C11's Complete

Finished off the C11's, numbred 1 & 2. Not happy with the sound and the colour. I will poke around the sound library, maybe see what others have done. Colour, that's a different matter. It's trail and error, a bit tedious, (actually very tedious), when I am in the right mood I will experiement a bit. Final product, to me has a passing grade, (squint your eyes, it looks just like the real one), the transition for the low res turned out to be a bit more harsh that I would have liked. It seems also to depend on the track that I am currently watching. Racing however, in car, no problem.

C-11 Paint

When the mapping is complete I start to do what I call "Painting". Guess it because your just painting the livery on the car skin. I wish I had a better handle on colour. Each software displays it a bit different as well the game engine also renders it a bit different. The C-11, traditional Mercedes, is of course silver. I have a bit put it with a blue tinge, looks okay, but I will have to test it in game. I start working my way around the model, top then side, then the details. I put this preview out so you can see that the different colours I used in the panels while mapping are used then as a guide for placing the various decals and details.
As well, some things like the little running light on the front fender or the exhaust protector on the side could have been modelled in 3d. They would be interesting details, but more poly's. I have a suspision that these may not be the right details to economize. But practice will tell on that.

Wheels

Wheels, wheels, wheels ... I am not sure how the "object" engine in the game works. I cheat. A SCGT car is made of twenty different .vrl files. If anybody knows of an idiots guide to game engines and how they work, I would sure love to find out a reference. Along with the there one for exhaust, tail and head lights and a couple others. Eight of which are wheels. The cheating is that I use a set from another car and move them around to customize them.
Problem 1, the game engine simulates wheel travel as the car goes up and down hills, brakes and what not. Cute little feature that some geek worked on for months I am sure. Unfortunatley the fender profile on the real cars is such that, (where there is virtually no wheel trave),l is too low to accomadate the wheels. I have to raise the fenders to accomdate it. A pain, and makes th emodel less accurate, ya its tiny and you don't notice, I guess I will have to learn to fudge the fenders earlier in the process. The bmps are a little distorted now and I am not going to go through that process again.
Problem 2, when fixing 1, you can only see results "in game". Makes small adjustments pretty labourious.
Problem 3, choose the wrong wheels and they don't fit the width of the fender.
They are only problems because I haven't taken the time to create a full set and clone them as I need them .... take the time, get prepared, planning helps, (damn it).

C11 Mapping

I have discovered how I can use the Hierarchy tool to help map my textures. Man I was a dummy, this makes things much easier. I decompose the model into smaller bits. Hide the ones that I don't need at the moment, and work with a smaller set of polies. Later I will combine the bits and pieces into a couple of large objects for export. The game engine has a limit on bmp's, I beleive 500 bmps are supported. This includes the environment, (track) and all cars. Using a minimum number of bitmaps is an advantage in the more graphically intense tracks.

I am curious to see whether the split will have an impact on exporting from the subsequent tools that I have to work with. I believe I will export from AC3D, in 3ds format. It will be three objects. I will import into zMod, have to combine them into a single object. From there export the single object to a vrl format supported by the game. I have done this a bunch, but my brain always gets mixed up. Dyslexia, (actually its probably more of a brain fart). You don't want to know the hoops I go through next to get a transparent window, I will save that for another day.

I will have one more bmp, for the low res model. In total I have the Primary for main body parts, a secondary one for the other parts, (driver, wing, interior etc.), one for windows, (a requirement for the transparency process, one for tires, (which will be shared with other models) and the final one for the LR VE model. I have seen the tire maps included in the main bmp's, I may consider that as I move along.

I have kind of laid out how I map things, now I don't know if it's clear or not, but if anyone has suggestions about what may be better or easier, let me know. I am still feeling my way around and I am very open to suggestions.

Mercedes-Benz C-11

I believe the was the first year, (1990), Mercedes-Benz contested in the modern era, (since the 50's,?), without the Sauber qualifier along side the name.

The model is complete, I am just mapping the textures. I am using the hierarchy fetaure within AC3D and it has been a revelation. I think I have figured out a way to use multiple BMP's on the model without making into a mess. This will allow me two 1024x1024 .BMPS, to map the model which will keep the graphic cards from the klunge that we have been noticing when there is too many cars. I should still have enough surface area to keep the graphics resonably crisp.

Secondly polies. Ya they are trivial for real modelling .... but they just clobber the my targeted game engine. It is a circa 1999 game engine ... hey may be old but it is reliable. (sort of, kind of like me, old, and somethines reliable).

What I am doing is ensuring that I build a xxxxVE, for each model. The way the game seems to work, is it will load objects, "Just In Time", JIT, for rendering. A SCGT model has actually six different objects, A, thru E and a W.

Forget W it is a wet reflection. A thru E are displayed at different distances. When the car is far away, just a spec of colour really, it uses the E model. Now when you are in game, there may be three cars around you, all high res, 2200 polies each. But there may be anywhere from six to ten in the distance ... do the the math. The game engine chokes. Now by using a low poly model for the E version, approx 200 polies I hope to avoid this. The cost a bit of a flicker when it moves form one shape to the next. The better your low poly model the smoother your transition.

The original cars and the real "proffessionals" still do make 5 distinct models, (plus the W is 6). I am however too lazy and am trying to cut corners.