Jet Train (cinematic asset)

Sickleblade

Hey guys. This is my first attempt at an asset like this. I've never done a vehicle, or anything this complex and of such a high poly count before. That said, I am totally open to some feedback. Critique is welcome, especially if it's something I can use to improve.

My assignment for class was to take a vehicle and add an unusual component to it, and complete it to a cinematic quality (which for the purposes of this assignment means a 200k tri limit, and 4-6 UV sheets).

My concept is a jet-powered train. Currently I'm in the high poly phase, soon to make the conversion to low poly.

Main concept:


Other reference:







Where I'm at:

Sickleblade

Hey guys. I've had a hell of a time getting through to the low poly and then unwrapping/UVs. When I got my low poly assembled, I found out I was way over budget for my tris so I had to do alot of gutting geo. But I finally got it down to my 200k tri-count. Baked my normals and AO. and stuck it into marmoset. to check it out. Realizing the wheels need a bit of tweaking. Anyways, I wanted to actually update this.

AO and normal of my UV sheets.

Sickleblade

renders of these applied to my train model in marmoset:

ghaztehschmexeh

I like the idea and the bake is solid. I think it could use a bit more indication that it's a jet engine though. So far you've just added a turbine in the front which is only really obvious when viewed from the front. It doesn't change the silhouette at all. There is no exhaust (those flappy bits you've added are for thrust vectoring I believe).

Overall though a strong start :thumbup:

j.pears

stunning so far man, loving the hard surfaces. great model

beefaroni

Wow. This should be neat

PyrZern

Where does the Jet Trail go O o? Inside the train ?

gsokol

I'm with PyrZern.

You do realize that part of the main functionality of a Jet is to compress air, ignite it, and blast it out the rear...using thrust from the exhaust to propel forward, right?

Clearly, your design doesn't allow for that, instead you are blasting what would be 1500 degree flames directly at the cabin.

Don't get me wrong, I think your work looks nice so far, but the fundamental design of this is completely flawed and not believable.

Sickleblade

The idea was to vent the exhaust out the top. Internally it'd be using something akin to how they use the fuel pumped through interior tubing of the exhaust nozzles of the space shuttle to first off cool the metal being hit by the exhaust and simultaneously pre-heat the fuel before going into the engine. I'm sure it's flawed logic at this point. But I had to come up with a concept on short notice to get green-lit for this school project. It got the go-ahead and I've been locked in for weeks. I really appreciate you guys pointing out where the design issues are though. I think it'll help me be more mindful of that going forward.

I also fixed up my normal issues on my wheels. today. Also repacked things to be tighter across three UV sheets.

Updated normals in marmoset:


updated UV sheets:

Sickleblade

Here's where I'm at with texturing/materials. At first I was doing a sort of red/black thing, but I just didn't like it much, and my teacher didn't like it much either. Then I found some reference for more colorful train paintjobs that I liked the idea of. Renders in marmoset.

Torch

*Stares at UV's* :poly118:

You have the patience of a saint...

yodude87

holy bejeez, my exact thoughts o.o

Dan Powell

**** me, I think I'd cry UVing this...

What texture sizes did you use for each pass?

Awesome work overall though mate!

GrungyStudios

i cry a little bit inside when i have to unwrap something as simple as a crate...

Good work on this! very detailed

Sickleblade

Haha. Yea the unwrapping and packing sucked. Essentially made three passes at packing it too. Not fun, but had to be done. Textures are all 2048s.

Shurkuris

Your cowcatcher should at least be 2.5-3 times bigger than it currently is.

It isn't their for show, it's for actually removing "obstacles" like cattle.



In the believably side of a "Jet Train" I can't imagine to what would happen to the Turbine if something large and organic got thrown into it at 30+ mph.

Sickleblade

Heh.. death and explosions probably if something big got into the turbine. This project earned the colloquial title of the pain train in my class. Mostly for the pain I set myself up for in sheer number of parts to model and unwrap and stuff, but also because it was pretty much agreed it would be a death trap in reality. It definitely gave me alot to think about going forward about functional design.