Back to your original broadcast....

Yes that must mean one thing.... I'm back at modeling again! just a small bit of work though, and for once its the Mini. did up the drip rail around the roof.



Progress on the Omni shall resume shortly as well.

Well that (didn't) goto plan I guess...

Back in MI now, a nice cruise down 75 from FL, just wish I didn't have to deal with some of that traffic lol. But I got back yesterday, which means nothing good really, the job didn't work out. I wasn't exactly what the guy was looking for, and my comfort zone is more in cars, not rv's/trucks. I think some of that problem being that I didn't go right into a diesel truck job right after school to apply my truck knowledge. but whatever, I packed up my PT and took off down the road, as far as I know I still have the job with Roush, and possibly picked up another job at the U of M bookstore.

But this might come at a good thing for my projects. We'll see I guess though.

Hm..

Down here in FL, where its nice and warm like 24/7 it seems like. Living with my boss's family, is odd, and it seems I keep on waking up at night hoping I would wake up in my own bed at home, obviously I won't lol, until I go back to MI lol. Which I will this Saturday. The job is ok at the least. its working on mainly RV's, but what ever comes in the door won't be denied really, as long as we have the tooling to actually do the job lol. I like the weather down here, but I do for sure feel home sick, even if it may not seem to other people. and I am on the fence about the job, most people say "it's a job" well yeah your right. I have a part time one already in MI, doing something that is really fun.

I did goto an old car show the other night (ok it was saturday night lol). I do have pictures but that requires going out to my car getting my camera, downloading the pictures on this slow laptop. There was a younger car show the day before, but my car was no where near looking good enough for that, but there were a few PT's there, one i swear I've seen on youtube before also.

The dreary post...

This was the post I was dreading on writing, I was recently down to FL for a job interview with a company where I would be working on rv's and trucks. (its a small shop) and for the next two weeks I'll go down there, and get a feel for the job, and stay with the guy (he has some kids my age). Because of my personal life this job is very on the border for me, feelings will play a big part in wheter I really want this job or not, but the only reason I'm on the fence is because of her, I won't name any names for the sake of obscurity (don't bother asking who either because that won't make me tell you at all). But she is the only reason I'm on the fence, if not for her, I'd want this job to work out completely. She's not even mine, and yet I love her so much, and she doesn't want me to move. If it does work out I hope she understands.

I will have a laptop down there, but I feel its better if for now, I just put a pause on my 3d modeling projects, some may wonder why. because I may not have the time to spend on them, as I have in the past. though the paused is only a label, I will try to bring the stuff down with me to work on, just incase.

As I prepare to make the drive from MI, to FL. that means not only to I have to get ready, but also my PT has to get ready, making that long of a trip isn't something that you just get in the car and do, you must make sure the vehicle is ready to do it, I've checked the funtion of just about everything, (didn't check reverse lights or brakelights, but thats it). Haven't tried the A/C but I feel I may not need it, and plus its 30 degree's out up here, I'm not willing to try it lol. my PT's engine oil has been changed just for this journey even. Next is to check the tire pressure.

I'm afriad at this point of time, my PT is the one that is more prepared for this journey then me, as I have yet to even pack a thing yet, and the most I've done is got my dad's old laptop out and got it working, though reliably seems to be questionable, its worlds different from my home rig but for 2 weeks, it will do me fine.

Omni..... INTERIOR!!!

Well out of a stroke of what I can only call luck, while cleaning out my desk the other day and found some disks, found quite a few that i had to got through, and 3 of them were in cases and labeled "Back up 1" (there was also a 2 and 3). and in the first disk alone I found a bunch of old Racer data, and some old z3d work files, one of them was for the Omni's interior. sweet. So I have been working on that.

So heres what it looked like when I found it...



and what I have so far...



I think its pretty clear what all I've added to the thing, incase you couldn't notice, here's what I've added
- the Omni Dash Plaque
- an entire center console, no detail has been left out (the drawer at the very bottom has a sliding top that isnt' textured yet)
- center console air vents
- steering column, with the ignition and key in it, and its running, whoops, might want to turn it off as to not waste too much gas lmao.

Something?

Yes I actually did something *yay* lol it wasn't much but its something, adjusted the grill on the Mini and fitted a trim piece inbetween the grille and the eyebrow, then exported to Racer, and also, applied the changes to the Countryman and exported it. There is plenty to still be done, like the gutters (drip rails?) door handles, covering the behind of the grill, making a bottom to this thing, badging, etc.





My Mini and Countryman with Sven F.'s Mini (the red one)

Reason for a lack of 3d stuff lately?

Ok, this is to kind of say why I haven't really said much about my 3d models, kind of obvious I haven't been working on them, I just had a "Driver's Training" meeting for a Test Driver position with Roush this morning, lasted from about 9am to 12pm. Of course thats not including the drug test, wasted another hour there waiting to be called, as the 30 people that were at that meeting were also at THAT clinic (even though there was 4 other clinics we could of gone to). I am hoping to get this job, and sadly, the job doesn't involve Mustangs, or really any Roush products, its all Fords, as in Foci, Fusion, MK-Z, MK-T, sounds like I might even get a chance to drive a new Fiesta, that would be cool.

This really isn't a 3d model, at all.

Nope, no where near being a 3d model, infact quite real, and was kind of dirty as I found out pulling it. But nonetheless, $65 (with the $15 shipping) the Headman 4-2-1 header, is finally mine, not to be mistaken with the 4-to-1, the 4-2-1 is supposed to help increase low end power, this is because of its unique design, the exhaust that comes out of the engine is assisted by the vacuum created by the previous cylinder's escaping exhaust gases, allowing the gases to escape from the cylinder faster.

But all this talk is weak, pictures are needed, right? Well here you are...

Back to normal programming

Ok I have done some modeling, not a lot, some of it is due to needing more reference shots. Firstly the Dolly Sprint, went from having detached lines in the hood, to having them connected, slightly rose the poly count, but well worth it I feel. The Caravan, is severely complex I feel, as the fender goes out from the hood then juts down and back out then juts down and well its complex. so progress will be slower on the Caravan, as I'm trying to get it right. I want it to be a lot better than my first car (The Chrysler Town and Country). The caravan is one car that I feel having to deal with loosing the hard drive, actually helped, as before it was mostly done, but not highly accurate I feel.

Not 3d modeling

Ok nothing to do with 3d modeling, at all. made a short video yesterday showcasing the chair I use at my computer, I had plucked it out of a 90 Dodge Caravan, its an electric power seat. converted to work as a computer chair.

Here's the link to the video...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR1kd_vYVsI

Guess which car got the spotlight again....

Again the Omni gets another post about it, this time, its a big deal, this is the BETA release for the Dodge Omni (so expect some errors) I've tried to rid it of at least all the Qlog errors it had. There is a few color to select from, but no engines or transmissions to select from, this is the 87 Dodge Omni America with the 97hp 2.2l TBI 4 cylinder engine, with the 5 speed manual transaxle mated to it, (I believe its the A-555) The thing isn't a power house, nor is it very fast. The turns i feel are where it makes up for being so slow.



http://www.filefront.com/14853461/87dodgeomni.rar/

Omni

Was there work done on the Omni? well really no, decided the other night to record some video. just for the heck of it. the sounds that the Omni uses comes from a car I released to Racer earlier my Dodge Caravan (pictured below with the Tradesman). The gauges aren't exactly matching one is for the Dodge Caravan model(the black tach on the bottom right hand side of the screen) the other is the Omni speedo (bottom left hand side of the screen).


(talk about a size difference)

Anyways heres the link to the video (subscribe and comment would be nice)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ACd19i4rzlI

The Omni....

Has had more work done to it, rebuild the front grill, Now I think it looks much better, the GLH-S also got the same treatement.

Omni and Mini...

My two smallest cars that I'm working on right now, have had some minor work done on them...

The Mini, I had modeled its grill, and now its fitted into its area, purposely is a little small though, as there will be a piece that goes around the edge, probably will end up having it body colored.



The Omni, got badging, up front it got the Pentastar, and Dodge, and in the back it got the Dodge and Omni badges. need to put the 3rd brakelight back still though.

Mini, oh Mini....

Where art Thou Thy Mini....

Ok thats enough Shakespeare for me lol. I have done something to the Mini (Morris? Austin? either or) built up the grill, its a bunch of glorified boxes, that was still a pain to do, mainly the first row was a pain to get everything right. Also tweaked with the windshield frame a bit, still needs a little more tweaking though. Still plenty left to do on the little thing, it seems such a small car, that is such a big undertaking really.

Omni GLH-S, small update

Did just a little bit of work on the GLH-S (Omni) the other day, just forgot to post, haven't really worked on it today, because, 1. I was testing out my old graphics card to see if it had driver issues or hardware, sadly, hardware, and also it seems my back is in quite a lot of pain today, I suspect its from when I replaced the starter in a friend's car, how i did it idk, much like the cut that across 3 out of 4 fingers on my right hand, all in a direct line, cut my fore finger middle finger and pinky, missed the middle finger somehow lol.

Anyways the GLH-S has been fitted with the Pizza wheels (I had modeled and put a basic texture on them earlier) and slightly redid the headlights on the GLH-S to appear more roundish at the edges.

Some Fun

Well I had put a Fairmont Wagon into Racer not too long ago, and quickly learned a bit of CG on it, like doing pearlescent paint jobs on it, then I thought I'd explore a funner side of what I can do, and decided to cut the car right behind the driver's door and make something like the Half Car from Davidsfarm (on youtube), but his is a Pontiac 6000. and this is clearly NOT lol. utlizing a wheel from my Omni, and front wheels from my Aspen. But alas I have created something fun, and to go along with the two redneck rollercoaster cars (that were also from Davidsfarm). Now I need to make a half master lol.


And also I have worked on the GLH-S "summore" and added the necessary body kit so its one step closer to looking like a GLH-S, only problem is I'm missing my Centurion wheels still, might put the pizza wheels on for now just for something other than what is on there right now.

Some Updates

Well haven't really posted here, just been kind of busy around the house recently, sister (and her husband and of course my niece) came up for the weekend, then not too long after waking up saturday I got a call from my friend who was stuck at McD's because his car wouldn't start, so I had to go get it going again (its a Ford so what do you expect? lol). Then I just didn't have this blog on my mind at all, whoops, oh well so heres a smal update on whats going on with the cars
Well first of all, the GLH-S has come back, 2.2l turbo burble and almost all, suspension isn't quite right yet (working on it) and the wheels aren't back on yet (again working on it).

Now I also kind of playing this game (I guess thats what it is) for Racer, called Racecity, and well, I thought of an idea I shouldn't of thought of and made it real lol. Now what is it? Well it started out as a Ford Econoline Cargo van, and now, its just a race van, with a 351W, 5 speed manual transmission, posi rear end, widened track, a whole list of things really. But it is incredibly quick, for a van and not having THAT much power to it. It goes around the Nurburgring at just over 8 mins. I will admit, its not the prettiest thing ever, but funtionally its awesome.

Omni work...

Its been in Racer for a while, some have thought that it needs polys in certain area (where they are I can't see myself). But if my head is on straight, this is the 3rd model I've ever done, well 4th really, my very first one was scrapped early on. But still for what it is I feel its pretty good really. Anyways about the Omni, Suspension has been tested, again and again. and I have also made new head light and tail light (and reverse light) textures to go on the Omni. So heres some shots.

Doing the Slalom

In response to a previous Comment

Sadly an idea was to be had from a comment made in my last blog post... and I made this



I felt it was too funny not to do lol. Also did some small work on the CG shaders so now the car is fully CG'ed I believe. awesome

These Crazy Thoughts inside my head...

They keep on telling me to work on the Tradesman, because it is getting close to feeling like it should be released, working bugs out of it now, getting things just right, etc. The Raven variants now include both a 360 2 bbl, and a 440 4 bbl. both with only a 3 speed automatic. The mirrors have been remodeled and "mirrorized" (basically they are functional now). I put a fitting mask over the rear view mirror so you now have some blind spots in the rear view mirror. And I went ahead with Plum Crazy

Tradesman, stealing the show again...

Yet another post for the Tradesman, this time I've done up the interior gauges to light up at night, and made it have a few colors (still wondering if I should do Plum Crazy lol). I am usually a fan of red vehicles, but for some reason I like this van in Yellow, which is fine by me lol. Also made some new sounds for the thing.

PT work....

Well I've been messing around with CG shaders so I decided to have a go and fool around with it on my PT, so now it too has bump mapped tires(Thanks to Evan for the Textures and bump maps), and I decided to play a bit with the CG shader on the still un baked PT body, and I know sometimes I say I am like Top Gear, ambitious but rubbish, but for once, I feel I wasn't, ok the color isn't perfect but I feel I've created something really beautiful with this color, bright in the light dark in the shade (attributes of Inferno Red, I should know I actually have a PT that is this color).

This one is my favorite

Ok taking the pictures at dusk doesn't exactly showcase the colors greatness but the color really assisted in some great looking shots.

The Van gets "CG'ed"

With the rather recent introduction of CG shaders to Racer, which can do bump mapping, and some other neat features I have yet to figure out completely... Anyways I decided this Tradesman van should probably get on with the new type of shaders, so tucking the old shader away saftey, where no harm can reach it (so I can have a non-CG and CG version of it, for hopefully a later release). I went ahead and worked on some CG shaders to this thing, bump mapping and some other nice little features, really need to brighten up some of the interior textures still, But so far, not so bad I think, the tires and the license plate got bump mapped, had others but they didn't look as great I felt and they, I felt weren't that significant if I left them de-bump mapped. Also got around to getting a good texture on the glass, and remapping the exhaust tips to chrome, because everyone likes shiny exhaust tips lol.


Yes even the lettering on the tires now pops out

mmm shiny exhaust tips lol

Work on the Tradesman Continues

Just imagine the day, July 23rd 1978... Your done with college for the summer, You decide your going to goto the beach for a little while so you pack up your van with everything you will need to camp there for a couple days. The van of your choice? the Dodge Tradesman van. Flash forward 31 years, and some change, later. and my Tradesman just got a new texture both inside and out, this little B200 that is powered by a 360 and boasts a 3 speed automatic. I am pretty sure now that the textures are out of the way, the list of things to do on this thing are very, very small. So far for this little conversion, I've had the new textures, new wheels and tires, lights (this includes driving lights, brake lights, and reverse lights). a new Steering wheel, and plenty of fiddling with the car.ini.

Small Update

Ok as I mentioned before I'm working on Several cars, without showing pictures of any of them well nows your chance to see these cars

76 Aspen Wagon

76 Tradesman

Morris Mini

98 Grand Caravan

Chrysler 300M

Triumph Dolomite Sprint

1987 Dodge Omni

and I knew I was forgetting one...
Chrysler PT Cruiser


These are all the cars I'm working on right now (unless I forgot another one lol). Anyways, The PT, Aspen, and Tradesman are conversions (or adaptions same difference really though). The rest of the cars are completely mine. I'll try to update this blog every time I make progress on one of the cars, and if I decide one is worthy of being released (two cars I have right now are getting close) I will post them up here on my blog.

and I just noticed that for some reason blogs have a good tendancy to make you type a lot more than you intend to ever actually put down, weird lol.

First Post...I Guess

So I just got this blog, what you'll most likely see in this whole thing is me updating about my 3d model cars, and releasing them here for Racer (www.racer.nl).
Anyways here's a short list of the cars I'm working on currently...

1976 Dodge Aspen Wagon (with an assortment of engine sizes)
1976 Dodge Tradesman B200
Morris Mini and Mini Countryman
1998 Dodge Grand Caravan LE (high possibly of a same year swb Dodge Caravan LE)
Chrysler 300M
Triumph Dolomite Sprint
1987 Dodge Omni, and 1986 Shelby GLH-S

Now as for my past experience at doing this, I've worked with Zmodeler 1.07 for quite a few years now, tried others (currently trying out Rhino), but some how I've always been able to stick to just Zmodeler, though I myself am terrible at textures. Previous Cars include the 1986 Dodge Caravan SE, 1987 Dodge Caravan SE, 1989 Dodge Caravan ES Turbo, 2003 Chrysler Town and Country, 1992 Jeep Comanche, 1988 Ford Econoline, (I reworked it into a 1976 Ford Econoline, that is unreleased), and a 1985 Chrysler Laser Turbo. Some of the cars I modeled myself, others I adapted to Racer.