Lancaster - just about ready

[arai]

well I think I'm just about ready to stop the modeling bits and put this thing in the paint shop, its certainly been a long time coming, and I've had to put it off a few times as I'd get busy working on films and just have no time for my personal work. I did just notice that I have to add the cabin heating air inlet in the wing but that should be fast and easy.

so I thought I'd send out one last geo render to show it before I start adding textureing (oh the rivits :eek: )

[kevjon]

It looks soooo good. Looking forward to the textures.

[yobiko]

Sweet! Looks great. :)

[Xizor]

i love it :-)

[Skyraider3D]

Very, very nice...

[krazycolin]

YOWSA.... that is truly amazing....

[Spinner]

What they said.:D
Is that going to be 'Just Jane'?

[Bravo]

I am truly amazed at the quality of the planes within this forum, lol I daren't post any of my stuff, looks crap now by comparison.

I will learn loads from these forums I can tell.

The Lancaster was one of the planes I was considering for my next model, but I will do something else now as you have done this marvellously well. Looking forward to the texturing

[paddy237]

this looks great, keep up the good work....

[zarroun]

sweet stuff, mate! looks really good!

[krazycolin]

Bravo, you shouldn't give up on it... instead, let it inspire you to do even better... difficult...yes. Impossible... no....

[hinoon]

Great work. Looking forward to the paint job rendition.

[giant551]

Thats so nice i think i'm going to cry:cry: :cry: :lol: :lol: :lol:

[Buelliful]

so I thought I'd send out one last geo render to show it before I start adding textureing (oh the rivits :eek: )

You don't do things by halves do you Arai! Excellent work, really nice work on the details.
I guess that's another one I can scratch off my list of models to do! :p

[digiartist]

looks absolutely stunning!

[Gadzooks]

Speechless!

[Clanger]

Beautiful, looking forward to the finished product.

[kiwi123]

Very nice Arai !

[Bravo]

Bravo, you shouldn't give up on it... instead, let it inspire you to do even better... difficult...yes. Impossible... no....

Oh I never give up ;)

Though in my defence, most of my models are for maps within games so do need to be low poly anyway, a recent (enforced) reformat of my hard drive lost most of my work, so it will be fun starting again.

Looking forward to seeing how arai approaches the texturing...

[Mirko]

Great work Arai. Beautifu!
:salute:

[Spinner]

Though in my defence, most of my models are for maps within games so do need to be low poly anyway,

Looking forward to seeing how arai approaches the texturing...

Me too, and I've found it good discipline but basicly unsatisfying. Something deep inside wants to make them so you feel you could add fuel and climb in.
Maybe in another ten years we'll have Lancs like Arai's in game?

[deltacharlie]

I'm with ya Bravo...some of the "WIP" planes I see in here are better than my finished products!

Arai, this is awesome!

[Art 111]

Yes, Yes, Yes!
Congratulations! Nice to see such great work!

[peter]

Arai what is happening to Your lancaster? This model is so great I can't stand there is no render with it. You probably keep him in the hangar and wait for people to go mad begging You for an image:) I'm following Your example when I'm modeling my stirling.
Have mercy mate... Have mercy and do something with this piece of art:)

[arai]

well I havent forgot about it, but Its been put away for awhile as I worked myself to death on some feature films. I've got a little bit of time now so I've finally started to uv it. so I need some time to do uv's then I'll be off to textureing it.

[arai]

I hate uv's. when you model every time you render you see the work, same thing when you texture. Uv'ing is just a pain in the ass and it looks the same when your done. fuselage almost done. moving on to the wings. I'll save all the super detail stuff like the turrets for last, those are gonna suck.

[kevjon]

UV's aren't much fun.....but all so crucial !

[kiwi123]

Hey, you switched application !!

[arai]

heh still modeled in lightwave, but I hate lightwave uv tools. I've been using maya a lot in features these days so I thought it was better than LW. I know modo is supposed to do a good job too but I havent had a chance to play with it so I wanted to get it done as fast as possible with the software I know. It'll be put back into lw after the uvs.

[Danoku]

yeah, some maya goodness there eh? whats your workflow for going from lw to maya and back?

[Skyraider3D]

Maya has some of the worst UV tools I've ever soon, to be honest. But that's Maya 4.5. Don't know about later versions. Maya materials allow all kinds of layering though, at the expensive of rendertime perhaps.

For MAX there are so many scripts available, making UV mapping a real breeze. But if you unwrap every nut and bolt... that's never gonna be fun :)

[kiwi123]

heh still modeled in lightwave, but I hate lightwave uv tools. I've been using maya a lot in features these days so I thought it was better than LW. I know modo is supposed to do a good job too but I havent had a chance to play with it so I wanted to get it done as fast as possible with the software I know. It'll be put back into lw after the uvs.

Maya's UV tools are actually pretty good, I agree. Ronnie, you're living in the dark ages man, maya 4.5 thats about as bad as comparing to Max 4. In my opinion Maya has always been up there with the best as far as UVtools are concerned. Modo is indeed a good alternative, sure makes my life easier when it comes to UVmapping, with the added bonus of being able to save as LWO.
As for unwrapping every bolt....you saw my huey UVmap, right ? It has indeed every single bolt unwrapped, not that you'd ever notice the difference....:\

[peter]

Great Arai! Can't wait for the finish of this beauty:)

[arai]

work keeps getting in the way but got a bit of time to do some more uvs. I'm almost ready to do some bump map tests :lol:

I think I'm gonna put on hold uv'ing of the turrets so I can get some interest back into this thing, I hate looking at a checkered model.

[IRML]

hey great work on the model, I was having a look around the hangers at duxford last month and I came across what appeared to be a lancaster rear turret behind a big set of shelves, it's in bad condition but it'd still be good if you were unsure on some of the details, I got a picture of that and the bomb bay of their display lancaster if you need them

and yeah UVs can be a pain, I'm trying to do some in LW right now and it's taking forever to set them up nicely

[Skyraider3D]

If you find UVs such a pain, why don't you stick to planar mapping and blending of textures? :)

(part 1 of http://skyraider3d.military-meshes.com/skyraider/tut_advtexmap.htm)


Looking forward to the textures!

[arai]

I've tried pretty much every uv method over the years, but for something this intricate I cant rely on blends across textres, this ones personal so I want to get it as good as I can. Plus, if you think I'm painting 2 million rivits 3 times over your messed in the head! :P

I'm gonna eat sleep and breath rivits for the next while

[kiwi123]

That's looking great Arai !

[cobra6]

lol that looks awesome!

Im not going to say anything about stretching for your sake ;)

Cobra 6

[arai]

heh yeah yeah I know, this test is actually so I can see where the streching is, I've got a few spots to fix but I'm happy overall so far. When you uv with larger checkers, its sometimes hard to see the small pixel distortions. Unfortunatly when you have to do rivits you see the smallest distortion.

My map is a 6000x6000 and the rivits are around a pixel or two in size

[Skyraider3D]

That's looking fab mate! :)

PS. You'd only need to paint each rivet once with that technique, no excuse :p

[kevjon]

Scale of the rivets look spot on.
lol are you gonna be sick of rivets by the time you finish this plane.

[Skyraider3D]

Scale of the rivets look spot on.Good point :lol:

[Galgot]

WOW ! Very nice !
Is that rendered in maya, please ?

[arai]

its rendered in lightwave with fprime

[krazycolin]

holy cow. holy cow. nice rivets. (he slumps over and hits his head on the edge of the table...) .... (wakes up and says:) holy cow.... (repeat)....

[arai]

a couple more before I'm out for tonight

[Galgot]

Magnifique.

[peter]

Arai, Your Lancaster is just PIECE of ART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!JUST AMAZING WORK!

Only one detail - the tail wheel. Maybe I'm wrong, but when I was digging the Net last time I've noticed a peculiar shape of the wheel (http://www.flickr.com/photos/clarkemd/118735688/). It also can be seen on many historic photos.

[Skyraider3D]

Those rivets are a thoroughly nasty job, but they look so good! :)

[IRML]

Arai, Your Lancaster is just PIECE of ART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!JUST AMAZING WORK!

Only one detail - the tail wheel. Maybe I'm wrong, but when I was digging the Net last time I've noticed a peculiar shape of the wheel (http://www.flickr.com/photos/clarkemd/118735688/). It also can be seen on many historic photos.yeah all the pictures I've seen have that grooved tailwheel, and also an old airfix model of mine has the wheel like that too

[arai]

not done the fuselage, but started on the wings. The goal is to get all rivit lines layed out, then go back and add the general bump to the fuselage that gives it that hammered metal look, so everything looks a little too perfect now, but it will be addressed once the rivits are finished (you know, a year or so from now :rolleyes: )

[Spinner]

yeah all the pictures I've seen have that grooved tailwheel, and also an old airfix model of mine has the wheel like that too

Thats the twin contact anti-shimmy tailwheel.
Late lancs and post war Lincolns had normal wheels (inflated, round) mounted in the anti-shimmy bearer.

[Skyraider3D]

hammered metal lookI believe aluminium was curved in rather more refined ways than your average car repair shop would repair a dent, hehe ;)
But yes, stretched alu skin buckles and wrinkles over time. The Lancaster is definitely no stranger to that effect:

http://skyraider.allaboutwarfare.com/files/EOS300D/Farnborough_Lanc1.jpg

[cobra6]

lol great photo. Almost looks like zimmerit haha:D

Cobra 6

[:FI:Exec]

your Insaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaane!!!:lol: ;)

But none the less.. it looks great!:eek:

[digiartist]

just incredible!

[arai]

rivits haunt my dreams. just about ready to start some aluminum streching tests to give more depth to the fuselage

[kiwi123]

Oh man...this looks soooooooo nice......

[Evan]

Nice rivets.! And the detail in the model looks stunning!

[krazycolin]

i would be VERY interested in seeing some of those stretching tests... as i am sure others would be as well!!!

thanks

[Spinner]

It'd have to be my favorite of all the modeling work I've seen here.
I'm a sucker for turrets and your's are great.

[arai]

thanks again guys.

krazycolin, you mean something like this?

still early on as I refine how I'm gonna add the warps in the hull, but its going in the right direction.

gotta kick this in gear if I'm gonna make my goal, I mean, hell this is all just for the bump map :eek:

[cobra6]

:eek:

NIIIIIIIIIIIIICE!

Cobra 6

[Karras]

You are fool man, a lot of ribets in this image :lol: :lol:
I suppose that they are a bump map image, because "es pa matarte" ( Spanish expression ), a work of fools if is modelled and only in close views it's visible .
Bravo

In this forum we are all madmen, every time we excel ourselves more and more. :lol:

[bzhyoyo]

I, for one, am glad you're a madman ! It's pure awesomeness !

[kevjon]

You and Galgot are raising bump mapping to a new level. Looks very realistic !

[peter]

Arai, You will be in the pantheon of 3d gods one day:), (unless You are already there). Your lancaster looks AMAZING :eek: !!! This is one of the greatest 3d models I've seen and I ascertain this with every Your update. Great work Arai!!!

[MrKo]

This is hardcore! Wow!

[dali]

:salute:
astonishing!

[mmiller]

very nice!
I particularly like the "pleated" look of the aluminum skin in that last image.
it's an important visual feature that is comonly glossed over

I wonder if any lancasters had a bare aluminum finish.
would be interesting to see how the surface would perform - I'd bet it would be very cool.

[giant551]

This is way cool:eek: the details are stunning:D

[krazycolin]

WOW.... again... very nice.... i think once you've nailed it, which is pretty draned soon looks like, it would be very nice if you showed us one little psd file layers... so we can see how you did it... PLEASE????

[digiartist]

amazing work! The bump map looks spot on...almost seems a shame to apply a paint job to it now:)

[Galgot]

Very very nice !
The details in the nose and turret impress me also...

[arai]

I'm still moving but I'm painting a lot of detail that cant be scene until I run it through my process to get that stretched alum look. in the meantime heres a quick test on the wings

[cobra6]

Im *not* going to say awesome anymore!

haha

Cobra 6

[Martocticvs]

Nor am I. Instead, I am going to say: 'Welcome to the header.'

So, welcome to the header!

[Evan]

I will though...Awesome! Those panels are looking fanbloodytastic!

[diggs00]

Game over, you win all that is 3d.

[denders]

You guys beat me to it, I was going to chime in that I won't mind saying

OH WOW and AWESOME!

[coffeebot]

Um... AWESOME!

You are going to have to show us some of those maps. That's the craziest texture work I've seen in a long time. Textures... the old fashioned way!

[peter]

Congratulations on the header Arai !!!!!!!!!!!! As always question - why so late:) The wings and engines looks GREAT! Is it possible to for You to show us the sample of the bump texture, Arai? Well done!

[MrKo]

I love the general bumpines. It´s more realistic. Many aeroplanes are not so smooth after all. Great job!

[cobra6]

That was about time! heheh congrats on the header :)

Cobra 6

[songbird]

Game over, you win all that is 3d.

I agree with you:lol:

[Galgot]

AWESOME award winner :)
Looks very very good. Please what are these maps resolusion ?

[Archetype]

ooh man the bump looks great!

[Lukem]

AWESOME!Congrats on the header.

One question: You mentioned you were using 6000 x 6000 maps - Is it one map for the entire plane, or are you using separate maps for the wings and another one for the fuselage?

[Skyraider3D]

That's looking mighty impressive mate!

[arai]

thanks for the header guys, I'll try and answer a few questions here.

I currently have 2 6000x6000 maps; one for the fuselage and one for the wings. My uvs were a little hard to fit perfectly so theres definitly a bit of wasted space. But I found I needed the map to be that big for the rivit size to be correct.

In addition I've used two bump maps because of the nature of the stretched alum, I'll see if I can explain.

because a bumpmap needs to create the stretched alum look, I need the range of black to white to create that stretched metal look, that presents a problem if I want rivits in an area of the bump that is already close to white to be a bulge from the stretched aluminum (making sense?). So I created two bump maps, one for the streched metal look, and one for the rivits. After the stretch bump is applied I apply the rivits as an additive layer. it creates nice consistant rivits ontop of a warped metal skin.

I'll post up an example in a bit

thanks again

[Karras]

Bravo Maestro !!! :salute:

[Spinner]

Usefull technique! The proof is in the pudding, so to speak.
Definately paid off the little extra effort involved.
It'll translate to a metal warship's hull plating, too.
Thanks for that.

[IRML]

I currently have 2 6000x6000 maps; one for the fuselage and one for the wings. My uvs were a little hard to fit perfectly so theres definitly a bit of wasted space. But I found I needed the map to be that big for the rivit size to be correct.

In addition I've used two bump maps because of the nature of the stretched alum, I'll see if I can explain.

because a bumpmap needs to create the stretched alum look, I need the range of black to white to create that stretched metal look, that presents a problem if I want rivits in an area of the bump that is already close to white to be a bulge from the stretched aluminum (making sense?). So I created two bump maps, one for the streched metal look, and one for the rivits. After the stretch bump is applied I apply the rivits as an additive layer. it creates nice consistant rivits ontop of a warped metal skin.with lightwave's old surface baker you could bake the whole bump channel into an image, so once your 2 bump maps are applied you could bake them into a single image and when the new map is used it should look exactly the same as the old 2 together, bumps are only greyscale so that won't save on a huge amount of memory, but I guess every little bit counts when you get huge 6000x6000 colour maps in there

[Lukem]

Thanks for the explanation Arai:)

[arai]

first test with both bumps on the whole fuselage. Now that its on the whole thing I see some fixes I have to do.

[scrimski]

Amazing. Can't say more than that.

[Evan]

That's pretty amazing... that second one really show's off the textures nicely.

[peter]

Looks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Wow! !! GREAT!!! The textures, the details!!! ABSOLUTELY SUPERB. I know this is stupid question on this stage, but what technique of modeling do You use? The amount of small details is so huge:) And where did You get the references for all this rivits work. They looks exactly like on the real Lancaster! This is the best model I've seen!!!

[digiartist]

this Lanc looks better with every new update. the bump map really is superb

[Lukem]

Excellent work! I can't wait to see how this looks with the colour scheme on it.

I'm sure this has been asked earlier, but is there any chance of seeing an extract of the bump maps themselves, just to get a better idea of how you achieved the warping effect?

[arai]

I've got bump on the fuse and wings now, just about done, after a few tweaks. well.. done the bump map that is, still a ways to go.

I'm pretty happy with the look it gives at full resolution. I'm gonna save some of those until I've got prints of my images ready. From now on I'm going to try and give shots from further away, and only crop in to certain sections when showing detail. Its a shame, but Its hard to justify posting work at high resolution when people are so quick to steal origional work and use it for their own purposes.


-arai-

[Lukem]

Thanks for the extract Arai. Looks like quite a simple method, but you've got it to work really well.

Your decision regarding high res. attachments is totally understandable, certainly after reading Songbird's J-10 thread.

[peter]

Your Lanc looks marvelous Arai!!! As for the attachements - agree in 100%.
I've found great reference source of war-time photos (b/w and colour), perhaps You know it, very useful:
http://www.iwmcollections.org.uk/qryPhotoImg.asp
Some very interesting colour photos of lancaster:)

[Spinner]

Arai
Could I ask you for the basic hardware specs of the computer you're doing this on, please?

[arai]

heres one just for fun.

I put it over a pic of a real lanc to check proportions, and made this. The landing gear is from the real lanc, and as you can see the rest is mine.

[kiwi123]

Great stuff mate ! Looks awesome. Very realistic ! The tailwheel looks a bit sharp in the comp, but that could be highlight.

[Sphynx]

Agreed - tail wheel does not look like it's accounting for distance, but I think more noticeable to me is the heat-haze under the port engine. The fact that it's there suggests that it should be on all engines, but the areas under the other three are still pretty much pin-sharp.

Otherwise, really superb. The mesh is fantastic.

[krazycolin]

hmmm.. very nice Arai... i think your model is right up there in terms of detail and quality of Mike Miller's stuff...

[Gadzooks]

Very Nice!

[coffeebot]

Your model looks spot on. Those textures you used have added a world of detail to it. I'm looking forward to a final render of this.

[deaninfilm]

Hi All, this is my first post....

I'm brand spanking new to 3D Modelling...total n00b. When I saw the Lanc by Arai...I cringed.

I have been 'trying' to model a Lancaster (for fun, not work) for the last month... and I've been too embarassed to post the pictures of my progess...but here goes...

http://www.deanknowsley.com/Lancaster/Lancaster.html

I have never built a 'scale' 3d Model before, so this is my first attempt.

What I really need help with is how to make the curves of the nose/turrets. My Lanc nose looks sooooo rooted its not funny. Can anyone offer suggestions about the best way to do that...I'm not asking for files etc etc, just a point in the right direction...maybe a link or something...

I'm using a Mac Dual G5 and Carrara 5 Pro, and I also have Maya (but never really used it).

Please give me some constructive critique..may if Arai had the time to tell me the best way to approach making the nose section? :-)

Cheers

Dean
Wellington
New Zealand

[pete.cook]

Welcome to MilMesh Dean. Your posting was moderated as you are a new user to the site to help us prevent unpleasant posts being made by spammers, so I deleted your double post.

Feel free to contribute to the site and ask all the questions you want. We pride ourselves on being a close knit and friendly community, ready to help were we can to all levels of skill.

To gain better feedback about your own project, start your own thread. I'm sure some of the prop heads here will be more than happy to point you in the right directions to improve your modelling. Keep a close eye on similar projects too, they are often great to help you overcome that small problem, even if they are done in other packages.

[Spinner]

As Peter said, definately start your own thread so we can respond without disrupting Arai's.
Something to be getting on with is: I assume you've used instances or clones to generate your additional props. In service the props were never aligned as your's currently are. Individual positions will add realism.
Cheers

[deaninfilm]

Sorry Arai!

Thanks for the info Pete & Spinner.

I've opened a thread in the hanger for folks to reply to me.

Spinner, the props are like that purely cos I haven't got as far a 'postioning' the model yet, however all the props are locked around a shaft, so they can be spun randomly easily enough...

As to my aviation knowledge, have a quick look at my new thread...no time in a Lanc, but I have several hours in the B-17...as flight crew :-)

[dflion]

I saw this posted on IL2 forums - truely amazing. You need to talk to Oleg Maddox to hopefully incorporate it in his forthcoming Storm of War

[arai]

here is a bit of an update post christmas.

I just started with the camo layout, which is why it looks so crappy as its just 3 colors. just trying to get my camo placement down. still a bit of a tweaking on the camo layout then I'm ready to start the real texture work.

I'd love to be able to fly a lanc in il2, or at least its successor; battle of britain, but this ones not exactly optimized for online play :p

[Hitori Kyo]

great work! will look awsome once its weathered.

- Hitori kyo

[MrKo]

Scenery, combosition, propeller blurs and thats it! Beautiful.

[arai]

the lancs a funny bird, even with a 3 tone color map with absolutly no detail, and not a single specular, diffuse, or reflection map it starts to look decent with some nice lighting. should look nice all weathered up

[kiwi123]

Very nice Arai ! Shame it's not a natural metal finish :lol:

[kevjon]

All that effort you put into the modelling of the plane and the bump maps is really paying off, even at this early texture stage. Really good !

[Skyraider3D]

Looking good. Your bumpmap does a lot for it, and the model's detail does the rest. Some weathering and specular detail and she'll be REAL.

Shame it's not a natural metal finishYou could always convert it to a York later and do a Berlin air lift render? That would look well sweet!
Or a civilian Lanc, like this one: http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Postcards/Cameron/1421L.jpg

Or better still, a Canadian Lancaster. They look very striking!
http://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Lyzun/1232L.jpg
http://1000aircraftphotos.com/PRPhotos/AvroLancaster.jpg
http://www.lancasterfm104.com/photosretire/fm104lastflight01.jpg
How cool does that look! :D

Or just another RAF Lanc: http://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/BARC/images/lancaster-1.jpg :cool:

[Demons7th_Delta]

I thought I could post a few photos I took this past summer of a Lancanster up close with my digital cam that might be useful to some of you guys. I'll check to see if I have any more that are closer and more detailed.

[Galgot]

Wow ! with a search light lightning that black underside it will show these nice bumps... fantastic work.

[arai]

thanks again guys.

still really early as I havent really attacked to much weathering yet. I'm currently going through all my period reference as I dont want it beat up but not new either, the top camo shows more wear because of its lighter colors. While I may have put a blue sky behind it this is still very much an early test that looked nicer with blue behind it and nothing more ;) still a long way to go.

dan

[Demons7th_Delta]

I've never seen the RAF fin flash on the inner panel of the vertical stab. Was is it so on this particlar bird or standard for every Lancaster? Or, for every RAF bomber for that matter with twin vertical stabs? I've just never noticed this. :eek:

[pete.cook]

You've actually seen a Lanc with the markings on the inside of the stabs Demons! The Lanc you posted shots of has them clearly shown here (http://www.richard-seaman.com/Aircraft/AirShows/YankeeAirMuseum2003/Sampler/CanadianLancasterBanking.jpg).

The marking was quite common on most RAF heavy bombers. I can't say for certain it was on all, but I have seen the marking on Halifaxs, Manchesters, Lancasters and even Liberators.

Absolutely stunning work Arai. While flicking through the various images on the page with my wife over my shoulder, she refused to believe that your Lanc was an image! She thought it was an actual photo!

[Lukem]

Superb! I love the way the lighting shows up the bump mapping.

Um.. very 'american' nose art?

[arai]

thanks, though the story with this lancaster is I'm building it to show to my grandfather, who was a squadron leader for a canadian bomber squadron in wwII (the 424th which fell under 6 group) This is one of the lancs he flew, qb-p "piccadilly princess" from that squadron

[arai]

small update. dont have as much time as I'd like, but still making progress

[cobra6]

man that almost looks like a photo allready :jawdrop:

Cobra 6

[franken_johan]

man that almost looks like a photo allready :jawdrop:

Cobra 6

No way! It doesn't look like a photo at all! You are way of photo-quality.

Everybody who has ever tried to photograph the black Lancaster against a blue sky knows what I mean. All modern camera's freak out completely with this dark object against the lighted background. Arai is the man who will be the first to present us some renders that can not be photographed with the real-live Lancaster ;)

The last renders that you showed us look unique!

[arai]

haha thanks... yeah right now I'm pumping up the levels in the image just to show the detail thats under there, normally it'll be a lot darker than that, I think the only time you'll get a good look at it is if I do a night bombing raid with it illuminated with a spotlight or something

[Skyraider3D]

No way! It doesn't look like a photo at all! You are way of photo-quality.

Everybody who has ever tried to photograph the black Lancaster against a blue sky knows what I mean. All modern camera's freak out completely with this dark object against the lighted background. Arai is the man who will be the first to present us some renders that can not be photographed with the real-live Lancaster ;)

The last renders that you showed us look unique!I know exactly what you mean, Johan, and totally agree :)

[Zorin]

haha thanks... yeah right now I'm pumping up the levels in the image just to show the detail thats under there, normally it'll be a lot darker than that, I think the only time you'll get a good look at it is if I do a night bombing raid with it illuminated with a spotlight or something

Or above the water with it reflecting the sun.

[rodrigomierh]

well, photorealistic or not its looks great!! awesome job Arai. :salute:

[cobra6]

I still think it looks photorealistic :P dont have experience with photographing lanc's ;)

Cobra 6

[Lukem]

Superb last render mate - even more so because we've just found a colour profile of THAT plane in an Osprey book;

'Lancaster B1 NG347/QB-P of No. 424 Sqn, Skipton on Swale, 1945'

(Ignore my earlier comment about american nose art:D)

[arai]

heres some small progress. Still havent started work on the spec, diffuse or reflection maps, but the color is getting closer. Still some work on the general wear needed.

[giant551]

the thing just keeps getting better and better, a joy to follow:D

[Skyraider3D]

The bottom looks spot on to me, the rest is getting pretty close as well. The bump on the fuselage is a bit too strong but I guess part of the problem is the lack of spec map at this stage. The weathering is good, but don't add more.

[arai]

well my goal has always been to reproduce the Piccidilly Princess for large scale renders and animation purposes. So today I took an old photograph I had of her and tried to reproduce it with my 3d lanc. I have to double check, but I'm pretty sure my grandfather was at the controls in the picture I tried to replicate

It required a little bit of photoshop touch up work (something I do for all my still images) but I think it shows I'm getting close. It also helped me to see where certain paint details were too bright or to dark, I painted some fixes in photoshop with the still, so now I can go through and effect those changes into the model.


heres my 3d lancaster

[Skyraider3D]

Nice one!

I assume you will do the final image in full colour?

[arai]

Thanks Ronnie,

yeah all final shots will be in full color. I just had this black and white laying around and wondered if I could make it look the same, as it was a photograph of the aircraft I'm reproducing during the correct period. (as oppsed to trying to match to a modern day restored lanc on airliner.net)

it actually helped me to figure out how bright the nose art should be, as I had had it darker in my initial texture.

[kiwi123]

Oh man, that looks so realistic already ! Be careful though with black and white photographs you still sometimes get certain colors brighter or darker than you might think. I found some spitfire black and whites where for instance a yellow color was quite dark. Maybe something to do with filters ?

[peter]

Wow! Arai I see You've finished Your lanc. Looks absolutely amazing!!! With every render it looks better and better. Are You going to make shots of Lanc in its natural environmet ;) (which means at night? ). Can't wait for combat shots!

[Skyraider3D]

Be careful though with black and white photographs you still sometimes get certain colors brighter or darker than you might think. I found some spitfire black and whites where for instance a yellow color was quite dark. Maybe something to do with filters ?It's actually the film itself. The RAF often used orthochromatic film which is sensitive to cool colours such as blue and cyan, but warm colours like yellow come out really dark. Unless you have something to measure colour against (like a roundel) it's very difficult to tell what colour is what on b&w film. Let alone to judge its brightness.

Here's a perfect example, by the way:
http://www.pewteraircraft.com/RAF/HURRICANE%20IIB/Whalen.jpg
Notice how bright the blue circle is and how dark the yellow outer circle is. The camouflage pattern has become practically invisible.

[arai]

thanks for those links, yeah I guess I will have to be careful, it might not be what it appears at first glance. I've got a bit of work on the color map then I can do the spec and reflection work before the final renders start

[Lukem]

Just to put in my opinion here - I think it would look better in monochrome. Your last image proves how much more atmospheric black & white is. I really like the grainy quality of the sky BTW - reminds me of a pencil drawing - great work.

[peter]

Hello there appears to be a mistake on the top of the wings. there should only be a dinghy hatch on the top of the right wing not on the leftwing.

[arai]

Hey Peter, yeah thanks, in the last render from this wip I hadnt yet gone back to delete the geo, in the texture there is only red around a single dinghy hatch, but I had forgotten to delete the geo

[peter]

Hello Arai! Well I don't know what to say, but the post above Yours not belongs to me :/ I didn't write it. Should I contact with moderator? It seems someone is writing post under my account :( Now I've changed the password so I hope my account is safe now.

[DeanH]

Arai,
Congratulations on this piece, mate, It's really wonderful and your maps are perfect!
I think you'd better pre-warn your Grandfather that this one is coming because it looks so realistic it's bound to bring back all sorts of poignant memories for him!

A BIG thumbs up from me

DeanH

[Skyraider3D]

If you fancy adding even more detail to your Lanc... here's a few rare views of an unpainted one:
http://forum.keypublishing.co.uk/showthread.php?t=68981

[Demons7th_Delta]

that is some truly amazing work and looks great too!