IAF Super Mystere B2 WIP

[Faust]

Been working on this project and texturing was a bit hard. Just wanted to post this up for some comments. A lot more detailing has to be done but how's the reflective metallic textures looking so far?

[Supah]

Been working on this project and texturing was a bit hard. Just wanted to post this up for some comments. A lot more detailing has to be done but how's the reflective metallic textures looking so far?

I think its a bit too shiney :) I've never seen a active duty military aircraft with an operational unit shine that much. It's the number one mistake Warbird owners make. the over polished look.

[kevjon]

Yes too chrome like for a military aircraft but your on the right track though as I think too shiny is probably better than too dull looking.

[Faust]

Well, it could be a spanking new plane.:lol: I was advised that high resolution scratch marks could be applied.

[kevjon]

Well, it could be a spanking new plane.Yes and highly polished too including the markings :)

[Faust]

What can I say? The IAF ground crews were meticulous. :lol: But anyway made the textures less reflective. Mind you no weathering was applied yet so it still looks 'brand new'. Back to the drawing board.

[Supah]

What can I say? The IAF ground crews were meticulous. :lol: But anyway made the textures less reflective. Mind you no weathering was applied yet so it still looks 'brand new'. Back to the drawing board.

Looks loads better!

Two points!

1. The panel lines looks way to big. They are a lot smaller IRL.

2. The rivets stand out too much and there are too few of them.

[Faust]

Well I did use 1 pixel pencil in PS to do the lines. Don't know if you can get smaller than that.

[cobra6]

Well I did use 1 pixel pencil in PS to do the lines. Don't know if you can get smaller than that.

make you texture map 4000x4000 or larger. That way 1px is smaller

Cobra 6

[scrimski]

No matter how big your map will be, bumped panel lines look strange(at least to me). It's an airplane, not a brick wall.
I'd rather avoid panel lines at all and use the panels itself in the bump map.

[Faust]

Now I'm really getting confused here.:confused:

[krazycolin]

Okay. First you need to have a bump map that is of sufficient size for the purpose.. As an example, your bump map may be 2000 x 2000 pixels. That's a good size... depending on how detailed you wish to get... HOWEVER, it's not so much the size of the bump map as is the relative size of the panel lines and rivets vis a vis the size. So, if your bump map is 2000 x 2000, and your line thickness is one pixel, all will be well... BUT, if the map is 2000 x 2000 and your line thickness is 10 pixels, then it will look like yours.

Hopefully this helps... If not, i would be willing to go further into detail on this subject as it seems to be one where quite a few don't quite get it...

KC

[kevjon]

I found that to uv map a whole aircraft I need the bump map texture size to be 4000 x 4000 with 1 pixel wide panel lines. Even then the panel lines are too wide/trenchy for my taste but I have to work with the limitations of my computer so for now it has to do.

[Faust]

Ok, I made the texture map 4000x4000 pixels and this is how it came out.

[krazycolin]

all you are doing is upping the resolution of your map. you need to redo it. from scratch. open it up in PS (or CS2 as it's known now), make a new layer and trace the lines that you have in your file already using a 1 pixel line thickness.

that will fix it.

[Faust]

Ok, I'll try that. Thanks!:)

[Faust]

Ok here it is. It needs some fixing but this should be it.

[franken_johan]

Much better!

Now start thinking of buiding a MiG-15 and doing some aircombat render :lol:

[krazycolin]

i agree... now you've got it... you could still make them a bit smaller.. and not quite so pronounced... as well... take a look here:http://www.military-meshes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135 for some pointers as for where to go...

[Faust]

WilCo! And thanks for the help guys. :)

[krazycolin]

no problems... keep up the good work...

[kevjon]

A vast improvement Faust !...will stand you in good stead on future aircraft also. Aluminium looks pretty good too but a little a aluminium panel color variation here there would also help add more life to the finish.

[Faust]

Here's a second test render. I like this one. Of course still more work to be done and hope to finish this off before Christmas.

[kevjon]

Composition looks good for a final render. Needs some GI to the shadow areas to look realistic.

[Skyraider3D]

That's looking a lot better.

Besides line thickness, you can also make lines appear thinner by lowering the opacity of the lines layer. For example, 1 pixel lines at 20% opacity are only 1/5th as deep as full-opaque lines and look loads better.

[Faust]

Good tips. Will do that. Some pics show some good sun bleaching of the upper fuselage. May try that also.:)

[Faust]

Finally decided to go with this texture. What do you think guys? I may have to add more weathering and detailing.

[Supah]

The cockpit looks a bit low res at the moment, it could use some more detail perhaps in the modelling :) The texture is shaping up nicely though! Perhaps adding some paintchipping would be an option :)

[krazycolin]

i would select certain panels and color them slightly different... this gives the impression of age. and of course... weathering will help a lot. overall... looking way better than when you first showed it...

good for you...

[Faust]

Yes, there is more detailing as I mentioned before. Just wanted some feedback on the textures. Thanks for the pointers.:)

[Galgot]

SMB2 with shark mounth ! cool :) Btw, found this site recently :
http://idfaf.1111mb.com/SMystere/SMystereMain.html
If it can help

[Faust]

Yeah, thanks nice references.:D

[Faust]

MODEL R.I.P.:cry:

Well, it had to happen. Lost all my finished objects when my hard drive got damaged and access to it is next to impossible. I did take one last shot of it on another HD, so here it is. Do I do it all over again? Maybe I will.

[cobra6]

Well that sucks!...

I always use 2 HD's to copy my models on...

Cobra 6

[Skyraider3D]

That sucks indeed...

Backups are a good thing. Nobody makes enough... I'm often too lazy to burn CDs unless a project is done and dusted, so I usually stick the latest version of a model I'm working on a memory card or mail it too myself in Hotmail.

[Faust]

What a valuable (yet costly) lesson. From now on I'm going to use a DVD R/W Disc and save all my work on it.

[Skyraider3D]

I never got those rewritable things to work for some reason... :\

[Faust]

How come? Easy to use and burn. Your burner should support multi-session writing. I use Nero.

[kevjon]

I have a removable hard drive 120GB attached to my computer via usb. When I need to backup just copy the files to it. Never had a hard disk crash though so never had to restore anything as yet but I'm sure it will happen one day.

[Spinner]

The price drives are lately, a backup drive is a lot more practical.
I hate having piles of CDs to hunt through and stopped doing it the cd burner way.
I was recently periferily involved with the recovery of data from a business hard drive burnout. Surprising how much can be done to recover data. Not all involving expensive specialists. Obtaining and swapping pcb's in drives is straight forward enough and will often save the day.

[Supah]

I must be doing something right as I've never had this happen to me either :S *knock on wood*

[Galgot]

Very sorry :-( happened to me ones, it was a "slow crash"... the disk doing strange noises and been very slow. Was able to recover the files before it crashed completely... luck. Since then i'm burning CDs or DVDs of archives every one or two weeks.
I heard of people able to recover files from crashed hard-disk by puting it on bag full of ice (no joke), they could get the files before the disk get up in temperature... just for proof i'm not joking (:lol: ) here's a link :
http://www.macbidouille.com/news/2006-03-13/#12488
Also some succeeded in getting their datas by putting the disk on an electric razor, the vibrations unlocked the reading heads of the disk apparently...
http://www.macbidouille.com/news/2004-05-10/#8511
Ok it's in french... and it's for Macs... but hard-drives are the same on PCs...

[Faust]

I like the idea of an external hard drive. Seriously thinking about it. But putting a bag of ice or using an electric shaver may only get me electrocuted.:lol: Maybe this is all for the good. My models have not been terribly detailed and maybe some more work could be put into them.