Looking for improvement ideas

#1

For the past month, (to pass time during the summer) I’ve been working on a short bit where a pick up truck runs out of control and crashes into a gas station. As you’d expect, the gas station goes up in a big ball of fire. I’ve put alot of work into it, and I’d really appreciate any critiques you guys have :slight_smile:
btw, the truck should be on fire while flying through the air after the explosion, but it didn’t render out. If I can get an updated version rendered out, I’ll post it here. Thanks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKJPGsnIzaA

#2

Hey Humanidt!
I think you spent your time very wisely.
A couple of notes for you:
A)Why does the truck slowdown and then speed up after it hits the first set of pumps? wouldnt it just start slowing down and then momentum would carry it through to hit the second set of pumps.
B)Why is the truck heading straight for the pumps? Wouldn’t it swerve or something ( you could use this to make the truck flip.
C)Don’t have the pumps fly off at the same time and at the same angle.
D)All your textures look very plastic-ie so turn down the reflectivity and give them some dirt in logical places so that not everything is the same.
E)The fire seems to start a bit too early, maybe have the fire start after the truck has come to a rest after hitting the 2nd set of pumps.

hope that helps, and I look forward to seeing an updated version some time soon
-Yasha

#3

Thanks for the comments :slight_smile: But I had a few questions:

What do you mean it slows down and then speeds up? I used PhysX to simulate the collisions, so there was no continuous force on the car. It may be the angle that makes it look like it speeds up, but I don’t notice anything (probably because I’ve seen it so many times)

I know the gas pumps are not textured yet, but the road is supposed to be wet. I know it’s hard to tell because of the resolution, so here’s a pic of a stillframe at 720p. http://tinypic.com/r/21lpizp/6

Would I need to add a spark effect to ignite the fuel? And since I used FumeFX for the fire, would I just make the fuel look like spraying white liquid, or would I need a seperate (metaparticle?) particle system for the liquid?

Thank you,
humanidt

#4

What I mean is that the truck hits the 1st row of pumps, it slows down for a few frames, then it pops over to the 2nd row of frames creating a stop and start feel to the motion.

All your textures look like plastic because im guessing you didnt use bump maps for anything and all your shaders and every object has a flat shader on (have a look at the blue posts, the same value of blue is applied to the top and the bottom of the post and the front set and the back set, in real life such a thing would only happen for the first 30 min that those posts were painted then dirt and grime would start building up and changing the colour of the posts)

and yes maybe you should add some sparks before the fire, but start it 6 or so frames after the truck has come to a rest before you do it.

I dont know much about fume fx (or any kind of fx) so i cant really help you with the technical stuff.

hope that helps!
-Yasha

#5

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.