Sr1 progress

Side texture got some additional details today and ventilation gratings were scaled and reformed to be more prototypical.

Sr1 progress

I managed to add few details to the left side today. 73 layers and still going up..

Sr1 progress

Sr1 texturing proceeded today with first layers of dirt. Its easy to overdo the effect with too many layers. Current layer count is 48 and increasing rapidly. One reason why I had to make this new texture is fact that without proper layer naming the photoshop file can become total chaos with unknown layers.  

Sr1 progress

Texturing proceeds in small steps. Currently all base colors have been added and textures are aligned. Next step would be detailing and adding 30 years of wear. Current layer count is 24.

Proof of concept

Okay, had to check that 4096x4096 textures work in RW because Photoshops to .ace plugin whined about invalid texture size. With RWAtoace program everything went fine and the IGS exporter didn't have anything special to say:

Sr1 texturing

I've decided today to upgrade the main texture from 2048x2048 pixels to 4096x4096 pixels. This is due increased memory in recent GPU cards. The standard version will be still delievered with scaled down 2048x2048 texture and 4096x4096 will be optional high res set.

A 32 bit 2048x2048 texture consumes = 2048*2048*32 / 8  = 16 Mbytes
A 32 bit 4096x4096 texture consumes = 4096*4096*32 / 8 =  67 Mbytes

I believe 1 gig GPU setup is rather common nowdays so 4096x4096 texture hogs 1/14 of it which I believe is reasonable for increased locomotive realism in near range.

Today first base colors were drawn, Photoshop layer number staying around 12.

Sr1 progress

Tests are underway to check that new mapping shows everything properly. I managed to combine roof bitmap with main bitmap to have less effect in game FPS. To celebrate first texture baking the Sr1 is dressed in scottish fashion.

I like to take a holistic approach to modelling and since locomotives have interesting parts under the chassis as well, why would someone want to leave them out?:

Sr1 mesh finished

Finally after 2 hours the mesh is ready to proceed to texture mapping:

Sr1 progress

Today 3 hours was spent on tweaking Sr1 mesh. Various smoothgroup faults and double vertexes were eliminated. It's not very rewarding to work on these minuscule details because they don't show in screenshots and thus tell any real progress. Without these adjustments there would however be various in game problems, therefor these changes have to be done. I've also decided to scrap the earlier texture in photoshop and start again. This is because once you have radically changed the model the texture coordinates need to be realigned and thus texture doesn't match anymore with new coordinates.