Modelling Custom Tank

Introduction

For this project, I was tasked to create my own tank model using various types of inspiration and referencing the concept art I have created. I have to model the tank in Maya and UV map it, then add some texturing via Photoshop or Substance Painter. My tank is going to hover, therefore I will not have to animate any treads.

I started creating ideas for my custom tank model in my sketchbook. I first created some concept ideas and then went straight into modelling it in Maya.

Modelling

I started with a square, and extruded it in different ways until I had a shape similar to the one I had drawn.

I then added some more shape and details to the design of my tank from my sketch. I wanted to give the tank some flare and aerodynamics. I also wanted to give my tank a more distinct silhouette.

So i extruded this shape from a square and adjusted the size compares to the side of my tank.#

Next, I added a cylinder to the middle of the tank to smoothen out the edges and give the tank’s body a cleaner look. I then added another cylinder inside of the larger cylinder, making it clip halfway out of the larger cylinder for the tank’s cannon to rest on.

I then moved onto creating the cannon. I wanted the cannon to me a different shape compared to a cylindrical pipe that is typically used. So i used the create > polygon primitives > prism, extruded a face inwards and created a triangular cannon. Furthermore, I wanted this tank design to have two large cannons alongside each other. I copied my previous shape and placed it next to the other to get an idea on how it would look. Here’s the result so far;

Next i needed to model the shape for the tank to hover. I contemplated using a simple circular shape for the hover blades however I wanted the tank to look a little more diverse. I used the disc shape and extruded one face so that it was thicker. I then extruded on the bottom face and moved the edges in a bit to add some curvature to the shape. After that, I extruded the shape inwards to add some depth and give the hover blades a place for the actual hover function to originate from.

I duplicated this shape to get an idea for the full design and positioned it on the other side of the tank. I adjusted the positioning until the tank was visible both underneath and on the sides of the tank. Here is my current progress:

For my next addition, I would like to add some thrusters to the back of the tank. So far, I haven’t had much trouble modelling the tank and I have enjoyed the process. However I have used shapes that I haven’t used before and I am worried that UV mapping for this design might be difficult. Lee told me that it is better to model complicated shapes using the shape shape (or as little as possible) and extruding from it to create what you want.

I attempted to create a thruster for my tank using one shape as much as I could. I extruded a simple square and added a cylinder to the back, then selected the cylinder’s face and extruded inwards for more depth. I added vents to the front of the thruster model using the multi cut tool to create more faces that I can extrude from. I then added a pair of fins either side of the thrusters to give them more shape.

I then placed the thrusters at the back of the tank, and scaled them down and fit them in underneath the top of the tank. I contemplated putting the thrusters on top of the tank so that there was less cluster but I didn’t like the way it looked compared to the thrusters being underneath.

UV Mapping

The UV mapping process was actually pretty easy, I was expecting there to be a lot of problems and glitches or issues to solve but the majority of the process was relatively straight forward and didn’t take me that long. I started by UV mapping the two prisms I have used for the cannon. I had to change the planar mapping settings and axis for the faces inside the prisms but the exterior faces were already nicely mapped. I scaled the shape down a bit so the texture density wasn’t as great.

Next I mapped the ‘wings’ of the tank. These were also pretty simple to use. I used the cut and split tools underneath modify in the UV map menu to align the UV mapping and make it easier to see.

After I mapped this shape, I copied it over to the other side so that I only had to UV map this shape once. I did this process for anything on my tank that has more than one duplicate of itself.

Here I UV mapped the body of the tank. This shape was all extruded from one square so I had to UV map some faces individually and scale them down and change the planar mapping.

I mapped the inside faces all at once and them mapped the edges separately. The curved ends were stretched so I selected the faces separately and went to create > cylindrical in the UV map menu which worked to get the mapping more even.

Mapping the thrusters probably took the most time because of the detail they have but I still didn’t struggle with them very much.

UV mapping my model was relatively straight forward and kept a consistent pattern throughout the process of selecting faces, finding which axis works for them best and scaling them appropriately.

I had to lay out the UV map faces individually because the layout tool had no effect on my UV map. After a two hours I had managed to get my UV map to look like this. This was the least interesting part of the UV process.

After this, I saved and exported the tank into Substance Painter. I used the file type FBX and set the resolution to 4096. However, once I imported it in, my tank didn’t seem to have a surface face. After viewing it further, I found out that it had a surface but it was transparent from directly on.

To fix this problem I had to change the shader settings to pbr-metal-rough-with-alpha-test

I added a black base colour and played about with the colours and patterns until I found a design I liked. I added some grunge and dirt textures and added some hard surfaces to a separate layer to add more detail and dimension. This part was hard as I couldn’t seem to control which orientation the shape was placed.

I wanted to add some more detail to the different features of the tank such as the thrusters instead of them having a solid black colour. I added some colour to the front vents, fins and back of the thruster – keeping in theme of the colours I used on the main tank.

I then added some colour to the hovers underneath the tank, I decided to use a light blue to add some sort of glowing affect. When I painted in the colour, it would tend to bleed through on top of the thruster. I tried using the polygon fill tool to fix this and added a max to the layer, however this would alternatively paint over the faces of the actual hover part of the shape.

I wanted some of the features of the tank to glow or emit some amount of light, so I added a glow effect to the hovers using the emissive setting in the texture set settings tab underneath channels.

I can edit the luminosity by going to the shader settings tab and adjusting the strength and emissive intensity. I then added some glow to the back of the cannon on my gun to give the impression that it fires plasma. I made this the same colour as the hovers.

After this, I uploaded the tank to sketchfab, added a title and some tags to increase the discoverability and added the textures by going into the settings and managing my textures.

Here are some images from Substance Painter after rendering:

Conclusion

During this process, I enjoyed the modelling stage and I liked how it allowed me to be creative and experimental with my design. The modelling was refreshing as I have been following tutorials up until now. I think the overall finished design turned out good. I think the general sha

Evaluation

However, even though the UV mapping process was not as bad as I thought it would be, I struggled with some of it. I had to separate each individual UV shell, so to do this I had to move them to a new UV square manually. This took a few hours but it was just a tedious process. I also enjoyed the texturing and painting process, I like being experimental with the patterns I could create on my tank. Unfortunately I used the symmetry tool for the texturing of my tank yet the paint was not reflected perfectly symmetrical. This made the front pattern of the tank look off-centre but I only realised this when I was far into the texturing and detailing process. Overall, the modelling process was fun and went pretty smoothly – as did the UV mapping and Substance Painter.