go-kart model

[zaphod]

nothing too pretty this time, spent most of today blocking out a base for chill mountain after figuring out the layout I wanted.

[Skjalg]

I really like it...I would really like to know how you go about making (or continuing on something like that), is there any chance you can sit down and just record what you do for a couple of hours?

[bitmap]

I really like it...I would really like to know how you go about making (or continuing on something like that), is there any chance you can sit down and just record what you do for a couple of hours?

yes please!

[st0lve]

A small racetrack tutorial would be worth money to me!

This project looks like so much fun, I want to make my own environment.

[Buddy]

A small racetrack tutorial would be worth money to me!

This project looks like so much fun, I want to make my own environment.

Contribute to the game if possible!

[zaphod]

I am by no means an expert at making a track, this is only the 2nd and I am still learning the process. Some kind of time lapse video would be kind of neat though, I will try to remember to set something like that up from the start on the next track. I can at least describe the process I have been using so far.

1. decide theme

2. collect reference photos

3. create base textures

4. decide on a shape and what kind of features you want in the track

5. create the shape of the track in illustrator

6. using the illustrator image, trace the shape of the course in maya with the curve tool

7. push and pull the curve until happy with the heights and curves on the track

8. extrude a line along the curve to create the track shape

9. start pulling geometry off of the track piece to create the supporting landscape

10. I usually skip around to different pieces of the track and only start building it out if I can feel a glimpse of what it should look like in my head. I sometimes put large pieces of placeholder geometry to help arrange where I want large features.

11. Once the main landscape is done then I start creating and placing props, as well as tweak smoothing groups and uv maps.

12. After the final geometry is in place then it's on to lighting. I set up a rough lighting model in mental ray and tweak it until I am happy.

13. I bake the lighting into the vertexes of the level

14. I go through the level bit by bit, refining the lighting with the vertex paint tool, removing hard edges and adding in key lighting.

Thats the basic process, there are a couple of things I would like to do differently on the next track however. There are a lot of fun mario kart tracks that have almost no curving track geometry and are just made up up regular geometry or objects (bowsers castle, tick tock clock, etc.) I would like to do something like that where it's not a track shape from start to finish.

[bitmap]

i love you man

[st0lve]

You should do a deserted island, which sandy dunes\beach, jungle part and an underground gave with a skull carved into the mountain enterance. Lava inside the cave muhahaha

[zaphod]

You should do a deserted island, which sandy dunes\beach, jungle part and an underground gave with a skull carved into the mountain enterance. Lava inside the cave muhahaha

I was actually thinking about something like that a few weeks ago after I watched the goonies which has some stuff in it like that. I have a lot of cool ideas for tracks, I just wish I could work on them all day instead of in my spare time.

[General Vivi]

looking nice man . can't wait to see how this turns out.

[OL]

what do the UVs look like for the road sections? does every road quad use the same piece of the skin?

[zaphod]

the Uv's are one really long strip, so the only work you have to do is scale it vertically to change the tiling rate to whatever you want.

[mjens]

the Uv's are one really long strip, so the only work you have to do is scale it vertically to change the tiling rate to whatever you want.

Can you show it?

[zaphod]

Not a whole lot of progress, some added geometry and tightened up some stuff.

you wanted to see the uv's

not really that exciting

[Acumen]

wow, these links gave me some serious popups annoyance³

i don't dare clickin them again