Game Art Challange #10 Schoolbus - Minigun turret

#4

Thanks guys! Yeah, I’m thinking both rust and grafitti

Here’s a first sketchdesign. It may change during the process. I will put up a new sketch with the gunner in the turret later, possibly Monday.

I’m thinking:
2000 tri’s for the bus with turret.
1000 tri’s for the guns.
1000 tri’s for the gunner
leaving 500 tri’s for details and possibly a driver.

I imagine this as a group of people who has survived the zombies and are now fighting to give the world back to the living. They are no experts so the bus will be a bundle of different materials and design solutions.

I already dislike the sharp blade ‘wings’ on the front. Will not model those. I think it removes some of the Schoolbus ‘feeling’. I will also possibly change the steelplates on the drivers seat to a steel net.

I haven’t put any graffiti on the bus other then the ‘Eat this’ on the plow. I’m gonna check out some cool designs later to put on the side and windows.
As you can see all the windows are covered with wooden boards from the inside, preventing zombies from entering the bus, and also saving me the problem of having to model the interior.
At the back of the bus is a loading door, like a draw bridge(?) It will be moveable. Up and down. With the graffiti ‘we break for the living’ sprayed on it

#5

Nice design, might turn out really well! :slight_smile:

I think that some sharp pikes etc (pointing forward) could be a kewl thing to add, so that they can impale any zombies getting in the way of their killer bus. :twisted:

#6

Thanks sysop! Yeah I’m thinking in that direction as well. The problem I’m having is to keep the zombies from sticking to the bus. They usually don’t die so if I inpale them with a forward angled spike they might wiggle them self free and crawl up and kill the driver. I’m thinking out a plan as I write this, because I want those spikes!:scream:

So this will be the gunner of the minigun-turret.

Two reasons for wearing a gasmask. In a city with 250 000 rottening corpses you need one just to keep yourself from throwing up. Second is my hopes of keeping the tri count low.

I will make a better sketch of the minigun later. Just a preliminary for now.

#7

So here is the first basic mesh. There will be a net in front and on the side of the driver that I will do with a bit of transparency, so the polys doesn’t show yet.

Need some suggestions for improvment. I have 336 tri’s to work with so I have made myself a wishlist in no particular order:

Side view mirrors
Chain/Rope for draw bridge
Barbed wire
More spikes
Blades
More detailed plow
More detailed Minigun
Fingers on Gunner

Hopefully I will be able to take off a few polys on the wheels and other various places.
So, what do you think?

#8

Looks good, I especially like the minigun and it’s operator :slight_smile:

One thing though, I’m quite sure that you can easily scrape off 1000 polys.

#9

Good work with the minigun you almost have enough tris to build another one or mabee something smaller. you can never have to many guns.

#10

Stopped at 4997 tri’s. It was a close shave, but I followed EchoSierra’s suggestion and added a second minigun. I just had to have it.

I first cut down some tri’s, had about 650 free, when I started adding more. After the second minigun, I only had a few left, so I had to cut the barbed wire and extra pikes and blades. I went for a side view mirror, more detailed miniguns and a better defined snow(zombie) plow. I also added ammo hanging from the miniguns.

You might notice the steel net surrounding the driver in the upper left image. That’s a temporary shader and will be added in the transparency map later

Gonna start making the basic colormap next week.
c&c always welcome! :thumbsup:

#11

great stuff! I can just imagine the gunner switching weapon in a crowded fight, awesome :P.
Are you going to use normal maps? because it might add a lot of details to the sides :slight_smile:

#12

Don’t know that much about normal maps. Read the normal map thread, or parts of it anyway. But I have to finish this by the end of Oct, because after that I loose my internet connection. Uploading at work and the project ends Oct 29.

So I’m sticking to what I know today, and that is bump and spec maps. I understand that I could convert the bump to a normal map, but there are simply to many unknowns in that mix for me to feel at ease. Maby next challange, if I have a connection.

I will however study the normal map thread better, since it’s the wave of the future.

So to answer your question. No Normal maps this time, but a bump and spec map. I will also need a transparancy map for the steel net infront of the driver.

I will probably use the 1024x1024 for the bus and turret and the 512x512 for the Gunner/driver and the miniguns.

So basically my timeframe for this is:
first week in Oct: Color maps
second Week in Oct: Bump and Spec maps
Third week in Oct: Lights and renders
Fourth week in Oct and onwards: Beauty renders and small changes.

#13

So this is the first basic UV-layout of the bus. This will be the 1024x1024. Will work on the 512x512 this evening. That will be the Gunner/Driver and the miniguns.

The reason there is different wheels and spikes is of course that I will make color and bump variations to mix it up and hopefully take away the ‘copy’ look.

c&c always welcome.

#14

Well, I blew my timeframe. I was suppose to post a finished colormap of the bus in this post. As you can see there is a giant lack of images here. Had to much to do at work and at home, and I didn’t want to post an unfinished image.
I have to push everything forward one week. Thought I could finish it up this weekend, but I had forgotten that I’m one of the MC’s at a large party on Saturday. If I’m not hungover on Sunday, I may post on Monday.

Any crits? Any at all? What about the UV-layout? Good? Bad? Exellent?

#15

So, this is the first version of the base color. Hadn’t time to finish it. Guessing I’ll have it done to Wednesday. Then I’m going to add rust, grafitti and details. Comments?

#16

Superb work so far Zem! I just can’t help thinking that the gunner is a bit exposed…

A well aimed limb or head tossed at him could quite easily knock him from his perch…

#17

Yeah, your’re right about that, Ton. But I don’t have enough polys to cover him up. Maby I can scrape some loose to make a metal net or something. I’ll keep it in mind if I get some spare polys. Thanks!

Latest update. Not a big one, but I’m getting there. I watched a series called ‘Monkey world’ on Animal planet and they made a playground for the monkeys by using firehoses. So instead of using a metalnet for the driver, I’m using the same technique. Firehoses and bolts. The monkeys couldn’t rip it apart, so I’m guessing Zombies can’t either.

#18

Small update…

#19

Finally getting somewhere. I have some small details to work out. The back bumber for example. This is a temporary bump. Haven’t started on that really, just wanted some reference how it would look and where I could put the grafitti.
I realised after making the temporary bump, that I need to up the color on the rust. It doesn’t really show the way I want to.

#20

This is looking pretty good. Any chance we can get a closeup of the texturing? It’s impossible to see a lot of the work you’re putting into this since it’s so tiny.

“Eat This!” is great.

#21

Hey Ghostscape, thanx! Yeah, I can make a closeup later. Sorry didn’t read this post until this morning, so I have a different render today. It’s bigger though, so you might be able to read some of the grafitti. I realised just now that this is not the latest texture. I somehow managed to render out an old texture. Well, you’ll see the new one next time.

#22

Closeup of the sides.
Upper image: in yellow, red, blue and various: There coming to get you Barbara
With red background: Shoot it in the head

#23

Finished! I only have the beautyrender left. All the time in the world. I’ll make a close-up of the driver tomorrow.