Newbie modeler needing help with Chieftain

[Kyancyan 2]

Hi all!

 

Just some forewarning, I am a complete beginner level modeler (in my opinion) and also know zero about texturing, coding, etc.

 

Me, being me, decided I really wanted to get the ol' Chieftain into ArmA 3, and since I enjoy Blender, whipped up a chassis model.

Here it is: 

Spoiler

https://gyazo.com/770c807f34e2d3c866346151622da1ca --- https://gyazo.com/23cb7cccbeab24e61684e16ac93922e5

 

 

I know, I'm completely unqualified to take on this task, but I've really wanted to get into vehicle mods for ArmA 3 and figured I might as well try getting one of my favorite vehicle's in, with some help of course.

 

That in mind, I've come here to hopefully get some advice from folk's who know their stuff, or are just willing to toss in their two cents.

 

1. I'm completely uncomfortable trying to make the turret, as it has a certain shape that I find very difficult to replicate,

    and I don't want to put something on this tank that I don't feel is authentic and respectful to the real vehicle, any advice on how to tackle this piece is appreciated.

Spoiler

 

 

2. I've never managed to successfully make a respectable texture for the vehicle's I've made, and was wondering if anybody could offer me some aid/advice on how I should go about whipping up some proper, decent quality textures, especially camo-type textures like so: 

https://i.pinimg.com/736x/22/73/1a/22731a4726741d178a36c884679c524f--carri-armati-model-tanks.jpg

Keep in mind I don't have access to Photoshop, but I have installed Gimp.

 

3. I've got a plugin on Blender (ArmA Toolbox is the name) which allows me to convert my model from Blender to ObjectBuilder with LOD's and such attached, but I'm unsure how to go about creating those LOD's in either program since I'm a dummy, if someone could enlighten my dysfunctional brain, that'd be wonderful.

 

4. I've tried finding information on the specifics of getting a tank into ArmA 3, config and ObjBuilder wise, but I can't find much at all beside's the WIKI, which I have difficult grasping, am I just dumb or is this stuff not well documented?

 

I think I've mentioned everything I was worried about but just for clarity's sake, I'd like to mention that I am eager to get into the whole process, as I've always wanted to create vehicles and weapons for my favorite game, but lacked the courage to ask the people who actually know how to do it.

So yeah, that about wraps it up, thanks for taking the time out of your day to check and read this far, I really do appreciate it.

 

Hopefully I put this in the correct area, if not I apologize and please move it, thanks!

[mondkalb 1087]

1. One vertex at a time. Approximate the shape, compare with images from all angles and blueprints. Refine, repeat. You'll get there.

2. If you're willing to get deeper into this hobby, consider a Photoshop subscription. Its about 10GBP a month now.
Additionally, look into Quixel. Its basically permanently 40% off (I just checked, and it was). It's a one-off 50GBP thing that will help you out a lot. However, Quixel does have its issues and problems, so if you have some extra cash, Substance Painter will really make the tank a treat if you are willing to sink time into that tool. But it goes for around 200GBP now. Wait for the next steam winter sale to get it for cheaper if you consider.

3. Export as FBX from object builder, set the export scale to 0.01. Export objects with _geometry to have them directly import into the geo lod for example. Try this with other extensions to have them directly import into the relevant lods in OB.

4. Its not well documented, because its a very uncertain thing. PhysX vehicle configuration is notoriously hard and random. Just taking a working config from the arma3 vanilla tanks doesnt help much, as the vehicle center of gravity and assigned weight in its Geometry lod influence the vehicle's behaviour. The offical sample addons are your best chance at understanding it.

5. Its not the correct area. These are:
https://forums.bistudio.com/forums/forum/162-arma-3-addons-configs-scripting/
https://forums.bistudio.com/forums/forum/165-arma-3-modelling-o2/

 

Edit: I've pinged the moderators. They will move this thread for you in a bit.

6. A chieftain is very much Cold War gear. If you are interested in that topic/theme, drop by here on this discord. You'll find some others working on projects of the same theme/era and it will likely help your motivation seeing other's work and progress and sharing your own there. Maybe you can join some existing effort, too. :)

[cleggy 297]

Join Mondkalb's Discord matey - I can tell you all sorts of lies, half-truths and general guesswork - the others will probably tell you something actually useful ...

[FallujahMedic -FM- 867]

Moved to https://forums.bistudio.com/forums/forum/165-arma-3-modelling-o2/ 
 

[x3kj 1247]

On 15.12.2017 at 3:59 PM, Kyancyan said:

1. I'm completely uncomfortable trying to make the turret, as it has a certain shape that I find very difficult to replicate,

 

    and I don't want to put something on this tank that I don't feel is authentic and respectful to the real vehicle, any advice on how to tackle this piece is appreciated.

 

On 15.12.2017 at 6:01 PM, mondkalb said:

1. One vertex at a time. Approximate the shape, compare with images from all angles and blueprints. Refine, repeat. You'll get there.

 

Don't take "one vertex at a time" too literal however. For the curved parts of the turret i would look into more "high level" modelling tools that allow you to define and modify shapes efficiently without hand-tweaking every single vertex of the curves and bends individually. I'm not much of a blender user, but there definitely is a feature that subdivides your mesh, based on a mesh with relatively few vertices. This way  you only have to tweak a few vertices to tweak the shape to your liking and the smoothness will be generated automatically. For 3ds max there's also something called Patch Modelling, which is extremely usefull for something like this - not sure if there is a blender equivalent to it.

 

Getting the vehicle set up and working ingame is a bit of a daunting process if you jump into the cold water right away. It's easier if you start with a regular handweapon (you dont need to create a fancy model, just some boxes with general shape of a gun are enough) to learn the process of creating an addon base and load it ingame.

[Kyancyan 2]

I appeciate everyone's input, it's really nice to see as a newcomer to the forums and modding in general.

Thanks everyone.

[DSabre 2332]

1. Do it anyway. The only way is to practice. You can always upgrade the thing later.

2. Same as 1. Gimp is sufficient. Always possible to move on later.

 

3. I use Blender, Gimp and other Freeware. This is what works for me:

-Join parts together and make them an Arma object each.

-Scale it correctly there and reset Location, Rotation and Scale by Ctrl-A before exporting.

-Export as P3d.

-Open P3d in object builder and set up LODs there

-If you have to go back to blender: reopen this p3d in blender and have your LODs setup.

 

4. Look for free source code examples from Reyhard or maybe from CUPS

 

Some advice:

Strip things down to the bare minimum and then build up. Not top down.

I would suggest even starting by making the tank a box with a few wheels. a cylinder as turret and another cylinder as gun.

It will save you tons of time figuring out errors if there is less to look at. Then build up on details once the thing works.

That way you can spot any mistakes easier.

 

Also don't wait till it is perfect till publishing.

Many great projects got stuck and abandoned that way.

Have no fear publishing half finished stuff. It might get people interested in your project and with helping you with textures.

You will get the same level of negative feedback and demands no matter how good or bad the model and textures are anyway.

 

Oh and welcome. It is a great hobby : )

 

[scotg 204]

I had this really long post about how to make good camo through MAX, but then realized you are using Blender. I think someone mentioned MAX in one of the other comments, and I just ran with it. I'm sure Blender has a similar function.

- Once you have your tank model created, you'll want to assign smoothing groups and lay out its UV coordinates (aka UVWs).
- I recommend learning early on how to bake ambient shadows. They really give life to your models and distinguish the men from the boys. The rendered image can be used for a lot of goodies, like corner darkening in the diffuse, and it's essential for your Ambient Shadow texture. Edit a copy of the render for dirt buildup. Use this dirt map as a color mask in the diffuse texture (_co), as a non-reflective area in your specular/gloss texture (_smdi), and as a bump mask for mud clumps in your normal map (_nohq).
- For camo, you can try creating, aligning, and editing it by hand, or you can bake a camo pattern onto another separate layer. You can make your own pattern or get permission to use someone else's. The set up for this can be time consuming, but once it's ready, you just push a button to render, and then you have a better start to edit. Often, it's less time-consuming than hand editing a camo pattern, and you can use your pattern the same way for other vehicles, giving them a sense of consistency.

[farside 6]

On 12/21/2017 at 1:13 PM, DSabre said:

Also don't wait till it is perfect till publishing.

Many great projects got stuck and abandoned that way.

Have no fear publishing half finished stuff. It might get people interested in your project and with helping you with textures.

You will get the same level of negative feedback and demands no matter how good or bad the model and textures are anyway.

 

 

This, a thousand times. My P: and my blender folder would disgust a lot of people.

 

I contemplated making a chiefy but shat out of it due to the weird turret shape, just looked too much bother. but I personally think that you've nailed the chassis the hull looks awesome. Well done mate, I'm watching this post with HUGE anticipation.

 

Spoiler

Blender folder for the curious, this hasn't got a patch on my P: on my old Laptop either: Failed Projects.

 

 

***EDIT***

 

Also if you havent already look up Katie Byrne's youtube channel for a whole series on her point of view on how to model for ARMA in blender. BlenderGuru does a great walkthrough of his anvil aswell if you wanna increase your skill set in blender too!