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At the end of September (2012), when the word "free time" still had a sense for me I started working on a car creation. Then I though it would sadly never be finished, but finally I'm working on it from time to time, which mean it still evolves, slowly but noticeably...

The car is a Majorette toy car (original scale is 1/32) I own. I felt lazy to take a picture of it but I found a few of them on the net. Here they are: My goals are mostly:
- body, wheels, etc. are modelled from scratch using Blender only.
- the whole texture is created from scratch using Inkscape only.

Other tools I should use:
- for the collision data I'll likely use my tool prm2hul tweaked under Blender if necessary.
- a Notepad clone for the parameters.txt edit.
- WolfR4 or Re-Volt v1.2 for testing (currently the texture is 512x512)

Here's a Blender preview of the WIP body (the whole mesh uses 498 faces):



I started working on the wheels very recently so you can't see them yet...

Awesome work Jigebren


greetings : Nieger33

One word - Amazing.

Chevy god bless you!

"DAMON KILLER" words are missing LOL

and the car trunk don't have any floor ???

I'm looking forward to test the beast

note : any news about your custom track ?

Thanks guys.

>> "DAMON KILLER" words are missing
Yep, I have not checked yet if I could find a similar font (which I don't like that much BTW...) to draw it.

>> and the car trunk don't have any floor ???
It's just not textured yet.

>> I'm looking forward to test the beast
Oh, I may seek an external point of view since yesterday I was working on the wheels but was not satisfied with the result: I draw studs on the tyre, but as a consequence of the stroboscopic effect, at a given speed the wheels may look as if they're turning backward...
I noticed that stock cars mostly use simple black wheels, maybe as an easy way to workaround the issue. So I wonder whether I'll keep detailed wheels with studded tyres, or just use a black slick tyre.

Don't know if some other car makers already faced this issue? Iron Bob maybe?

>> note : any news about your custom track ?
Hmm, not really. I thought a car would be way easier to finish than a track, that why I started working on this car even though my track was not finished. And I think I've changed my mind about this track since I started working on it. I still like the theme and the main racing line but now I think I would rather simplify the whole design to try to keep only what is essential for the fun.

jigebren @ Nov 25 2012, 04:36 PM wrote: Oh, I may seek an external point of view since yesterday I was working on the wheels but was not satisfied with the result: I draw studs on the tyre, but as a consequence of the stroboscopic effect, at a given speed the wheels may look as if they're turning backward...
I noticed that stock cars mostly use simple black wheels, maybe as an easy way to workaround the issue. So I wonder whether I'll keep detailed wheels with studded tyres, or just use a black slick tyre.

Don't know if some other car makers already faced this issue? Iron Bob maybe?

It also hapens with the wheel rim texture. And i suppose the original RV cars don't have textured tire treads due to mapping space issues or to fit with the plain black body bottom.

I suggest going for the detailed wheel mesh.

Cat @ Nov 25 2012, 09:05 PM wrote:I suggest going for the detailed wheel mesh.

Ok, I think that's what I'm going to do. And you're right, it's also noticeable with the wheel rim when turning... Well, I just hope it won't be too disturbing.

I worked a bit on this car during the week, and today I finished several pending points. The wheels are almost done now. As for the body. It's almost finished, but it still needs some tweaks here and there (mostly vertex shading now) and as I tend to be crazily perfectionist sometime, it can still take long.

Here's a preview under Blender:



Each wheel uses 564 faces for now. For info, I plan to (try to) create several lower levels of details for the wheels. Maybe add springs and axles as well.
Then will remain the parameters.txt tweaking, and I'm not sure that will be the part I like the most...

jigebren @ Dec 2 2012, 12:03 AM wrote: Then will remain the parameters.txt tweaking, and I'm not sure that will be the part I like the most...

I can assist with that if you require it.

Skarma @ Dec 2 2012, 02:12 AM wrote:I can assist with that if you require it.

Thanks for the help offer, Skarma. I may ask then, though I'll try to see before if I can handle it alone. Anyway, I have to finish the modelling before, so it's probably still a matter of weeks...

The modelling and skinning is almost finished and I started to tweak the parameters.
But I can't choose a proper location for the wheels. The original toy's body is quite high and I'm not sure it really fits for a RC car. So I made another version slightly lower, and a bit wider too. Now I don't know which version I should keep. The one closer to the original toy, or a one that looks more like a real RC car?

I'm attaching a preview of the 2 versions (the original version is on top). Feel free to give your PoV to help me in my choice...

Overview & in-race camera:

Original looks better for me, so I think, go for original. (just my opinion)
Or you could release with two parameter files, if people want they could select (original would be default, if want to change then rename params file)

original one realy better

I prefer the bottom one, but you can also include both versions in the final release, as said by VaiDux.

Also liked the original more.

If the original is higher, then go with original. Re-Volt is a digital world anyway, and it does look better.

Is this car for download yet?

It looks great.

Mandolin @ Jan 11 2013, 08:12 PM wrote: Is this car for download yet?

No, It's a WIP.

Cat @ Jan 12 2013, 01:29 AM wrote:

Mandolin @ Jan 11 2013, 08:12 PM wrote: Is this car for download yet?

No, It's a WIP. (Not A Real WIP)

I Wanna Add Blazer 4x4 To Stock Car List

The modelling and skinning is almost finished... hmm, wait, I already told that a few weeks ago. Well, it's true though, I think I've now reached the endless polishing stage. So now it's rather a matter of when I'll decided I'm actually done with it.

I started tweaking the parameters quickly but the behaviour is not really pleasant for now. It tends to loose grip too much when steering, and to flip too easily as well.
I just can't tell when it'll be ready. I'm afraid it'll still take time before I get something I'm satisfied with...

Here's a preview of the car in-game.





I said previously I didn't like the Demon Killer logo that much, but after searching for a font to use as a substitute, I thought it would be fun to try to redraw the same logo in vectorial. So the missing logo is not missing anymore...

I've also spent quite some time to draw shadows (quite the same way as ambient occlusion) to get a slightly more natural and realistic look.

My offer for help with parameters is still open, if you require it.

Thanks Skarma, I appreciate it, and I would gladly accept but I'm afraid it would be choosing the easy way. For this first attempt I'm trying to learn and understand as much steps of the car creation process as possible. So even if I don't really feel like spending hours on the parameters tweaking, it would be better for me to try it once at least. So I'll try... and if I can't get anything correct, or within a reasonable time, then I will certainly get back to you.


A few info about the car:

- The body still uses (only) 498 faces, including the tubular reinforcements at the back (don't know how it's called). In fact most of the work to add small details, shadows, etc. is done in Inkscape, that was actually the biggest part of the job. In comparison the modelling under Blender was quite easy and short.
- Each wheel uses 660 faces (420 are for the spikes). I may eventually add lower resolution meshes (as some of the stock cars).
- The axle uses 53 faces.
- I've not created yet a custom collision data file (.HUL).

- The whole car should be quite easily skinnable, at least I tried to do so. Everything (even some parts like the bottom that use a single color) is textured and can be modified just by editing the BMP image. If I have enough time I may even include an UV mapping overview to show which areas have to be edited/painted.

jigebren @ Jan 22 2013, 03:37 PM wrote: - The body still uses (only) 498 faces, including the tubular reinforcements at the back (don't know how it's called).

Roll bars.

If the truck flips too easily, just lower the CoM.

RC Bandit parameters wrote:0.000000 -5.000000 1.000000

Cat @ Jan 22 2013, 08:05 PM wrote:Roll bars.

Thanks Cat.

If the truck flips too easily, just lower the CoM.

Sure, but the CoM is already quite low (right at the bottom of the body), I could easily cheat and lower it even more but I'd like to try to play with other parameters before and use this only as a last resort.

Nice to see you are making progress on this project, Jig!

The Ambient Occlusion you did to the textures looks quite good - are you also going to add in vertex shadows like the stock cars have? Just curious.

urnemanden @ Jan 24 2013, 09:14 PM wrote:The Ambient Occlusion you did to the textures looks quite good - are you also going to add in vertex shadows like the stock cars have?

Thanks Urne. And yes, in fact the vertex shadowing is already done.
I used shades of grey in Vertex Paint in Blender. It took quite some time as well. Here's a preview.



Oh and just for info, in case someone need it too, to display only the vertex shading in Blender (ie. no texture, no Blender own shadows) switch to Vertex Paint mode AND set the Viewport Shading to Solid.

Amazing Jigebren .

Can't wait for download.



greetings : Nieger33@

Hello forum, and everyone that use this board.

It's LivingWithGames here from the RVL forums, I have been hardly been in this forum and I wanted to finally come in here. Sorry for necroposting but, it's about time I need to post in this board, finally use this account for something useful. I know I could have posted anywhere else but this called off my attention. When I saw this, I was interested in looking more at the posts of your current progress of what you have done to it and furthermore and well, I must say...you have got skills there, I didn't know at first you could use Blender and do such a great work on this.Yes, you could say I was living under a rock since I know you very well to be the main author of WolfR4, a second option to Re-Volt 1.2.In any case, the pickup truck looks very nicely done and I am expecting it to be done soon enough but you see, the thing in here is that well...this topic is now very much possible 4 to 5 months old of waiting for a new post and I wanted to know if you have scrapped the project. Like, for instance, you could be busy with that still or perhaps you've got life issues.Stuff that we care about and get involved the most.

And so I thought, "Hm...Why not ask here?It's not like an useless necro-post anyway". So yeah...when you'll be able to release this piece of work, Jigebren? I'm a bit anxious for this to come out and well, I didn't read all teh posts carefully because well, I'm excited.A new car for Re-Volt is always a good thing.I'm certainly sure I am not the only one waiting for this magnificent work. A great model, great textures and it even has custom shadows too. This is the type of quality that the best of the Re-Volt community needs.

Drop by in this topic soon, Jigebren. Many regards,

~L.W.G.

Hi LivingWithGames, welcome on ORP, and my heartfelt thanks for your kind words and supportive comment.

Well, no I have not dropped it. The fact is that I have several pending projects and being actually busy in real life I had to make some choices, so I rather focused on the ones that received the most interest, like the v1.2 and the Blender plugin.

I still have this car in mind though, but so far I was not able to get satisfied with the physics behavior. And I was not really happy with the current car tweaking method either. Editing each wheels parameters, saving parameters.txt, reloading the car, etc., this is quite tedious... I was wondering whether v1.2 could be extended to help with that, but it sounded like a hell of a job as well and I didn't do it either.

>> This is the type of quality that the best of the Re-Volt community needs.
Thanks again, and I obviously agree - I mean not about the quality of my own work, but about the needs. As far as I'm concerned I do aim at good quality content, the counterpart being that it unfortunately takes much more time...

I could simply subcontract the parameters editing, since that's what I'm mostly stuck with, but being somewhat perfectionist I'd have to be sure that this will be done properly, and not being the biggest user-car consumer, I wouldn't know who I can definitively trust for this task.

Most recently I was pleased to discover an unknown parameters.txt feature that may help a bit the car tweaking, since there would be only one parameter to edit for several wheels at once - I have to remind myself to document it for other car makers. That may help me working on this car again, and hopefully finish an release it.

jigebren @ Jun 13 2013, 08:51 PM wrote:I could simply subcontract the parameters editing, since that's what I'm mostly stuck with, but being somewhat perfectionist I'd have to be sure that this will be done properly, and not being the biggest user-car consumer, I wouldn't know who I can definitively trust for this task.

Most recently I was pleased to discover an unknown parameters.txt feature that may help a bit the car tweaking, since there would be only one parameter to edit for several wheels at once - I have to remind myself to document it for other car makers. That may help me working on this car again, and hopefully finish an release it.

I'd be glad to offer help/testing time if you need it.
Also, very interested in this "one parameter to edit for several wheels at once" sounds too good to be true.

"one parameter to edit for several wheels at once"

I'm also interested in this info.

I'll third this statement, though I may not use it very often

Manmountain @ Jun 14 2013, 12:15 PM wrote:Also, very interested in this "one parameter to edit for several wheels at once" sounds too good to be true.

And yet it's true... I've now added all the info here.