Oil Tank Train Car

IsparticusI

Hey all!

Thought i would start a thread with a high poly oil tank im working on. As you can see from the reference images im workin with, not all are the same length or design so i kind of took a little bit from everthing and am making it my own.



and heres a start to the wheels

IsparticusI

and here is the wheels set up on a track and a simple platform. the shadows are just the hardware shading in max viewport, nothin special yet

DWalker

You might want to pick one design and get more reference for it before going too much further - your references have 3 different but similar designs.

IsparticusI

yea thats actually why i got a bunch of different styles, because i like to make things my own, more unique and of my taste, while keeping the general form of the multiple designs.

But with that said, i just got more of the basics down, heres one with the basic tank added.

Sir Apple

Just my opinion, but I've always felt putting a game model in sort of a circular 'display pedestal' is really off-putting and takes away from the piece. Essentially it breaks the context of the model being for a video game, and makes it look more like a toy or such. If that makes sense? Just my opinion

It perhaps would look better on top of a flat plane with the rocks and dirt etc. etc., and have it fade out/alpha blend out around the edges so to speak. More complicated to do but at the same time I feel the presentation would benefit far more.

IsparticusI

hmm, interesting. I've never heard anyone comment on something like that before. but yea i can see your point. For this point in the process (being a high poly and such) i have seen others put it on a pedestal just because it gives that specific feel. You want to make it the "center of attention" and make it seem like its worth something to showcase. something that is really high detail, but if others share the same opinion and think i should do away with it and make it look better, then yea il def get rid of it

Matīss_Sola

Great looking model!
Can't wait to see it textured.
-For presentation i agree with ''Sir Apple'',pedestal takes away from the peace.

IsparticusI

Alrighty sounds good. For some reason though, I dont want to do away with the pedestal all together so i think what im going to do is just tone it down a bit, and make it a little smaller and not as thick, see how that looks. But for now here are the latest renders

DWalker

I'd get rid of the lip, setting the ground level at the top of the pedestal.

The ladder looks too wide, and the ridges between the plates are much too prominent.

cdevens

I agree that the ladder looks a little wide. As far as the ridges between the plates, I wouldn't worry about that assuming that you are going to bake this to a low poly. The only part that bothers me (though it would probably never be noticed if this were in game) is the extruded border around the hole in the wheel frame piece from your first pic. The edge hardness is inconsistent. One side looks thinner than the other, the inside corners are a bit loose. Again, that is just being very nit-picky. I actually prefer the versions in your ref that don't have that extrusion though that would be less interesting when baked out. Good job overall, it looks like it will bake nicely.

IsparticusI

cdevens- ah i see what you were saying. some of it i think was just the way the lighting was affecting it but yea some were slightly different so i changed those up. I brought the thickness of the ladder down a little bit. And i also brought up the ground plane a bit and made the lip and pedestal much smaller so its not as distracting. But all of this is majorly for just presentation wise. So as far as the model goes, im gunna call the high poly done, and start working on all the fun parts.

IsparticusI

Finally got around to texturing this. I was having some issues with my xoluil shader inside max, so here here it is inside udk. Not entirely sure which color scheme i should go with. I feel like yellow has better contrast, but textures "pop" a little more with the grey. Thoughts anyone?

ZacD

the black support things aroung the cylinder should be painted yellow as well, I'd like to see that. Also I think the black support things are too bold and sharp, they are not as strong in the reference material.

IsparticusI

Yea the unpainted version is getting the most feedback, so i believe im going to stick with that.

ZacD- That reference that is on the top of the page is actually just a toy version. I just wanted to show that, thats the type that id be using. In other reference images, the straps are much more prominent. You have to think, these straps are holding a multi ton tank of liquid so they are going to have to be somewhat bold.

IsparticusI

Alright, i believe im done with this thing unless anyone has some final cc's. But added some last minute decals and shtuff. Any comments are welcome