1940's jeep
polycounter lvl 13
So for my senior project, i've decided to change from characters to props/environments.
I've changed my project to a 1940's excavation site of an alien like ruin.
I'm going to try and get some of this stuff done for GDC Austin, so please give me as much feedback as you can. I really want to have good stuff. I'm going to try to get the jeep done and some small props for GDC.
Here's a quick thumbnail of how i think I want the layout to be. I'm going to make it take place inside of a temple/cave type environment in the desert.
and here's the start of my hipoly on the jeep.
I've changed my project to a 1940's excavation site of an alien like ruin.
I'm going to try and get some of this stuff done for GDC Austin, so please give me as much feedback as you can. I really want to have good stuff. I'm going to try to get the jeep done and some small props for GDC.
Here's a quick thumbnail of how i think I want the layout to be. I'm going to make it take place inside of a temple/cave type environment in the desert.
and here's the start of my hipoly on the jeep.
Replies
If you want my opinion: I'd blockout the scene first to get an idea. At the moment it looks a bit random.
If you want to have some things to show before GDC you'll probably want to focus on a prop or two for now. It's good to have small milestones like having things ready for GDC though, keeps the production going.
I'd try for a sub scene... Maybe do just the jeep, a few barrels of fuel, and get the desert ground done. Maybe some crates. With just a few assets done you'll have enough for a mini scene. Make it look really good. This'll have you pumped for finishing the whole thing. Staying motivated is the most important thing you can do right now. And to stay motivated you're going to want to see results fast.
This way you're working towards the grand scale of the full scene, without being overwhelmed by the big picture right now. You'll also see how just a few of the assets are fitting together and start getting a style and color scheme going which you can easily apply to the future assets.
With a project like this you don't want to get too set in stone with concepts. You're going to run into technical difficulties, or come up with some kind of new idea as you work on this thing that's going to change your asset list. This is a good thing. Think about the project as you work on it, think about assets that would look cool with the assets you're currently working on. "Hey there's a big texture seam here, what asset could i put to cover this up easily?", or "Hey these don't blend into the ground well, what kind of flora or assets could i make to blend these assets into the ground?"
The scene as a whole is for my senior project. But for my mini scene i'll probably do exactly what you said, the jeep, some crates, maybe a small alien monument. I might present it like a mini diorama too. That could look really cool.
I'm amazed by the detail, great model!
out of interest, since you've finished modelling that wheel (it looks like), why not instance it around to replace those other blockout wheels?
MoP- the wheel isnt completely done yet. I still hve to add the detail to the actual tire itself, and there is still alittle piece on the hubcap area that connects it to the jeep itself i have to add.
thanks for the love
i'm going to try and widdle away at it today alittle bit if i can find the time.
Keep it up bro
I just thought it'd look more visually interesting to go with the two handled container. As far as the "x" goes...yeah it was a pain. I found like 3 different x designs on 3 different containers....so i just went with the easiest one, which ended up being pretty difficult.
http://media.photobucket.com/image/1940%20jeep/hmvf/jeep001.jpg
http://www.dragon-models.com/catalog/figure_pics/71410/71410p1.jpg
nice combination of cloth, hard surface and organic shapes. anxious to see it
I'm now working on the front bumper, and still looking for images of the under sides of these things. If I can't find a good picture, i take to the field and try and find a museum with a jeep like this. I live in San Diego so i hope that wouldn't be too hard.
I reeeally need undercarriage reference. I have none! I can't find a jeep like that anywhere in San Diego, so if you have any reference please help. I'm on hold until i can find some.
and here's a concept of how i want the alien icon in the boxes to look. Just a quick concept i did at work.
The concept drawing is very nice, and is well executed (as always!) but I would like to suggest having your cool alien artifact being a bit more prominent in the scene over all.
Jeep looks awesome! Hard surface FTW
I think rendering your jeep with somethink other than just a skylight would make it present much better - take a look for X-Convict (Artem Volchik)'s rendering tutorial, he shows how to get a really nice setup without spending ages on it. I bet it will make your jeep look 200% as good!
ok, i'm going to try to find some time to knockout some of hte bottom half tonight after work.
Google
(Not trying to be a smartass, just saying that most of the images P442 posted come up on the first page of googling for "1940 jeep chassis" ... are you telling me you didn't try that?)
spell fail
i googled 1940 jeep under carriage, under, flipped over....all kinds of stuff.
also, www.bing.com is better than google
Here's a not so quick render of the jeep using X-Convict (Artem Volchik)'s tutorial. Due to an excess of homework, i'm not going to get to the chassis until this weekend.
Holy crap you're right dude, i just gave Bing a shot and found some textures i couldn't find on flickr, google, or cgtextures instantly. Thanks for the heads up.
Good luck with the chassis, though i'm a little curious why you're focusing on that element considering you probably wont see the undercarriage. One of the jeeps going to be flipped over?
It's more of a proving to myself i can do it. At this point i feel like my portfolio should do nothing but showoff. I'll worry about practicality when i get a job haha
If you are going to go the Kevin Johnstone route of modeling the chassey you should model the engines too
i wish i did though. that'd be rad. but i can't compete with a master.
Here's the icon that's going to be in one of the open crates.
2048x2048 I'll make it smaller when i'm done texturing.
1158 tris.
It's supposed to be a small idol from the alien race that inhabited this temple. I made it in away that would imply the design of the alien race themselves, I hope it worked hah.
That's what I said!
I'm hopin to have the jeep lowpoly modeled and unwrapped this weekend. that's the plan anyways.
I like the idea with this scene though, and so far everything has been well conceived.
I reeeeally wanted to do the whole chassis. But i'll have to save that for another project i guess.
cycloverid- Ok, before i start texturing it i'll knock it down to 1024. Since it might end up being a 512...or 1024 for presentations sake.
Thanks everyone for the comments. You're really helping me pull through this thing.
right now im at 15k tris.
There's also no need to model every detail attached to the body as one piece, floating can work just as well and won't mess up you geometry and polyflow so horribly.
Also, you seem to be planning to put everything on one smoothing group, that is absolutely not the best thing to do for mechanical normalmapped geometry, as this article explains: http://www.svartberg.com/tutorials/article_normalmaps/normalmaps.html
That aside I do like the new idea. Almost wish you would've started on this first instead. But as long as your comfortable doing so than so be it.
Can't wait to see it finished. You'll be having quite the diverse portfolio when your done. Keep up the good work.
Now that I have more time, i'll hopefully have more updates.