WIP Tiger Tank

Yakko

Hey folks! I'm currently working on this Tiger Tank. It's getting to the stage where I'm fairly happy with the overall silhouette, however I'd like to fine-tune some of the details. Here's the high poly so far:





I personally feel that the rear half of the tank is lacking, though admittedly it's the area I've spent the least amount of time on and have fewer references for. I'll be updating this thread with my progress and I'd be thrilled to recieve any feedback along the way!

I'm aiming for a game-ready vehicle model.

Having lurked here for far too long, I thought it was time to step in! :poly136:

Thanks for reading!

IsparticusI

nice high poly work! the only thing i can say without seeing a reference is that your re-inforced edges are fairly tight. when it comes to baking your normal maps, its gunna be pretty hard to read those tight edges so your def gunna wanna smooth those bad boys out!. but keep up the good work!

Yakko

I managed to find a nice reference of the tank's rear.



Although it's only a scaled down model, it does contain many of the key details I'm after. With that in mind, I decided to redo much of the tank's engine components before finishing up for the night.



I realize it doesn't quite match up yet. The rear compartments need to be shrinked, and some various bits and pieces could do with nudging and moving. Those vents need resizing too. Once I'm happy with the major details I'll add some of the more nitty-gritty details around the engine. I'll then see about creating some nice rope and general tools to place on the top of the tank's hull.

For now though, I probably aught to get some rest! :thumbup:

@IsparticusI Thanks for the tip! I'll be sure to get this done before making any further progress. I won't spam all of my references here, but here's a few I've found paticularly useful.








I hope that's not too many pictures!

Yakko

Hey folks! I apologize if this may seem like a double post. But I've made some more progress!

The base rope has been added along with little tweaks and adjustments around the engine. Edges have also been smoothed as suggested. I'll begin the low-poly soon, though any feedback on the high would be awesome! I get the feeling there's something amiss with it but I can't quite figure out what it is. Or may be that nagging feeling of never quite being satisfied with what I make. :poly122:

The weld seams (seen earlier) were sculpted, and I plan on doing the same for the rope on the top of the tank. I usually prefer to do them last as part of my workflow, in case any modifications need to be made to the base.





I really can't wait to get it baked so I can begin texturing! Currently, I'm doing a bit of research on camo patterns as it's something I haven't had much practice with in the past.

Next update should contain low poly + wireframes unless there's something glaringly obvious I've missed in the high.

Thanks for reading!

Yakko

Low poly progress!



I'm a little concerned that some of the details are too dense, however I'm comfortable keeping the mesh below the self-imposed 40,000 tri limit.

Pointers would be thrown a parade at this stage, especially regarding the tracks (I'm not sure if my approach is the right one). Most of the tanks I've looked at (in games) were from RTSes which used a flat surface and panned the track texture as it moved. I have a version of the low poly with a similar set-up but it really detracts from the overall look and silhouette of the model. In any case, I'm totally up for changes/suggestions.

Thanks for reading!

Dismembered

Well if I am looking at this picture right, but BF3 looks like they use a band for the tracks.

http://web-vassets.ea.com/Assets/Richmedia/Image/Screenshots/BF3_tank_03.jpg?cb=1313026567

I would go that route especially if it is going to be animated.

Yakko

I guess it's a no-brainer really. My head nearly exploded after researching track animation rigs. The let-down in my last attempt was how chunky the tracks were. Looking at that BF3 pic they seem to benefit from the Abrams' thin track size.

Yakko

Began texturing today. There's a long way to go, especially if I want that camo pattern. The model itself is looking a bit dull in my opinion, though I had thought about using some camo netting to spruce it up.

BlvdNights

DAT TANK!

Leodido

awesome tank, are you planning to use it in a game at some point

Kozak

Model looks fantastic! For the textures, I'm spotting a few places that are very flat in your latest version (the sprockets between the treads especially). Since your model is high-poly, I guess you can either add the detail in the normal map, or build it into your model directly.

Really want to see how your textures turn out!

Yakko

Thank you for the generous comments!

@Leodido I have no plans to use it in any paticular project, though the aim is to have it driving around the UDK eventually!

@Kozak Thanks for the feedback! Admittedly I haven't really touched the tracks on the texture sheet as I'm still deciding how to proceed. I'm leaning towards rebaking the normal map as I'm not convinced the cage was set-up properly last time I tried.


Hopefully I'll have something better to show off over the weekend, or monday at the absolute latest!

Cheers!

Yakko

I found an awesome colour picture from WW2 of a tiger tank over the weekend which really helped with the texturing!



I upped the normal map to a 2048. The current diffuse is 1024 and although it does have a basic specular it's not final. I'm going to play around with different specular map sizes to see how it influences the overall material.

Crits welcome! The camo pattern is a little mish-mash at the moment, and the tracks... well I have a few things I want to try once I throw it into the UDK. So for now at least, I'm going to leave them alone. Though I may scuff them up a bit before the end.

This has been a damned fun project so far, and I'm already thinking about adding a few 'upgradeable' extras like that camo netting I mentioned earlier, also things like smoke launchers, tools and extra armour.

Thanks for reading!

Impala88

it's looking really good so far one thing i'd add is some AO around the center of the body where the turret sits over, it seems very light under there, it'd be much darker.

Looking forward to the improved spec map as well, even with a basic one currently it's looking nice.