[WIP] Challenger 2 MBT UK

[nodunit 397]

This may help,

Typically speaking lets say you have a plate of armor with a MG port, this MG port follows the slope geometry of the plate and has some curves that would otherwise add a lot of polygons, such as a small inner bevel like ring. For the low poly mesh you would delete the ring, this would delete the entire top face of the sloped armor but leave the adjacent faces, so you would select the edges of those connecting faces and basicly remake the faces, keeping to the slope but without the bevel, and then a normal map would later add the detail of the bevel.

If you're looking for tips and tricks on reduction then I'd suggest having a look at other peoples projects on various forums, I know they helped me a great deal...for example http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=100127 here is a pretty good one showing how you can keep the same shape but with far less polygons. This important because we get stuck in a mindset that if an edge or edgeloop is missing then it will look awful, and it is a very dangerous mindset to get in because it hampers so much of the overall project.

When I originally started my big project my apache helicopter had 30-40K faces when it was first announced, the count was so exorbantly high and I didn't want to get rid of anything that it took me several months to finally convince myself that things could go, and when I began to make my tweaks I began to notice that things weren't as bad as I thought..in fact when I displayed the model again to the public nobody noticed a difference, despite 20K shaved off it looked exactly the same.

Example, the rotorhead was originally 8 to 12 sided on the cylinders for the pitch links and scissors, later it was dropped to five, that extra edge giving a bit of roundness on the bottom and it wound up working perfectly.

The rotor system on this http://www.mechmodels.com/mas/screenshots/a2/ah64_rel/ah64d_rel_lb1.jpg is nothing more than this http://i229.photobucket.com/albums/ee200/NodUnit/Model%20work/AH-64D/Work%20In%20Progress/breakdown1.jpg Things didn't look that jaggy ingame did they? That is what I mean when I say that in editor, and especially without texture, edges will always stick out and look 'off'.

Edited March 27, 2014 by NodUnit

[Yoshi 10]

Ok, I've been working on the model sinced you posted that video link, I've only been doing the turret so far and I'm not completed yet, but the model looks so much cleaner, I will put in the effort with the model and hopefully you can continue to b**** slap me into a productive mind set. Thank you for the links they will prove most useful. I won't be working on the model till late tomorrow when I get back from college, but I shall spend a good few days I think slimming her down. :)

[Yoshi 10]

Hi, guys, I'm sorry to say that last night while working on my tank my computer shutdown on me without warning, When I restarted the pc, and tried to reopen the file where I kept everything and all of it has been corrupted, I'm really annoyed that this has happened, and due to this 354 hrs of work that went into getting this model ready has gone completely up in smoke. :mad:

[AveryTheKitty 2626]

Hi, guys, I'm sorry to say that last night while working on my tank my computer shutdown on me without warning, When I restarted the pc, and tried to reopen the file where I kept everything and all of it has been corrupted, I'm really annoyed that this has happened, and due to this 354 hrs of work that went into getting this model ready has gone completely up in smoke. :mad:

Damn, sorry to hear. :(

[Yoshi 10]

Yeah, I'm currently trying to find anything that I might be able to salvage

[nodunit 397]

Yeah, I'm currently trying to find anything that I might be able to salvage

Did you try the Recover Last Session or Recover Auto Save function under File?

[Yoshi 10]

Can I do that?

[nodunit 397]

Can I do that?

Yeah, just click File and the options should be right under it, blender saves backup files elsewhere, generally for cases such as this buuut don't expect it to be exactly what you last left, still something is better than nothing right?

[Yoshi 10]

I love you Nod, It hasn't saved the progress I was doing early this morning, but it's the entire tank which I also load in to work on each part separately, and just hide the ones I'm not in immediate need of.

[AveryTheKitty 2626]

I love you Nod, It hasn't saved the progress I was doing early this morning, but it's the entire tank which I also load in to work on each part separately, and just hide the ones I'm not in immediate need of.

Awesome! Glad to hear most of the tank is there. :D

[K3NI 10]

thank fuck you still have it! <3 i dont want this model to go! You have been working to hard on this yoshi! keep up the great work

[Yoshi 10]

Thank you K3NI that is appreciated, I will keep you guys updated on the progress.

[dynamo11 11]

Back that bad boy up! Be a shame to lose such quality work

[heavygunner 179]

Will it have a 3D or 2D interior?

[Yoshi 10]

Having a 3d interior for this tank is difficult, seeing as no plans for the interior are on the internet as far as im aware. I would like to model an interior but my time so far is divided between my college, my gaming community, and fixing the model.

[Messiah 2]

Having a 3d interior for this tank is difficult, seeing as no plans for the interior are on the internet as far as im aware. I would like to model an interior but my time so far is divided between my college, my gaming community, and fixing the model.

The interior is still regarded as secret squirrel as far as I'm aware. Last time I went to a convention they were certainly less than keen about me taking me camera with me inside. They did once have a 360 panoramic interactive picture on the army's website, but that has seemingly disappeared - there are pictures available, but you have to do a fair bit of stitching together to get an idea of the layout.

[enex 11]

Correct me if I'm wrong but steel beasts have challenger 2 in it right?

[autumn 10]

Correct me if I'm wrong but steel beasts have challenger 2 in it right?

An interior like that in A3 would be pretty damn amazing. It's not fair that all the aircraft and lighter vehicles get interiors and armour doesn't :P

[heavygunner 179]

An interior like that in A3 would be pretty damn amazing. It's not fair that all the aircraft and lighter vehicles get interiors and armour doesn't :P

Yeah it would be amazing, but like said before the interior for the challenger is scret so he just can't make ( a realistic) one. :/

The interior from the video is the leopard 2A5. Even Steelbeasts has no 3D interior for it as it seems.

Still thank you for answering my question @Yoshi.:D

[dk-vcb 31]

its there in SB pro pe but not textured.. and still alot to do on it... but yeah its very hush hush i imagine..

[eggbeast 3673]

it's looking good - lots of cool help from community - hope to see this in A3 soon.

If you need help with the ammo config, I've made a set in A2 for chally1,2 and chieftain, which we use a lot. we have the full range of tank main gun and mg ammo types and naming conventions done already in cfg. you're welcome to borrow any information from this if needed. anyway good luck!

[heavygunner 179]

Will you implement a Fire control system? That would be awesome, too :D

Sorry if I'm asking too much :P

[Yoshi 10]

Yes the support it has gotten is good, and when I get my week of college in a week or so then I can speed up the development of the model. But until then my main aim is to figure out what I can and what I can't add in terms of realism, of course I would like the Challenger 2 to be as high on realism as possible, the question is will the game allow for many of the features the Challenger 2 has.

[brooks143 10]

Hi yoshi. i have made some ammo models that you can use in you mod if you wish.

Edited July 3, 2014 by brooks143

[Yoshi 10]

Those are great, and I've officially finished my second year at college now so I will get round to doing some more of the model. Slimming her down is the biggest task so far.