Light map and decals

For the final stages of my model I added the decals and created a light map.
I began by creating a new UV set for my light map UVs and then rearranging the UVs so they were all at least 2 squares apart and did not overlap. I then built the lighting in UDK after reimporting each object.

I had three decals on my car, the front bonnet, the side logo and the back bumper sticker.

I also added a cube map to add reflection to my vehicle.

Diorama and UDK - Start texturing

I will texture my diorma using 4 x 512x512 maps - texture splitting

In order to make sure all my textures work in UDK as that is how I will render my model, I will use UDK to view my model from now on.

I then added more interest to my diorama by creating bushes. I used a diffuse and an alpha transparency map on a number of overlapping planes to get the effect I desired.

For the grass on the ground I used this tutorial to get the basic grass shape and then altered it to my liking

http://www.myinkblog.com/create-an-awesome-grass-texture-in-photoshop/

To Do:
Light map
Final tweaks to textures

Normals - Wheel Bake

My main focus was to get my normals and spec map finished. I did a high to low poly bake for my wheels and got a nice result. I then started to complete my diffuse and do my specular and normal maps.

I will now view these in UDK and see if I need to strenghen or alter them at all.

Texturing Continued

Final Diffuse:

Week 9/10 - Texturing

The majority of the following weeks will be focused on texturing the land rover and UVing and texturing the diorama. Shown below is my first attempts at texturing the Land Rover using my photos. I found it difficult to get the whole photo to line up exactly with my UVs so decide to try a different approach.

For this approach I hand painted a base layer of colour and then used details from my photos over the top. This made it much easier to line all the details up and meant I could get exactly the effect I was looking for. I also began to UV my diorama.

To Do:

Bake wheel/tyre

Finish texturing land rover and begin diorama

AO/Spec maps 

Add trees/bushes and grass alphas for the diorama

Week 8 -Diorama

This week I began the blockout and fine tuning of my diorama. I decided to use a countryside field as inspiration as I can easily gather reference and it is a common sight to see Land Rovers in this kind of area.

In the above shot, the fence is too block like, unrealistic and linear. I changed it to make the planks thinner and I added interest by showing that the Land Rover had crashed through the fence on its journey.

Current To DO List:
Remodel - Bumpers and Headlights
Soften harsh edges
Re-UV
Bake tyres and AO etc
Look into decals (for military police signs)
Finish and UV diorama
And finally texture the model

Week 7 - UVing

This week I began the process of UV unwrapping my vehicle. I began with the smaller parts such as wing mirrors and then moved up to the bumpers. By getting all the smaller areas complete I can focus on teh car body without any worries.

This is my current UV layout. This is subject to change as I am trying to make sure all the UVs fit nicely whilst keeping a decent resolution.

Week 5 and 6 - Finalising The Model

These 2 weeks were spent cleaning up my model, ensuring there were no 5 sided polygons and finishing the details. The main areas I focused on were smoothing edges, completing the front grill and shaping all the minor details such as teh plastic rims on the wheels and sides.

PART 2:
I added a back window as the depth that is required would not be easily achieved simply using normal maps. I also altered my wheels to save polys. I will create the nuts and bolts at a later date using AO and normal maps.

Week 4 - Beginning to add Details

During this week I began to model some of the major details on the car such as the front grill. One of the main obstacles I came up against was making sure the cylinders didn't up the poly count by a large amount. To correct this I lowered the number of subdivisions and used smooth edges to create the same effect as higher poly cylinders.

Week 3 - Main Shape

After working on my model for a week I had created the basic shape and curvature of the body. By looking between my reference photos and the blueprints I tried to make the vehicle as accurate as possible. I will now use the mirror geometry tool to fill in the other half of the vehicle and then start adding details and making minor adjustments.

Mirrored car:

Week 2 - Beginning to Model

On Thursday the class took a trip to a local farm which contained numerous military vehicles. This enabled me to get a large number of photos from various perspectives. I can use these images for my blueprints and I took lots of close-up shots of textures and details so I can model and texture accurately. Below are some examples of the vehicles on offer.

After studying the vehicles I have decided to model the military police land rover and shall begin making a block-out model. I found blueprints on www.the-blueprints.com/ to get the exact measurements on the Land Rover. I will then use my own photos to make sure I get all the details looking exact in 3D.

Week 1 - Initial Thoughts

After being assigned the task of creating a realistic military vehicle for this module, I began to focus on what kind of vehicle I would like to make. By looking at various images on-line I have decided to focus on a land rover style vehicle.

The field trip on Thursday 31st will be very useful for gathering photographic information about the size, shape and textures on my vehicle.

I recently purchased a camera, a Fujifilm Finepix f770, which will help me get accurate images for making my textures. I can then place these images into Photoshop to alter any noise levels etc