Combine APC (from Half Life 2)

[Ganjica]

Hello,
a friend and colleague of mine is working on an EPIC short movie based on Half Life 2 world. The title is "I'm The Freeman". Here is the teaser trailer:

http://youtu.be/Bm5sEaC5tBA

I'm helping him a little bit by making the (in)famous combine APC. So starting from the original concept made at Valve for Half Life 2:

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I've been able to achieve this so far:

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I've to maintain the original shape, but I can add all the details i want to make it look more believable and realistic. Engine and frame are still very basic, so don't worry about them :)
What do you guys think? I'm really open to any suggestion or hint!

Thanks for watching :)

[Ganjica]

And here are some ref shots as well:

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[needse]

looking good teaser trailers kool

[Ganjica]

Hello again, long time no see :)
i've been spending some time refining shapes, adding details and trying to achieve a better SciFi-retro-alien looking. Hope you like the result. Any comment or critic is more than welcome!

@needse: Sorry dude, I missed your post! Thanks for the comment!

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Thanks for watching :lame:

[McFly]

DOF makes it look like a miniature but modelling look fine, good amount of details.

Rear wheels are a bit off compared with your ref cos there is a sort of foot rest going round it.

Trailer is pretty good too! Good job guys.

[Ganjica]

Hehe, guess you're right about the DOF, I was just playing with the new features of Zbrush BPR, I shouldn't have added it at this stage :)
I've been trying to find some way of adding the foot rest outside the rear wheels, but every time the overall shape was unbalanced and ugly, so I gave up and I kept the shape more similar to the look of the in-game model (which doesn't have it).
It's the same for the front mudguard. In the side ref the front wheel is covered, and it's looking very cool, but in that way, the wheels can't turn, so I had to make the hole :)
Thanks for pointing it out anyway!

I'm glad you think the amount of detail is good, I was adding and adding stuff, I think it's time to stop and move on the textures now.

[McFly]

[..]In the side ref the front wheel is covered, and it's looking very cool, but in that way, the wheels can't turn, so I had to make the hole :)

This thing does NOT need to turn. :)

[Ganjica]

This thing does NOT need to turn. :)

I agree! :haha: But in the movie it will so I had to find a way... :wall:

[Ganjica]

I'm still alive! After being very busy with other things, I'm back on this project again. Most of the UV work is done and now I'm starting to make the textures and these are the first tests that start to make some sense:

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Only the tyre is "completed" so far, while the rest of the APC has just a black shader. What do you guys think?

Thanks for watching :)

[astroAJ]

Dam the wheels look sexy, keep posting I want to see this finished!!

[lebaje]

those wheels are Freaking sexy!!!

but the truck it self still look too clean!

[Fynn]

great job!

[needse]

yeah this turned out really nice love the wheels texture top job

[Kage]

The wheels look super realistic! Can't wait to see what you do with the rest of it

[Ganjica]

Hey guys! Wow, I didn't expect all this feedback! Thanks a lot, it's a big push to work harder and better.
My concern about the wheels is that all the fine detail get easily lost with a full render, and the wheels seems too clean. i think i'm gonna make the dirt and dust more visible, so it'll show more even from wider shots.

[NinthJake]

Wow this is insane!

Will watch this project for sure :D

[McFly]

As everyone else, I'm drooling over the tyre texture.

[Perversonality]

This should be heading to the header pretty soon if you keep up this level of work. Very nice!

[Ganjica]

Wow guys! I'm really speechless! I didn't expected this at all. So glad you appreciate all the hard work. I'll update this as soon as possible!

[DAssassin]

Nice work on the textures and a cool model..

[omessler]

Very nice work!

[Ganjica]

Hello again!
I abandoned this project for a long time. But now I'm back on it. I spent some time to finish the UV and do a first pass of textures, so I can establish the look of it.
The shader is extremely basic, I still have to start to make it properly, so try not to focus on that :)

Here are the results so far:

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Feel free to leave any critic, hint, idea or anything! I'll really appreciate it! Thanks!

[astroAJ]

I'm completely drooling over this, brilliant work :)
I'm looking forward to the shaded version.

[McFly]

Tyre texture is repeated four times (or seems to be) so a lil bit of variation would help I think.
I'm not entirely convinced about the use of a barcode.

Everything else is good! I like the orange you've chosen.

[ramek81]

Very nice work, for me the job of the texture is impressive !!!

[Ganjica]

Wow! Thanks guys I'm really glad you like it!

@AstroAJ: Thanks! It won't be a long wait, I'm really working hard to finish this now :)

@McFly: You're right, the tyre texture is only one now, and I still have to make variations of it. The barcode got a lot of critics, so is definitely gonna go. Not sure if I want to replace it with something else.

@ramek81: Thanks! I'm glad you like it already, hopefully it'll get better after the dust and scratches pass.

[Yuka]

nicework

[Dmarmor]

Excellent work. Did you modeled everything inside zbrush or you just used it for Bpr rendering?

About the texture there is only a little thing that bother me, it is how the bar code continue through the border on the front side. It looks like it has been projected, which is probably the case. I would make it a little bit higher without having it touching the extruded border.

But don't get me wrong, the overall result is wonderful.

[Ganjica]

Hey, thanks again for the comments!

I used zbrush only for BPR, since is way faster and simpler to make a presentation in zbrush than 3ds max.

The barcode got a lot of negative feedback to it'll go for sure :)

Stay tuned for more stuff soon!

[Ganjica]

Hello!
I'm still working on the textures and shaders, and it's very time consuming, or maybe I'm just very picky, or maybe i just can't get it right... :banghead:
Anyway, i took a break from that and I spent some time to set up the environment and lights for the final images. That's the idea:

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What do you guys think? Is lighting any good? Does if feel the right scale? Right angle? Thanks!

[Zlatovous]

First one is the best. The third one looks liky tiny model because of the DOF (and prbably angle?) and the fourth is strange because the APC looks like it's been cut in half (because of the angle). Try to turn it some degrees so there is no white space between the plating (if you understand... if don't I will draw what I mean :-) )

Good job so far, I have thing for HL2 universe :-)

[Ganjica]

Hey, thank you so much for the feedback! The first image is the better one for me too. I like the last photo, especially with the modifications I've in mind, but I still don't like the position of the APC either, it's strange.
I scaled a bit the APC, so it will be slightly bigger in all the pictures, and hopefully it'll help in the third pic too.

Cheers!

[Ganjica]

Hi,
I've got a couple of random spare hours, so I decided to grab the previous renders and do some "brutal" paintover in Photoshop to see if the final composition I've in mind is working or not.
The renders still have the "old" smaller APC, and don't have the shaders and the tyre squash yet.
The third render is missing (I want to change the position of the APC) and the fourth is discarded for now, so i've got two so far. Here are the results:
What do you guys think? Does the background feel more like city 17?

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[Ganjica]

Here are the wip with the shaders. I'm still working on the back area adding scratches and dirt.
And the background is temporarily back to the original photo, just for now.

The thing that bug me the most is the specular on the rim in pic 2, still not happy with it, but I'm quite satisfied with the rest. Critics? Suggestions?

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Thanks for watching :)

[Ganjica]

Hello again,
I completed the shaders/texture work on the APC, and I would like to consider it done, so I can move on the last touches on the background and forget about the vehicle for a couple of days.
What do you guys think? Is there anything wrong, or looking bad? Anything that bugs you? Anything out of place? Anything you feel need to be improved? Any idea, critic or suggestion would be very appreciated!

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[McFly]

Seriously, it's rock solid. Not much to crit! I'm digging your texture/shader work. And we're talking totally here. :)

[NinthJake]

I'm with McFly here, this is just some epic work here, nothing to criticize, great job!

[Ganjica]

WOW! Guys I'm so glad you like it! After working on it for so long I lost quite a bit of objectivity! :D Well, I can move on the background then!

Cheers!

[JBeezy]

This really is amazing! Im not sure if I missed this in the thread but what was your general work flow with this. Was it all modeled in ZBrush? What did you use to render? Also, how much of the background is CG? Truly awesome man, well done!

[xtrm3d]

looooove the texturing and shading work !!

[Ganjica]

Thanks again for your kind comments! I'm gonna post the final images very soon!

@JBeezy: The workflow for this is very basic, just modelled in 3Ds max, all the texturing work done in photoshop and rendered with vray. I used zbrush just to do the shaded renders at the beginning.

[Kage]

Amazing turn out, congrats :D
Love the tyres too, the way they squash. Very realistic

[Ganjica]

Hey Folks, I published the latest pictures in the finished works area.

http://forums.3dtotal.com/showthread.php?t=112636

@Kage: Thanks! I'm really glad you noticed the tyre squash, I've been fighting against the "flat tyre" effect for a while. Very subtle work!

@JBeezy: Sorry dude I forgot to mention about the background. It's a photo. In the final pictures I've made a lot of subtle changes: the position of the structures, sky replacement, given a more worn out look etc., plus added some minor 3D elements.

[JBeezy]

haha np man, thanks for the reply! awesome man, really nice work!