Design Brief
In the game production side of the course we were set the
task of modelling a Ford Transit van. Within the project we were required to
model a transit van with a limit of 5000 triangles (tri’s) and a texture budget
this budget consisted of ; a 1024x1024 texture sheet for the exterior, a
512x512 texture sheet for the interior of the vehicle and a 128x128 texture
sheet for the glass and lights. To complete the project we were using the
‘Autodesk 3ds max’, ‘Photoshop’ and ‘Crazy Bump’ software.
How did I feel about
this project?
At first I will admit I was sceptical about the task, it was
my first experience of modelling a vehicle, I was very apprehensive. However, a
lecture by our course leader relinquished these feelings. When I realised that
this project was no different from the past game production projects, I started
to get fascinated with the van project, which is shown by my excessive reference
photo album.
Research
My research ideally began where I started taking pictures.
My friend John and I set off to the nearby Ford garage, which we were advised
by my teacher Steve. We took many images parked vans, vans in motion, textures
and all. Anything we suspected would look interesting or work with our van
design.
Resources
In the brief of the requirements we were given, there were a
series of links to various websites, I used some of these to influence my project
direction, especially the 3d previews of the transit vans. Although, there is a
strict no copyright rule in our course, I could not utilize the resources that
I had found from the internet. Nonetheless, the internet research did help with
understanding of the form of the vehicle, how the light hits the vehicle and
most importantly proportions.
Continuing my research I began to look at
vehicles in games and were I might find the vehicle I had created in video
games. I looked at such games as ‘Dirt 3’, ‘Burnout Paradise’, the ‘Colin McCrae’
games, ‘Truck simulators’ and even ‘Grand Theft Auto’.
Conceptual ideas and
planning
I chose to model the ‘Ford
Connect 2005’. This vehicle project was 5 weeks long. My structural plan consisted of:
·
Modelling for 2 weeks
·
Unwrapping and texturing in 2 weeks
·
The last week will be applying finishing textures
(bumps, specs etc.).
Progression
After taking many
images and visiting the Ford garage, I began modelling my van. To model in
scale I used the blueprints provided to us on blackboard, as a basis of my
model’s shape. Steve advised us to use the strip modelling method to model as
opposed to sculpting a standard shape, which we did for the previous objects,
it wasn’t easy to get right at first but, I strip modelled each side of the
van: front, sides and back in line with the blueprints.
Afterwards, I welded the edges of each side to show the 3D
shape of the van. I added the Roof as a
cap, after connecting all the faces. I did not bother with a floor of the car;
I didn’t think it was necessary. I modelled the exterior, then the glass and
lights which were followed by the interior.
After the body was
fully sculpted, I began to add the finer details accordingly e.g. the grill,
lights, bumper and so forth.
When I was happy
with the finished model, I made certain that there were no engons (a tedious
task indeed. Furthermore, I made sure all polygons were all flipped on the same
side, another tedious task.
The 3rd stage of the project was unwrapping my
van. This was by far the longest and most challenging aspect of the project.
Unwrapping still feels like a task I need to work on. I do not look forward to
unwrapping as much as I enjoy texturing.
Alas, in the early hours of the morning, I finished
unwrapping and moved onto texturing. This task wasn’t particularly difficult as
I had been doing so numerously during the intensive week, and this time round I
was definitely better organised.
I cropped reference images that I took on my research onto dedicated
texture sheets using Photoshop. Subsequently the sheets were applied to the
vehicle.
Finishing touches
Unsatisfied with the look of my textured van, I added a
normal map and a specular map to all the textures to five it more character.
There is a nice dust look along the skirts of the vehicle, creating a sense of
realism. Nonetheless, the specular map and added gloss map, allows the side
plates to look shiny, a characteristic of a car. I had to alpha channel the
glass and gloss mapped it too. I learnt from my peer Kieran that instead of
alphaing, the windows completely black, paint them a mid-grey tone, just to
hint at the windows’ see-through property.
Lastly, I added,
photometric free lights to the model, a podium, a box warehouse and a huge ford
sign in the background. It wasn’t necessary, but I feel that all of these
helped to create a nice finishing render, to which I am proud of.
Issues and errors
No project is without fault and I did run into a few along
the course of the transit van project. It was my first time strip modelling and
Mitch Small flagged at how my van model was unevenly segmented. Secondly when
modelling the rim, I extruded it forwards then backwards, this left a big whole
where the wheel skirts should be, fortunately able to overcome it.
My last big issue was
the texture. Although, I feel I have made a greater job of the texture sheet in
this project compared to previous projects, but still, some textured objects
previous look blurred and clunky. Additionally my specular map and normal maps
might be too intense, perhaps I could have made it more subtle.
Final thoughts and
Conclusion
Despite these issues, I am very proud of the way that my van
project has turned out, this time round, I was better organised, better planned
and not doing a half-hearted job. I have learnt from the project, to reference
more, draw concepts of the model, dedicate more time to texturing, but most
importantly stay organised, work to a plan and work quick to give enough time
to correct errors. However, I am very happy with my outcome and if I stick to
what I have least, it will be very excited to see the outcome of my next
projects.
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