[WIP] Bugatti Atlantic for Hum3d challenge 2020
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Hello everyone!
Hello everyone!
This year, I'm going to participate to the Humster3d challenge.
I already did it several years ago with this Peugeot 308.https://hum3d.com/challenges/quick-stop-in-front-of-the-night-shop/
And this time, same idea, I want to render all my scene into Marmoset Toolbag!
Start :
It was difficult to choose wich model to recreate. I hesitated a lot between a 2050 Ford Mustang concept car for or a Bugatti Atlantic...
In fact the Bugatti Atlantic has already started as a modeling exercice, with a possibility to be used on the Hum3d later... I wanted to try the concept car too, so I did a first modeling base on the model sheet I drawn before.
But time spends... And even if I started my 2050 concept car, it's far to be nice, and all parts needs to be redisigned with more refinment. Furthermore I still need to model a full 3d environment before the end of the contest...
Therefore I chose to push further the Bugatti because it's close to be enough good, and it's the only one which could be ready on time !
I will maybe finish the concept car after the challenge..
The car:
As previously mentionned, it was mainly a quick modeling exercice.
I wanted to try an as quick as possible pipeline to get good reflection in a "low poly" car (under 100 000 triangles usable in real time). The idea was not to be super accurate, but only get nice reflections of the whole environment like in curved mirror I'm not affraid to use a lot of triangles, my two purposes are speed and clean reflection, no matter how it's done.
I'm not affraid to use a lot of triangles, my two purposes are speed and clean reflection, no matter how it's done.The Bugatti design looked like perfect to try that. See how the environment is clearly visible in these two references images below :
The process :
I used both 3ds Max an Maya.
I'm usually a Maya user, but I can't stand the spline modeling in this software bacause I think it's not enough flexible.
So i did the part with splines into 3dsMax, and I edited my polygons into Maya.
In 3ds Max :
1. Create a "reflection mesh" with a spline cage, and ignore all the details like junction of panels, glass, and so on.
2. Use an HDRI image as a reflection and check permanently how are the reflection ( I try to get curvy reflection, i try to avoid polygonals broken reflections). The relax modifier help to do that, but it breaks the shape too ! > It's important to realign the silhouette if the relax modifier is used or edited
3 The poly count is not too high, and I can go back in my surface modifier to change the resolution at any moment
4. I use splines draw in the 2d view to generate polystrips and I use the conform to project them on an instance of my reflection mesh (This is not accurate too, see by example the top of the door projected on the roof, this section is really wider than the same strip underneah)
> I have now all i need to start to connect all polygons !
> All is based on splines, So,I still can change my resolution of polygons at this stage in regard of my polycount or if I need to creata an LOD later
So, I edit a last the splines resolutions of my different strips to get enough definition in the curved parts
So, I edit a last the splines resolutions of my different strips to get enough definition in the curved parts
Then render test into Marmoset Toolbag :
In Maya:
In 3ds Max all was editable and flexible, but now I reimported my meshes, I can't edit these features.
Therefore it is important to go as far as possible with 3ds Max before to switch to Maya where i do destructive and non-editable operations.
1. I delete overlaped polygones of the body to link my strips to the body. I do an append between two polygons, then a Fill hole, and then a triangulate.
2. Obviously it's disgusting 
But no matter we will correct that later. At this stage I connect all my strips to the body, and i do all my extrusions (to create the body sheet thickness, the glasses boundaries, and so on).It's quite easy to add edge loops because my strips only uses quads. The shading is not important here, only the poly flow in the strips.
But no matter we will correct that later. At this stage I connect all my strips to the body, and i do all my extrusions (to create the body sheet thickness, the glasses boundaries, and so on).It's quite easy to add edge loops because my strips only uses quads. The shading is not important here, only the poly flow in the strips.3. I imported my first reflection cage too (Locked normals), and I apply a reflective custom cgfx shader. It's not pbr, it's only a mapping of a cubemap for visualisation.
4. I use the transfert attribute to copy the normal vectors from the "reflection mesh" to the "connected mesh". Bingo, my reflections are now the same, but i lost all my bevel shading, so I need to simply unlock the notmals of these edge loops.
5. I get perfectly continuous reflection between all my panels, even between glasses and the painted part ! It was quick and it works on a mid polycount objective
6 > I'm really happy even it's not super accurate, I don't work with a manufacturer licence this time.
Marmoset Toolbag:
And this is the result I got :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UrQOKGpYSE
Now I need to add some details like, the hinges, the handles, the wipers, the tail lights, the fill cap and so on.
Detailing:
And this is the result into Marmoset Toolbag with the extra elements :
The idea to develop :
This Bugatti have a specific story. In fact only 4 of this model where produced! But, one of them has completely disapear : "La noire". It's called la noire, because on the four car's serie it was the only painted in black. This story is quite mysterious and maybe enough interesting to create a deep picture. Therefore I started with this idea.
After reading the story, i noticed that my model is not exact, because it's a 3d reproduction of a reproduction. So, I need to tweak some details later to match how La noire is went out the factory.
So, I need to tweak some details later to match how La noire is went out the factory.Now, the real challenge will be the environment !
Thank you for reading !
I hop you will have questions and advices about the process or the environment creation ! It's always a pleasure ti discuss and share ideas
I hop you will have questions and advices about the process or the environment creation ! It's always a pleasure ti discuss and share ideas
All the best in your projects
Replies
I did some progress about the environment this last week.
Process :
1. I crossed a sky view and a good reference picture of the front view
2 I Start to model directly on this retaked picture (I removed the little trees, and some anoying shadows on the side I mapped my polygons). The idea is to reproduce the deph of the different elements.
On the picture underneath, I finished to "extrude" the sides and on the middle, but the entrance door and the window above are still flat:
And here is the entrance door, the balcony and the center window with a bit of volume:
At the moment, I'm not really sure about my view angle and the ambient lighting, but I have to progress to be ready on time.
Those bushes need some love and you're done.
The reflections on the car just doesn't seem right, like it's a completely different environment or they are too dark. I would expect to see gravel and grass reflected off the bottom of the car.
Might be a perspective issue, but the other thing I noticed is that the blades of grass are too large. I would scale them down about 30%
- the shape of the radiator
In fact the car is so polished that the specular spot of the sun is not really more bigger than a 1 cm wide circle.
I finally improved the grass and the pebbles too of the driveway as sugested by sacboi ! Thanks to his notification it's really beter now !
And, finally I chose the camera angle I want to push for the final render :
The next update will probably be my final image !
All the best in your projects!
Little update today, I did an arstation page with more screenshots and two web viewer to see the model!
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/L3Ov3K
I hope you like it !
All the best in your projects !
See you soon, and I wish you lot of success for your projects !