Skipping ahead

I've not posted anything in a while. I'm done now. Yup.

Here are a couple renders in Nitrous. (3DS Default renderer) These still have the reflection map from the example scene provided and the god rays are actually working.

Now here is a viewport render using Grabviewportv2.5 which for some reason darkens the image although I'm not going to complain as the horribly ineffective shaders we had to use really mess with tonal values, among many other things.

Here's the same image with some post-processing. I like the warm evening light and the smoke from the exhaust causing interesting lighting situations. I'm probbaly going to take this one a lot further before presenting.

Materials

Had a mess around with the shaders today making material balls:
boop

Final Model.

Added the horns and exhausts. Sitting at 9,961 tris.

To follow:
Unwrapping
Environment
Texturing
Shader use
Final snapshot

Environment

Well I've still got some stuff to add t the vehicle like the high poly bake for the wheel but I felt like doing the environment to see it in a setting.

The Dodge Charger is a very well known car and famous for several reasons, one being the Dukes of Hazard.

I'd liked to have done my still-frame with the car going through a barn like this however I neglected the underside a great deal. I'm going to settle for the inside of a barn. Like the one below.

Here is an overview of what I've mashed together so far.

Reference

A little reasoning behind my design choices:

I was unsure which wheel alloy to go for as there are so many that look good however I knew I wanted one that fit the era of the Charger even though they're still driven today. After a little chat with a peer, the ATS Classic Rim took my eye as it looks interesting while not being too complicated/tri heavy and includes a good deal of detail that can be normal mapped.

As for the spoiler, the Dodge Charger is often modified into the car below called the 'Daytona' Charger which is used a lot in NASCAR. 

Update 13th November

10,000 tri limit has been breached, I'm pretty sure the wheels are to blame for this being at near 2.5k each; so I'll go back to them and take out some edges, hopefully taking away at least 300-400 tris so I can get the buffalo horns on the front as well as the necessary exhaust, fuel cap and basic seating where the silhouette will be visible through tinted windows.

Further down the line.

Just some quick designs I did earlier on in the project for what I previously wanted to go for, now however, I'm more interested in doing a legit Dodge Charger with maybe a little added on. The thing with a post-apocalyptic car is that it wouldn't be shiny or reflective due to all the scuffs, scrapes, rust and generally poor maintenance; whereas one of the objectives of this brief is to use a cube map.

Progress 12th November

Worked on the front mostly and added some placeholder wheels to get a better feel for the model as a whole.

Although these are just placeholder wheels they're not nearly as high in tri-count as I anticipated, so I feel more comfortable spending tris elsewhere. I'm hoping to have at least 1k tris left over to add a cow skull with horns on the front.

Rear

Though I'd add a rear shot. 

I'm going to focus on getting the wheels done today and then I'll look into doing the boot end of the car.

Also got some interesting things to add like the fuel cap, logo and exhausts. I quite like the chamfered edges that run alongside the car's shoulders.

Progression

Here we are:

Fleshed out the bumps and trims as well as adding the windows. I'm unsure whether I should have the windows as a separate object as necessary topology for the windows is giving me unnecessary geometry for the body. I'm not liking how I'm already near 4000 tris and I havn't even done the wheels yet. Then there are the wing mirrors, exposed engine and underside to do. 

Progress

This is a few hours into the modelling process. getting the base shape down was easy enough, however maintaining efficient topology is strenuous; as I spend half my time noodling with verts.

The underside of the front bumper is looking a little complicated so I'm likely to have that as a seperate object where I can cover up the seam with the front bumper itself.

Idea review.

Sadly, my plan to create Syd Mead's Hypervan in 3D was shot-down by my tutor as it was too simple on both a material and model level. Which I knew already but as it was a shader project I figured it was fine. I'm really dissapointed they didnt want to get behind me on this one as it would have looked really nice with that sunlit driveway, foliage and water feature all reflecting off the vehicle.

Ah well, can't win 'em all. So now I'm just going to do a 1969 Dodge Charger.

Still a pretty simple vehicle material wise however the geometry is more complicated. I'm still considering the scene in which it will be placed.
If I finish this project early I MAY take the model further and add some Mad Max style post apocalyptic craziness.

Vehicle choice.

Given that this project isn't about the vehicle, but the final renders and use of materials and shaders; I didn't want to go through designing a vehicle from scratch. Instead I want to get to the shaders as soon as possible so I can practice with them and so I have decided to go with something that already exists.

I'm a big fan of the illustrator Syd Mead and after spending over 6 hours watching him paint and craft his Hypervan I really wanted to make it myself and use the scene he put it into with this particular painting.

What I really like about this is it's simplicity and elegance. The reflective surface will be a really good opportunity for a cube map along with it's rounded body which will warp the surroundings and catch interesting lighting. 

It's a very simple vehicle for both modelling and texturing, however seeing as this project is about the shaders and NOT the vehicle I believe this is perfect. If I'm done too early, which I most likely will be, then I'll probably change the design a bit to enable the addition of varying materials. Preferably some matte areas to contrast the glossy, reflective body.

Environment wise, I'm torn between the two in the above paintings. I really like the complimentary colours of the red and blue and their contrasting temperature. However I find the polished, garden area in the top painting more interesting as there is a mash of foliage, hard surfaces and an interesting water feature.

Yerp

Over the next four weeks I will be creating a scene with a vehicle as the centrepiece. Although the vehicle and environment is where the majority of my time will be spent, this project is not in-fact, a vehicle/environment project; it is about the use of shaders and materials leading to a polished and well-presented screenshot/video at the end.

Before I set off on deciding which vehicle to model, I have to consider the budgets and what this project is about, which as stated above, are materials and final renders. So the vehicle I choose shouldn’t be anything extravagant or too time-consuming to create as I need to plan my time correctly as if I spend too long creating an awesome and intricate model, I’ll only suffer when I start using the shaders and only have a day until the deadline.

Key considerations:

10,000 tri budget for the vehicle along with a single 1024x1024 diffuse/specular/normal. I may, depending on whether it’s necessary or not, include an emissive map and reflection map. I’ll probably need a reflection map as I believe the shaders work in that material slot. Though I’ve still to look learn how to use them.

The environment is less strict on tris and texture budget as it should be used mainly to support the vehicle. 10,000 tris is the upper limit though not a requirement alongside a 1024 diffuse/specular/normal map where I can include emissive and reflections as well. I’ve not looked into high-dynamic ranges however it is mentioned in the brief so I’m sure I apply that to certain materials to get more out of them. On top of this there is a separate budget of a single 1024x4096 for a skydome or panoramic.

The vehicle needs to be viewed from all sides as well so the environment needs to facilitate this.

Schedule: 4 weeks

Week 1: Planning and concepting

Week 2 and 3: Model and texture vehicle and environment

Week 4: Shaders, lighting, materials, camera setup and final renders.