Dacia Logan facelift - Maya & Photoshop

[Valentin_N]

Hi guys,

Here's a project I've been working on for some time. I decided to make it my pet project so I'll be working on it for a longer period of time, without worrying too much about time constraints :)
I'll put quality above speed on this one, so your critics are very welcome!
Without further ado, here is the Dacia Logan facelift! The model will eventually make it into a game, don't know which one yet.
These are some screenshots of the first stage: the high res modeling.

http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/3653/loganfacelift1xb9.th.jpg (http://img300.imageshack.us/my.php?image=loganfacelift1xb9.jpg)
http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/786/loganfacelift2sg9.th.jpg (http://img300.imageshack.us/my.php?image=loganfacelift2sg9.jpg)
http://img300.imageshack.us/img300/9643/loganfacelift3jt9.th.jpg (http://img300.imageshack.us/my.php?image=loganfacelift3jt9.jpg)
http://img172.imageshack.us/img172/3087/loganfacelift4cc5.th.jpg (http://img172.imageshack.us/my.php?image=loganfacelift4cc5.jpg)
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/4148/loganfacelift5hj1.th.jpg (http://img379.imageshack.us/my.php?image=loganfacelift5hj1.jpg)
http://img76.imageshack.us/img76/7450/loganfacelift6ng7.th.jpg (http://img76.imageshack.us/my.php?image=loganfacelift6ng7.jpg)

Stuff worth mentioning:
1. This highres mesh is only meant to serve as a source of normal map and ambient occlusion for the low resolution ingame model
2. Don't mind the windows and tires, those are just placeholders for the moment ;)

What's next?
1. Ingame model, complete with interior, engine detail, trunk, underside and detachable parts for an eventual damage model.
2. UVs for each of these parts.
3. Generating the normal map and ambient occlusion map for the exterior of the car using the high res model in this post
4. Texturing.
5. Exporting the car to a game. I'm waiting for suggestions here, I only did some cars for NFS 4 and GTA Vice City. Any other games I should consider?

Hopefully you'll enjoy this!

Thank you!

[P2sta]

hi, the modell looks nice, and you have good plane to the future, so keep working ;)

and please use attachment system for your pictures next time ;)

[Valentin_N]

Thanks for the heads up, I'll make sure I use the attachments next time.

[Valentin_N]

I was going to go straight to doing the lowres but I couldn't help myself so I added some more stuff on the high resolution model.

First image:
1. Interior of the headlights (not final yet)
2. Honeycomb grill
3. Plastic bumper detail next to the projector light.

Second image:
1. Small signal on side fender
2. Door lock
3. Black plastic detail on door frame.

Third image:
1. Stoplight interior
2. Chrome trunk lid detail
3. Tailpipe

Hopefully I can start the low res mesh early next week, unless I add more details to the high res exterior first...

[rodderworld]

looks really well done. high detail/res to me.

regards,
rodder

[et_fone_home]

Looks very Clean and Detailed!

Very nice!

[P2sta]

great as other said ;)

[Valentin_N]

Well, after a week of work @ work, I found some time to do the low res version of the car.
I only managed to do the interior and wheels today but the rest are coming soon. I think I can get the entire car with interior, engine detail, underside and suspensions somewhere under 20k triangles.

[et_fone_home]

That is looking good, Nice process!

[P2sta]

looks nice ;)

[PeteRef]

Interesting choice of car....

The modelling in no way looks bad, but there are a few things you need to reconsider for game modelling.

Normal mapping the outside of the car is not a good idea and would not be used in a game. It would need an awfully high rez texture to get any detail into it and typicaly textures are compressed a lot for games causing some ugly problems for normal maps. They're just not suited for the kind of detail on cars.

Grills and lights, along with the interior are more suitable for normal mapping though.

You're considering damaging the car, yet your doors have no verticle divisions in them. That will make it very difficult to get good deformation in them.

Your basic mesh for the high rez version is somewhere closer to an in game model, it just needs some of the chamfers taking out and some of the mesh tidying up, with polies distributed more evenly.

(I used to go by the name of Herminator but forgot the password and it's tied to a redundant email address)

[Valentin_N]

Thank you for your thoughts and suggestions.
I would like to comment on some of them to explain some of the choices I made for this particular model.

1. I'm aware of the artifacts caused by compressed normal maps, usually not even uncompressed normal maps are enough to define the whole range of smooth surfaces from the high-resolution model.
I'm just doing this car as a showcase of my skills. Having a stark contrast between the number of polygons on the highres and lowres models is one of the key elements of the build.
The final geometry that will be exported will vary depending on the target game. I plan to build the geometry and texture and then ask some of the guys that have experience in "conversions" to export it to a game. I will provide the geometry and textures in a format that respects the game's technical specifications
2. Yes, you are right, those are areas that would benefit more from normal maps in a ideal situation, but very few games support normal maps, and even less use them for the interior so I will not do a high resolution model for that area. Maybe Test Drive Unlimited is modable, as that one uses normal maps for the interiors used in the cockpit view, but I am more interested in exporting this game to GTA than other games.
3. Depends on the way the game is built. If you're talking about GTA, that uses a simple geometry swap so simulate damage, so the number of vertices is irrelevant as the pristine and damaged meshes don't need the same number of vertices. I can always add more geometry for the damage model.
4. That's a good idea, I could use that if I plan to add that to a game that supports a larger number of polygons.

Actually, I initially thought you were nitpicking, but now I realize it gave me the opportunity to explain some of the stuff I did in there. Thanks!

[petter]

ahhh... yeah, this car looks very familiar to me, i wonder why? : ))
the modeling looks pretty good and clean. this model will look better in high poly but you've already choosed to do the game model.
looking forward for this:)
nice to see more romanians here.

[PeteRef]

Sorry, I didn't want to come across as nitpicking.

Thanks for explaining your decisions, it's nice to see you have a good understanding of what you're doing.

It may be a good idea for you to try normal mapping some damage too, which is much more common in games.

You say you're doing it to show off your skills... are you looking for a job in the games industry? do you have a job in a related field already?

[Valentin_N]

@petter: Thanks man. You're right. Don't worry, I'm still adding small details to the high res model to do some renders at the end. I plan to use the textured low res interior as a fill in.
@PeteRef: Yup, normal maps rule when it comes do damage modeling, you can add a lot more detail into the mesh without increasing the polygon count. Again, too bad there are not too many modable games out there that support this :(
To answer your question, I work in the gaming industry, I am the Lead Vehicle Artist at AMC Studio, a game graphics outsourcing company based in Bucharest, Romania.
You can follow the link in my sig to see more of the stuff that either me or people in my team have done ;) /shameless_plug

[Valentin_N]

Due to some small issues like lack of free time, I'm forced to put this project on hold until the end of the week.
I'll be back with the finished low poly model and the UVs this weekend hopefully :)

[petter]

ok, we all know it's pretty hard to find free time sometimes. anyway,w8ing for the update:buttrock:

[Valentin_N]

Hi guys,

I'm finally back with an update after a flu filled week :(
I decided to amp up the low-res exterior. I've added new polygons to make the exterior look as good as possible without a normal map. Truth is I do want this car to be released for a game, so the chances of actually using the normal map are pretty slim :( I'll still do a version with normal maps, but this current version will be my main focus from now on.
There's also some interior visible in the screenshots. Unfortunately, the dashboard and steering wheel are from the old version of the Logan. I'll post complete interior pics on the next update alongside underside, enginebay and trunk details.
I couldn't resist without some normal maps though so I added a screenshot of the wheel in high-res, low-res and low-res with color and normal maps :D. BTW the textures for the wheel are 512x512 right now.

[petter]

Hi guys,
I'm finally back with an update after a flu filled week :(
I decided to amp up the low-res exterior. I've added new polygons to make the exterior look as good as possible without a normal map. Truth is I do want this car to be released for a game, so the chances of actually using the normal map are pretty slim :( I'll still do a version with normal maps, but this current version will be my main focus from now on.
There's also some interior visible in the screenshots. Unfortunately, the dashboard and steering wheel are from the old version of the Logan. I'll post complete interior pics on the next update alongside underside, enginebay and trunk details.
I couldn't resist without some normal maps though so I added a screenshot of the wheel in high-res, low-res and low-res with color and normal maps :D. BTW the textures for the wheel are 512x512 right now.

hehe, unreal tournament III uses normal maps:D
the tyre normal map version looks very good. how do you create your own normal maps? i have no knowledge in this so don't try to explain me in detail, just the main ideea:)
the low poly mesh looks pretty messy but with smooth on, it's really cool so for the acutual game devaloping it's very good.
can you spit the game's name?:D it's just personal model game integration or you're working on an entire game out there at your company?:D
personally, i'm waiting for the high poly version:D
keep doin' the shit...:D , some often updates will be welcome:)

[Valentin_N]

Actually, this car has nothing to do with anything I'm currently doing at work :p
I'm just trying out different techniques so see how to minimize the negative side effects of normal maps.
I decided to promote the "national car" a bit in the process. Nobody from Dacia pays attention to what "kids with 3d" do for their image, they're still busy wasting money on mainstream advertising. Maybe they decide to do a "Dacia Racer: Bucharest Rushour" game. That would be similar to a "New York Racer: Manhattan Rushour" game, if you know what I mean ;), a game about strenght of character and how much static traffic you can take without swearing...
Back to serious stuff, I was thinking about UT3, but unless somebody makes "Econobox Racer" using the UT3 engine, this car will not fit the design of the game. Imagine that: space marines, monsters, giant robots, huge-ass weapons and a Dacia!

[sm@rt]

Hey Valentin, your model looks really good :) How many polys/tris it has?

[Valentin_N]

When I took the screenshots, it had roughly 17k with a fairly detailed interior and trunk. I think I can add the underside and engine details and still keep it under 20k.

[Valentin_N]

Finally I got some time to finish the UVs and generate the normal map for the exterior. The exterior map (1024x1024) has some artifacts in it, but I'll get them sorter later in Photoshop.
Anyway, enjoy the screenshots :)

[sm@rt]

Good progress. Waiting for texturing the model :)

[P2sta]

looks good, waiting for textures too ;)

[Valentin_N]

Hi guys,

I haven't got the chance to post here in a while as I've been busy with a project for a Romanian car magazine.
You can find more details about that by visiting my blog:
http://virtualcarspy.wordpress.com/

Anyway, back to the Logan, this extended weekend (December 1st = Romanian National Day) gave me some time to finish the interior. Unlike the exterior, this will not have a high resolution model as I'll add all the necessary details by means of texture.

Here are some screenshots:

[P2sta]

nice work on the interior imo ;)

[revelli]

nice interior modelling
any chance to see normal maps in interior aswell? :clown:

[Valentin_N]

Yup, I'll create a normal map for the interior; it will be entirely generated in Photoshop from a height map.