BATMOBILE PROJECT

[oakchas]

This topic will contain the modeling efforts of T-Dogg and oakchas on an old style Batmobile.

 

Basis for the project:

T-Dogg is new to A:M, having learned some 3D in another (ecch! polygons) program.

oakchas has used A:M off and on for years, but is trying to rebuild his skills.

 

We'll be doing this in ver 12 as Charlie (oakchas) hasn't yet upgraded to V 13 But, I will before this project is complete, so maybe we can light it using AO, and use some of the cooler new features in v13, too.

 

T-Dogg chose the subject, the vintage Batmobile.

 

So, let's get started.

 

Here's the roto that T-Dogg supplied:

[attachmentid=17111]

 

First thing I'm gonna do is make a new directory in my hard drive and label it Batmobile project. Then I'm gonna copy this pic to it. Then I'll split the graphic into equal sized views in a photo program to import into A:M.

 

All progress shots and details having to do with the creation of this model will be posted here.

 

T-Dogg don't forget... if you save the model in V13 I can't work on it... 12 is forward compatible, but 13 is not backward compatible!

 

 

And heeere we go!

[oakchas]

The first thing I notice is that the front and back views are not at the same width as the side and top views... gotta fix that.

 

But, the height is right... hmmm.

 

okay, I've fixed the width on both front and rear to be very close to the width of the top view in my photo program.

[attachmentid=17114]

 

Now I gotta go to google to find the actual wheel base or overall length of the real Batmobile surely there are specs out there in google land.

[KenH]

Now that's what I like to see.....team work. I look forward to seeing you progress on this project.

[Dhar]

I have that exact same roto for some time before TWO project came and took me away from it. I'll be keeping an eye on this worthwhile project. I think this is the best batmobile ever!

[oakchas]

Whadda ya know? type "batmobile speciifications" in google... and the first link is.... http://www.1966batmobile.com/spec.htm

 

Curb weight 5500 lb

Wheelbase 129 in.

Length 225 in.

Width 84 in.

Height 48 in.

Fins 84 in.

 

And, I can nab that pic as another reference!

[attachmentid=17115]

 

Well, that's my hour for today... Didn't even get to open A:M... And I was working under extreme conditions, too! One of the dogs got "hit" by a skunk last night when I took him out after work... and even after a bath in the "right stuff" there's still that wonderful aroma of skunk wafting about in the air! Yecchhh.

[gschumsky]

Looks like it's going to be a fun project. We watched "Batman Begins" this weekend and I'd say that Batmobile is second coolest to the original one (okay, the Keaton one was pretty slick too).

 

True story: A local movie car collector lived nearby (he passed away a few years ago from what I heard), and he had one of the original Batmobiles from the show, and ended up getting the license to make more. So at one time he had about 10 in his yard.

 

That was a pretty cool car.

[Dhar]

Charlie, I heard tomato juice gets rid of the skunk stink.

[oakchas]

Charlie, I heard tomato juice gets rid of the skunk stink.

 

That's an old wive's tale... this has been the solution for me a couple of times now. This is not one of those things a person wants to become expert at. But, ya gotta do what ya gotta do....

 

1 quart 3% Hydrogen Peroxide

1/4 cup Baking Soda

2 tbsp Dish Detergent. The stuff for washing dishes in the sink, not something for dishwashers.

 

mix in a bucket, 'cause it will foam... you want it to... we need to generate oxygen... try to wash the dog with it still foaming... (the wash, not the dog's mouth!)

 

interesting what you learn in an animation forum, huh?

 

But while I have a minute, here at work, I'm gonna go look for some more Batmobile pix for tomorrow's splining...

 

Well, I didn't have to look far! the same site has detail shots of most everything on the car... this will be a huge help for accuracy as we get started...

[oakchas]

Well, I didn't have to look far! the same site has detail shots of most everything on the car... this will be a huge help for accuracy as we get started...

 

 

THAT was an understatement! This site has EVERYTHING on this Batmobile...

 

T-Dogg... Just how far do you want to go with this? We won't be lacking any detail, that's for sure!

 

I can hardly wait to get started!

 

So, join us tomorrow, Same Bat time, same Bat channel!

[T-Dogg]

Atomic Batteries to power... Turbines to speed...

 

I'd like to make this a fairly detailed model, but I don't know if my rudimentary spline-modelling skills will hold up. To tell you the truth, I don't even know where to begin.

[oakchas]

S'okay, I'll get us started today and you can follow along.

 

First things first. The default setup for A:M doesn't work best for me... once you get past the first few exercises, you don't need the library much and the community window doesn't work for me. I'm on version 12v+ and here is the default screen:

[attachmentid=17127]

 

I'm gonna change that by:

1.closing down the community window and the libraries window

 

2.click on View (on the menu bar across the top)and click the Project Workspace and then click on View again click Properties line. One other thing, I open View one more time and click on Workbook too, that puts all the major window tabs visible at the bottom of the screen (Choreography is the only tab there now).

 

3. right click on the Objects tab in the project workspace on the left and click new then model on the flyout. That loads the modeling window, and by default, the ruler's in centimeters. Centimeters are great 'cause they're divisons of 10, easy to figure out (once you get used to it...) But, our BATMOBILE is Union Made In the Goodl ol' USA and was made in inches so we gotta change that! So, click on Tools, Options. That brings up the Options dialog, and we're gonna go to the Units tab and change the units of measurement to inches. Then click on the Modeling tab and change the 1.97 inches in the grid spacing box to .5 (you don't have to put in the " mark). That should be accurate enough for now. click OK.

 

4. Okay that's a good start let's get to splining!

[oakchas]

We've got to load the rotos that you gave me... I split the views apart in a photo program, and made the white background transparent by saving to a 32 bit targa file... It should make it easier to see the splines.

 

Then in your front view modeling window, zoom out 'til you can see the 45 inch marks on the ruler at the top.

 

Place a marker at 42 in. on each side of the 0 line. Batmobile is 84" wide. Place a marker at 48" above the horizontal zero. Once each marker is placed, you can set it exactly by hovering the cursor over the grey arrow and right clicking, this will give you an option for marker settings, click on that and set the vertical markers at 42 and -42 and the horizontal marker at 48.

 

Now, right click on the Images tab in the PWS (Project Workspace) and click on import your front view then do the same for all the rest of them.

 

Now we place the first rotoscope: bat roto front.

1cclick and drag it over to the modeling window when you release the mouse button, it will ask if you want to decal or rotoscope, choose rotoscope.

 

A little Batmobile will be in the middle of the screen. you may have to zoom in to grab the handles. Zoom this til it fits about 1/4 of the window. then grab a corner while holding the shift key and start proportionally scaling the roto. you'll do some zooming in and out to get it centered and in the right place. To move the roto to where it belongs, grab it in the middle with the mouse and drag it. You want the tires to just sit on the ) line. When you get it close to the correct width the fin points will just be touching the vertical markers. Now you'll notice that it's too tall. click the center handle of the top of the box and drag it down til the turn signal lights just touch the 48" marker. it'll look like this:

[attachmentid=17128]

[oakchas]

Here's the project so far:

[attachmentid=17130]

 

And that's all I've got time for right now...

 

more tomorrow.

 

Okay... hey wait a minute... this got moved to the Animation:Master forum... we won't be able to post pics, screenshots, just zips.. This really might work better in a forum area where we can post jpgs etc. I mean I don't want to exclude anybody... And I think, it might be a good learning experience for alot of new users... Maybe we can put it in WIP at least?

BATMOBILE_1.zip

[Dhar]

This definitely should be in WIP.

 

Thanks Charlie for sharing this project. Would you mind if I download this project and follow along?

[T-Dogg]

Looks like we use the same layout in A:M at least.

 

I downloaded your zip file. I'll look at it ASAP.

 

Thanks again for helping me like this. I really do appreciate it.

[oakchas]

Dhar, T-Dogg

 

You're welcome to follow along, and even to pitch in with opinions and ideas (I do want the actual modelling for this project to be done by T-Dogg and me, but we are sure to run into a few trouble spots along the way where we'll need real help from bystanders. I hope that's okay with you, Dhar.) I only regret that I haven't yet gotten to splinage. But looks like we can get that started tomorrow.

 

T-Dogg, I've only loaded the front roto into the modeling window... See if you can figure out how to do the side view Left, by loading the left Roto into the left modeling window and placing markers at the length and height, and scaling to fit...

 

I think this will be a fun project... And I know Jin Kanza(sp?) was trying to get the same thing accomplished maybe it will work this time.

[T-Dogg]

I went in and added the back and side rotoscopes. I lined them up with yours in the front view and then just switched them to the appropraite view by changing it in the properties panel. For a left view of the car, I put it in the right A:M view, correct?

 

The question I have now is... for the top view do we use it as-is? I think maybe it should be rotated in a more vertical position, but I am not sure.

 

I can't wait to get started on the actual modelling. There's just so much I need to learn in A:M if I ever want to make my own cartoons.

[oakchas]

For a left view of the car, I put it in the right A:M view, correct?

 

That is correct.

 

Gawd, I hate that! This one always confugles me... Here's why:

 

orthographic projection - show the object as it looks from the front, right, left, top, bottom, or back...

 

That's how it's done in engineering. The quote is from Wikipedia.

 

In choreography/filmography Stage left is to the audience's right and vice versa. (hit hammer on head smiley here) (from which view, you might ask... but please don't, I might hurt myself!0

 

So, we're looking at the left side of the car (the driver's side, on this side of the pond) from the left. Engineering says that is the left view.

 

Camera view, though, is the opposite.

 

See: the Art of Animation Master pp. 83

 

So, we'll use that 'cause that's what the manual says. To avoid confusion I always think of it as I am looking toward the farthest side (in this case, the right side of the car) so it is the Right view, correctly.

 

Rightly so! Arghh!

 

Yes to the question of orienting the top view to have the headlights pointing upward, Northward (this way^^^) !

 

hehehe! Are we having fun yet?

 

That was a joke, son, the headlights should point "South" I couldn't edit last night at work.

[T-Dogg]

I learned my lesson about the right and left views the hard way when I was modelling that head. I kept screwing things up, and finally realized it was because I had the pictures wrong in the viewports. So now I try to always double check that.

 

I look forward to beginning the actual modelling. I want to learn all I can.

[oakchas]

me too! Tomorrow, we should start some splineage.

 

But I'm trying to make it so that we cover all the bases to help any real newbies, too.

 

'Til then!

[oakchas]

Okay,

I've got all the rotos set correctly. And am going to try to attach the zipped prj file so we're all on the same page...my ISP was down this morning, so I'm getting a late start.

 

Here's the zipfile:[attachmentid=17153]

 

Now we can start splining... sorry for the delay!

 

I've started from the front view.

 

I'm outlining the right portion of the grill opening (on your left as you look at it in the front view (numpad 2)).

 

Then, I go to the top view (numpad 5) and select all of the the closed spline. Holding down the #3 key on the keyboard (not the numpad) I drag the spline to the front of the car. Holding the #3 causes the spline to move in the Z axis only.

 

the opening is not on one plane so I move a couple of points that are on the top of the grill opening back in the Z axis. And, I've peaked (P key) the two right most cps nearest the centerline and the one on the bottom left. That'll do for now, we'll have to tweak them more later.

 

Now i start extruding, the E key will do this. I extrude back a little bit (about an inch and a half for now, and scale (S key) in all axis smaller. I highlight the original loop, by selecting one point, and hitting the comma key, and extrude forward a little bit (1/2 inch or less) and scale larger in all axis a little bit. This starts the "bevel" around the edge of the cowl. Now extrude this ring once more toward the rear and larger, then this new ring once more towards the rear and lrger again... go back towards the rear more than an inch or two. select this new ring and delete it... it will give us some hanging splines to attach as we need later.

 

this is what it looks like:

[attachmentid=17154]

 

That's all i have time for today, sorry.

 

Try to match what I've done I won't load this progression of the project 'til tomorrow around noon.

batmobile_project1.zip

[T-Dogg]

I am right there with ya, Buddy!!!

 

[attachmentid=17161]

[oakchas]

Yep, you are... 'cept for one thing! I pulled a fast one on ya...Where I've circled the cps, on the original loop, before I did the extrusions, I tweaked the bias handle to make it "curvier" where it goes upward to the next cp.

 

Didn't mean to do that to ya, but once it was done, I thought I'd see if you caught it and asked a question... It's a really small tweak so not easily noticeable. Mine has a slight "crease" where that spline goes from front to back, too but it's covered by the shaded wiremode spline. I may have to tweak it a bit more to reduce the "seam".

 

[attachmentid=17163]

[oakchas]

Here's the mdl file of my cowl.

 

That may be all I can do for the weekend... I've really got a full schedule.

[attachmentid=17172]

 

I will be back on Monday though, guaranteed.

 

Check this one against yours. you can always change yours in the properties of the cps... but, they don't have to match exactly... I've named mine chasbat... I'll keep uploading just the mdl file updates. and when we're done, we should have two versions of the Batmobile.

chasbat.zip

[oakchas]

Gosh, Batfans, I really missed this for the last few days!

 

Today, I'm gonna start modeling on the fender/headlight area on the right side of the car.

 

I start by going to the front view, and making a spline that follows the arc of the headlight "eyebrow" (don't know what else to call it). The rotos are good but the pix on the site give me more detail to study to get it "right." So, I follow the "inside" of the arc and pull it forward (by using the #3 key to move it in the z axis only) to where the turn signal is (by looking at the top view). Then I notice that the hood (in the pix and rotos) is about 50% of the "brow" of the turn signal so I add a cp or two to the spline to make it come to the edge of the hood.

[attachmentid=17220]

 

And, I'll extrude towards the front of the "brow" and rotate to match the angles, while giving it some thickness. This is before the extrusion, after adding a cp, and rotated to match the angle of the brow.

[attachmentid=17221]

 

Here, I've scaled the arc only to come to the outside of the brow and extruded it back (again using the #3 key) just to where the fender flare begins 'cause I haven't decided what to do there yet.

[attachmentid=17222]

 

Here's the model so far. Notice tht I've saved this as the model with the date, and will save it as the model as well. the reason is that it not only gives me a progression of the modeling, but I'll save it (with the date) outside the project so that if the project becomes corrupted, I can reload the model and haven't lost much work.

[attachmentid=17223]

 

You'll also notice that I've tried to add an extra extrusion or two, as I did on the cowl. That will be where we decal the "glowing" red stripes along the edges of the features of the car.

On to the hood, or at least the right half of it.

chasbat6506.zip

[oakchas]

Okay, the hood.

 

well, extrusion might work, but it would be messy. Here's a quicky example.

[attachmentid=17225]

 

We'd have to do a copy/flip/attach, plus there'd be alot of spline tweaking to make it happen. If this were a poly program, we might be able to lay a mesh down and "loft" it. But this is A:M, we've got splines and patches to deal with.

 

The "lofting" notion is a good analogy, but we want to be as patch conservative as we can be, so we are going to use as few splines (and resultant patches) as we can. So, imagine the hood with a fishnet laid on it. But instead of 1/2" squares, we want to go as big as we can, maybe 6 inch squares or bigger. We'll have to adjust the tweak handles to make a domed intake, and curve the hood down in the center, and so on... It might be best to model the hood in it's entirety rather than CFA on half of it.

 

Here's what I'm thinking, very crudely drawn.

[attachmentid=17226]

 

Anybody got a better idea? Let's hear 'em. And we'll start tomorrow.

[Scottj3d]

This is an interesting project. I think CFA or a manual CFA will give you a more even hood. More like CFA plus some splining to get the scoop right. Can't wait to see this car evolve.

[HomeSlice]

I love what you're doing. This thread is tailor made for the work-in-progress forum though. In fact, this thread could be a template for how a work-in-progress evolves into a completed piece.

[martin]

I love what you're doing. This thread is tailor made for the work-in-progress forum though. In fact, this thread could be a template for how a work-in-progress evolves into a completed piece.

I agree... Done.

[T-Dogg]

Boy, this thread sure gets around!!!! Luckily I have found it again.

 

Now to try to figure out how to model the hood....

[oakchas]

I love what you're doing. This thread is tailor made for the work-in-progress forum though. In fact, this thread could be a template for how a work-in-progress evolves into a completed piece.

I agree... Done.

 

Thanks, Martin!

 

I figured either here or new users would be the better home for it... It started off in New Users... but got moved to Animation:Master somehow... Doesn't matter this is it's home now...

 

Welcome to the new BAT CAVE!

[oakchas]

Here we are on the hood. First, I'm gonna look at the pix on http://www.1966batmobile.com , as there are a lot of them there, and we're very lucky to have so many reference shots. Many folks modeling a car only have a few pics to look at, and not very great rotos to work from.

 

Also, reading the forums last night, I learned some new tricks for moving CPs >>>Here... I knew about the 1,2,3 keys but 4-6 give us some advantages we might be able to use on this hood.

 

Let's start with Scott's suggestion and try modeling half the hood then tweaking to get the scoop right.

Warning: this may not work, or work the best, but it's worth a shot...Here'swhat I'm thiking:

 

[attachmentid=17251]

 

Here's the extrusion, right now it's just a flat panel. but we have enough patches and cps to try tweaking them into 3 dimensions and as we go we may be able to eliminate some of the cps. Let's try it.

[attachmentid=17252]

 

That's not working for me. I was doing the extrusion from the top and, as a flat panel, there's just too much tweaking. This is the model where I quit tweaking... it's just ugly.[attachmentid=17253]

 

So, I'm going to try a different way. I'll lay out a spline at the back of the hood again, trying to take into account where I will need cps later, and tweak as I go.

chasbat6606.zip

[oakchas]

A:M is "inteligent!" I laid out th spline that takes into account the cps I'm going to need for edges. then I moved the right (as you look at them) splines upward to make the scoop and extruded. Then I moved the extruded spline down in the Y axis only. When I extruded again, it continued the downward extrusion.

 

Now, the problem is that the splines the cover the turnsignal are also moving down. But, I can move them upward so they are closer together (in the Y or vertical axis), and scale then to 0 (zero) in the Y axis.

 

Here's what it looks like:

[attachmentid=17254]

 

Now I start moving them up and then I'll scale to 0.

Moving:

[attachmentid=17255]

 

Scaling to zero using the Properties window, after grouping:

[attachmentid=17256]

[attachmentid=17257]

 

this leaves the splines kinda snaky, but we can peak and/or tweak as we move on... I think it's going to work this way, at least better than the previous method.

 

here's the updated model:[attachmentid=17258]

 

And, that's it for today.

chasbat6606a.zip

[R Reynolds]

But instead of 1/2" squares, we want to go as big as we can, maybe 6 inch squares or bigger

FWIW,

I agree with you on this one but later on you show an image with a very wide open mesh. I would suggest that you stick with 6 in. patches or smaller. Up front, don't worry about tweaking bias to get smooth surfaces, worry about getting all the patches you need to get an accurate model. Put in cp's as though you didn't have control of bias values; that every shape change needed a new cp. IMO, once you have the overall shape finished but not smooth it's much easier to delete extra splines and tweak bias as necessary.

 

It's been my experience that the way A:M modifies spline shape when inserting/moving cp's and sometimes messes up the signs of copied and or flipped bias values means that it's counterproductive to worry about bias values at all until you're completely satisfied with the general shape of the complete mesh.

[oakchas]

Thanks Rodger,

 

I think that's what I'm trying to do now... and yes some of the patches will be larger than 6" and some smaller. I'm trying to get as many patches as we need, just.

 

Thanks so much for the valuable insight. especially about tweaking now rather than later!

[Scottj3d]

Adding a spline (as I have faked here) should flatten that out and give you a bit better control. With the splines running parallel in close proximity you can pretty much use them to tweak the bias by eye. I've never used bias handles but on this type of curve I would add another on the opposite side of the one nearest to your text for more control where you want it to flatten out. I know you're trying to keep the splinage down but I think it worth adding for the clean line it give's. Oakey I did this on my hood on a less dramatic hood line as well as some body lines and on my project and was pleased with the result's in my render's. Still, just offering a suggestion.

[T-Dogg]

I've been attempting to model the hood as well, but I haven't gotten very far. this is what I have so far:[attachmentid=17277]

It's not very impressive I admit. I have always had problems with using rotoscopes. I try to line things up in the front and side views, but somehow I can never make the complete transition into a good 3D model.

 

I've tried looking at photos to see how it is supposed to really look, but still I can't get it to look quite right. I had the same problems with my head model.

[R Reynolds]

It's always tempting to begin a mechanical model by tackling the simple areas because you get quick gratification (it's like the Dark Side, "easier...more seductive") but in the case of AM modeling I think one might be better off starting with the hardest (most dense mesh) parts. In the case of the hood, that would be its corners, the air intake holes and the folds around the headlights. I'd suggest you model those patches first and then you can reduce splines as you get into the smoother areas.

[T-Dogg]

It's always tempting to begin a mechanical model by tackling the simple areas because you get quick gratification (it's like the Dark Side, "easier...more seductive") but in the case of AM modeling I think one might be better off starting with the hardest (most dense mesh) parts. In the case of the hood, that would be its corners, the air intake holes and the folds around the headlights. I'd suggest you model those patches first and then you can reduce splines as you get into the smoother areas.

 

Rodger, I tried your approach. It made sense to me because when I do a head, I try to do the hard parts first. So I started over on my hood. First I made the air intake. Then I made the part that goes over the turn signal and extruded it out towards the center of the hood. Then I just played connect-the-dots to make a grid like Charles had originally drawn. This is what I have so far:

 

 

[attachmentid=17313]

 

I have a couple of major problem areas. Frist off, I am not sure what how to connect this corner:

 

[attachmentid=17314]

 

And secondly, I don't think this part is right:

 

[attachmentid=17315]

 

Any help would be appreciated.

[R Reynolds]

Here's some suggestions.

 

On the scoop I think you're being too stingy with splines. If it were me, I would definitely add the yellow splines to give me more control over the shape of the scoop and the transition into the central ridge. The green spline is optional but I would probably put it in to reduce the size of the 5 pointers and improve their smoothness.

 

On the hood I've found this is to be a good layout for such an inside corner. The downside is it produces a huge 5 pointer on the hood which may cause problems. The blue spline is added to isolate this 5 pointer from the rounded edge and improve the chances that it stays smooth. The smaller 5 pointer (outlined by red cp's) could prove to be pretty ugly but it's small and I'd wager this isn't that smooth on the prototype.

[oakchas]

Tony,

 

Looks like you're getting the hang of it.

 

I like your approach of extruding from the side. I'll keep coming towards me from the front. We'll see which one we end up using.

 

here are some of the reference shots from the Batmobile site.

[attachmentid=17322][attachmentid=17323]

 

In both, you really can't tell what's happening with the "nose" that comes out of the scoop, though I'm pretty sure you're very close with the smooth sides of the nose. I did notice that the tip of the nose was gone in one of the pix and I circled that, too. I also noticed that on the real deal, the scoops don't even go back into the engine compartment... The are blocked off.

 

Rodger's right when he points out that things wouldn't be as smooth on the prototype. So a few imperfections aren't going to hurt us.

 

I should be caught up with you again tomorrow... Sorry for the absence.

[oakchas]

I've added a couple of splines... Highlighted here. They'll allow for a smoother curve on the turn siganal bend. And, the one near the center line will allow for the placement of the decal for the red "glow strip".

[attachmentid=17330]

 

Now, I'm going to use the $4 key to move some cps along their "handles." The selected cp will move along the spline that you see in green without moving in any other direction.

 

Before:

[attachmentid=17331]

 

After: (I've moved all the cps on the front to back spline, but I've only moved them along the splines from left to right by making certain the spline that goes from left to right is selcted, then holding down the $4 key to move it to the right along the spline in order to follow the curve of the hood scoop.

[attachmentid=17332]

 

Here, I've done another extrusion, and I'm going to use the same trick with each of the cps moving them back along the front to back spline by using the $4 key.

 

Before:

[attachmentid=17333]

 

Moving them along the front to back spline will keep them in line with the slope of the hood that I have already established. Here you can see the result from the side. the extrusion is the topmost wire. the bottom is the moving of cps in process (note the spline that is selected that goes in the z axis... Holding the $4 key when moving the cp moves it along that spline)

 

After:

[attachmentid=17334]

 

If I use the #3 key to try to move the whole extrusion back, this is what would have happened.

oops!:

[attachmentid=17335]

 

Now, i'm going to make two more extrusions using the $4 key trick to shorten the first extrusion back. the second extrusion will be the same length (because of the "intelligence" programmed into A:M)

Here are the extrusions:

[attachmentid=17337]

 

Next, I'm going to break some splines leaving the newly created patches, where I want them (following the slope of the hood) to reconnect to later.

 

Here's what that looks like:

[attachmentid=17338]

 

I didn't break all the splines. After all, the turn signal hood continues on. But I did use the $4 trick to move the circled cp along the x spline's axis.

 

You can see where I'm going with this, I think. The plan is to extrude the scoop back into itself and extrude the patches that are part of the extended hood back to where the scoop is blocked off.

 

I'm out of space for attachments and out of time as well for today.

[T-Dogg]

I tried to implement Rodger's suggestions, and I also ended up adding a few more splines here and there to try to give it a better shape. Here's what I've ended up with thus far:

 

[attachmentid=17365][attachmentid=17366]

 

I can't believe it's taken me so long to model just the hood. I worry about how long it will take once we get into the more detailed areas. I seriously need to improve my modelling skills. Seems like when I fix one thing, I mess something else up. I'll keep trying, though.

[case]

well to tell you the truth the longer it takes the better the idea will be.Dont let this idea go dont give up nomader what you should stick with what you get keep on going great job on the hood your a great modeler good job

[oakchas]

I can't believe it's taken me so long to model just the hood. I worry about how long it will take once we get into the more detailed areas. I seriously need to improve my modelling skills. Seems like when I fix one thing, I mess something else up. I'll keep trying, though.

 

Yep. That's the way it goes, in my experience, too. Two steps forward, one step back.

 

In all, it looks good. It's not perfect, but it is GOOD. And, that's the goal here, improving our modeling skills.

 

While Rodger says more splines give you more accuracy, remember his tolereances are .06 in. Mechanical models can use such accuracy... But, then I look at Porsches by Jin, or McClarens by Agep (Stian) and marvel at the large mesh/low spline elegance of their models.

 

Then when you look at human models look at Tanassi's work... his wonderful women have 5 splines (okay, maybe it's more than 5, but his splinage is E-L-E-G-A-N-T, S-I-M-P-L-E, and just plain beautiful)!

 

But, in all honesty, the sheetmetal man has the same difficulties as we do. His solution is lead or bondo. Or for that matter, the sheetrock man will tell you "There's nothing a little "mud" can't fix!" Our answer may end up being porcelain. Let's see if tomorrow, I can finish my half hood. and we'll compare.

[R Reynolds]

I stumbled across this page while researching something else. You may find them useful.

 

Batmobile pictures

 

The downside is that they might cause you to further re-model for the sake of accuracy. As an example the attached image shows a somewhat different hood than your model.

[oakchas]

Not to worry, Rodger... That's the same Batmobile. There was only one used in the show. It is the metal one you have depicted. (the metal one has a hood, the fibergalss knock offs used in car shows had a one piece tilt front end). The blade in the front was probably some Bat Tool weapon or another...

 

[attachmentid=17392]

 

What differences are you seeing? I saw where the hood continues under the turnsignal "brow." And am working that into my half. Else I'm at a loss. I realize the rotos are not accurate, and am using the pix to correct as needed.

 

Thank you for the link though... it has some cleaner shots that I haven't seen in the other site.

 

I guess, critically, I do see some differences...

 

[attachmentid=17393]

[T-Dogg]

I see what you mean about the hood needing to be cut straight. For some reason, it didn't look clear in my rotoscope, and I guess I got confused. But when I looked at the picture by itself, you can definitely see the hood stays straight. That will be an easy enough thing to fix. I'll give the piece that goes over the turn signals a better angle too. I was using this picture as a reference,

 

[attachmentid=17405]

 

and it looked straight to me. I guess it is due to the camera angle. Should be another easy fix though.

 

As for the hood scoop... or whatever it's called... being too wide, I am not so sure about that one. I basically traced a spline right along the line in the rotoscope. Also, as you can see it is pretty wide in the picture I previously posted. I can make it narrower if you want, though.

 

I'll do the fixes and post another picture as soon as I can. I am trying, y'all.....

[oakchas]

Also, as you can see it is pretty wide in the picture I previously posted. I can make it narrower if you want, though.

 

I don't know, I agree, I did the same... However, thinking back to the adjustments I did to the roto I did have to widen the front and rear views to match the top view...

[T-Dogg]

OK, I did the fixes you mentioned, Charles. Here's what it looks like now:

 

[attachmentid=17409][attachmentid=17410][attachmentid=17411]