3D Automotive Modeling This page intentionally left blank 3D Automotive Modeling An Insider’s Guide to 3D Car Modeling and Design for Games and Film Andrew Gahan AMSTERDAM G BOSTON G HEIDELBERG G LONDON NEW YORK G OXFORD G PARIS G SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO G SINGAPORE G SYDNEY G TOKYO Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier Focal Press is an imprint of Elsevier 30 Corporate Drive, Suite 400, Burlington, MA 01803, USA The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford, OX5 1GB, UK Copyright r 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Details on how to seek permission, further information about the Publisher’s permissions policies and our arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the Copyright Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www. This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the Publisher (other than as may be noted herein).
Notices Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary. Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.
To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Gahan, Andrew. 3D automotive modeling : an insider’s guide to 3D car modeling and design for games and film / Andrew Gahan. Automobiles—Design and construction—Data processing.
Three-dimensional imaging. Computer games–Design.6u93–dc22 2010040116 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. For information on all Focal Press publications visit our website at www.com 10 11 12 13 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in Canada To the members of the www.com/forum and the rest of my friends. This page intentionally left blank Contents Acknowledgments ix Foreword xi Introduction xiii Chapter 1 Duster Concept 1 Brook Banham Chapter 2 Modeling the DUSTER in 3ds Max 11 Andrew Gahan Chapter 3 Chicago-Styled Hot Rod Concept 13 Brook Banham Chapter 4 Modeling the Chicago-Styled Hot Rod 31 Andrew Gahan Chapter 5 Team Hizashi Racing Concept 95 Tim Brown Chapter 6 Team Hizashi Racing Concept—From CAD to Complete 151 Johal Gow Chapter 7 Gallery 221 Andrew Gahan Chapter 8 A Photogrammetric Vehicle Pipeline 231 Tom Painter, Big Man 3D Chapter 9 Vortex Concept 269 Robert Forest Chapter 10 Vortex Modeling in Maya 281 David Griffiths Chapter 11 Mobile Suit Concept 345 Paul Cartwright, Zero9 Studios Chapter 12 Modeling the Mobile Suit 367 Andrew Gahan Index 441 vii This page intentionally left blank Acknowledgments Thanks to.
Laura, Anais Chris, and everyone else at Focal Press Anthony O’Donnell for the technical edit and awesome work on the forum Will Snowdon for tech reviews, suggestions, and awesome work on the forum Nick Igoe for support and awesome work on the forum The guest writers: Brook Banham, Tim Brown, Johal Gow, Tom Painter, Robert Forest, David Griffiths, and Paul Cartwright for their amazing work Alexej Peters for the fantastic work that we couldn’t include The superstars of www.com/forum: Frap, Cyphris, Willster, Kinesis, HarryP, Nathdevlin, Jeskalade, Henry Ham, Mr.Bluesman, Drecks, Swiss, Sanguine, Ruchitajes, Elliot, Dave, Theia, Stocko2k, Aidyfuzz, A.Cherry, SebastianK, Ashley, Jtec, Fossman, Tokyogamer, Caio1985, McMonkeyBoy, Punnuman, Glode, Jason-NivEous, Seth, Neil_P, XaKu, Thudo, Airone, Jono23, DexterXS, Abubaker, Thomas, Dav, Ibrahim, Starfrogsplash, Jamie, Boffy, Commandercloin, EddyBrown, Memorex, Bogas, Gheist, Timex, and everyone else who makes this all worthwhile—thanks all! Everyone at Autodesk, www.com And a special thank you to everyone else who helped me along the way Finally, thank you for picking up the book. I hope you enjoy it. ix This page intentionally left blank Foreword What a decade of advancements in interactive game technology—to think that only 10 to 15 years ago we were pushing the envelope with car models for PC games that could today run glitch-free in many mobile phone games. We’re certainly experiencing an exciting era in game development! However, this never- relenting progression in games technology has a double-edged-sword effect.
Sure, we can now achieve spectacular-looking in-game graphics that almost rival 3D movie content, but at exorbitant costs in time, artist resources, and money. The vehicle models that took 1 week to produce 10 years ago now often take 6 or more weeks to produce. One only need look at the seemingly never-ending delays in the release of GT5 to understand how the eye-candy aspect of game design has spiraled to almost out-of-control levels. We’re almost at the plateau where movie content crosses over into game applications.
Although they are still vastly different mediums and still require totally different approaches, we are seeing more artists jumping ship and switching between the mediums without too much difficulty. To me, one of the most rewarding challenges of creating vehicles for real-time applications has been in using the least amount of geometry to achieve the best possible effect. optimization and balance being the criti- cal areas of the design with the desired outcome to produce clean, refined meshes that look pleasing in-game. The advent of bump maps and, more important normal maps has helped add fine detail to models instead of using geometry or relying on texture maps to simulate details.
Material shaders, specular maps, ambient occlusion, and advances in lighting technology help provide more realistic-looking metals, rubber, plastics, and glass and in many instances have replaced the use of a diffuse texture map altogether. Modeling aids such as CAD, 3D scanned data, and digitized data can remove much of the guesswork from modeling and help produce very accurate models, although at the expense of removing much of the creative or artistic challenge, and thus making the modeling process a more sterile experience. As for vehicle artists themselves, what makes them so passionate about wanting to create digital vehicles? From my own personal experience, it was my love of cars, motorsports, racing games, and art that prompted me to look into 3D modeling apps and teach myself how to model vehicles. xi Foreword I see this same passion in many of the vehicle artists who have worked with me over the years: their love of all things automotive, often combined with a need to express themselves (artistically) initiated their delving into 3D.
For many this passion eventually leads to pursuing a career as a 3D artist. My 3D modeling quest began almost 20 years ago, and, as I’ve already mentioned, technology has pro- gressed in leaps and bounds since then, as have learning aids, such as online tutorials, Internet forums, videos, and the modeling tools themselves. Finally we have a book that is dedicated to the subject. Whether you are a professional artist or a beginner, I hope you learn from this book and, more important, enjoy the experience.
Chris Wise Managing Director, Virtual Mechanix xii Introduction Important Information About this Book First of all, I’d like to start off with a little bit of important information about this book. First, this is not a book for complete beginners. If you are new to modeling for games and are looking for simple tutorials to get you up to speed, start off with 3ds Max Modeling for Games (2008) by Andrew Gahan or the training videos Max in Minutes and Maya in Minutes from Focal Press. This will give you all of the basics to get your modeling up to speed.
You should also have registered at www. This is a dedicated forum designed to help you through the tutorials of all the books and tutorials I’ve written, as well as answer any questions you may have about 3D, Games, CGI, or anything else. Just log in and we will be on hand to help you with anything you may need. There are also regular competitions and threads to showcase your work and post your work in progress for help and advice, among a myriad of other topics.
Why This Book Was Written This book is designed to bring the two important skills of design and modeling together and to feature some of the best designers and modelers in the industry. I have produced this book to showcase how ideas start from nothing, go through a design phase, move on to blueprints, and then finally finish rendered as 3D models. I want to show you exactly how the professionals work, in their words, revealing exactly how they work, how they solve problems, and how they earn a living designing and modeling vehicles for games, films, and the vehicle manufacturers themselves. Having worked in the games industry for almost 20 years and worked on lots of titles with scores of profes- sional designers and modelers, I knew exactly who to ask to help me with this project.
About the Guest Writers Let me introduce you to the guest writers and let them tell you a little about themselves in their own words. These guys are at the top of their game and a pleasure to work with. They always amaze me with their talent, skill, and dedication, and it’s an honor for them to be part of this project. xiii Introduction Brook Middlecott Banham I was born in Abilene, Texas, and raised in the United Kingdom.
My mother is Texan and my father is English. I adopted my father’s passion for cars and my mother’s artistic talents and started drawing cars at the early age of three. To the horror of my mother, my very first word was “Pontiac.” I got my first degree at Coventry University in transport design in 2000 and since have worked with an international range of clients, including Volkswagen, Microsoft, Hewlett Packard, Puma, BMW, Frog Design, Astro Studios, Hot Wheels, Motorola, and Disney. Since 2007 my wife and partner in crime, Judith Banham, and I have run our own design studio, Middlecott Design.
I am also currently in the first year of a master’s degree program in transport design at the College for Creative Studies (CCS) in Detroit, Michigan. Tim Brown I’ve been obsessed with cars for about as long as I can remember and was always drawing cars as a kid, so I didn’t have to think too hard about which career path to follow! After studying transport design at the BA level, I obtained a master’s degree in vehicle design at the Royal College of Art in London. I began my career at the celebrated product design agency Seymourpowell, also in London. Here I worked on a diverse portfolio of projects from helicopter interiors, to consumer electronics, to sex toys (yes, really!).
Following on from Seymourpowell, I started working as a designer at Ford Motor Company in the south- east of England and am now based in Germany at Ford’s European design studio. I have been lucky also to work on many freelance projects over the past decade, as a designer, concept artist, and illustrator in the product, games, and media industries. Clients have included Sony Computer Entertainment Europe, Evolution Studios, and BBC’s Top Gear magazine. My favorite tool of the trade is Photoshop, in case you hadn’t guessed! Johal Gow I am the Lead Vehicle Artist at Simbin Development Team with responsibility for design document crea- tion, creating specifications for upcoming games, managing outsourced artwork and artists, creating in-game and front-end artwork and renders, as well as inputting on all game graphics decisions.