T-72 MBT (resurrection)

Here goes, first WIP. The russianmade T-72 main battle tank.

The start of the track system:

http://www.tpu.fi/~t5rjarak//images/renders/shoes.jpg

The middle of drive sprocket looks strange. It is supposed have those pointy triangles, because it can be opened there. The ‘shoes’ are an ok model and material (atleast I think so), with one or two minor problems with the mesh.

A material test:

[removed, obsolete]

The scratches look funny, out-of-place and too long and too far a part. The brightest patch of green might be too yellow/bright. Also, the material is where its not supposed to be when finished, so it looks kind of silly in some places. And the model, ofcourse, needs some major detailing.

I know its not much to show and less to C&C on, but I thought id start this topic and post once in a while.

The durt on the material is very good.

can you explain to a newbie how you did the dirt? the color is to light btw.

I didnt make it but if think its done in the Gimp or Paintshop. His texture is probably a camouflage picture that is seamless. the dirt is simply another picture (you can see the dirt pattern and shape is similar) is another layer Superimposed on the camouflage one.

A very nice texture but could have some more working.

the track models are nice and the frame of the tank has the correct overal shape but needs more detail.

Maybe do the turret as a seperate object though

I don’t know if its a good or a bad thing that you think that the material is uv-mapped. Its actually all procedural, the camoflauge and the dirt.

A very nice texture but could have some more working.

the track models are nice and the frame of the tank has the correct overal shape but needs more detail.

Maybe do the turret as a seperate object though

What would you do to the material? It is a bit too bright, I’ll admit. There still is a third camoflauge texturelayer that wasn’t on in those renders, so the pattern would change somewhat.

I just noticed that the front goes too ‘back’. Theres no room for the drivers hatch, if someone knows what the tank looks like (or is bothered to google for a pic). Thats now corrected.

Why the turret as a separete obj? Right now its a separate mesh in the same object, so wouldn’t be a prob to part.

The colour of the dirt is too light? As said earlier, its just a cloud procedural with a suitable color ramp. I’ll post a .blend with the material if someone wants it. And the colour looks darker through yafray, so well see what it looks like in the final render.

edit: Forgot to ask, whats the ‘usual’ way of adding decals? Right now I’m thinking of modelling them as separate objects and just putting them where they should be and even sticking through the hull of the tank. Then I would parent them to the tank so if I move/turn it, everything will follow. How does that sound?

edit: Forgot to ask, whats the ‘usual’ way of adding decals? Right now I’m thinking of modelling them as separate objects and just putting them where they should be and even sticking through the hull of the tank. Then I would parent them to the tank so if I move/turn it, everything will follow. How does that sound?

Using an empty works well:

https://blenderartists.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=43799&highlight=stm+n+27

Yes, but I’ll be modelling them, not just using textures. Maybe decals was the wrong word to use.

Oh, I see what you mean. I should have read your post more closely. Yep, parenting the object/decal like you said is a good way to go.

http://www.tpu.fi/~t5rjarak/images/renders/vaunu_parts.jpg

New parts. Also the engine grille is allmost done and the fuel tanks have the grooves. On the righthand box there are the locking mechanisms (without the counterparts) that come in handy as they are found all over the tank.

The straight line going up/down on the left box is from the uv-map of the insignia. Thats fixed now, as I did the empty-map thing that hopperrr mensioned.

wow looking very good!

Time for a small update, the nose got some details. Now if I would just get my towcable to follow that bezcurve…

http://www.tpu.fi/~t5rjarak//images/renders/vaunu_nokka.jpg

Oh yeah, the clip that the cable attaches to, on the bottom left on the image, look funny and has a wierd bump on the top. Will be fixed sometime. Some wrong facing and/or triangle faces in there too.

The mounting point for the aa machine gun:

http://www.tpu.fi/~t5rjarak/images/renders/itko_taka.jpg

Some details missing and some looking a bit odd. I’d still call that one done, especially considering that that’s not the main part of the scene.

The visible parts of the track system are now complete, I got around to modelling the front wheel (johtopyörä). The side panels got some shape into them and the tops and locking mechanisms of the boxes on the right side just need to be copied in place.

Looking good! That’s the way I like tanks, detailed! Keep it up!

How do you model springs? I have always wondered that.

Thanks Cativo.

Well, those springs I did the following way which does take up a lot of vertices/faces:

Make a circle as big as you want your spring to be. Extrude and rotate, extrude and rotate, ext… until you have a circle from the original circle. But don’t ‘connect’ the circle by removing doubles. Then you just place one end above the other and move rest of the circle up a smaller amount.

There you have a ‘link’ of the spring. Then you just copy&paste, remove doubles, rinse&repeat.

Hope you understand something from that.

keep it up man, you’re doing great

Edit: Updated pictures -> corrected post.

The turret is taking on shape: http://www.tpu.fi/~t5rjarak//images/renders/turret_crit3.jpg

That one seemed hard to model and I still am not satisfied with it. I redid it from scratch 3-4 times and thats what I came up with.

Heres two more:
http://www.tpu.fi/~t5rjarak//images/renders/turret_crit1.jpg
http://www.tpu.fi/~t5rjarak//images/renders/turret_crit2.jpg

:o :o no crits here, cool! are you going to make an animation with it shooting???(please do that)

Well, those springs I did the following way which does take up a lot of vertices/faces:

Make a circle as big as you want your spring to be. Extrude and rotate, extrude and rotate, ext… until you have a circle from the original circle. But don’t ‘connect’ the circle by removing doubles. Then you just place one end above the other and move rest of the circle up a smaller amount.

There you have a ‘link’ of the spring. Then you just copy&paste, remove doubles, rinse&repeat.

Hope you understand something from that.[/quote]
Poor man… You have to read about the spin screw feature. I can do this spring in less than a minute…

Concerning your model, It’s clear you work seriously, good work overall. There is some artifact on some corner. please be sure to place you triangle (if you have any) correctly, and make sure you don’t have any cuted quad.(4 vertice at the same height). Use crease if you didn’t already do. It’s a pleasure to do mechanical stuff with crease.

Well, I’m just trying to get it together and textured first. Even then, I’m more interested in the moving animation and engine noise, but would be fun to see both a moving and a firing animation.

Heh, allways fun to learn new stuff.

Yep, it was, or still is, quite of a mess. I did clean it up after those last pics. Now it is allmost all quads.

Cuted quad? I’m sorry, but didn’t understand, could you explain? Yeah, crease is a must when you need those transitions from rounded to boxed surfaces.