[Vehicle] Leopard 2A4 [WIP](FDF)

[ukkis]

3. Don't think there's much point the gun being connected since it's perpendicular to the surface and unlikely to cause z-fighting.
4. Hatch is very detailed, but it will only be seem from above, you could get away with some detail lost here without any cost to quality.
5. Seems overly smooth for something that's on top of the tank, could reduce the number of smoothing polys. You could probably get rid of the gap underneath the object and put it in the texture.
.

We are planning to attach a machine gun on top so I also have to keep in mind that the detail on top are seen very closely when operating the mg. But anyway the hatches definitely have too much tris in them.

Good point in #3

thanks for feedback : ]

[ukkis]

Here is the current model.
It has 9305tris in it now without mg3.

Is that too much for pr?

[AquaticPenguin]

Again I'm going to nitpick, but I wouldn't really do these changes unless a dev says it needs to be lower poly.



1 - This part doesn't stick out much, so it has little effect on shape or shading. I guess you could get away with putting it on the texture. Then you can merge the vertices down (like in point 5).
2 - You can merge the centre vertex down (like 5) and it shouldn't have an effect. Also the 'spokes' of the drive wheel won't be visible unless you move this circle out a bit so it is above the edge of the tracks.
3 - I think you could get away with less edge loops on the end of the barrel. The end of the barrel won't be seen in great detail since it's hard to get up close and it will normally be waggling around.
4 - If you are in dire need to save some polygons, you could texture this part in. IMO that should be a last resort though since having it modeled in gives the model a sense of scale.
5 - Vertex merging

Again this is just me nitpicking to save polygons, 2, 3 and 5 wouldn't have much effect on the visuals of the tank overall but might save you a few polygons. Overall it's a fantastic model, you've managed to squeeze a huge amount of detail into a very tight poly limit. Big thumbs up

[ukkis]

2 - You can merge the centre vertex down (like 5) and it shouldn't have an effect. Also the 'spokes' of the drive wheel won't be visible unless you move this circle out a bit so it is above the edge of the tracks.

Thanks again for your nitpicking.

But dont the wheels need to have a centre vertex just like for example apc tires have?

[ukkis]

I forgot to weld those things in. now fixed

[Hauteclocque]

Nah, don't do anything to the wheels, they need to be like this for AnimationUV

Well, the current tri count should be fine...but some of my comments will raise it

First of all, you need to add edges on the bottom part of the wheels, like on this example :


Ideally, there should be edges under all the road wheels. Those edges are needed, because when a tracked vehicle is exported, the tracks have a skin modifier, and each series of wheel have a bone on which you attach the vertices of the track (here the ones of your edges), so that ingame (thanks to the col1 mesh), the track will bounce properly on the ground.

For the rest, there might be things that should be welded to the hull...but I'm not a modeler, just an exporter, I'm sure someone more skilled than me will answer you.

How many tris do the grill part ? Out of curiosity Looks pretty tri-guzzling .

[ukkis]

Ideally, there should be edges under all the road wheels. Those edges are needed, because when a tracked vehicle is exported, the tracks have a skin modifier, and each series of wheel have a bone on which you attach the vertices of the track (here the ones of your edges), so that ingame (thanks to the col1 mesh), the track will bounce properly on the ground.


How many tris do the grill part ? Out of curiosity Looks pretty tri-guzzling .

Thanks for the info once again.

The "grill" part is approximately something like 40-50 more tris.

[Hauteclocque]

I thought it would be higher to be honest You can leave it then.

[ukkis]

Is there anything special i have to keep in mind when creating uv maps for the tracks?
I have understood it is only the the texture that is animated when the tracks rotate.

[Hauteclocque]

You should UVmap your tracks using the tank_tracks_c.dds texture already in the PR files. A bit as if you were texturing a static using texture palettes.

Take the texture that fits the better your vehicle.

This texture is located in mods/pr/objects/vehicles_client/Common/Textures.

[J.F.Leusch69]

but if there isnt a fiting texture, you could make a custom one, because it can could be used by all the different leopard2s

[ukkis]

I haven't had much time to work on this model in the last few months but now finally I am going to continue with the UVs again.

How can I make other than square shaped UV layout in max?
For example 2048x1024 which merkava has.

but if there isnt a fiting texture, you could make a custom one, because it can could be used by all the different leopard2s

If i decide to make unique track textures should I leave them to a different texture sheet?

[Rhino]

How can I make other than square shaped UV layout in max?
For example 2048x1024 which merkava has.

A 2:1 UV or w/e still uses the UVs inside the same 1:1 UV box, the only difference is the textures applied to it.

Here is a quick cube I've made, which I've then quickly UVed in a 2:1 sheet, the way I got the UV to display it as a 2:1 is if you look in the bottom left in the options I've checked "Use custom bitmap size" and set it to 512x256



In a normal 1:1 ratio, the same UVs look like so:

If i decide to make unique track textures should I leave them to a different texture sheet?

The new track texture should be included on the tracks pallet to minimise draw calls and texture sheets being loaded. You will just need to find a track on the texture that's not being used by any other vehicle which there is one or two on there, but don't worry about that for now just note it down for now and when it comes to exporting make sure it gets done then.

[ukkis]

I'd say the layout is pretty good now.

I left a small gap there to the bottom right if there is going to be any additions to the model.
For example some softwood camouflage on the side.

All the detail that is specific to the finnish variation is located to the top right corner of the uv map making it easier for other comfacs to texture their own versions.

[temexter]

Based on the huge amount of feedback and comments from community, i say:

awesomekeepupthegoodworkz! and it seems that we'll proceed to texture and export.

[samogon100500]

UVs got to much free space IMO.

[Mehta]

Where are all OMGFGawesomeworkhypeijizzedmypants -comments for a model which is really needed with comfacs and which is made properly (No floating objects on surface of the model)?

Great work ukkis! The Quality is unbelievable with those tri-limits...

P.S I don't see much of unnecessary free space on UVs. As he said

I left a small gap there to the bottom right if there is going to be any additions to the model.
For example some softwood camouflage on the side.

[Hauteclocque]

Lol, an UVmap sheet isn't that exciting for a forum member, I guess it's the reason why you won't see many comments about it. Show some screens of the Leo textured, you'll see the result.

About the UV sheet, it isn't really my skill area, but it doesn't look bad to me

[Tim270]

Few bits that might bleed in red

http://i.imgur.com/xxvIw.jpg
(sorry for horrific Jpeg compression)

But ye I think it might be worth a final pass to just pack it a bit more. Lovely model though

[ukkis]

55 tonnes of violence