Another WWI Mark IV/V

[canadair]

I got this idea a while back, inspired by a very old pre, pre crash thread done by Flakmonkey. I tinker away on it privately in the evenings, but since trying to help LukeM out with his emergency I figure I should post what I've got so far. I'm pretty excited for texturing it, that was pretty much my whole motivation: such potential for good weathering.

Hope you like C&C welcome, but be gentle.

[Lukem]

Great work mate! Looking forward to seeing more. Have you got refs for the Lewis MGs fitted to the MkV? That was something which made me decide to do a IV.

We'll see who can finish first!:lol:

[kevjon]

Looks very good but I the rounded ends could do with more polys. This will be a great tank to practice texturing and weathering on....lots of mud and dirt around the lower part.

[flakmonkey]

hehe by the looks of it you`ll finish this one before i finish mine, my model`s still in the same state it was when i posted the work in progres pic around a year ago!

great start by the way....

[Lukem]

http://www.landships.freeservers.com/mk4_walkaround.htm

Just in case you've not made your mind up yet!:D

[canadair]

Thanks guys. It's the weekend and despite the impending seasonal parties, it is cold and crappy out so look for some updates. I'll just sit inside warming myself by the computer screen.

Kevjon: thanks I'll add some more polys in at the ends. I was actually going to be lazy there since it would be hidden by either the tracks or the shadows of the tracks overlapping. You've caught me being lazy.

Lukem: thanks for the feedback. I'm pretty sure that I'll do the Mark V. I think there's enough refs for the lewis guns out there, particularly with the MarkIV reference you sent me (actually hadn't seen that one on that landships site, having gone straight for the V). Do you have any pics of the back end of the Mark V? I have a few, but they're either too few or too dark to make anything out.

Flakmoneky: that thing wasn't done? Sweet jimminy, you're prefectionist!

[kevjon]

Posted by canadair
Kevjon: thanks I'll add some more polys in at the ends. I was actually going to be lazy there since it would be hidden by either the tracks or the shadows of the tracks overlapping. You've caught me being lazy.

Hadn't thought of that. No point modelling stuff that will never be seen...that's my motto. Better off putting the time saved into some good textures.

[canadair]

So I'm off the hook for extra polys?! Alright, thanks dude!

[Lukem]

That's cheating!:D

[krazycolin]

cool.... nice to see an update though....

[canadair]

That's cheating!:D

It's only cheating if you're the second person to do it! Should have some updates this evening.

[canadair]

And a wee update as I start my sunday afternoon of tank building. Now you can sort of see why I need some refs for the back end of this thing. Anyone?

[Lukem]

Looking good mate!

Did you get my PM?

I've looked through my pictures - I haven't got much I'm afraid. I've also added a few photos of MkIV's - they might give you some ideas.

[canadair]

Little update. Thanks Lukem for the for pics! There's quite a difference between the two, I hadn't fully realized that. I'm down the path of the mark V now, though. Found some nice pics here http://www.wwi-models.org/Photos/Bri/MkV/index.html If you back up a bit, there some nice, albeit, dark images the IV.

I'll have to go back and re-do the Lewis gun mounts, but here's an update: been working on the rear end a bit today.

[Lukem]

Wow! You got that nailed well - looking great mate! I like what you've done with the internal structure on the track units - gives me some ideas!:D

[canadair]

Wow! You got that nailed well - looking great mate! I like what you've done with the internal structure on the track units - gives me some ideas!:D

I think I'm cheating there too! I wouldn't go by what I've done in there, seeing as I've really got nothing to go by in there.

[Lukem]

I know what you mean...

Something I've spotted is that the sponsons are handed - you might want to watch out for that, in case you haven't picked up on that yet.

[kevjon]

Cool detailing job, canadair.

[Martocticvs]

Coming along nicely!

[canadair]

I know what you mean...

Something I've spotted is that the sponsons are handed - you might want to watch out for that, in case you haven't picked up on that yet.

Oh yeah, I did notice that. You mean that that sighting slot is on the same side of gun regardless if it's the right side gun or the left side gun, at least, that's all I've noticed...

[Lukem]

Look at where the observation posts are. Also, the openings for the 6 pounders appear to be slightly different in size.

[canadair]

A little update. I've been tinkering along at the back end of the tank, moving slowly up and over the top, mostly adding details (or at least just figuring out how I'm going to add details) as I go along. I've just sort of hacked in the bars for the unditching beam as well as the exhaust pipe, both of which need a fair bit of additions and adjustments. At the moment the exhaust pipe is a nurbs object while I get it's path right - hence the hard tesselation you can see.

Having fun so far, but man do I hate rivets now.

[Lukem]

Looking good mate!

So you are not enjoying riveting?:D

As a matter of interest, what's your polycount at the moment?

[kevjon]

Great details and nice modelling job.

[canadair]

Thanks Kevjon for the compliment. I've been away all weekend but will back at this this week hopefully. As for polycount, I'm sitting around 70,000 so far. But then, I dont have all the rivets done..., just the few you see on the hind quarter. Y'arg.

[Lukem]

70K is that all!:D Try 900K!

[Caman0]

looks really good man!!

may i ask for a wire? :)

[canadair]

Thanks all. Hopefully (I've got lots of holiday type stuff to do this weekend) I'll get a bit more done. I'm almost done the hull proper - just a few details to add, like the exhaust and, yes, those damned rivets. Then I'll revisit the sides and the sponsons and, yes again, rivet those too.

OK, as an aside. Any Maya types out there know of a script where you can just click on a live object, hold down a hotkey and just duplicate some preset object (like a rivet or a bolt) where ever you click (like a...a... a rivet gun, yeah!) Make riveting a heck of a lot easier. Anyone?

CamanO, I tried to get a wire for you the other night. Seems I installed a bigger HD about a year ago, moved Maya over to the new one and for the life of me I can't get my polydata shader plugin to work again. Balls. I don't think maya has a nice built-in shader that does wireframes. But I can give you a screen grab at some point. By the way, I'm over 110K now!

[canadair]

A friday night, a cold beer and a lot of rivets (over 500 and counting...170Kpoly). Lets see what else I can get done this weekend.

By the way, as I do this rivets I've grouped them into things like "rivets_top", "rivets_rear", then I'll parent those groups to the tank hull geometry in lew of my future texturing endeavours. Is this rational?!

As mentioned I'll be revisiting the sides and sponsons thsi weekend, time permitting.

the front 3/4 view...
http://www.glenoomen.com/goodies/Mark-V_WIP6_2

...and the now staple rear 3/4 view
http://www.glenoomen.com/goodies/Mark-V_WIP6

[Lukem]

You've done a great job on the back, mate. Also I like the ripples you've built into the silencer.

You need to look at the starboard casemate 6 pounder - the slit for the telescope wants to be on the otherside of the barrel. It then stays on that side for the port gun - i.e. copy, don't mirror it. Apologies if you've already spotted this!:)

[canadair]

Thanks, yeah I did notice that a while back. The sponson and gun was almost the first thing I started so, as usual, I find I need to go back and revisit it. Even now, that sighting slit looks a little wide. Ah well, I'll get to it.

[Caman0]

awesome renders man! Loads of detail!!!

[Lukem]

I know what you mean mate - I've got to look at the port side sponson soon...fun!

[Skyraider3D]

This is coming along really nicely too. I like the subtle denting. Great detail!

[Lukem]

I revisited Bovington yesterday - I hope these photos are of some use.

There are more pictures, but it's very painful trying to upload them on a dial-up account. Let me know and I'll try and upload them in batches.