Hello, everyone! This is my first post ever here at the BI forums :)
First of all, I want to say "thank you" to whoever is upgrading and improving this already fantastic addon. As good as this model is, I've always thought there could be some room for improvement, texture-wise; I don't know the first thing about 3D modelling in ArmA 2, but I have attempted some re-texturing/skinning works in other games (mainly flight sims), so although I had never done a tank before, I decided to have a go and try reworking/upgrading the textures of this beast myself.
---------- Post added at 01:12 ---------- Previous post was at 01:06 ----------
These are still very much WIP, so bear with me, if you please:
http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/7670/chall2wip001.jpg (1117 kB)
http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/9820/chall2wip002.jpg (1009 kB)
http://img196.imageshack.us/img196/9558/chall2wip003.jpg (1138 kB)
http://img521.imageshack.us/img521/6605/chall2wip004.jpg (888 kB)
http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/193/chall2wip005.jpg (1727 kB)
(Normal maps are custom, but specular is still the default one that comes with the original package)
There are one or two problems here and there, of course, beginning with the way the metal side-skirts fitted to the standard variant are mapped (they share bits of texturing with the hull, so by super-detailing the hull, the metal skirts look wrong); that being said, the new skins work great on the upgraded models - I haven't reworked the DL2 appliqué armour add-on packages for the hull and turret or the RF anti-IED jammers yet, but the variant with armour skirts and lower glacis plate ERA appliqués looks good so far.
I was aiming for an 'Operation Telic' feel with the desertised version, which would look even better if you could add CIPs and the all-important anti-dust flexible lower skirt (which is present in the corresponding .paa file but not physically modelled).
I am doing this for my personal enjoyment (because I love this tank and mod) but if I get permission from the original creators, I could release these works or hand them over to them for further upgrades.
I hope you like what you see here!
