Tangara Texturing

Just a quick update to show whats happening with the Tangara. Im currently in the middle of texturing the Control Trailer, which will be my "base model". As you may know from earlier posts, the plan is to complete the base model, including textures, before I continue on to the remaining carriages. To make all the different train variations, (T Set, G Set, 4D etc) I will need to build around 8 carriages all together, and it will be so much easier if I start from a base model which is already textured, rather than building and texture mapping each model from scratch.

Im starting on the body. This is my first time texturing such a complex model, and there has been a steep learning curve. I think I must be on about my 10th attempt by now, each time starting over as I figure out a better approach. I think I finally have the idea, and should hopefully be able to show you the finished result in a few days, with some basic textures on it. Then its on to the interior...

The texturing process has highlighted a few slight problems such as extra faces that I did not see before (stuck inside something else or back-facing) and edges which should have connected, but didnt etc. As I map each surface to a material, I occasionally end up with a few left-over faces which did not get mapped to anything, so its just a matter of tracking them down and fixing the problem. Wireframe mode has helped find a few stray edges that showed up this way.

As far as posting is concerned, it seems Im damned if I do, and damned if I dont. I just installed Picassa on the new machne, and it has shrunk the screen shot down to a reasonable size (as compared to my 1280x1024 screen), but now I cant add tags to this post and it doesnt contain the template that I set up to show poly count etc, so once I post this, I will have to edit it to add all of that. Sheesh.

You may just have to put up with the large screen shots because manually resizing them is more effort than a simple post should require. Picassa seems to be having issues, so Ive uploaded them manually again.

Update:
Ok, well I finally have the body mapped. Here is a shot with the texture file straight out of lithunwrap - naturally it needs a bit more work.

Before I start drawing a Tangara on it though, I need to do a bit more tweaking. I want to add the doors and gangway, which are separate objects, so that I can put them on the same bitmap as the body. This will help keep the major parts together for reskins and the various versions.

Im also thinking about breaking the sides and roof up, because even with the length taking the whole 1024 pixels across the top of the bitmap, the resolution isnt as good as I hoped. Breaking them in half will double the resolution, but will use more space on the texture. Oh, and I removed the transparency from the windows in preparation for giving them a proper texture.

File Version: 381
Poly Count: 17557

Note: The poly count shown here is for the gmax model in progress. The count will generally be higher than that of the finished in-game model since it includes various tools, jigs, and other pieces which may not be part of the final model. LOD modelling will further reduce in-game polygons.