Hard Surface - Formula One Car
Hey Everyone, in keeping with my hard surface modeling I've taken on modeling a Formula 1 race car. I've used blueprints and as much reference as I could find and because in the F1 world the rules are always changing the specs for this car are in line with the 2011 rules.
The model is heavily inpired by the Ferrari F150 but not a replica, the only reason is most of my references are from that model.
I've posted on the WAYWO thread with HP updates so here is the latest one:
I'm currently working on the lowpoly and I have it at ~19k tris. Assuming this is going into a racing game, is that too high? Low? Not sure but there is plenty of room to knock it down.
Thanks in Advance!
The model is heavily inpired by the Ferrari F150 but not a replica, the only reason is most of my references are from that model.
I've posted on the WAYWO thread with HP updates so here is the latest one:
I'm currently working on the lowpoly and I have it at ~19k tris. Assuming this is going into a racing game, is that too high? Low? Not sure but there is plenty of room to knock it down.
Thanks in Advance!
Replies
The front and back wings are my best features, I think. Front and rear suspensions and wishbones seem ok to me. Aside from the above I mentioned anywhere else?
The head rest area and the nose cone to intake transition area is rough too ..
I still need to fix some pinching above the front wheel and the that annoying line along the side of the nose cone.
I also decided to take a crack at some mental ray renders using Material ID's and some lighting practice. Don't mind the ground its an attempt at concrete with puddles
I've adapted the low poly to fit the new HP and it still sits at just under 20k tris. Assuming that this could go into a racing game is that an appropriate tri count?
Here's a silhouette test I did against blueprints. The model and prints are according to 2011 specs.
As for the tire angles, I'm not sure exactly what the degree of incline is, but it's an easy fix.
EDIT: Just reviewed some info and as I can see, it would appear the driver controls the camber on the fly. The rule of thumbs appears to be around 1 to 2 degrees, max of 4.
I may be over doing it so I can fix that.
Not sure If I'm doing it wrong but here's a progress shot. I have 4 Smoothing groups overall and they're laid out side by side, #1 left most.
The way I have it setup currently I'm afraid I will have way too many islands and seams so before I go any farther I'll need some direction.
However some of your UV's are overlapping each other which will create problems when you bake. Along with that, you haven't left enough room between some of your UV islands - typically try to have an even amount of padding/space between all your UVs. And lastly some of your UV islands are on odd angles, which isn't a bad thing, but you may get some jagged lines/bakes depending on how big of texture you plan to use.
New UV's
I also pinched in the edges of the low poly wheels, they'll be adjusted on the HP shortly.
Parts of the model are good, but the overall shapes look blobby and ill defined. I strongly recommend you go and take another pass over the red paneling and really try and study how and where the car curves. Basicly the shapes are there, but are not well defined enough, and have random blobs and bulges on them, rather than something designed to cut through the air.
Dont get me wrong, it looks like a racecar and looks halfway decent, but a further pass would make it look a lot better.
Cheers
http://www.artemstudios.com/2010/tutorials.htm
Hope this helps. Keep going at it man! This will make a sweet portfolio model.
@Josh: Thanks for the link, I'm following it right now, I'll do some new renders of the HP later tonight.
Now the smoothing groups for the surrounding polys are the same, the normal map doesn't have any differences where the seams are. They are both seperate uv islands, so far that the only conclusion I have.
As for the colors, I'm experimenting with white and green(above) and as for the spec map it's non existant and if anyone has any links furthur the PC's own wiki it would be greatly appreciated.
I find the lime green my favorite so far.
Textures are still WIP, I'm trying to get the look of the speckles of new car paint and not sure what to do about the tyres.
[yes un-shameful promotion]
EDIT: Just noticed the weird triangle shaped on the nose and in the intake.
Normal maps aren't something I'd be using - they're for per-pixel changes in normals. A lot of the bodywork on a F1 car is gradual curves over a set, continuous shape, something you should b using mesh for (no normal maps on the body ideally).
For the shape of it, it seems a bit generic for a 2009+ F1 car - no offense. All the top teams had some sort of concept that you could see visually; Brawn had the sweel long nose and pushed sidepod shape, Red Bull had the platypus nose and tucked in the top of the bulkhead (and even tried to continue it this year), Torro Rosso had the 'double floor' and McLaren tried some interesting things the last few years:
^McLaren 2011
^Torro Rosso Double Floor (underneath the Red Bull logo there's a wide, flat gap down to the floor)
For tyres, look up pictures of used F1 tyres, with graining and wear. Even slicks look good and less 'clinicly unrealistic' (common problem with rendering tyres) when they've been 'used'
Some references for green-coloured cars if you want:
For the normal maps, it's also something I was learning so I figured I'd try it out. The only thing I was using the normals for was for the bumps on the vertical wings in the back.
@James520, Jeanne1: Thanks for the comments!
Once I had it to point where I liked I started playing around with rendering and got a little carried away :O
Sorry if they're a little blurry, working from my laptop :S
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The way I has the textures set up I was able to easily add 2 hue/sat layers and play with colors some more.
I did add some tyre wear, its not very noticable above but it's still a WIP, has for the paint I need to add the speckles on the shine and still reading up on relfections and HDRI rendering looks awesome so maybe a little of that later.
C & C always welcome
I've tried to download the Xoliul Shader but unfortunately I can't get to the main website. Anyone have a link to a mirror download?
Here's my progress so far, nothing much has changed except it's a lot more clean. I think so at least.
C&C always welcome!
Here is is my first attempt at UDK
I'm looking for information on shaders and lighting at this time but if anyone has good beginner tutorials that focus on creating shaders it would be a huge help!