Awww, it's a tank
polycounter lvl 18
I'm a lurker, and got a lot out of this place the past few years. But now I'm getting serious and so I need your help 
It's like a toony-style tank. Quick questions: how's the side tread polys look? Is that a good use of edges?
If I UV mapped it, would I still be able to tweak it without messing up the map? Would it be best to tweak it as much as possible first, then map it, or does that not really matter?
Another question: How could I rotate the barrel 45 degrees without distorting the turrent part?
Last question: Should I practice on low poly models first, sub-d's next? Or would it hurt to do both at the same time?
Cheers.
It's like a toony-style tank. Quick questions: how's the side tread polys look? Is that a good use of edges?
If I UV mapped it, would I still be able to tweak it without messing up the map? Would it be best to tweak it as much as possible first, then map it, or does that not really matter?
Another question: How could I rotate the barrel 45 degrees without distorting the turrent part?
Last question: Should I practice on low poly models first, sub-d's next? Or would it hurt to do both at the same time?
Cheers.
Replies
"Awww, it's a tank"
Barely ;-p Sorry, silly joke, but it is a little early in the models life. Still, it seems like you're looking for info more than critique, so....
1) They're OK I guess. Personally I'd have been inclined to arrange them so that they are more horizontal. I see two spots where you've definied an unecessary edge. One halfway down the lower front, the other toward the back of the bottom.
2) Finish the model. Then worry about UV's. If you finish the UV-ing then decide to do more model tweaks, any 'messing up' of the UV's would depend on many factors including the software you're using ( which you didn't mention ) , the type of operation and the severity of the changes.
3) You can't. You need to rotate the gun barrel 45 degrees, then re-arrange the adjoining topology accordingly.
4) Practise for what purpose? What's your goal? Wether you want to work on high res subD models or low poly game models is entirely up to you. Personally I'd nail low poly modeling first.
That shows how the barrel-aiming assembly works on an M1 tank, a separated steel part around the base of the barrel that can move up and down when the barrel does. If you apply that to your model you can rotate the barrel without distorting anything.
It also shows the difference of details between your model and reality, which is why yours looks very unfinished. You still have a long way to go, even a cartoon tank needs more detail (though it would use different details than a real tank).
Again, not sure what you'd be planning on using it for, but in games, the barrel is a seperate object, so that it can recoil. And so is the turret, but it's hard to make out wether you have the chassis and turret as one object.
I was shooting for as few polies as possible, just to see if I can make it look like a tank--a very cartoony, simple one that could even be used in a mobile game. Plus I'm using it as a UV model so that I can get my head around that.
I'm using modo 103.
Daz, I see what you're saying about the flow--I missed that before. I'll see how else to do it. About the UVs, that's what I guessed. I already started, but I'm going to mess around with it and see what happens. Experience is always the best teacher, eh?
I'm practising for the sake of itself, you know, to learn more and get my workflow down. I've been messing around with Maya for the past few years, then moved to modo, so I'm not a complete n00b, but... still a n00b... if that makes sense. I'm a hobbyist I mean.
KDR_11k, nice pic, thanks
Daz, that's why I was wondering about rotating the barrel. But as it is, the pc is probably way too low for anything, so I'll make a copy and remake it with more detail and animation-friendliness... but modo doesn't have animation, so I'm not actually going to.
If I did though (animate it)... what's everyone's favorite program for that? I heard Maya was good, and this seemed to be the case when I used it... haven't tried other though.
turret, tracks, main gun, sights, engine armour.
secondary aspects: ammunition location, fuel, crew locations
(driver gunner commander, loader)
hatches, storage for crew equipment, sprockets, idlers,
roadwheels, smoke grenade launchers. lights, towing lugs,
lifting lugs on turret, circular area that turret spins aorund and where turret crew is located.
some of these things are good to have in the back of your mind, which can affect the design quite a lot,
even for a cartoony tank. you can exaggerate certain features, such as the hatches, and periscopes.
most modern western tanks has a turret overhang in the rear, and massive armour blocks in the front.
warzaw pact designs tended towards smaller, rounded turrets,
with lots of reactive armour panels on the front, and storage boxes and equipment attached to the turret faces,
along with deep fording equipment.
oh, and this is probably what your idea of a tank is based on.
this might suit your idea as well
- Since it looks like you are trying to make every poly count, the treads on the side have some wasted polys. I would target weld the highlighted verts to the not highlighted red verts. The back round part of the tread has more roundness to it than the bigger front. I think you should reverse this. The front of the tread is really blocky and big and could use the extra polys to help round it out. The back part of the treads could retain its roundness with less. If the smaller back part is more blockly people will be less likely to notice.
- I suggest taking the saved polys from the treads and round out the barrel to 5-6 sides. I would also detach the barrel and just place it inside the turet a wee-bit so it looks like it is attached but is really just floating.
- You can then close up the hole in the turret and save a few polys there.
- I would do the same with the turret and detach it from the main body of the tank, then close up the hole.
- If the treads are attached I would break them off and close up any holes.
- I don't know who keeps telling people every mesh MUST be joined and no clipping can occur but I think they need to stop. Even with normal maps you don't have to join everything =/
The only way I know how to detach polys is cut and paste... is there a better way? Anyway, that's what I did, but I don't think I should make it a habit because seperated objects really are a pain to texture, because no matter what you do you'll have an unsightly crease. What if i want to paint a stain that flows between the two seperated polys? It'd be really annoying, I think...
As for detaching the barrel, I think that's a good idea on a model with this few polys.
So I changed the barrel a bit, and extruded the top of the treads. Some other tweaks... I'm going for the old style treads, not the newer kind, because the former are funny. Any crits?
The two lines that cover the wheel (or where there should be a wheel) should have the same length, or it doesn't look round.
Also, it's a bit wide and short, but that might be what you're going for.
And yes, that's what I'm going for. It's not meant to be realistic by any means, but rather exaggerated.
mk IV male from around 1918
some different track shapes from WW1
FT-17 light tank
tzar tank
A7V
french saint charmond
french schneider