In the comments of the past 2 tutorial articles we collected some questions. Admittedly it took a bit longer to prepare the answers, but I hope they satisfy. It’s not easy to give a straight clear answer without knowing how much basics we can assume. So we try to give pointers and if you we talk about stuff you don’t get. Ask again. Please note, we will never give a click-by-click explanation. 😉
How to map engine parts (like tubes and other parts…)??
Use the UVW Mapping tools in 3ds max. For tubes I would recommend the pelt mapping method using seams. Also you can create those tubes or wires using splines and let 3ds max create the shape and mapping.
To generate LOD B and LOD C i must start from zero, decrease manually from LOD A or have some script/tool to easily do that?
There are several ways of poly-reduction. You can use poly-reduction modifier (called multires) in 3ds max, you can use the poly reduce modifier in XSI or the reduce option in maya. All of them have their benefits and flaws. The best and most efficient way is still to do it by hand. Then you can decide where to reduce the polys and where you want to spent more polygons. Usually I would suggest to combine both variants. Doing it by hand for LOD B maybe and use some of the automatic methods to generate LOD C.
I’m an expert on Solidworks (I’m curious about did you hear anything about this software. It’s an engineering CAD program) and I model the cars on solidworks. Is it possible to use this models in a game? (like rFactor or any other)
Theoretically it is possible. But you’re using a CAD engineering tool and therefore you create your objects in NURBS. To get a polygon model, you have to tesselate and convert the nurbs into polygons.You can do that with stand alone Tools as Rhinoceros, VRED, Autodesk Showcase, or with special plugins for 3ds max & maya (like N-Power Translator), or you use RTT DeltaGen (that’s the best but the most expensive solution).
No matter which application you use to tesselate the NURBS, you will always struggle with the polycount. So you either reuse the CAD as base for a polygon model and do further reducing by hand, or you remodel it using the CAD as base. You can put a CAD part straight into rFactor, but you have to live with some limitations like low fps and/or tesselation quality issues.
Concerning finding the right logos – you say to never upscale a logo to make it larger. If you have a logo that is too small and need it larger, will you go about re-drawing the logo itself in vectors, or do you use another method?
We use all 3 methods. First we have a look in our private shared logo collections. Many companies have been sponsoring for years and chances are high somebody within the team already found the necessary logo. Obviously this does not help you. First stop are sites like BrandsOfTheWorld.com or Vector-Logotypes. Both are public resources for vector logos. BOTW has seen its best days several years ago and before they took down most commercial logos. Try to look for press or media kits of a company. They often include vectorized logos.
If you can’t find it as vector, there are a few very nice places to visit and nicely ask. I can promote the GrandPrixGames forums, where they always have a public thread to share requested logos. Great guys! This is a good start for modern and topical logos.
Google Image Search can be a help, too.
Another nice trick is to look for company press statements with the official PDF-styles. PDF are usually vectors, so you can zoom in to a logo and grab a screenshot to work from. Same applies for fonts, if you can’t find the font online, or can’t get the commercial version. If you need it badly you can actually decompile the PDF and extract some raw data like fonts, look for Fontforge.
If nothing helps, you have to reconstruct it. When you can’t avoid this, do it right and do it as vectors. Some like to do it in Adobe Illustrator, I think Inkscape (Open Source) suffices. It’s easy for simple monochrome logos and gets tougher the more colors and effects you have.
Most Vector software has a way to vectorize logos. If you have highres-graphics you can vectorize them. However, for small logos or Logos based off images, this isn’t very practical.
Lastly, don’t be a prick, share logos so everyone can benefit.
We accept more questions and we will post more how-to-get-started-into-modding tutorials in the upcoming weeks. Post your questions in the comments.
