Updated Modular Car Shape Template Available

 The template for the GMWC's modular car shape has been updated.

http://gridmotorsports.com/guides/skintemplates/GMWC_Template.rar

Changes include:

• Addition of new Rear Wing B
• Relocated Suspension holes from Details layer to their own layer for easier editing in the future if needed
• Suspension hole positions adjusted to actually line up with suspension members
• Redo of Nosebody A Shadows Layer
• Redo of Induction C Shadows Layer
• Reset all Shadows Layers to the proper 'Multiply' setting.

Unless additional driver-skinnable models are added to the mod, the basic template is done

At this point I'm going to turn my attention to finishing the template tutorial.

I've taken a look at the template, pretty impressive. As we have quite a long run up to skin submission date - must be getting on for 8 weeks or so - I'm feel the inclination to do a better job on skin creation. As I guess we'll be working with a pretty consistent template for some seasons to come, it seems like a great chance to get some best practice out on how one goes about creating a really groovy skin.

So I have some questions:

- first thing I notice is how small the sidepod area on the template is compared with the nosebody. Is that a problem ? At first sight it makes me think there are different levels of detail available to me on different parts. But beyond that, how would I best work to get visual features to match up across the boundaries of the sections. So suppose I wanted to run down the nose, onto the side pod to and then down on to the side.

- second thing. How to get started ? So what's the work procedure ? Do you start by blocking out the main features, to get scale, alignment, colour balance etc before going for real detail, or do you just get stuck in ?

Previously Andy Jones wrote:

- first thing I notice is how small the sidepod area on the template is compared with the nosebody. Is that a problem ? At first sight it makes me think there are different levels of detail available to me on different parts. But beyond that, how would I best work to get visual features to match up across the boundaries of the sections. So suppose I wanted to run down the nose, onto the side pod to and then down on to the side.

The image resolution is 2048x2048, so even the smaller areas should have enough pixels for decent details.

The Grid is there to help you get things lined up across part boundries, though it may still take some trial and error to get it right. I'm also playing with the idea of adding some alignment marks to the various grids to show where parts align...marks on the sidepods where the back of the nosebody would be for example. That's one position that doesn't change regardless of which nosebody is selected, so putting a mark on each sidepod would probably be beneficial...the problem is getting the mark in the right spot. I had a hell of a time with the suspension shadows.

- second thing. How to get started ? So what's the work procedure ? Do you start by blocking out the main features, to get scale, alignment, colour balance etc before going for real detail, or do you just get stuck in ?

First, I think of the helmet and driver suit as separate templates. I often hide those sections so that I'm not distracted by them while working on the template for the car. Once the car is done, I un-hide those sections to work on them, make sure they're on top of everything else so that any work I did on the car skin doesn't bleed over onto the helmet or driver's suit inadvertently. 

The second thing I do is reduce the complexity by eliminating those sections I won't be using. If you look at the tutorial, you 'll see that the first step I take is to delete the nose, sidepod, wing, etc that I'm not using. I then merge like layers to like layers...merge all the grid layers, all the mask layers all the label layers, all the details layers, all the shadow layers etc. Then arrange the layers in this order (depending on parts chosen, you may not have all the layers listed...just skip over those you don't have):

• Labels
• Grid 
• Mask
• Suspension Holes 
• Details 
• Shadows 
• Paint

At this point, you'll have a template that is specific to your particular car shape and you can then proceed in your usual manner.

 There's also another way of painting that can help with complex alignment issues. It's one I just started playing with. If you use photoshop, you can paint directly onto a 3d model! This requires a couple of different tools. First you need to identify which of the .GMT models make up your paintable parts. Second, you need to use something like 3DSimEd to import the .GMT files and export them as .3DS. Then you need to use 3DSMax to import the various .3DS files and merge them into a single file and export as a single .3DS file. At that point, you can open the merged .3DS file in photoshop, paint as you'd like and save the resulting skin file. This is a complex process and not exactly intuitive, so I'd probably use it for blocking out the major sections and then import the resulting file into the skin template for adding the details.

If you have photoshop, and want to give this method a try, but don't have the other tools needed, I'd be willing to create the needed 3ds model for you to experiment with. Just let me know which nose, sidepod, wing and induction you're using.

I'm with GIMP this time. I think my ancient Photoshop Elements has just about had it - there's something in the template that it doesn't like. I wouldn't be surprised if GIMP is more capable once I understand how to go about things with it.

So it sounds as if pegging out a pattern to get the key points located is probably a good place to start.