M1-A1 Abram
 

Here is my M1-A1 so far...this is what i did today besides my face...im debating on wether or not to use bump maps for the planeling or do it all in poly's....(LOOK FOR MY POLL)

Opps
 

Opps for got the picture....he he :D

how bout bump maps :)

I love to see good ones, so do it for you old admin :)

good job btw!

PIPES
 

Does any one know how to make good pipes/Railings?

I need them for parts of tank

the pipes have to be bent on the ends...i try using the rail extrude but the pipes are never straight....:confused:

Kevin...not taking offence or anything but what did you call me?...and the reason im debating is the prosses is of creating GOOD bump mapps is a pain in the @$$ (dont know if the addministrators will allow "Language") unless you have any tips on how to make them or any good tutorials

Here's what i finished today, i have school tommorow (FUN!! :rolleyes: )and i have to go to sleep ....some detail...the comm antenna storage on the side, smoke launchers, exsaust, and its had to see but the bottom pannals for the storage area on the sides of the turret.

Peace out

Hmm... I suppose it all depends on how close-up the model will be seen in the final renders. If you're really wanting to get up close and personal with the thing then the way to go is always to model the geometry - bump maps won't cut it in such a close up.

However, if the model isn't going to be seen from such an extreme closeup then I'd use bump mapping every time if for nothing else than to keep the poly count down.

If you're looking for good tutorials on how to make and apply such bump maps and also for the creation of pipes and such then surf on over to Kier Darby's Betterspace tutorials - theres some on there that could help you.

URL: www.ap3d.com/betterspace

LOL, Mark, I was going to reccomend him to that site myself. I myself, not being a LW stud, would say both depending on what kind of detail. But if you can get away with bump maps, I would reccomend them. At any rate you wouldn't be out much time to try them.

BUMP MAPS
 

ok by popular demand....well its 3-3 at the moment but everyone wants me to go for the bump maps. My friend...who only dreams of being able to play with lightwave...says I should use bump maps because I didn’t on my AT-AT...but now that I made up my mind....how do you use UV maps(atlas) to make bump maps...tried before, and failed miserably!:( i have seen some tutorials but thoses really didn't help.

Thanks For all you help

UPDATE
 

Here is what i have so far...looks better because i used some shadow maps... added detail to teh turret..yet to add the MG's...cant see it but i added the attachment ring from the body to the turret...body has little detail on it...kinda dropped the idea of bump maps...i have the time to sit and watch it be rendered...I HAVE STILL LOTS OF WORK ON IT..well i have about 12 hours to work on it Wednesday cuz i got no work and no school the next day Boo-Ya!!!

Pipe bending
 

Bending Pipes..I found extruding a disc then where you want to bend, select the end poly and Lathe it to the proper degrees. alot of times you'll need to flip the new polys. then extrude again for the straight parts...

oh ok...
 

oh ok i get it now that makes it soo much easier thank you.

You have to mess around a bit to get the right arch angles..I really think there should be a better way to do something so simple, I know philip bends things one poly at a time for certain things..ie trem. bar on the strat. If you find a better way let me know!!! It still isnt very intuitive with this method

Hey nice tank! I've been wanting to model one....... someday I will hehe.

Btw, for the pipes, try this tutorial by Niklas:
http://www.niklasindustries.com/tutorials/tut_pipes.htm

i would love to se that in global illuminosity :D

Erwin - Thanks for the link! i been looking for a way to do that in LW7.

another pipe link for you
 

check out the following, helps a lot.
http://www.renderosity.com/homepage.ez?Who=Moebius87
can supply the file sif you need.