[WIP] M4A2 Sherman - Model

[Mraah]

Taking Bil H's advice .... applied the high upper turret polys ... total poly count now 2,035 ... textures need alignment but his suggestion does improve the LOD model. I can still shave off more poly's to bring this under 2k (remove loader periscope and hatch hinges -30 poly right there)... thanks again Bil !!

Rob

[Prince of Eckmühl]

I've been playing PCK on a 24-inch monitor @1920x1200 and the difference in visual quality between low-poly and high-poly units simply can't be exaggerated. Thanks to everyone who's working so hard to improve this aspect of the game.

PoE (aka ivanmoe)

[Mraah]

Update .... Again, not much time this week to mess with the tank ... however, it's just a matter of tweaking the textures now ... and yet still the animation part. At the moment I'm adding some extra equipment layers to the overall skin from some pictures and drawings I found on the web. I'm slow anyway.

Again, I'm building this (model and textures) so it appears "ok" from basically a zoom level as seen in the screen shot. It's very, very rough around the edges when zoomed in further but it's not that bad .... well, compared to Pck and other games it's bad [:)] ... but I'm not a pro!

Anyway, thanks for looking again ... overall poly count around 2065 ... new goal under 2100. I'm going full bore at this as I speak so ... The animation is the LAST part and I can play with the texture coloring after it's done. The only texture problems I have is creating a Winter skin ... I may have to hand draw the camo on it (well, they had to do that anyway in real life right?) ... we'll see, and if I can't get a good winter look I'll release it regardless and work on the winter look later.

Rob

[z1812]

Hi Mraah,
 
Looking..........................Gooooooooooooooood!!!!
 
Regards John

[Mraah]

Update ... I'm done !! Finally.

Just one minor problem ... the turret lighting is bad (darker on top and on other side compared to rest of model).

Hopefully I can release it soon ... experimenting with LOD textures. (texture shown in SS is 512x512). Also, adjusting some minor texture transparencies.

Has a new Gun file ... 76mm M1A1 ... stats pulled from Mobius' Panzer War tables. I didn't include HVAP, figuring they didn't have it.

Thanks for looking!

Rob

[Mraah]

Another screenie ... with troops (yeah, I know they are wearing winter clothes).

This is the 1024x1024 texture.

See how the dark the turret top and front are when they shouldn't be ... argh. If I cann't fix it we'll have to live with it.

Rob

[Stridor]

Rob flip the normals on those dark faces, or do new smoothing groups.

[Mraah]

Well, I smoothed it, changed some lighting effects in MS3D and it worked ... at least to the point where it's acceptable.

The PcK lighting is quite odd and I've seen it on their vehicles as well ... albeit, not as noticable as on mine or just plain missing on their models (ie no shadows).

Anyway, I could spend another year playing with the lighting and it adds a bit of character to the M4A2. In the SS below you can see the dark shades do change as the light angle changes but frankly it's still odd and perhaps adds a bit of realism ... it refects off the vehicle is odd places.

So, I'm going to play with a winter texture and see what I can whip up.

Thanks for looking!

EDIT NOTE : By the way, I grey'd the track texture, looks better without the grass stain!

Rob

[Mobius]

Use the same texture size for the high res model and the LOD.  Otherwise it will blink when switching between the two.

[Mraah]

ORIGINAL: Mobius

Use the same texture size for the high res model and the LOD.  Otherwise it will blink when switching between the two.

Mobius,

Ok ... great tip ... I remember you ran into that a few weeks ago. At the moment, I only have a low res model, using a high res 1024 and an LOD texture of 512. I don't know if I'll get into a high res model ... it's built but will need some work and hopefully that won't give me too much grief.

Looking forward to your KV collection!!

Rob

[Mraah]

Working on the winter textures ... just something I slapped over ... it's not the greatest but I'll be working on them over the next few days. Check the main [REL] thread for an update later ... These might work !!

Rob