1995 Mazda RX7 Model

[mshihrer]

Hello All,

This is my first attempt at a car model. It's more a study to see if I can model low poly vehicles quickly for use in real time simulations in Dark Basic Pro. I've got a good workflow going converting from A:M to .X, by way of exporting as an .obj, then opening and texturing in Ultimate Unwrap, and using UU's .x exporter.

This model is "loosley" based on the RX-7, and, I didn't quite get all the lines, but, I just want to know if I'm heading in the right direction. Its just the body now, all in one piece.

I'm not trying to get every little detail, because for realtime it would be just too many polys. Mostly, it would be nice to get the basic shapes of cars so it is obvious what kind of car it is. I'm working on another version of this from a different set of blueprints.

Also, not one 3 point patch anywhere, but, had to use a few 5 point patches. I think with some better thought of the splines it might be possible to eliminate those as well.

[mshihrer]

here is what the model looks like in Ultimate Unwrap. At this point, with 16 polys per patch, it is 1800 polys, 3600 triangles, which is not too bad. If I can keep the whole thing under 10,000 tris, I can do it all in one mesh.

[pixelplucker]

Looks pretty nice. For a real time sim you need to reduce the number of polygons. Seems a bit much unless that is the only object in the sim. You may need to play with smoothing angles rather than add polygons to make it smoother.

 

There are a bunch of intermediate edges that can be removed to save you poly counts. I would export from AM in the lowest count where a single 4 point patch = a quad (2 polygons) and you can sub divide that within UU3d to various levels of detail (lod).

 

I don't know that much about Dark Basic but if it handles lod targets this would let you build and texture the object once within AM and export out to .x then make your lod targets from that without the need for re-rigging and texturing.

 

Take advantage of the flat spots on the car body and reduce the patches there such as the door panels and roof.

[mshihrer]

edit:

Is it possible to just upload the .prj file and other users can load it up? Or, do I have to include the actual model in .mdl as well?

 

edit:

sorry, meant to edit my other post. Anyway, thanks pixelpucker. I'll try the low poly export and selectively increase polys from there, see how it works.

As for DB and polys, polys don't really seem to be the issue, number of objects does. A low poly single mesh runs just as fast as a high poly single mesh, so, if I keep everything under 10k, I'm good. And DBPro does have LOD capabilites. Thanks for your comments.

[Meowx]

Back looks like an RX7. Front doesn't, too pointy.

[pixelplucker]

When you export there is an option for "variable" this might do the trick for you rather than a fixed subdivision. In some cases Variable works ok and in others you may need to manually reduce edges. The problem with dissolving edges is that it will destroy any uv work you may have done in AM.

Within UU3d you can use the Mesh Smooth Faces and selectively smooth sections and still preserve the uv's.

 

I did try to get Brad who makes UU3d to make a plug-in for it to read in AM mdl files but he wasn't able to use the SDK since it lacked some information. I thought this would have been a great tool to use with AM especially since it has LSCM which would allow people to literally unfold their models into clean stamps. This would be really sweet for game development and would really work great with 3d Paint since there would be very few seams.

[mshihrer]

When you export there is an option for "variable" this might do the trick for you rather than a fixed subdivision. In some cases Variable works ok and in others you may need to manually reduce edges. The problem with dissolving edges is that it will destroy any uv work you may have done in AM.

Within UU3d you can use the Mesh Smooth Faces and selectively smooth sections and still preserve the uv's.

 

I did try to get Brad who makes UU3d to make a plug-in for it to read in AM mdl files but he wasn't able to use the SDK since it lacked some information. I thought this would have been a great tool to use with AM especially since it has LSCM which would allow people to literally unfold their models into clean stamps. This would be really sweet for game development and would really work great with 3d Paint since there would be very few seams.

yeah, actually, I did a 4 poly per patch export, knocked it down to 900 tris, and, still looked good. I made a quick texture map for it, and, it will be MORE than acceptable as a car model in my game. I'm pretty happy with the results, and also how fast I can knock these out. With some more practice, I bet I can get it down to 2 or 3 hours. About a day right now(I know, still learning though). I'm doing all the UV's in UU. Its fast and easy when you are working with quads. I just broke it down by side, top, trunk, etc. Works great.

Anyway, here is the NEW one, a complete redo. I think I got the front better, back is a little different, might change it some later, but, all in all, I like it. Going to export it now and work on a texture, more screenshots later. Thanks for your tips.

[TheSpleen]

lookin good.

[mshihrer]

lookin good.

thanks. I just changed the back end, I didn't like it, also, I don't think I like 5 point patches. Sometimes they do ok, but, I just found a big dent in the front fenders. So, gotta fix that. I suppose I could just pull the vert out in UU or Milkshape or something.

[pixelplucker]

You should be able to keep the poly count really really low. If you reduce the AM visual smooth to it's minium then you would be able to get an idea how the base poly export would be without any subdivisions. Low poly work is really tough because it is 90% good smooth angles and textures to make up the difference.

 

Lower poly counts will give you more options such as alternate models for crashes. When I did a slew of weapon models for some UT mods, including the arms, hands and weapons were under 500 polys.

 

When you do your poly counts if your counting quads then double that number to know how many triangles there are. Games don't use quads since they are too resource heavy to calculate. Video cards can display quads but are actually rendering polygons in pairs.

 

I don't know the limits in Dark Basic since I never used it but most game engines typically work better with lower polys. This frees up resources for the rest of the stuff such as collision detection and physics.

 

The car does look really really nice btw.

[mshihrer]

You should be able to keep the poly count really really low. If you reduce the AM visual smooth to it's minium then you would be able to get an idea how the base poly export would be without any subdivisions. Low poly work is really tough because it is 90% good smooth angles and textures to make up the difference.

 

Lower poly counts will give you more options such as alternate models for crashes. When I did a slew of weapon models for some UT mods, including the arms, hands and weapons were under 500 polys.

 

When you do your poly counts if your counting quads then double that number to know how many triangles there are. Games don't use quads since they are too resource heavy to calculate. Video cards can display quads but are actually rendering polygons in pairs.

 

I don't know the limits in Dark Basic since I never used it but most game engines typically work better with lower polys. This frees up resources for the rest of the stuff such as collision detection and physics.

 

The car does look really really nice btw.

I did some more work. Got rid of all the 5 point polys. Changed the back. Had to sacrifice the one hole in the front airdam, but I can just use a decal here. Also, had to add some lines at the wheelwells, when I low poly exported they lost their roundness. Even if I tried meshsmooth in UU, I couldn't get round. Here are some shots in UU, with a quick texture map. This is 4 polys per patch.

Thanks for your tips, pixelplucker, its helping me alot!

[pixelplucker]

Does look good but there are still many edges that aren't needed along the flat areas where there are no curves. Too bad you can't dissolve those in UU3d. What the dissolve function does is deletes the selected edge, face or vertex and automatically reconnects the adjacent.

 

How does the base mesh look if you do the Variable option on export from AM? I'm thinking this might work pretty well where you have a good contrast between edge angles.

[mshihrer]

Does look good but there are still many edges that aren't needed along the flat areas where there are no curves. Too bad you can't dissolve those in UU3d. What the dissolve function does is deletes the selected edge, face or vertex and automatically reconnects the adjacent.

 

How does the base mesh look if you do the Variable option on export from AM? I'm thinking this might work pretty well where you have a good contrast between edge angles.

The variable export option has the most polys. Strange, I know, but it adds alot more polys. Here is the 1 poly per patch export. Still a usable model, but, a little to blocky for me. The second image I applied a mesh smooth faces to the red areas, and as you can see, it doesn't round out the wheelwells. So, I think the 4 poly per patch will have to do. Oh, and, BTW, I have UU3d ver 2.0. It doesn't appear to have the dissolve function, unless I can't find it, I'll keep looking, but I think this might be a 3.0 feature?

[pixelplucker]

Bummer the variable doesn't work in this case.

Does exporting an mdl without any subdivision and doing that within uu3d on just the areas needed such as bumpers work better?

[mshihrer]

Bummer the variable doesn't work in this case.

Does exporting an mdl without any subdivision and doing that within uu3d on just the areas needed such as bumpers work better?

haven't tried it, but I will. Seems I tried .mdl before, and UU wouldn't even open it, but, I'll try again.

But I don't think I need to worry. Here is a screen grab of real time with the racetrack. Without the car model my FPS fluctuates, 420-480, with car, 399 - 480. Very small hit, very small, and I just added 16 poly per patch wheels, too.

Track is still very much a work in progress, mostly just getting the workflow down.

 

edit:

you know, I just thought of something. If I had 2 polys per patch, it might be perfect. Maybe the answer is MORE splines, in certain areas, and, just 1 poly per patch export.

oops, actually you told me this already, kind of...I just spaced out on it

 

"You should be able to keep the poly count really really low. If you reduce the AM visual smooth to it's minium then you would be able to get an idea how the base poly export would be without any subdivisions. Low poly work is really tough because it is 90% good smooth angles and textures to make up the difference."

[pixelplucker]

That looks pretty good. Are you doing dashboards and inside view for racing?

 

I noticed that the backdrop tree line has an anti aliased edge that doesn't match the alpha, you may want to trim the alpha back a pixel or 2 so. In photoslop you load selection from alpha and expand it then re-fill it black.

[mshihrer]

That looks pretty good. Are you doing dashboards and inside view for racing?

 

I noticed that the backdrop tree line has an anti aliased edge that doesn't match the alpha, you may want to trim the alpha back a pixel or 2 so. In photoslop you load selection from alpha and expand it then re-fill it black.

yes, my skysphere sucks. I just cropped out a treeline and pasted it real quick on a sky. No alpha maps are being used as I am using .png at the moment, but will be converting them to .dds. Both formats have built in transparencey, so no need for alpha maps. I've got some other images and am going to make a better texture. Its basically just for sizing and scale and such right now. I'm working on the dashboard now. The guages will actually be 3d objects that work. I have written some code that simulates an engine and transmission, its pretty cool. I still need to add physics, but, for basic accelleration, decelleration and gear changes, it works great. When its all tied together, you'll be able to have different views, like driver view, or chase view, or just nose to the ground. Its just repositioning the camera. Alot of work left to do, will post more when I have something postworthy.