3D modelling

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MK4
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Re: 3D modelling

Post by MK4 »

Nerei, could you please check the J-10 (the Chinese fighter) model as far as the saved texture name is concerned? Maybe there`s something on my part, but it seems it loads the J-10 (Type 10 Japanese tank) texture instead of the correct one. I have both textures in the Mesh folder btw.
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MK4
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Re: 3D modelling

Post by MK4 »

I believe I`ve tested all the units in your latest pack (minus the chassis mounted SA-2) and bellow are the new values I suggest. The redone T-90 and Type 87 SPAAG are fine as they were. I`ve used for comparison vanilla models and then judged the needed difference using the known length of both. F-22 for the J-20, Eurofighter for the J-10, F-15 for the Su-34, M1A1 for K1A1, Rhino for Dana, SA-4 for SA-2, B-52 for Tu-16, LAV 25 for Cougar and M109 for Type 99.

J-10 - 0.078
J-20 - 0.08
Su-34 - 0.09
Tu-16 - 0.05
Cougar - 0.045
Dana SPH - 0.048
Type 99 SPH - 0.032
K1A1 - 0.047
SA-2 - 0.055

Also, I want to ask, if possible, could you edit the Cougar like you did the T-55 model (iirc) so that the model does not clash with the country flag in front of it? And, when you have some time, could you please make a Russian texture without the stars for the Tu-16?
Nerei
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Re: 3D modelling

Post by Nerei »

No the issue with the J-10 is me forgetting to update the model. I had actually found that error and corrected it but I apparently only updated the texture and not the mesh.
This file should be the correct one.

Download


No markings Tu-16.

It might be a bit before I can make an updated version of the Cougar as I really need access to my desktop computer to test that whatever I am exporting actually works.
MK4
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Re: 3D modelling

Post by MK4 »

Thank you very much! The J-10 works fine now and it seems to have the same size.

When you make the Su-27 could you leave room in the texture for a canard? If you get to make a Su-30MKI (India`s version) at some point it will probably be the only thing needing to be added to the model.
Nerei
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Re: 3D modelling

Post by Nerei »

August patch 01:

Download
Changelog:
Updated unit sizes pr. MK4's suggestions
Replaced mesh for J-10 Chengdu (ID 1870) to make it use appropriate texture (same scale as original model)
Replaced mesh for Cougar (ID 1768) to adjust position (same scale as original model)
Added HMS Astute to UGBITS8
HMS Astute will be released shortly. I will also be providing the first part of the making of the HMS Astute. Astute was chosen by SGTscuba.
Nerei
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Re: 3D modelling

Post by Nerei »

Lets build HMS Astute part 1

Part 2

I decided for the fun of it to try and thoroughly cover how I build 3D models from start to finish (the model is not finished yet though).

The model in question is the Royal Navys Astute class nuclear powered attack submarine. The Astute was suggested byt SGTscuba. I suspect it might be due to me mixing it and a Trafalgar up.
Personally I might actually have picked a Japanese, Korean or Chinese ship as strange as it sounds ^_-

A submarine is a good choice though as it lacks some of the complexities of say a Battleship.

The model itself is completed and can be downloaded here
Download the finished HMS Astute
Image

For now this only includes modelling the main pressure hull. The fin, propeller, dive planes will come later as will UV mapping and texturing.

It has been a long time since I last wrote any text like this so it might not be all that good.

__________

For modelling the first thing is really decent reference material. Pictures are good and you probably want any that are of decent quality but on top of that non-perspective drawings showing the vehicle from different angles are good. Model kits sometimes come with good reference and sites like blueprints.com is also a good source.

For this we will be going with a paint guide from hobby search on top of a lot of pictures from google and wikimedia.
Image
This image is actually quite good as it covers both sides, from, back and top. I tend to find that the bare minimum is one side and top view.
Maya allows you to import images as image planes. Basically this is a simple way to quickly get the images into the programs as reference.
Image
Image
For programs that does not have imageplanes like Maya you can always create a plane of the same dimensions as the image (e.g. 12x8 units if it is 1200x800 pixels) and apply the reference material as a texture.

For a submarine the simplest start is a cylinder. I tend to use a fairly high side count for something as large as the main hull so in this case I have picked a 24 sided cylinder. There will not be that many divisions down the length of the hull so it will not add up to that much.
Initially we will just make a rough shape. It does not have to really fit that well as long as the rough shape is there. It will get a more appropriate shape in a moment.
Image

If we look at images like this one we can see that the upper hull of the submarine is actually quite flat. The hull is also a bit of a trapezoid shape and it appears to bulge a bit near the rear of the fin. The rear part of the submarine is also significantly higher than the front but it does not appear to be wider.
Image
Initially we will put in an edge where the round hull starts turning into a trapezoid. This is not exactly critical as the ship has the edges to simply shift them around a bit but it is not going to add that many tris.
Image
The hull has enough division that the trapezoid shape can be made simply by moving the tris around. a bit like on this illustration. It is important that the transition is smooth which is one of the reasons for that extra edge. The hull also has enough edges that making the upper corners of the trapezoid rounded without having to add additional edges.
Image
With these changes the hull now looks like this.
Image
It is still quite simple and has a long way but it is starting to have the quite distinct shape the Astute has.

Next if we turn back to the picture we can see that the hull forward of the fin wider than the rear hump and the area around the fin is slightly wider still.
To create this shape we will start out by adding some edges across the top part of the trapezoid around the fin. 5 should be more than enough to get the appropriate shape.
Image
We will also put one around the forward edge of the rear hump.
This should be enough to get the shape of the hull down fairly well. The image planes will make it easy to line curved edges of the trapezoid up with the edges on the imageplane.
Except for the lack of the fin which admittedly is a significant part of the submarine the middle part of the model is largely like it will be. The rest of the details can be made with textures.
Image
To get a better shape for the area around the fin we will put in a few vertices to to connect the upper part of the trapezoid. 3 should be about right. We will connect them as shown on the image below. If not done triangulation can mess up the shape of this part of the submarine quite badly. The goal when creating such models should always be to have it be as low detail as possible but at the same time we have to consider what the model looks like triangulated.
Image

Next up we will handle the stern section of the Astute. The ducted propeller will be covered later for now the goal is just to get the shape of the hull right.
The flattening of the top of the hull have resulted in the rear slope being far too flat. To correct this we will insert an edge across the top part of the hull and bend it to create the desired curvature as show in this image.
Image

This topic has a lot of pictures but I thought it better than having me try to explain everything and it has been quite a long time since I last wrote something like this.

Next up is the bow dome of the submarine. The dome as can be seen in the reference is actually fairly angled so we will have to do more than just create a simple torpedo shape.
For a start the edge put in in image 7 does not really need to extend all the way forward and as reducing tris count is generally a good thing we will merge it with the edge near it. We will also put in an edge across the top of the bow of the submarine. We will however ignore the lower part despite it pretty much has the same shape as it is not very visible. When modelling units it is always worth considering how visible something will be. If it is very hard to spot chances are it can be ignored.
Image
As can be seen in this picture the angling of the bow dome continues all the way back to the dive planes
Image
Initially we will create a extrusion from the front of the submarine to get the side profile more accurate.
Image
The hard edges of the dome can be made like the trapezoid top hull by moving vertices around. In this case by merging them like this
Image
The top-down shape however is still not acceptable. The hull really needs some more vertices to get the curvature right. The triangles we just created can be divided by inserting an additional edge though them and bending it so they fit the top-down view. Finally we will connect them to the top edges inserted through the top part of the bow.
Image

That will be it for now
Last edited by Nerei on Aug 16 2017, edited 2 times in total.
Nerei
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Re: 3D modelling

Post by Nerei »

MK4 wrote:Thank you very much! The J-10 works fine now and it seems to have the same size.

When you make the Su-27 could you leave room in the texture for a canard? If you get to make a Su-30MKI (India`s version) at some point it will probably be the only thing needing to be added to the model.
The J-10 is exported from the same source file both times so it should be the exact same scale

It should be possible to make a Su-27 that can be converted into a Su-30. It might need a few polygons to act as adaptors for fitting the Canards but that should not be that hard to do.
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Balthagor
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Re: 3D modelling

Post by Balthagor »

we tend to cut the keels from boats and subs btw. We render them with keel for the UGBits pic
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Nerei
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Re: 3D modelling

Post by Nerei »

I know the surface ships have been cut at the waterline but I am fairly certain all submarines are intact. Looking at the Gato, Ohio and Los Angeles model they at least still have their keel attached.
Buzzbrad
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Re: 3D modelling

Post by Buzzbrad »

The guide looks great and very informative!
SGTscuba
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Re: 3D modelling

Post by SGTscuba »

Indeed, absolutely wonderful work. And yes, HMS Astute was your punishment :D :D :D :D
My SR:U Model Project, get the latest and post suggestions here:

http://www.bgforums.com/forums/viewtopi ... 79&t=28040
Nerei
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Re: 3D modelling

Post by Nerei »

Well you could have picked say Vanguard (the world war 2 battleship not the SSBN). That would have been a bit harder. Admittedly I am actually considering doing that at some point in the future as it would probably be a good candidate for a early-post World War 2 battleship model.

The Astute took a bit of time to build and write about but I have managed to work a bit on the SAM units and gotten the M1128 to the UV mapping stage. As mentioned the M1126 ICV will be adapted from the M1128.
Image

I will probably have part 2 of building the Astute done sometime next week.
MK4
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Re: 3D modelling

Post by MK4 »

Now I`m not sure how I can live with the rest of the vanilla long range SAMs. Can`t wait to have these in game. :-)
Belmondo
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Re: 3D modelling

Post by Belmondo »

Thanks for the fun but!Bought a new version 9.1.36.Units appear in the game.Prompt and new units will appear in the game???
Nerei
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Re: 3D modelling

Post by Nerei »

Some of the content I make at least will continue to be rolled into the base game and all I make will be available here. All of it will also be added without ID changes so your savegames should keep working it will just move from mod content to being officially released.
The July and August releases should be included in a forthcoming update along with what will hopefully be a fix to the UV glitch Nimitz had Not sure if I have posted it here already but in any case here it is.
download
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