[WIP][Vehicle] Panther G

[PatrickLA_CA]

Okay, I've decided to finish my animation project in Blender. I have downloaded 3ds Max 9 so when I'm done with the school project I'll be able to start over and do it the right way for PR, unless someone can give me some tips about doing the tracks in Maya/Blender.

[Mr.VdHeide]

I think it would be best for now if you would make the hull, wheels and turret and put al of that on the same sheet. After that you could do a texture. We unfortunately have nobody right now who could export the tracks properly for all I know.



D.J.

[PatrickLA_CA]

I accidentally made something in Blender and then used it to make a quick track mock-up that is very similar to the PR track tutorial. Can anyone confirm that this is how my track mesh should look like?

[Tim270]

On the right road, but that is wayyyy too much detail. Checkout a tank with wireframe in the editor/meshviewer for guide on how it should be.

[PatrickLA_CA]

Finally had some spare time to move the model to Blender, it's just so much faster to work with. Anyway, I've modeled the basic turret and gun and made tracks using a curve and its object extrude property which is the right way to do it I think.

I'm satisfied with the tri count for now and I intend to lower it by using an image with alpha-channel for the sprocket which is about 900 tris by itself.

[Mr.VdHeide]

sprockets could stay the way they are, simply remove the teeth for the 2nd LOD so the teeth will be gone when you walk a couple of meters away from it. You can have a pretty high poly lod 0 model as long as lod 1, 2, 3 & 4 are all just properly optimized. 2D texture would look kinda meh, even though I know some vehicles in PR have 2D sprockets.



D.J.

[PatrickLA_CA]

Oh, well I didn't know that, I guess I'll just add some more detail to the rest of the model then for lod 0.

[PatrickLA_CA]

Did some more work on the turret and now I'm not sure whether I'm doing it the right way. Should all of the little parts be welded together and then should those parts be welded to the turret?

[Mr.VdHeide]

Green stuff is nice, good details.

Orange seems useless.

The edge marked in red doesnt add anything at the moment but could improve smoothing when it is 'diameter' would be increased.







Keep it up!




D.J.

[PatrickLA_CA]

Okay, I will simplify the red and orange parts, what about the viewports? Right now they are merged with the cupola as 1 object but they are not actually connected to it. Is that a problem?

EDIT: While I was at it, I also added most of the details, the only thing left to do now I think is to do the sprocket and idler from scratch with proper teeth count and welding.

[Mr.VdHeide]

Looks good

Are those vertical edges on the gun mantel really needed?

what about the viewports? Right now they are merged with the cupola as 1 object but they are not actually connected to it. Is that a problem?

That is the right way to do it, so the way it is right now is the way it should be done.



D.J.

[Rhino]

For the viewports having them as separate elements like that is fine but for the hatches, grills and other stuff, they need to be welded up to avoid zfighting and save UV space etc.

[PatrickLA_CA]

Looks good
Are those vertical edges on the gun mantel really needed?

Yeah I can remove some of those that are not needed for the rounded areas.

For the viewports having them as separate elements like that is fine but for the hatches, grills and other stuff, they need to be welded up to avoid zfighting and save UV space etc.

I guess I'll have to do it then but that's going to increase the tri-count. Maybe I should remove them all together for anything other than lod0?

[Rhino]

no... I suggest you look at other tanks/vehicles in PR to see how they are made and take notes from them, not all are good examples keep in mind but you can get a general idea of how you need to make yours.

[PatrickLA_CA]

Finally found some time to play with the model again. I've welded the pieces of the smaller objects to their actual objects and I've made a test to see if I'm welding the small objects correctly, basically I've welded them to a rectangular plane which, if it is okay, I will weld to the hull object once I apply the mirror modifiers.





Here it is with a smooth shading to see if reflections are any good:





Would appreciate feedback on the welding of the first 2 photos and if it's going to be the right way to do it when I weld that entire object to the hull?

[Mineral]

Nice job! I think you did more welding then we usually do IIRC we do have many models where things like handles and other small objects aren't welded, sometimes to save on large triangle counts it would add for every tiny object. It's a balance you have to strike between good welding and not overly high triangle counts. But I think without being a real 3D artist that you have done very well!

[PatrickLA_CA]

So I guess I'll do the same for the rear hull details. What about the turret cupola and the hull machine gun? I feel like that's going to add a lot of tris. Maybe I should re-do the wheels in slightly lower poly to see if I can save some tris. Right now I expect around 15k when both sides are complete, but there's a lot of stuff which can be lowered for LOD02.

[PatrickLA_CA]

I've welded the hull details and ended up with 2,296 tris for the hull, I think it's a fair count for the amount of details.





I guess the next thing to do would be the same for the turret details. What should I do with the hull MG cupola? Weld it or keep it separate? Also, the same question for the commander's cupola?

[PatrickLA_CA]

Okay, so I think I'll have some time now to work on this model again. I was going to weld the turret details but that will increase the tri count significantly, should I do it or leave it like it is:

[PatrickLA_CA]

So, I think I am done welding, there are some details such as the side stowage bin, rear stowage bin, exhaust, track mounted on the side, bow machine gun cast, and the details on top of the turret that I did not weld as that will increase mesh complexity and tri count. If anyone thinks that is going to be a problem, then I'll weld them as well.

If everything seems okay, what is the next step? Do I go to texturing or is there something else that needs to be done beforehand?