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3 Dimensional Chat / Armoured Hovercraft

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Scraggle
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Posted: 13th Feb 2009 15:13 Edited at: 13th Feb 2009 15:15
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Five months ago I couldn't even model a beveled cube and had to ask for someone else to help with it (in this thread).
However, I have been learning to use Maya at University and have developed the skills required to make my own bevelled cube now

I have been set the task of creating an animated vehicle (real or imagined) and have come up with this armoured hovercraft. It is not due in until May, so my plan is to try to have it convert into a helicopter and/or a submarine.







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Oolite
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Posted: 13th Feb 2009 16:33
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Looking good Scraggle.
Not sure about the metal texture on the armour bit, it seems a little flat, try drawing in some shading on it. Also, the metal texture seems to not flow very nicely between polygons, i don't know if this was the intention to have seperate panels but if it is you need to add something to make it look like they are meant to be seperate panels.
The wing texture bit looks a lot lower resolution than the rest of the ship, whereas the bottom of the hovercraft looks too high of a resolution to the metal texture.
Just nitpicking really but i know how they can be in uni regarding work.

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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 13th Feb 2009 18:46 Edited at: 13th Feb 2009 18:47
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Nice work so far! I'm with Oolite though.

Some tips on UV Mapping and Texturing:

The metal texture around the armor is definitely a lower resolution than the bottom. The faces for the bottom of your hovercraft on your UV template might have been a different size (larger) than the faces making up the top. I'm not sure if you know this yet or not (I'm not patronizing you!), but depending on how much of a foot print you give parts of your UV Layout, it greatly affects the resolution. The bigger, the more resolution. That also means that you can scale down parts of your model on the UV template that are unimportant and hardly viewable to make more room to scale important and more viewable parts of your model larger.

Secondly, you want to try and hide your UV seams as much as you can. Either it's the way you textured it or it's that your seams on you UV Layout need to be reworked. Can we see your UV Template and/or a screenshot of your model with UV Seams visible?

Thirdly, the bottom of your craft looks awesome. But the like Oolite said, the armor still needs some work. If your going to have them look divided, it's best to have it look divided with a purpose. Texture in plates or screws or something. I would also chip the metal too. See this picture for a good worn metal example. Pick up some free grunge brushes on deviant art or something and just go to town on it.

Random photoshop tips: The healing brush is your friend. You can use it to paint a metal very easily from a reference image. http://www.cgtextures.com/ is an awesome resource.

Again I'm not sure if it's your seams on your model or that you copied one part of the texture and just dragged it over to the other faces on your armor but I can tell it's repeating. You can make a tilable texture quite easy by using the offset filter at half your images resolution (if it's 1024x1024, offset it 512, 512 to get half), and use the healing brush to get rid of the seams. Other method would be to copy the left, top, right, and bottom of your image, paste it on the opposite side, flip it, and then healing brush the seams. Either way.

Sorry, it's a lot to type and explain. If you want to me to go into detail or make a video for you showing you what I'm talking about I can. I'm very interested in seeing your UV template though. This would help me help you a lot.

"If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants" - Isaac Newton
-Computer Animation Major @Baker.edu-
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Scraggle
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Posted: 13th Feb 2009 19:57 Edited at: 13th Feb 2009 20:07
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Thanks for the tips and advice.

I hadn't really noticed but you are right, the armour plating and the wings are clearly lower resoolution. I have plenty of UV space to play with, so I will increase it. The armour is supposed to be seperate plates, so again heeding your advice, I will make it more obvious with rivets or something.

Quote: "Can we see your UV Template and/or a screenshot of your model with UV Seams visible? "

I have no idea how to do that If someone can tell me how to do that in Maya, then I will.

Thanks again

[Edit] Is this what you mean?




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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 13th Feb 2009 21:38 Edited at: 13th Feb 2009 21:48
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No that's edged faces. Which modeling program are you using? I know in 3dsm if you open up the UV Window after applying a UVW Unwrap modifier, you can see green seems on your mesh.

EDIT: Ah, nevermind. I see your using Maya. One sec, let me see if I can find how to.

Could you please also take a screenshot of your uv template (with the faces visible on it so I can see how things are layed out)? For instance: http://screencast.com/t/9aejBNfLUr

Oh, and this is what the seams should look like when visible: http://screencast.com/t/5EzJtetqkr

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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 13th Feb 2009 21:53 Edited at: 13th Feb 2009 21:54
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Hmmm... I'm not sure how. Maybe if another Maya user stops in, they can explain. I'm pretty sure after you open up the UV Editor window though you should be able to see the green seam lines on your mesh... maybe there is an checkbox for it? You should also be able to select a face on the uv template and see it selected in the model view as well, and vise versa. If you can figure it out you can either upload the model and I can have a look at it, or you can just take a nice pic of the UV Template for me. I think I should be able to judge from that.

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Scraggle
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Posted: 14th Feb 2009 02:02
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Armour plating changed ... how's this?





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castek
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Posted: 14th Feb 2009 02:34
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I like it! A+

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BMacZero
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Posted: 14th Feb 2009 03:24
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That is one awesome bevelled cube, Scraggle

Seriously, cool. I like the new metal texture a LOT better than the old one.

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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 14th Feb 2009 04:56
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Yeah, it looks a lot better

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BiggAdd
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Posted: 14th Feb 2009 06:12
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Looking really good. The only issue I really have is how the props are connected to the hovercraft.
There seems to be no visible motor or connection. Also control surfaces for your craft are missing.

There is nothing sexier on an aircraft than a control surface.... but maybe that's just me!

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Scraggle
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Posted: 17th Feb 2009 13:53
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I have created the conversion to submarine. It looks better animated:





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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 17th Feb 2009 17:57
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Good stuff You textured it well. I especially like the technological parts and their high tech textures. Nice job.

"If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants" - Isaac Newton
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lazerus
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Posted: 18th Feb 2009 17:08 Edited at: 18th Feb 2009 17:09
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Looks good so far,
I recommend that the Do-not-touch-the-spining propellers have some more work put into them, they need some driving force, supports, maybe some wire-mesh-cage or No-touch-bars and move-direction-changing turning mechanism

I suggest looking at toy-water-hovering 'tyco Rc hovercraft for reference

happy-ale-smashing-cheers Conor

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castek
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Posted: 18th Feb 2009 17:26
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Yeah i agree with Lazerus the fans look a little wimpy compared to the rest of it.

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Aelin
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Posted: 18th Feb 2009 21:15
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Very nice - I like the textures.
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Scraggle
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Posted: 19th Feb 2009 10:34
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Is this better?





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lazerus
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Posted: 19th Feb 2009 12:35
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Now the no-touch-sharp-spinning blades have some realism to them.

Yay

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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 19th Feb 2009 17:59
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Yeah, for sure. Did you extrude it or did you just make a separate mesh and stick it on there? I hope you did the former! Even though you'd probably have to re UV map it slightly.

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Scraggle
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Posted: 19th Feb 2009 18:22
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No, the latter I'm afraid.

It hadn't occured to me to extrude it but now that you mention it, I can see the benefits.
However, I thought about having the fans rotate about the Y axis in order to provide steering, in which case seperate objects is the way ahead.



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Aelin
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Posted: 19th Feb 2009 19:24
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Maybe make the blades a little wider at the tips?

I'm not looking to join any amateur teams, nor do I take requests.
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Sid Sinister
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Posted: 19th Feb 2009 22:46
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Ah, yeah, if your going to animate it keep it like that then .

"If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants" - Isaac Newton
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Zergei
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Posted: 20th Feb 2009 22:08 Edited at: 20th Feb 2009 22:12
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2 fans already give a Y rotation, since speeding one up and slowing the other one would provoke a Y spin effect.

I think the fan blades should be worked out a bit. They stand out too much in contrast to the rest of the vehicle (same for the missiles).
Try to give the blades the shape of an real fan blade, which turns a bit near one edge or has a bulkier edge.

http://images.google.com.ar/images?hl=es&q=fan%20blade&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

Note on the missile: the shape is like an air to air missile. Since the vehicle is a terrain-water(underwater?) type, an air to air missile makes little sense. Maybe a torpedo would suit it better.

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Scraggle
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Posted: 20th Feb 2009 22:40 Edited at: 20th Feb 2009 22:40
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Quote: "Since the vehicle is a terrain-water(underwater?) type, an air to air missile makes little sense"


Thanks for the input ... however as I said in my first post, my plan is to have this vehicle convert between Hovercraft, Submarine and Helicopter.

I quite like the look of the blades as they are, but I might play around with them and see how they come out.

You are right about the turning effect of twin fans (although it hadn't occurred to me), so maybe I will leave them static about the Y axis.



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prasoc
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Posted: 21st Feb 2009 01:38
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Wouldn't there be a lift fan? It'd be cool doing a heli then as well as a hovercraft.
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BiggAdd
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Posted: 21st Feb 2009 03:54
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Quote: "2 fans already give a Y rotation, since speeding one up and slowing the other one would provoke a Y spin effect."


The props are way too close together, the moment will be very small, giving a large turning angle.

That's why I originally suggested control surfaces, to give the craft some yaw.

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lazerus
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Posted: 21st Feb 2009 14:05
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http://www.swim-in.com.au/images/product_images/0a5035ba6d05f2dfd5877f34a9a898ad.jpg

notice the centre fan, you could most likely adapt one in the centre of yours, this would also give you the lift your helicpter would need and replace the buyoncy aids from a submarine, turn off to dive to on to float, lower the power to balance type stuff.

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Scraggle
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Posted: 28th Apr 2009 03:10 Edited at: 28th Apr 2009 03:26
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Please forgive the 2 month bump but this project is now complete and due to be handed in in two weeks. I would really appreciate any further feedback before I hand it in, thanks.

As you can see I have got the conversion to the three vehicle types in place..

Hovercraft mode:


Submarine mode:


Helicopter mode:


It looks great animated and I would love to get it into DBP ... so, does anyone know of a way to export animated .X files from Maya?

Thanks


I also changed the tail rotors. A few people thought they looked 'wimpy' and I agree. Hopefully, these are better





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Azunaki
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Posted: 28th Apr 2009 04:37
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i think it would be better if when it transformed into helicopter mode it actually disconnected from the bottom raft part. or the bottom part folded up in some way. (its shaped as if it would disconnect)
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Scraggle
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Posted: 28th Apr 2009 11:10
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Obviously it couldn't disconnect because then it couldn't re-transform.
I had thought about having it fold up, but the curved part at the front makes it difficult.



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Azunaki
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Posted: 28th Apr 2009 16:58
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it doesn't seem like it would work with the giant things on the sides.
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Scraggle
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Posted: 5th May 2009 09:53 Edited at: 5th May 2009 10:01
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Here's a rendered animation. It looks much better in motion





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Quik
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Posted: 5th May 2009 16:58
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thats awesome dude!!


[Q]uik, Quiker than most
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Neodelito
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Posted: 5th May 2009 18:05
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god level... i like this animation

[url="http://www.3dpoder.com/jaimezegpi/"][/url]
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Alucard94
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Posted: 5th May 2009 18:14
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Looks great.


Alucard94, the member of the future of the past.
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BiggAdd
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Posted: 5th May 2009 22:29
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Very nice Scraggle. The animations turned out great!





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Beast E Gargoyle
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Posted: 7th May 2009 20:43
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Awesome Job Scraggle! The last touch up I think you should do is give it a sweet name or your personal. Like Scraggle on it's side or something else catchy for a ship name other than the S.S. Minow.

Cheers,
Beastegargoyle

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Butter fingers
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Posted: 12th May 2009 17:32
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Great job, I love the animation. And frankly I'm glad to see another Maya user on here.

Don't know if this will help with the export issues.

http://www.c-unit.com/downloads/cvxporter/

I want robotic legs.
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Scraggle
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Posted: 13th May 2009 01:40 Edited at: 13th May 2009 01:49
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Thanks for the link Butters but I have tried that before and can't seem to get it to perform. Maybe I'm doing something wrong or maybe it is not compatible with 2008 but either way it isn't working for me

Maybe you can help with that ... from the cvexporter website:
Quote: "If you see the error:

# Error: No module named cvxporter
# Traceback (most recent call last):
# File "", line 1, in
# ImportError: No module named cvxporter #

It means, your PYTHONPATH isn’t set up properly. Create an environment variable name PYTHONPATH and set its value to the path to your maya scripts directory."


I do get that error but I don't understand the suggested workaround.



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Butter fingers
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Posted: 13th May 2009 11:45
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I had this too. This page should help explain what you need to do. It's to do with your Maya .ENV file.

Basically it contains paths to all your plugins and shaders and scripts etc. It should be updated automatically, but I don't think the python thing does.

You can locate the ENV file in :
users files folder / maya / mayaX.Y.

This page should be relatively helpful with regards to adding variables to the env file. I wouldn't worry about the windows environment variable part, mess that up at a later date. skip down a paragraph to the bit about maya...

Good luck! Any nightmare holla here!

I want robotic legs.
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Scraggle
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Posted: 15th May 2009 18:28
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Tried that but still no joy.
I even tried setting the Environment Variable from windows but still no joy

Any other ideas?



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DB newbie
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Posted: 16th May 2009 19:46
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nice Scraggle...always thought of you as a strictly 2D guy.


Come see the WIP!

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Little Bill
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Posted: 17th May 2009 11:33
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Looks sweet Scraggle, what program do you use for texturing?

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