D, as I used and modified an airshow photograph!

I've posted the CA-15 before on CG Talk. Here they are again:

http://home.wanadoo.nl/r.j.o/skyraider/temp/ca-15_cgtalk.jpg

http://home.wanadoo.nl/r.j.o/skyraider/temp/ca-15_aircombat_cgtalk.jpg

The links to these posts are:
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=60440
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=73095

I hope it has enough detail for a CA-15! ;)

[munkY]

very impressive! :beer:

i was just about to model an old ww2 fighter

but im not so sure anymore :)

[Skyraider3D]

Munky, I wished my work would inspire you, rather than put you off!!! :cry:
I've had a look at your Porsche... great model! I'm especially impressed by the materials. They're quite convincing. How did you do the glass of the windshield? I always find that a tricky thing to make.
Anyway I hope you'll reconsider and make a WW2 plane afterall! You sure got the skills. If you're stuck for reference, drop me an e-mail! (skyraider3d@wanadoo.nl) :beer:

[munkY]

thanks alot for those warming words :)

cause of that i will start modelling first thing tomorrow! :beer:

[ElKrullo]

Hey! Thats some really nice aeroplanes!
And I love the fact that they're swedish! :buttrock:

Only crit from me: For some reason they don't strike me as being 100% realistic. They kinda look a bit like modelplanes. I can't put my finger on it, but maybe some fine tuning on the specular would help?

Well, just thoughts! It's a lovely picture!
Keep it up! :thumbsup:

[buzzlightyr]

Skyraider3D Great work will there be an animation?

[Nosalis]

To skyrider: Kangeroo ? :) ,... that explains it. I can a bit WW2 planes, but I forgot, that australian Kangeroo is similar to mustang.

:) great work

it`s a pitty it`s not a 3d model ... it would be great

[Skyraider3D]

Nosalis, only the burning plane (F-51 Mustang) is a photograph. Both CA-15s are 3D models (see the links to the posts).

Munky, keep us updated on the progress please!!

Buzz, unlikely... No time! But I might... :)

E|Krullo, I understand what you mean. It's always very tricky to combine 3D with real photographs. Not sure what causes this effect either... :shrug:

Well, the printer of the book commented to the authors that they had chosen a very nice cover "photograph". That made my day! :D

[Nosalis]

I see :)

great work..

[elhuppi]

Hi Skyraider

Great airplanes you've done there. I really like the idea of doin a render from a position where one could have done a real photograph.
I read the thread and you already pointed out, that you wanted that clean look for the cover. Besides you wanted that old color-photograph look. by lookin at the real old photo you posted, I see some differences to your rendering, which maybe responsible for a more modelaircraft-lookin kinda way.
So I did some retouches to your original image(I hope you don't
mind).
Mainly I guess that the BG is too blurry(like you can see in the real photograph) - everything is sharp. Only the wing in the front has to be unsharp. Since I can't sharpen your unsharp BG I blurred the rest a bit to get an overall equal blurriness in the picture. Further on the highlights on the airplanes are way to strong in my opinion. I'm no expert for that aircraft, but I think a matte surface looks more real(like in the real photograph of yours). So I changed that too. As well as the highlights on the tires. Furthermore I changed the colors a bit. Put in more green with a bit more contrast on that and greyed out the image by a small amount. Last but not least I scaled it up to photo res added a bit of grain and scaled it down again, to have a real grainsize.

Enough talkin. Here is the retouched image.
Hope it does help you a bit. I think it looks more like a WWII photograph.

Anyway I realy like your image - great work!
http://www.huppi.de/Sk14_render01_cgtalk_retouched.jpg

[Nosalis]

To get the best result, I would give 50% of original image and 50% of Hugh modiffied image :)

[kr3ml]

Haha , the planes are Swedish , nice image , looks very realistic
and also I love your e-light script :thumbsup:

Btw: my little avatar guy is rendered with e-light ;)

[JerryB]

Very nice Ronnie!!! Just one thing I noticed (which Hugh's redone image brings out) is that the light on the aircraft has quite alot of contrast, whereas teh light on the clouds is slightly more muted. Just MHO, but I would've upped the contrast more on the background so that it was brighter. But apart from that everything else is absolutely spot on :thumbsup: :applause:

[zeravla]

looks very nice, colors are great

[ThunderTurtle]

Great work, Good to see your still around the boards, or maybe it's just me not around enough to see. Excellant work as always, great render. Every time I see your work, it makes me want to dig back up that old Hienkel model. One of these days it just may happen.. Good stuff man.

-Travis

[Hellmare]

it's interesting that people in this forum still amaze me :) this looks fantastic!

[Skyraider3D]

Thanks all for the comments! Very much appreciated!


Hugh, great eye for detail! Your comments really help, and I will keep them in mind, with the next image. It seems like I over-worked the background... :shrug: The original is quite crisp and sunny, but I toned it down to match the old style and over-did it I'm afraid.
I still prefer my original as it's more colourful (being for a bookcover and all), but your re-worked example is quite nice.

Nosalis, you could be quite right!

Ac0rN, I'm glad to see you're using my script! Thanks! :)

Hey Jerry! Yeah it's the background that's giving it away now isn't it? O well, better luck next time! ;)

Travis my man! Long time no hear! How's life been treating you? Drop me a mail if you can spare the time!
O yes, that Heinkel... love to see more of it!

Zeravla, Hellmare, thanks!!!

[Skyraider3D]

Hi,

Here's a quick side-profile render of the Sk 14 :)

http://home.wanadoo.nl/r.j.o/skyraider/Sk14/Sk14_profile.jpg

[SirManfred]

Skyradier! Old friend! :) Thats some kick-ass models you have there. You should make some more Swedish planes ;) How about SAAB Draken? ("Draken" is swedish for "the dragon" or so) Or SAAB Viggen? :P They are all nice aircrafts. Personally i love the photorealism you have and i love aircrafts so you are one of my favorite 3d artists :P

Cheers, mate.

PS. You still going to maxforums? I haven't seen you there in a while.

[Skyraider3D]

Thanks man! :)

Drakens or Viggens are nice planes indeed, but I don't think I'll be modelling any moderns stuff. The reason is fairly simple: there are plenty of great photographs of them around. Hey, I even got one on my website!
http://home.wanadoo.nl/r.j.o/skyraider/airpower1_3.htm

Anyway, I focus on more obscure WW2 era types, of which little or no photographs exist. I don't see much point in making a photorealistic render of something I could photograph on an airshow! ;)
The Sk 14 (that's err... the plane in the renders) wasn't even that obscure in being one of Sweden's most important trainers for two decades.

Maxforums... coincidentally I've been there a few times last week. Other than that I havent posted there in ages. Might stick this model on there too perhaps? :D

[SirManfred]

Yeah, you should definitly post it on MF. And WW2 planes are way cooler than modern jet shit :P
Personal favorites of mine is Spitfire and Mustang. But thats a very common favorite. :]

Btw. Check my WIP thread ;)

[mmiller]

Ronnie
Nice looking profile :thumbsup:
You know... there's money to be made with work like that :cool:

Only thing you might want to try is to dirty it up a little.
I would think the area behind the cowl would have been pretty messy at times with engine exhaust, fuel leaks etc...
of course, they might have been very conciencious with the maintenance of these training vehicles and kept them squeaky clean...
But, who cares - it would look cool ;)

however, this might be best considered more along the line of a personal preference rather than a right/wrong kind of thing.

but, the best crit I ever got was - "dirty it up"

BTW - is that realy how the tires look?
kind of balloonish
Mark

[Skyraider3D]

Fred, I already replied there before replying here! ;)
Good work! :thumbsup:


Mark, most of these aircraft were brand-new during WW2. They didn't look too dirty on the photos, and since they were going on a book cover I kept them pretty tidy. I agree the engine area needs some more abuse though.
The tyres are Goodyear balloon tyres, to cope with the Swedish marshy airfields. The students found them tricky though, as they made landings rather bouncy, and numerous aircraft were written off in landing accidents.

Here is one of my reference pictures. As you can see, the wheels are pretty balloony, and the appearence of the planes is fresh and clean (and indeed training aircraft are well-maintained!):
http://home.wanadoo.nl/r.j.o/skyraider/Sk14/Sk14s.jpg

[SirManfred]

Woah! The guy by the wing of the number 93! I know him! Honestly! He's Swedish! :P jk
Nice reference :)

[albinochicken]

ANOTHER GREAT IMAGE!!!!!!!

Only critiques: I agree that the planes all having the same textures (other than the numbers -- which is good) does make them appear CG. Also, would be too cool to get that slight 'mist' of air/clouds that would appear just behind the props.

Again, great work!!!

One question from a non-airplane person .... what are those clothesline-looking things that span from the engine area to the tail??????? Just curious!!!! 8-)

[Skyraider3D]

Albinochicken,

The "clothes line" is a radio aerial :)
Would be nice though to put some socks on them! ;)

As for the identical textures... The do all have scratches in different places, but indeed I should have made some more variations.
However as you can see from above, these planes did look quite identical apart from the number.

What do you mean with "that slight 'mist' of air/clouds that would appear just behind the props"???

[godeus25]

nice planes and background, but not a very interesting composition. it needs much more variation in the placement of the planes. they are all stacked in a line and flying straight. maybe if they were all turning at once? something to make it a little more dynamic. :thumbsup:

[Skyraider3D]

Godeus25, I think you may have missed the idea of this render. It's called "Formation Flight Training" and the idea is that these aircraft, piloted by students and supervised by instructors, are trying to stay in a nice and straight formation (at which they're not fully succeeding yet).
Of course you could prefer a more dynamic composition, but it wasn't the intention of this particular render :)
Please have a look on my website though (just click the banner below) and you'll see some more dynamic stuff! ;)

[evan]

Skyraider - The images are fantastic. In particular, I love the profile renders. VERY nice:thumbsup:

[Levitateme]

great stuff im a avid fan of the history channel. so i belive i know the look your going for. well done.

[stinger]

Nice job! :eek:

Your images are always amazing! :applause:

[godeus25]

well now i feel sheepish. you've got some increadable stuff on your site. that Blohm & Voss Bv 141 B is awsome. i really like your idea of making models of rare aircraft and never mass produced stuff. thanks for the inspiration :thumbsup:

[Franc]

:thumbsup: The color tone is good

[Skyraider3D]

Hey Evan! What's with the funny character in your sig? :D
How's your Dornier coming along?


Thanks Stinger! And ditto! :beer:


Godeus25, yea I love making obscure things. I personally don't see too much use in rendering a plane in a photoreal fashion, that can easily be photographed at an airshow.
Part of the challenge for me is bringing a 'dead' (or non-existent!) plane back to life, so to say.


Franc, Levitateme, thanks! I hope to have some new vintage stuff soon!

[evan]

Ronnie, the character is just one of the many characters I've been contracted to model, texture and rigg. I'm pretty busy at the moment (apart from today because I'm sick). But, I've been keeping an eye on these aircraft threads. Very nice work by everyone!

Evan

[gspinz]

g'day skyraider,

i really admire your work :drool:...was just skimming through some of the threads and found your question about the "mist" behind the props.

i saw this "mist" effect in real life not too long ago. a C130 was doing a missed approuch while i was on the flight line and she flew right over the top.

as it was passing over the top you could see a vapour trail being generated by the leading edges of the props and this extended about a foot behind the prop itself, was quite a sight to see.

anyway you might want to check into it for any works that you do in the future for "overflies" etc ;)

gspinz

[gpepper]

Nice, as usual...:applause:

[Skyraider3D]

gspinz, I know what you mean. Just this effect is not that often seen in photographs. During my teens I've been photographing planes for years - and I still do occasionally on airshows. I only have a handful of photos that shows this mist. It usually only happens at low altitude on a moisty day.


Evan, how's your Dornier coming along ;)


gpepper, thanks :)

I wish I could show you my newest works already. I think they're much better and more interesting... Unfortunately I need to wait till the book for which they're made gets printed and reaches the shops... :shrug:
O well, by then I might have newer works yet! ;)

[gspinz]

yeah, i live in queensland australia. the days are very hot and humid so you see a lot of 'prop trails'.

another question, how do you create such nice cumulus clouds like i see in the background of that flight? i've gone through your cloud tutorial but haven't come up with anything as good as those clouds :)

gspinz

[Skyraider3D]

Hehe to create such clouds for a background you need to do the following:
* close 3DSMAX
* book a flight
* take your camera and make lots of pictures
Sorry! :p The background is simply a photograph. I always take my camera with me whenever I make a flight. Since recently I have a digital camera and the amount of pictures I make during flights has gone up exponentially. And with both me and my wife being foreigners here in England, we fly quite a few times a year. So if you're ever in need for some nice cloudy background, let me know, I'm sure I can spare a few :) Just drop me an e-mail.

[gspinz]

lol, oh well...thought they were max ;)

pictures is no big deal for me either, if i'm keen enough i'll take some snaps in the warrior or whatever i'm at the stick of at the time.

thinking about making a scene with a beechcraft baron 58 in the foreground with a nice rendered background. if i become bored one day i might even create either a lycomming engine or continental engine pending how bored a really get.

btw: i'm an aircraft maintenace engineer so most areas of aviation i have plenty of information on ;) i also hold my restricted pilots license :)

gspinz

edit: do you know any links where i might be able to grab a baron blueprint from? i've tried the usual places like suurland and onno van braam.

[LuWeeWu]

I normally dont really like WW1 airplane renderings but this I like:buttrock:

[infin8_1ne]

sky,
I've admired your work for years now, ever since i got started in 3d and i was wondering how much your modelling and texturing technique and process has changed from what is on your site.

[Skyraider3D]

Gspinz, I've not come across a Baron blueprint before. Mainly because I am more interested in military planes. I am sure the Baron saw military service though. Doe you know any military designations it might have had? Wasn't the T-42 a Baron? In any case, as soon as I find something I'll let you know.



LuWeeWu, I'm glad you like the render. Those are WW2 aircraft, though ;)



Infin8_1ne, my texturing technique has indeed changed some over the years. I mainly follow two techniques now:
1) proper unwrapping
2) using mix-maps
Furthermore I have switched from Paint Shop Pro to Photoshop a few years ago, which is more powerful.
Also, now I use more complicated material setups, with specular maps, glossiness maps, raytraced reflections, all kinds of fall-offs, and so on...

Short explanations of the techniques:

1) Like a real-time game model, I often unwrap my models so they fit on a single texture page. This is done to the Triebflügeljäger (http://home.wanadoo.nl/r.j.o/skyraider/trieb_1.htm) model, for instance. It's a lot of work, but it saves time too as only one texture page needs editing. Also it allows the model to be shown as an interactive shockwave model.

2) When I only need to make a render of the model, I sometimes use mix-maps. This was done on the CA-15 Kangaroo (http://home.wanadoo.nl/r.j.o/skyraider/ca-15_2.htm) for example. I use two UV channels - one for the topview and one for the sideview - then make textures for them. These textures are then blended according to a mix-map. This mixmaps is nothing more than a black and white map, where white defines UV Channel 1, and black 2. They're incredibly handy for quickly texturing a complex model, without spending a lot of time unwrapping it. The material IDs as described in the tutorial are still used though, to seperate the wings from the fuselage

And I still do use the old technique as described in my tutorial occasionally, as it's very fast. In fact, the SAAB Sk14 (http://home.wanadoo.nl/r.j.o/skyraider/sk14_1.htm) model in this thread is textured according to this test&tried method :) Texturing took less than a week worth of evenings and a weekend.

I hope this explanation made some sense. I could almost do a version 2 and 3 of the original texturing tutorial! :)

[gent_k]

niiiiiiiiiiiiice

[ChR0n0_SeRgE]

man, thats incredible
keep it up!

[Skyraider3D]

Thanks!!! :):):)

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