Forum: Carrara


Subject: HALO tank, Day one.

Kixum opened this issue on Jun 05, 2003 ยท 24 posts


Kixum posted Thu, 05 June 2003 at 9:57 AM

I've decided to model the tank in HALO. Here is the first days work starting from my primitive sculpture (standard operating procedure for me). I hope to have this done in six or seven days and I'll post on a daily basis. -Kix![supercool.gif](http://market.renderosity.com/~carrara/emoticons/supercool.gif)

-Kix


sittingblue posted Thu, 05 June 2003 at 11:06 AM

That is a great idea. Perhaps you could provide a few tips with each post. :)

Charles


TOXE posted Thu, 05 June 2003 at 11:07 AM

ehm... Excuse my ignorance, what is HALO?? It's an acronym for something? BTW looks good, -TOXE


 


Nicholas86 posted Thu, 05 June 2003 at 2:27 PM

Its an Xbox game.


Kixum posted Thu, 05 June 2003 at 2:37 PM

To build a scale model in the computer, I try to build the major components using very simple primitives in order to get the scale for all the detailed parts correct faster and easier. I've only done the main tread tops so far (and will be doing a little more work on them). Major components will be first, details will be second, paint job will be last. Lighting was done with skylight set to white, 80% and one bulb light set off to the side with GI Rendering, 8 pixel accuracy on indirect lighting. 1280X1024 render was 40 minutes. The final image will be lit similarly but using a light sphere and environmental lighting to get the shadows correct. I'm donating a full computer day or two to rendering studies on that one. -Kixsupercool.gif

-Kix


bikermouse posted Thu, 05 June 2003 at 8:37 PM

Very Exellent - I look forward to WIPs on this one!


Kixum posted Fri, 06 June 2003 at 1:01 AM

Here's the next nights worth of work (about two hours with render time). The main body is rough and I changed the location and elevation of the turret (my research into this model is very thin). I also changed the light to be a distance light which seems to be behaving a little better in terms of shadows (can't really tell for sure). I'll be very busy tomorrow with other things (like playing HALO) so there won't be a post for tomorrow night. -Kix![supercool.gif](http://market.renderosity.com/~carrara/emoticons/supercool.gif)

-Kix


Nicholas86 posted Fri, 06 June 2003 at 1:13 AM

Looking good. Its kind of nice the way it is. Simplicity is wonderful. I just spent 4 hours modeling my character. blah. lol. What resolution are you rendering out at? The lighting looks a LOT better. Brian


bikermouse posted Fri, 06 June 2003 at 1:14 AM

Kixum, I haven't seen the tank you're working from, but the turrent is a weak point on a tank and it should not stick up too far so as not to present too much of a target. The latest version is much better on that. The shadows look much better to me in the second WIP too - softer more realistic. It's coming along nicely! - TJ


Kixum posted Fri, 06 June 2003 at 9:33 AM

I render at 1280X1024 so I can have it on my desktop all day at work to study it for ideas. I then reduce that by two and set the jpg compression level to 15 (PSP number) for posting so it's small and practical. The tank in HALO does have a big sticky uppish turet but in multiplayer, it's indestructible so it doesn't matter. I'm having a ton of fun making it! -Kixcooldude.gif

-Kix


Eagle2358 posted Fri, 06 June 2003 at 6:03 PM

Scorpion Tank RULES!! Can't wait for Halo 2...


bikermouse posted Sun, 08 June 2003 at 1:54 AM

Kixum, I saw a tut for tank treads(two parts) over at < ahref-http://www.cgfocus.com/> cgfocus(Agent Smith from the Bryce Forum recomended the website as something to look through once and a while). I haven't read the tut yet and I don't know if your model uses treads or some kind of antigravity or what but maybe there's something to sort through on treads that might help if you are using treads on the tank. - TJ


Kixum posted Mon, 09 June 2003 at 12:15 AM

Here's the next iteration. Major components are done. Now we're moving on to details. I've changed the scale some but it's significantly better. Treads were done individually and placed by hand. It wasn't very hard and didn't take very long. I'll start with details on the treads first, then the main body, then the turret. -Kix![supercool.gif](http://market.renderosity.com/~carrara/emoticons/supercool.gif)

-Kix


bikermouse posted Mon, 09 June 2003 at 12:28 AM

The detail on the turrent is starting to look really good and those treads look great!


bluetone posted Mon, 09 June 2003 at 3:41 PM

Have you considered using Eric's Cognito for animating the treads? The WIPs are great! Keep 'em coming!


Eagle2358 posted Mon, 09 June 2003 at 6:21 PM

Thought I'd add a little to the Halo mood. If you don't know what this is supposed to be, YOU DON'T PLAY ENOUGH HALO!

sfdex posted Mon, 09 June 2003 at 6:28 PM

I don't play Halo, at all, but do like the colors and look of your render. One question, though; are those cloud objects behind the eye-sphere? If so, did you notice the straight edges that appear in them? I've had similar things happen in clouds in Carrara 2.1. Is this a known glitch? - Dex PS: Cool tank, Kix. It's really interesting to watch how you work.


Eagle2358 posted Mon, 09 June 2003 at 6:32 PM

Yes, those are clouds. I know I've seen that glitch before. Probably should have fixed that in photoshop...


Hoofdcommissaris posted Tue, 10 June 2003 at 4:53 AM

Eh, a quick, slightly off-topic question: I really loooove GI, but what is this light sphere stuff that keeps popping up? I thought that was something that helped actually faking Global Illumination. I tend to use the bi-gradient stuff for setting op the stuff. In what situation would a light sphere be better? As I remember from previous threads, a light sphere is a giant, well, sphere, surrounding the scene and camera's and all, with some amount of glow assigned to it, right? I will be following your tank!


Kixum posted Tue, 10 June 2003 at 9:38 AM

The light sphere will be a sphere I will add to the scene as the light source which is creating the shadows which you currently see in the scene. The skylight is already helping me with all the GI that I want. It isn't obvious from this image but the soft shadows are playing tricks along several of the edges. Environmental lighting can make that work much better depending on how long you're willing to wait. You can check on the shadow lab experiment in the back room for more information. Had to go and take photos for a dinner last night so I didn't get a chance to work on the tank. Tonight I will though! -Kix -Kix

-Kix


Kixum posted Thu, 12 June 2003 at 1:01 AM

I worked some of the details on the treads and the main body. I've also rescaled the turret significantly. This was done because I compared the render to the limited references I have and decided it really needed a change. You'll also notice I'm not using soft shadows any longer due to the lost detail soft shadows simply can't capture. The paint job is darker and I think it looks a TON better. I still have faith the EL lighting will make this pop out great. This render is 53 minutes but looks pretty cool still. -Kix![supercool.gif](http://market.renderosity.com/~carrara/emoticons/supercool.gif)

-Kix


bikermouse posted Thu, 12 June 2003 at 1:08 AM

when I saw it I reared back a little - this is getting impressive!!!


sailor_ed posted Thu, 12 June 2003 at 6:49 AM

This is neat! Like a tutorial unfolding in real time:-)


marcq posted Fri, 13 June 2003 at 11:09 PM

Indeed! Very nice looking!