More SEED interactive content

I've uploaded a HUB variation from SEED. This never made it into the game, so it should be new even to the hardcore SEED gamers.

Once again, click the image to play with the interactive model.
Don't forget the rest of the SEED interactive content.

[WIP] VW 1200

I've been wanting to do an older VW 1200 bug/käfer in a detailed level, matching that of my VW T1 Barndoor van. I'm not quite pleased with the shape of it - feels more like a 1303. I might have to start from scratch again, and get my modelling straightened out a bit.

[WIP] R2-D2

More abbandon-ware. The head of an R2-unit. One of these days...

[WIP] Death Train

Older project put on the shelf. Looking at it now, I really feel like finishing it. It has potential. And I can't even remember why I put it on hold initially...

Mercury Grand Marquis (x2) final

I've finished the two versions of the (1984) Mercury Grand Marquis, so here's a fancy T.J. Hooker themed render:

You should also try the interactive TurnTool scene.
*TurnTool interactive scenes unfortunately only works with 32 bit version of Internet Explorer, and to my knowledge, none of the newer versions of Firefox or Chrome.

Final polygon count (tri's) is 3164 for the detective car and 3438 for the police car - including detachable hub caps and light decals.
They each use 2 main textures sheets of 1024*1024 (in the turntool version) for the body and details, and 2 secondary sheets of 512*512 for transparent stuff like windows and decals, as well as a few smaller reflection maps. Some maps are shared between the two cars.

---

Here below is the various stages of the work process, stripped from the old WIP thread:

Here's a current work in progress. A low-poly Mercury Grand Marquis (approx. 1984).
The plan is to do a traditional cop car, an undercover cop/agent car, and maybe a slammed gangsta ride, or pimp-mobile. I've only got a small straight-on side view drawing from an old ad, and misc. reference photos - no actual blueprints (if you happen to have some, I'd love to borrow them).

I've got the basic bodywork done, and currently I'm blocking out the interior.
I'll add details and smoothing groups later.




- I'd love to keep it around 4000 polys, and it should be doable. Currently it's about 3000, but obviously lots can be optimized.

*Update 01*
Added windows, interior (seats, dashboard, steering wheel), and handles (plus minor tweaks).

Close to 4000 polys (tris) now, but it's still not optimized.
I'll add exterior details like mirrors and police lights next.

*Update 02*
Added mirrors, police lights rubber bumber blocks. I also did a quick test to illustrate the two types of cop cars I'm after.

Still no smoothing groups, and I'm about 200 polygons (tris) over my budget, but I should be able to cut it down to the mark, when I optimize...

- and here's a wire for those interrested in that:


*Update 03*
I've optimized, smoothed, unwrapped the car and I'm now in the middle of making textures.
Polycount is now 3026 (tri's), so that's more than 25% cut-down from the 4200 polys it was in last update.







*Update 04*
I've don a bit more painting - not done yet though.

*Update 05*
More painting and some minor fixes to various smoothing groups. TurnTool file has also been updated.





*Update 06*
Ive added logos and license plates (yes I know the license plates say Washington, and the badge says Nevada - I'll change the license plate later).
Based on user comments on 3dmaxer.dk, I've also modelled the flash bar and insides, making the transparency show, and I've added a grid between the front- and backseats. Finally there's some texture details added to the bottom, not that it's that important.
Poly count is now approx. 3300. Still room for a gear shifter and more decals.

Buy these models at the3Dstudio.com

New CGsphere submission

I've made a new CGsphere submission. It can be viewed here on the CGsphere main site, or here if you're a lazy bugger :

- the idea was spawned from my (incredibly cool) D&G Medicine Man wrist watch.
Don't forget to view my previous CGspheres, here or here.

LEGO pressie from Nils & brother

- and the blue shell/padding and spikes glow in the dark. Cooooool! :D
It's odd, but LEGO is still incredibly appealing and fun - even at the age of 36.

He has a manuscript under his arm.

I must admit that roie_Koyama@jianming.com peaked my interrest with such an intriguing subject.
Who was this manuscript-carrying guy? And what WAS with the manuscript? And why, oh why, did he carry it so carelessly under his arm... or was it in fact glued to his armpits by accident?
- naturally I just HAD to open the email:

H-E.R.E WE GO A_GAIN!
T*H'E B-I'G O.N'E B EFORE T*H'E SEPTEMBER. RALLY !
T H*E M_ARKET IS ABO UT TO P O,P-, A,N_D SO IS E_X'M,T-!


Tick,: E*X*M,T

5-da y pot,ential+: 0*.+4+0
Firm.: EXCHANG,,E MOB'ILE T,E'L_E (Ot.her O-T*C : E XMT.PK)
A s'k : 0+.'1,0 (+2.5.-00%) UP TO 2.5.% in 1 day



N,o*t o n+l y d-o e's t'h+i.s f-i.r+m h,a'v,e gre at fundamental_s-,
b,u t gett*ing t.h-i,s o.ppo+rtunity at t.h,e ri.ght t'i,m+e,, righ't be.fore t'h_e ral+ly is w'h'a-t make's t+h_i's d+e'a'l so sw_eet! T'h.i*s a gre-at op.-portunity to at leas+t d_ouble up!




Def'ines a_n d p.rovide s a dow_nl+oad l.i n k f-o'r t+h e Micr o*soft B*aseli_ne Se*curi'ty A-na lyzer (MB.SA) t-o.o_l,. F o-r t_h,e th-ird exam*pl'e, t.h_e H-T.M,L f+i l,e Cont+ent.

T*h_e hous.e w_a*s f+u'l,l of Ch_a rlotte's snor-e, whi-le Loli,ta hard.ly bre'_athed in h-e,r s*leep, as sti*ll as a pai*nted girl-chi+ld*. I k_e,p*t my bla'de a'n*d s.pikard at read.y as I contin'ue,d to b'a'c_k a-w'a'y,.
A m.ul+tiprocessor sy.stem w i t_h t+w*o 2 0+0 M+H.z UltraSP *ARC proce, ssors.

- after reading this cunningly coded message, I was none the wiser. Manuscript-carrying guy's identity had not been revealed, nor did I know if the manuscript was just being transported by the simplest means, or if it was in fact the sad outcome of a freak accident.
And what about Charlotte and Lolita? Charlotte should definetely seek help with that snoring. And if manuscript-carrying guy is the same as the person holding the blade, then perhaps it really WAS a freak accident, and the blade was to cut away the glued-on manuscript?
What roles does the multiprocessor system play? Is it too going to the rally? Will Lolita benefit from the sweet double up market deal - or is she really just some sort of drawing or painting, and thus pure fiction? Maybe she had to much to drink, and someone (Charlotte?) played a prank on her with a pen and some creativity, after she passed out?

So many unanswered questions...

Ouch baby, very ouch...

... the absinthe hangover has definetely kicked in.
I wan't to say a BIG thanks to Liv, Anders, Mette, Ida, Esben, Jan, Sammy, Rasmus, Gabby, Thomas, Louise, Nils & brother, Lasse & Christina + israeli friend for making my birthday kickass.
It was well worth all the mess you left - especially the moment which I consider the highlight of the night - when Sammy took me up on the challenge, and for the hefty amount of 10 dkkr, drank a full glass of boiled sausage water...

Thanks for the wonderful presents - I'm gonna go watch "Monster House" now, and slowly try to recover. Might have a cookie or two as well, and later I'll assemble my Lego Bionicle figure :)
- not sure if I'm gonna test that stink-figure today though...

*edit* and which one of you mongrels, have hidden my shoe horn? I bet it's you, Sammy.

You can take the city out of the ghetto....

...but you can't take the ghetto out of the city - apparently.

There's been a regular drive-by-shooting, less than 100 meters from my home this morning. That's freaky. Half the road was blocked while the crime scene was being investigated. Last year there was a brutal stabbing only an extra 20 meters from today's crime scene.
Speculations are that it is gang related. Gangs. In Denmark. That's just so pathetic. And where's the fuckin' honor in a cowardly drive-by-shooting anyways? What the hell is wrong with these people?
"Funny" thing is, the local tv-station has this as top news story on their website. Second news story, right below, is how things have calmed down in the ghetto. No wonder, when they take the fighting to the city center...

If that's what I wanted, I would've stayed in the ghetto, and saved the insane amounts of money you have to pay for a decent appartment in the city center.

Sheesh... Happy Birthday, Nick!

VRayISO niceness

Dimo is working on this neat VRay plugin. It allows you to create the most fab rocks, coral, sponges etc. from a userdefined proxy mesh.
Although I haven't found the right way to lower rendertime, there's definetely some strong potential in this one. And I'll be tweaking a bit to find out more.

It's open beta so far - make sure you get the right version for the right version of VRay.

Here is a very nice CGsphere that Dimo did last year using his own plugin.

Old test :

Know your target audience...

I'm confused. Who's the target audience here?
So we have a big, muscular guy, with a cape. I'm thinking superhero. Then I notice his shorts, flip flops, and picnic basket. I'm thinking slightly gay (nothing wrong with that) beach buff. Then there's the issue about his excessive use of goggles (Elton John anyone?) and his pinky sticking out. And he's riding a Vespa. Does it get anymore gay than that (even if he doesn't seem to wax his chest)?

Guess I just revealed some dark secrets about my stereotypical view on certain types there, but honestly - who IS the target audience?

*image courtesy of Scandinavian Park*

.AUthentic or plain aussieficial

One of the many things that made an impression on me when I was in Australia, was the many long and flat roads that seemed to go on and on and on... forever.
Today I took a bike ride to the harbour where I used to go fishing and muck about with my friends, when I was a kid. Thing's sure have changed. Where we used to have access to pretty much all areas, everything is now contained behind tall fences with barbed wire. And there's been added a huge new section to the harbour as well. That's progress for ya.

- but back to the topic of long, straight aussie roads. You rarely go more than a few hundred meters down a road here in Denmark, before it bends, or goes up- or downhill. But at the new section of the harbour there's a stretch thats more than a kilometer straight out, and totally flat. It's probably the longest stretch of this kind in my town. Not much compared to australian standards, but for a little while there, it did feel a bit like the real thing...


- just before it straightens out.


- and at the end of it.

[WIP] - Mercury Grand Marquis low-poly

This project has been finalized. You can find it here.

Lobsterized

Just back from a day on Tunø where it was finally summer. And now I look like Dr. Zoidberg - except without the tentacles and snazzy doctors outfit...

It was nice, although it will most likely hurt tomorrow.







And this is what Liv looks like today...
















*Dr. Zoidberg appears courtesy of Fox TV.
*Racoon appears courtesy of mother nature and a frightened photographer.

vomic.com (and yay! - post #100)

This is the 100th post on polygonpoop (insert grand orchestrated ensemble, and crackling fireworks). That didn't take long. But some of the postings are relocations of stuff from hatetank.dk, after all.

More importantly - I've made a new vomic. After 2 years and some months of total neglect, I made a new one. I think it was just about time. Not that I lack ideas. I have tons. I just didn't feel like it... untill now. And you'll like it - oh yes. It ties nicely together with the polygonpoop theme.



- I'm planning to ditch the domain and save the money. So within a month or so, vomic.com will relocate to vomic.hatetank.dk

In the totally unlikely event you DON'T know what vomic is, it's a site where I put (3D)images to funny (mis)interpretations of words, terms or just random weirdness. Somewhat inspired by Boring3D, but with a "vocabulary twist".

*edit* Relocation complete.

New tutorial online

Well - it's actually an old tutorial, but it's been ported to polygonpoop.
You can find it here, and it'll teach you to make effects like in these pics:

Mjolnir

Project ID : Mjolnir (relocation of older piece)
- hammer of the god of thunder, Thor.

Modelled from a silver replica necklace appendice.
Method´s used : Primitives, Boxmodelling/Meshsmooth on primitives and Loft objects.

Textured using handpainted masks and lots of procedurals.

Rendered using Brazil r/s test version 0.4.53, and for the first time in my history - HDRI to light the entire scene. Not one light has been used (which might be the reason for the grainy result).

Is there anybody out there?

*KA-CLUNK* *KA-CLUNK* *KA-CLUNK*

- that sound has been going on and on over the last 3-4 days - all day at work. Apparently there's some construction work going on nearby, where they're jamming these massive steel struts into the ground with a ten-ton hammer. The vibrations can be felt in the office, about 100 meters away from the actual construction site, and both my screens are dancing to the beat of the "strut-insertion".
The most peculiar thing however, is that the sound makes me think of the signal Jodie Foster receives in the movie "Contact". So now I have the strongest urge to watch it again. Good thing the weekend is knocking at my door...

Loafing on Lefkas

We've booked our vacation, and it's back to Greece once more. Lefkas to be more specific. One week at, what appears to be, a nice, small, quiet hotel not too far from everything. I can't wait. I really like Greece, and I've stated earlier this year, that I would like to go back there again soon. And hey, presto - we are.

We usually wait till rather late with the booking, because the closer you get to departure, the cheaper the last minute travels get. And so does the selection of course. So at present it was down to Greece, Turkey, Mallorca and Bulgaria, and Bulgaria was not a great experience when we were there two years ago, mainly because we ended up in Sunny Beach (which has also gotten a pretty bad reputation this year, due to numerous rapes and other violent attacks). I don't really fancy going to Turkey, and although Spain would be nice, we'd prefer to go somewhere else than Mallorca or Ibiza.

So - Lefkas it is. In just 4 weeks - give or take...

* image courtesy of someone else. If you don't want it here, let me know.