Fiat 500 Wip

snow

Hey all,

This was a Fiat I modelled some time ago that I have decided to create a high poly for, texture, and hopefully turn into a portfolio piece. I nearly trashed this project when I discovered how many well modelled"Fiats" were featured in Call of Duty: MW2 one day, however I've decided to not let that put me off and instead consider it a benchmark to try and beat.

Here is the the Fiat so far, I have only textured the paint on the car, the axles, and the wheels. I'm planning on expanding this prop into a small junk yard scene.

Please any criticisms.

Tri count: 3,614



Thanks in advance guys.

Mechadus

I think this looks great so far. those 500's are such cute little cars. My only technical crit is that the curve along the top of the rear window is a bit polygonal - maybe another segment would round it out a bit more? As Im doing my first ever low poly junk-car at the moment, Im quite inspired by this... any chance you can show you high poly too?

snow

Hi Mechadus, thanks for your comment. My high poly was quite the nightmare to model, I would never go low poly > high poly for a car (I only did it this time as I started with an old LP model), I had horrible edge loops running around everywhere and it required a lot of cleaning up on my behalf. SO BASICALLY, the wires are horrible, and the majority of the car was brought out of mudbox, here's some images of the high poly exploded:

Edit: note the bump on the interior of the door, was just easier to photoshop out in the end :P.

00Zero

looks good. my suggestions would be to really get better material definitions. you should find a good shader. try xoliuls shader for max (im guessing youre in max). metals really need to reflect an enviro to look like metal. right now theyre just "grey" like clay or something. the paint needs to reflect a bit as well even if its so worn down.

another thing that really stands out is the lack of textures on the glass. an old junker like this would have dust settled on it which would be very evident on the glass. and you could have streaks running down it or drops where there isnt as much dust (water washed it away or something).

also perhaps some better edge treatment with the rust layer.

another small nitpick would be some areas feel like they could use another edge or two to round out better.

also, try not to go so dark with the blacks, especially on the tires.

speaking of tires, i just noticed the highpoly. its kinda useless because its a flat surface (raised bit) sitting on another flat surface. you wont get much normal info out of it. i find the best way to make tires is to model a good shape (without the treads) and then take it into zbrush or mudbox and turn on radial symmetry (dont know what its called in mudbox). then just sculpt the treads. just be careful not to make it look too blobby. i feel like modeling tires is a pain in the ass, takes WAAAAY longer, and usually ends up looking bad. you can get a sweet result very quick by sculpting it.

good luck. its almost there.

snow

Here is another update, still needs a spec which will definitely bring out the shiny metal forms. Looking forward to creating the detailed normal map too.

Just need to texture the inside and a few other little things, like the trunk opener, headlights etc.

Be great to get some feedback guys, thanks!

snow

Here's the final model, it still needs to be lit properly (seen here in UDK). I will continue working this into a small caryard scene.

Love to hear some feedback =[.

Thanks

Mechadus

Hey snow- Nice progress Thanks for posting ur HP - gives me some ideas about how Im going to try go about my junk car..... I think you can still push your materials and maps, but this is looking pretty nice imo. My only suggestion at this point would be to overlay a fine noise layer on your normal map in PS, and add some random contrasty clouds-noise on your spec map. Lighting will help for sure.

snow

Thanks Mechadus, I'll try that today and update.

Cody

Pure win, with a side of awesome!

So, as a car guy, the rotors are really bothering me. You need the hub and bearing, caliper assembly, and brake hoses. Also, in the pic you can see a bit how the suspension and axle connect.

Here is an image for you, but i would do 4 bolts, instead of 8 as seen here.


Well done on the texturing, it's spot on. Fix those rotors and you are good.

snow

Haha thank you Cody.

I am completely car illiterate, I new this would cause problems somewhere along the way. I will definitely add some more definition there, thanks!

pliang

Lots of character on that Fiat Snow, however for a beat up car I think you can try sneaking in some more "paper dents" in your maps to push it up a notch as the dents seem like they could use a little more depth.

Look forward to the updates.

il Duce Primo

The top looks almost brand new so I would put some tears in it. I hope you do the Spider next!

Serp

I think that the scale of some of the textures is too big. Like the actual texture is a tiny thing but then it's been made very big on your car.

So if the actual texture is a 1 inch wide piece of rust on a door, if you place the rust over an area of 4 feet on your car then it will look a bit odd.

tda

honestly i think you can push the textures further, it looks good but it could be great. judging by the presentation and the muted colour of the rust it looks as if might have been sat like that in whatever junkyard it's in for a long time. if thats the angle you're shooting for you could dig up some refs of abandoned cars and maybe do that cool topcoat of brown shit abandoned cars tend to get on em, plus more grown in details. layers of realism.

snow

Thanks everyone for your responses, I'll be posting an update tomorrow.

I can see what you guys are trying to say, i will definitely add some layers of dirt over the top as areas do look a bit to pristine, the top hood I will also try and tear ( anyone have any good tear brushes?). My only concern is that I want areas the eye can rest, such that there isn't insane levels of detail everywhere, but still it does need a bit more ageing.

Serp: I basically used a sheet of plain rust as the texture, and put a paint fill layer over the top, and masked it away, creating my own rust marks - should I shrink that base rust layer down do you think? Or am i not understanding what you are suggesting.

Thanks again.

Gallows

I agree that the textures need to be worked on and can completely be a bit more refined. Along with adding a few bits and pieces to help the model seem a bit more complete. But I will say the immediate reaction to the marmoset render was that it reminded a lot of what I've seen in the Half Life 2 series. If that model in particular was on the map as is, I wouldn't complain about the quality at all. So good work.

snow

Here's another update. Struggling on getting the detail people have suggested, if anyone else has any suggestions for detail please if you can attach a picture so I can see what you mean - I think my brains fried. I have added a dirt layer, so it looks as though it has sat there for some time, and changed a couple other things.

Put some random lighting in UDK just to see how it looks, I'll be calling it done soon so I can move on!


Thank you to everyone.

tda

this is exactly the effect i was talking about, great ref. maybe you shouldnt go as pronounced as this, but i always think its a cool effect to see on abandoned metal things


some more examples of beat down bangers
this one is actually a fiat 500
this one too
http://livemusicphotography.info/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/img_0634_1_2_3-600px.jpg
http://i.pbase.com/o6/35/761835/1/77668381.rp7aPMPY.IMG_1082E.jpg

snow

ah tda, the picture link you sent is dead, mind resending please?

edit: it's ok i can see it!

So you think that orangy rust is necessary? I'll put it on and see how it looks.

Thanks

tda

i wouldn't say it's necessary, it's just an idea that i thought you could use to help push your textures a lot. the effect of corrosion that you can tell took years to build up almost tells a story about the car and would add a lot of personality imo.

bluekangaroo

hey nice hi poly work you got there. Its a shame that unreal isnt the greatest engine when it comes to displaying normal maps. Its a bit hard to see all that modeling work you put into it. As far as the material goes try pushing the spec on the metal a little more. right now it reads pretty flat and even though its pretty beat up and dusty I think it would still pick up more light, and be glossy-er

snow

Hey all another update, it's been a while and I've been pretty busy.

- Added rubble to help emphaise that "scrap yard" feel.
- Created corrugated iron fence.
- Redid fiat texture quite a bit, was not totally happy with the texture I've been going with so far.
- Obviously change of colour, I think it shows off its features further.



Some questions:

Can you guys help me figure out what's wrong with the corrugated iron fence - is it too clean cut? Should I alpha out the edges and roughen them up? Or is it too messy, and pieces should be larger? I can't quite figure it out. (The texture work itself was just a first pass so don't worry too much about that yet).

I'm thinking of calling this mini-scene done, is there anything else you guys think I should add? I might add a scrap yard sign hanging on the fence. But I don't want to clutter it too much.

Suggestions on lighting? I'm very inexperienced at lighting so any suggestions in that area would be great, this is just using a directional light and a skylight at the moment.


Lastly, thoughts on new fiat, what about the colour?


Thanks as always everyone.

kjell

I suggest Adding a skybox for the overall mood, will give it a lot better feel:)

snow

Thanks I will definitely add one. Just looking for some more feedback, really considering putting this in my folio so any suggestions would be appreciated.