Mercedes SLK WIP (First Post)

Kaneth

Hi there,

This is my first post here so I'll introduce myself:

I'm Kane, yes real birth name, not a nickname.
20 nearly 21
Games Design Student
England.

Right now thats done. Im lookin for some comments and criticism for this model. Its still a WIP so please don't say wheres the steering wheel. But if people have suggestions for the general flow of the model or ideas of what could make it more interesting that would be appreciated.

Thanks

-Kaneth

Pedro Amorim

add some spec to your material and then add a omni light to the scene, it will help to visualize the forms better.
looking good tho'. but dont forget to add some geometry to the inside of the doors. i can see thru the door opeings.

Kaneth

I've added geometry inside now and started on interior detail. Another forum requested a wire so I thought I'd present it here also

BrodyB

That's a lot of polys just for the wheels.

bluekangaroo

it could use a lotta work....cars a re a B*tch to do. For me they're a challenge to get the curvature of the surfaces just right

Kaneth

Yer the wheels are mega high poly but in the game engine version all the detail will from textures and maps which will mean the entire thing comes to no more than 12k polys which is fine for game engine limits at the moment. Im creating the hi poly asset for use in CG firstly.

The_Kozmonaut

eh the cars in games like Dirt, GT5 etc are over 40k polys. I am not saying you should have such high poly wheels, because you shouldnt, but 12k for a current gen game is way off.

edit: nevermind I read the post wrong. Either way I dont think you should be shooting for such a low number with your car. If you want to make something as high quality as GT5 you need much more. And why aim any lower?

Joao Sapiro

it doesnt need to be necessarily "much more" if he can get a really good result with 12k why not leave it ? and yeah those wheels are insanely detailed for the lowpoy, better use it and bake a normal etc , just not worth the investment polywise .

pliang

Fix them darn door trims...

zerafian

From first glance the rims are way to small on the car. On an SLK you should be throwing 19"s or 20"s on that bad boy. Right now you have 14"s. I would suggest almost completely getting rid of the tread on the tires as well. Put more polys into hardening the edges of the car out.

Thats what I saw at first glance.

Once you get the interior completely done there just may be some good stuff going

The_Kozmonaut

Johny wrote: »

it doesnt need to be necessarily "much more" if he can get a really good result with 12k why not leave it ? and yeah those wheels are insanely detailed for the lowpoy, better use it and bake a normal etc , just not worth the investment polywise .

I understand what you are saying, and it is good advice, but my point is you cant make a Gears of War character with 2k tris and have it look as good as the 12k. Just like you cant have a 12k car look as good as Gran Turismo 5 models. The interiors of the cars in that game are more than 12k.

Kaneth

Ideas for detail would be welcomed

Im going to transparency the lights and add detail inside them, also need to add a section inside the boot, but apart form the utter lack of detail inside the car which is hidden in this render anyone got suggestions for detail on outside?

EarthQuake

Dont worry about details, most of your forms are completely off at this point. Gotta clean up all the curves and shapes man.

Zephir62

Use the chamfer tool to get hard edges around details like the headlights - right now they're way too smooth a curve

Slum

Yes indeed. One reason people do those skylight renders is because it hides the forms. It's essentially a glorified silhouette render. You can really see the blobbiness of the shapes in your recent render with the higher spec. Some of the shapes, especially around the edges of the door and the headlights, are seriously lacking in reinforcement loops.

Kawe

It looks very plastic. Gotta fix that spec.
I'd put in some reflections on that car also..

after fixing what other people said about forms

Kaneth

Ok thanks, and the material is just standard car paint :P

Ill abuse the chamfer tool later on.

renderhjs

perhaps a suggestion to make the workflow easier and to have a cleaner mesh (it is not right now):

- break it up into parts - like the doors, the hood, ect. just like you modeled the wheels seperate (you wouldn´t do that from the car mesh now woudn´t you?)
- now what that changes is that you dont have to redicoulus cuts all over the place but instead the very own cuts for each piece
- once you are done you can attach each part together so that you have just 1 mesh or a just a few at the end e.g body & wheels.

to determine which parts it shoudl be devided into look at the reference photos for seams - because naturally even a mercedes isn´t build from just 1 piece but instead of hundreds or pieces. Find the most obvious ones and build them at first as sperate elemts or objects.

For example I have been started working on this car yeasterday most parts are modeled as seperate elements - like the lamps, the front part, the back part, the fender,... Not just that it easier to model like that you can also save lots of polygons like that. That pic right now has ~ 500 polygons so I still can add lots of details.

Kaneth

Most of the sections in the car are modelled seperately, But i spose I could detach more areas to get more definition.

renderhjs

here is what I mean:

in the upper right corner I colored the parts like how I would have devided the model. To many cuts go through the whole mesh hence the reason why it looks messy at some parts. If you have less loops and cuts through your model you have better subdivision control - the more you add the more difficult it gets to control.

I marked the parts that in my oppinion could use fixes - because in most cases the lines are to close or the density of the cuts is just to dense.

Kaneth

Much appreciated. Ill detach the back from the side and the bumpers the rest is how its already divided up anyway. And alot of the messy bits are kinda meshmooth alteration to get the mesh to meet nicely.

I will do some more work on it tonight hopefully taking your advice into account.

Thanks

dejawolf

that thing looks like it was made out of lumpy clay..

Kaneth

dejawolf wrote: »

that thing looks like it was made out of lumpy clay..

thanks...

tremulant

heh, that was kinda harsh deja...but he is right to a degree...

I would add to his comment by saying another thing that will help you get more of a solid body and better looking piece would be to delete a lot of the loops you have on the car that arent adding much and are cluttering your mesh, then throw a turbo smooth mod on it, and tweak from there. It seems you are trying to put all your detail in by hand...I might be wrong though...

keep it up and dont get discouraged and you should walk away with a nice piece, or at least with a lot of knowledge for future projects

Sa74n

i recommend reading this article..

http://www.game-artist.net/spotlight/MakingOf_Nismo.pdf

..and starting all over again, applying the knowledge you learned from the master of car modelling

UnsteadyTeddy

This is a pretty good step by step guide that will explain good modelling techniques to maintain a balanced poly flow which your model lacks at the minute.

http://www.sektor-41.com/forum/showthread.php?t=271

Kaneth

Arent starting again :P But I'll read it. I should have done an update with cleaner mesh chamfers and decent headlights etc by now but I've been extremely busy. Thanks for all the crits so far, even you deja. I will get an update on here soon.

bluekangaroo

Sa74n wrote: »

i recommend reading this article..

http://www.game-artist.net/spotlight/MakingOf_Nismo.pdf

..and starting all over again, applying the knowledge you learned from the master of car modelling

sweet. nice article

Kaneth

Slowly getting there, progress is epicly slow as I get distracted by other projects :P

Theres plenty wrong with this at the moment but its headed in the right direction I believe.