Soviet Inspired Tracked Transport EP2

CybranM

Recent image:



The first post I made about this project got featured (which is awesome ) but since there were some problems with updating the post after it got featured I decided to make a new one. I didnt realize that the old one wasnt in the 3d art showcase any more until today

I've posted a few updates to that post that no one saw so I'll copy the last update from the old post to this one.

Anyway, I'm back again with some more progress 
Here is a link to an Imgur gallery with a bunch of new images: Imgur Link

Ill upload a few directly to this post but there are more images in the imgur gallery

I'm now done with the texturing of the exterior and the last thing I'll do is look through the lighting academy videos on YT to try and improve the scene lighting.

If you have any feedback or ideas for things i can fix or improve please leave a comment

CybranM

I've tried to light it in a relatively realistic way and Im relatively happy with how it looks at the moment.


Unless someone has feedback on something I can/should change this project is now done

FreneticPonies

The shiny star in the middle of the wheel feels maybe a tad over the top, but nice work overall!

CybranM

@FreneticPonies
Thanks! Do you think this red version works better?

FULGORE

The red star is a nice central focus another easy win would be to make the window wipers at slightly different/askew angles. Just not both straight down. Subtle imperfection is super important.

I think the interior cabin space is really nice, the thing that kinda lets the whole piece down is the snow blending on the outside chassis.
Have a look at how it looks in this ref:



Frozen metal looks really interesting up close, and you could use a good Roughness & Normal map combo to get a similar effect instead of a straight up color blend:

CybranM

@FULGORE
Thanks for the feedback and reference pictures, I got so used to the wipers being straight down that I didnt notice.

I agree that the snow is the weakest part but I'm having a hard time improving it, the large areas are tiling and the snow is blended in using a relatively low texel-density mask. I have a normal map blended in using a low texel-density texture but like the snow mask its not high enough to make sharp details.

Above is an image of the areas that are tiling. 

Do you think I should change where the snow is on the vehicle or do you think I should change the contour of the snow edges?
Snow was a lot harder to make than I initially thought

FULGORE

How are you blending it?
For blending on large assets, I find that using a HeightLerp gets good results - just instead of a height map, plug a blend mask texture into the height input and just tile it a bunch  

e.g. here;s the heightmap I use for 90% of my blend material setups:



You could add complexity to your material if it's not already expensive by e.g. not only using the HeightLerp method, but using one channel of a mask texture to decide where solid snow is, and a different channel to decide where a light frosted coating is, then your final RGB channel for melted snow - so just a roughness modifier that makes areas look wet?

CybranM

@FULGORE
This is my current material setup:

Its just basic lerps for the different materials: Rust, Dirt, Metal and Snow. 
I've not tried the heightLerp but I'll take a look at it.

I could add another mask texture to improve the snow, its an important part of the exterior as you said, and since its meant to be a portfolio piece I dont think it matters how expensive the material ends up being.

Thanks again for the feedback, its getting a bit late here but I'll try what you suggested tomorrow

FULGORE

Glad to be of some help

you could pick up some odd tricks from an old post of mine as well - similar scale/subject matter

CybranM

@FULGORE changed the snow, its now more "falling snow" buildup rather than "blown up by the drag" snow like it was previously.
Hope I'm not annoying you too much with the tagging.

Feedback from anyone is welcome

CybranM

I've been going back and for a bit with the snow but at this point I don't think I can do much more with it.
If I were to redo this project I would have changed the way I did the snow and integrated it into the base mesh.

I'm relatively happy with how it looks now and I'm planning to not have any snow in my next project.



For showcasing the vehicle, do you prefer the light or the dark background?
The light background is more diegetic but the dark background makes the model stand out.

CybranM

I posted this project to Artstation and I'm now calling it done.
Thanks for looking and providing feedback
Links: Interior and Exterior