[WIP|SCR] Silvertip BladeRunner

[Todd587]

It's been a long time since i've posted anything or done any modding, but recently i've decided to get back into it. I'm a bus enthusiast, and have a few other bus projects planned. I've already made a Neoplan Jumbocruiser which is basically finished, but its release is pending the consent of the original model maker.

 

Till then, i'm working on this. Designed by Silvertip Design, this ultra-modern coach is capable of travel on both rail and road, and with its unique rear steering assembly can navigate corners that even normal coaches would never be able to. Unfortunatly my plans for San Andreas do not include the rail or the rear steering features, as that would just be too hard to do, if not impossible. It will replace both a truck and a trailer, and will handle just as those do. Another unique feature though is that the drivers cab is actually located in the trailer portion, while the engine and drive wheels are on the front module. In the game, your character will obviously still drive the front part, but will just sort of hover in the air till the trailer is connected. He will be positioned in such a way (directly over the pivot point) so that he never becomes exposed no matter what angle it is steered.

 

Enough babbling, here's some pictures:

 

(The real thing; check the link above for more info)

 

And here's what I have modeled so far. I'm working in 3D Studio Max:

 

I'm going to texture it using photographs from the designers website, and plan to have it in the game and working within 2 or 3 days. After it's texture map is layed out, things should move pretty quickly. My next update will probably be tomorrow around this time, and plan to at least have it layed out.

[Picolini]

Well, looks like you've thought through the getting it ingame part, that was smart.

 

The model is awesome and from your website I can see you've got some experience. I loved the animations, the Chicago trains one was great, how they lean and shake was funny to see. I think they sway more in real life though

 

This is quite an odd bus, it's really different but sounds interesting in the way it operates. Do they actually plan on making these?

[silvermanblue]

Pretty odd looking bus, Very impressive modeling though. Hope to see this in game soon! here take these .

[Todd587]

Thanks guys. Right now the actual bus is only a prototype and has only made it to 1/8th model, but the company who designed it is pretty serious about it I think. I hope, anyway.

 

I made a lot more progress today than I thought I would. Last night after my post I went ahead and put a pretty good dent in the texture for the trailer, and tonight I spent a couple more hours on it and knocked out all the texturing, and even got it in game. Collision files aren't accurate yet, but thats what i'm working on now.

 

I made these textures using a high res image I found on the designers website. Lots of photoshopping and tweaking was required to remove the perspective and even out the contrast. The texture file I used for the game is 1024x1024.

 

 

Obviously theres a couple problems. The biggest one is the difference in color between the trailer and the truck, which makes no since because the TXD used for each of them is literally the same one; I set it up for the trailer (artict2) then just copied it and renamed it for the truck (rdtrain). I made sure that both vehicles have only white as their carcols. Both have the same material applied to them in Max, too. Any idea what else could be causing this? I like the brightness of the truck, and want the trailer to look the same.

 

Another issue I want to fix has to do with realism. On buses and trucks, there are 2 types of wheels. The front wheels (and any other wheel that steers) is shaped a bit differantly than the wheels that drive the vehicle. I need to assign a differant wheel model to the back 2 wheels of the truck, but am not sure how to do that. If anybody has any info on how to do this, i'd appretiate it.

 

Thanks guys

[RoxRox]

It could be a specular or environment map issue, I'm guessing the former seeing as I can't recall semi trailers having specular on them... (I'm probably wrong here.)

 

And nice idea, it's an interesting and pretty cool vehicle, but I hope you don't go under anything too low.

[Pat]

For some reason, it reminds me of an RV.

 

Anyway, it acctually looks like someone future-ized a London Double Decker bus. It looks pretty good, keep it up!

[[DRuG]NikT]

Awesome work Todd....

 

This is what I love about GTA modding - you get to see all these trippy prototypes that you otherwise might not - thanks for making my GTA more interesting by the day.

[GTA3Freak-2001]

What if you gave the front truck area 4 wheel steering like the monster truck ingame? That would at least be a decent substitute for not being able to make the trailer wheels steerable don't you think?

[pinky]

Thanks guys. Right now the actual bus is only a prototype and has only made it to 1/8th model, but the company who designed it is pretty serious about it I think. I hope, anyway.

 

I made a lot more progress today than I thought I would. Last night after my post I went ahead and put a pretty good dent in the texture for the trailer, and tonight I spent a couple more hours on it and knocked out all the texturing, and even got it in game. Collision files aren't accurate yet, but thats what i'm working on now.

 

http://www.toddfx.com/pics/gta/brunner8.jpg

http://www.toddfx.com/pics/gta/brunner9.jpg

http://www.toddfx.com/pics/gta/brunner10.jpg

I made these textures using a high res image I found on the designers website. Lots of photoshopping and tweaking was required to remove the perspective and even out the contrast. The texture file I used for the game is 1024x1024.

 

http://www.toddfx.com/pics/gta/brunnergta1.jpg

http://www.toddfx.com/pics/gta/brunnergta2.jpg

 

Obviously theres a couple problems. The biggest one is the difference in color between the trailer and the truck, which makes no since because the TXD used for each of them is literally the same one; I set it up for the trailer (artict2) then just copied it and renamed it for the truck (rdtrain). I made sure that both vehicles have only white as their carcols. Both have the same material applied to them in Max, too. Any idea what else could be causing this? I like the brightness of the truck, and want the trailer to look the same.

 

Another issue I want to fix has to do with realism. On buses and trucks, there are 2 types of wheels. The front wheels (and any other wheel that steers) is shaped a bit differantly than the wheels that drive the vehicle. I need to assign a differant wheel model to the back 2 wheels of the truck, but am not sure how to do that. If anybody has any info on how to do this, i'd appretiate it.

 

Thanks guys

You may need to check your material settings, such as make sure 2 uv layers are assigned or if any vertex pre lighting has been used.

There is a good chance that RoxRox is also correct as these sort of problems have cropped up with bodykits before as well.

For the wheels, in place of the front right wheel place a dummy in with the wheel you want to use, make sure this dummy is after the wheel in the hierarchy and that is what will replicated to all the wheel dummies instead of the wheel. Call the dummy whatever you like as it makes no difference, avoiding names used on the models of course.

You then just need to put individual wheels at each dummy, be aware that left hand wheels will need rotated 180 degrees from above as the dummy automatically does this and you have to counter it. You may need to move the wheel about a little to get it sitting in the correct position in game, trial and error required for best results.

 

Nice bus, I look forward to putting it in my game.

[-/TNT\-]

I like the idea of making that bus, the concept is great, and your use of poly economy is superb. What is the poly count for the body?

[Todd587]

Pinky thanks a lot for the explanation, i've successfully assigned and aligned all the correct wheel models! I've also taken GTA3 Freaks suggestion to give the drive section 4 wheel steering, and am very happy with the result. Though it may not be entirely accurate to the real vehicle, it definitly improves handling and lets the drive section pivot almost completely in place.

 

 

I still haven't figured out the solution to the color differance, but I haven't tried too much to fix it. Pinky, what was it that you were saying about the 2 UV layers? Do you mean 2 differant textures, or what? Right now I'm using default Max blinn materials with only a bitmap in the diffuse slot. I have a few things in mind i'm going to try.

 

I recorded a preview video of the handling. It drives very differant than normal semi-trucks in the game, especially with the 4 wheel steering. You have to pull foward a lot further to clear the curbs or poles, but thats ok in this because the drive section has over 200 degrees of pivot and can turn nearly on its own axis. Sorry for the poor quality and size, I just didn't want it to take too long to download. It's 5 minutes long at 11 megabytes in .mov format. If it doesn't launch in your browser, just right click and Save As:

http://toddfx.com/pics/gta/bladerunner_test4.mov

[Todd587]

Success! I'm using Kam's 3D Studio Max plugin, and just realized there are GTA base materials supplied with it. I found them in Max's material editor, and decided to give it a shot. I tweaked the settings and was able to match them up.

 

 

This is getting close to being finished. After taking a closer look at the model in the game, I think I can tweak the geometry by splitting some edges to show more of the sharp edges. It looks like GTA is smothing a lot of parts that should be sharp.

 

I started to mess with an idea to incorporate the steerable trailer. I had a look at the thread here about road trains, and think that its possible to adapt the techniques to make the pivoting trailer module. If I were to replace the baggage with the front drive module, bagboxa with the trailer (somehow hiding the wheels), and bagboxb with the rear steering module, I think an accurate system could be developed. In the past i've messed with the idea of using bagboxes for rear steering, but the problem with that is getting the wheels to steer the opposite direction so it swings the trailer out, not in. The front wheels of bagboxes steer according to the angle of the pivot. If this angle could be reversed, it would be absolutly perfect for a steerable trailer as well as the steering module for this bus.

Edited December 20, 2006 by Todd587

[[DRuG]NikT]

Todd:

The material editor can be leveraged more powerfully when used in combination with it's included eyedropper tool.

 

Clicking on a vertex of the model with the eyedropper while in face selection mode will allow you to adopt a material into a new slot in the material editor, which can then be re-assigned to further faces later, using the "apply material to selected object/faces" icon, also found in the material editor - the icon looks like a cube with a material next to it, and an arrow in between.

 

This is how I usually pass an existing material onto new faces.

 

As you've probably already read above, absolutely love ya machine - these are the sort of mods that keep me interested in the game.

 

I hope this helps!

Edited December 20, 2006 by [DRuG]NikT

[Picolini]

Wow, it's already in game. Nice vid, it's cool to see it in action.

 

Now whats this about the baggage handler? The bagboxa's wheels actual steer? I never noticed that, barely ever drive it so it's no suprise. My guess is it may have a handling flag telling which way to steer. I can't check now, but I would first check to see if the bagboxa has it's own handling line. If not then my guess is it uses the baggage handlers handling line. If you use Cerbera's CFG Studio (which I highly reccommend, it's the best around. projectcerbera.com) then you can just check off the steering type. That might get it to steer the way you want it. It's possible it's just hardcoded to it to steer that way.

 

I see pinky already got to you on the wheel tip, glad you got that down good. I'm not sure what you mean about hiding the wheels on the bagboxa but I'm sure the method he explained would work the same.

 

Good luck with all of this, I love these unique projects.

[flashg]

Totally awesome, looking very nice ingame.

 

About the 2nd UVW map... It doesn't work with the Kam's script or atleast it doesn't work with me. So you can forget that then

[Ret-RAT]

love it

 

Make more Futuristic cars, in my GTA I'm trying to look for hover cars and things for a futurisic GTA

 

not to successful for looking for these though

[tha_big_boss]

me to im looking for some cars like in back to the future II whith the hover convertion i wuld like to make the state of san andreas look like it is in the year 2015 from bttf II BUT I CANT MODEL SO IT WILL BE A DREAM T-T

[Tennesse]

me to im looking for some cars like in back to the future II whith the hover convertion i wuld like to make the state of san andreas look like it is in the year 2015 from bttf II BUT I CANT MODEL SO IT WILL BE A DREAM T-T

same here, bud

bring on the hovercrafts!!!

this truck is awesome, why hasn't it been released??

[bumster]

Talk about almost a year bump

[Mark]

Talk about almost a year bump

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