[GPBikes](WIP) Kirkistown Race Circuit

[kmracing99]

I'm glad to announce that the projects going great so far, with huge help from some experienced track builders

Kirkistown is known as one of the most loved & fastest race circuits in Ireland, and i am hoping to bring it to GPB.
heres the track map:


and here is the progress so far, plus a huge thanks to Grooveski for sorting the polys out


feedback on improvements is always welcome.

[h106frp]

I would suggest reading through the IOM and olivers mount threads to see how the track geography has been brought into the 3D environment.

[Hawk]

Nice little track...... Why not try doing this yourself and posting your WIP here? It doesn't look like a very complicated track to produce, and I'm sure if you have any problems we can point you in the right directions to solve them, and you and others will also benefit greatly from the postings and the knowledge gained. 

Personally, I'm very busy with other projects right now, but would be willing to advise were needed, as I'm sure others would advise or even help you along too(though I work with Maya not 3ds Max, so you'd have to work out for yourself a way of implementing any of my techniques for use in 3ds Max, which if you know the 3ds Max user interface well it shouldn't be too big a problem for you).

Hawk.

[kmracing99]

Nice little track...... Why not try doing this yourself and posting your WIP here? It doesn't look like a very complicated track to produce, and I'm sure if you have any problems we can point you in the right directions to solve them, and you and others will also benefit greatly from the postings and the knowledge gained. 

Personally, I'm very busy with other projects right now, but would be willing to advise were needed, as I'm sure others would advice or even help you along too(though I work with Maya not 3ds Max, so you'd have to work out for yourself a way of implementing any of my techniques for use in 3ds Max, which if you know the 3ds Max user interface well it shouldn't be too big a problem for you).

Hawk.

Alright cheers! i've had blender for near 2 years now so i will have a look at 3ds max.

[Grooveski]

90% of the work can be done in any modeler.  If you've already got to grips with Blender you'll still be able to do most things in it.  Chopping up the landscape, merging it with the track area, making buildings and TSOs(trackside objects), walls, fences, trees, final assembly.

Where max really shines is the loft tool.  It's more powerful than blender's extrude or lightwave's skin tools. 
The way max's loft handles things is perfect for track modeling.  You can control plan, elevations and curves easily using a spline, vary track width/camber and build in track edge detail and kerbs as you go, vary detail and poly count at the flick of a switch...
It's worth learning a bit of max just for the one tool.  When you have the road made you can export it to any program you like to trim/fit the land and finish things off.

Had a look around last night for data.  Was finding some good stuff so put together a base model to help get you going.
Click to download.

There's a terrain model.  SRTM data with a game resolution aerial photo mapped onto it...



...and I pieced together the highest rez aerial I could.  It's meant as a background image for a modeling package but for the moment I've added it as a model, scaled it to fit and just sat it over the terrain.  At very least it'll help folk line it up as a background.



The image is easily good enough for modeling reference.  Probably good enough to chop up later and skin a few bits with too.



So yeah, there you go, have fun.
Any problems, just shout out.  Like Hawk I'm kind of busy with other things but will help out when I can.
(...also similar in that I don't really use max either(LW here)} but watch a few youtube vids on the loft modifier and you'll be laughing.  The hardest bit is getting to grips with all the new lingo - paths and shapes and steps, skins that aren't skins, etc.....

P.S
First stage in a loft is drawing a centreline spline just like for extrude in blender.  I'd guess this track would take about 150-200 points for the spline, spaced about 10-30m apart along straights and 3-6m apart through the corners. 
Points will be needed anywhere there's a bump(takes three to do a bump properly), anywhere there's a change of width in track and you should be thinking about the trackside areas while drawing the spline too - put points where the kerbs start and finish and it'll make life easy later, same for if the verge changes from grass to run-off or there's a side road, change in road surface or wiggle in the edgeline.  Try to take in all the prominent points along the track rather than just keeping the spacing even.
Still try to keep the spacing even though. 
The points can be dragged around later so don't worry at first about getting them exactly centred and positioned.  It all gets easier to see as you go along.   

[kmracing99]

Thanks so much for the help mate, given me a boost in motivation to have a go at it 

[kmracing99]

Been taking my time but i have the actual track made



i have 3ds max and i did try to use it, but its so complicated D:
will i just need to use 3ds max for exporting?
oh and heres the wire, should i decrease the polys or will it be alright?



and what about textures, kinda struggling to find somewhere that has a plain road with the white lines either side.

[Hawk]

I think you'll get away with such a low ploy count for a flat circuit. If the circuit has hills and gradients then you'd need to increase the track mesh poly count in those areas or even the whole track.

If you look here: http://forum.piboso.com/index.php?topic=958.0 this will give you some good advice and tips for track building and integration into GPB. This thread was my first attempt to integrate a track in GPB, so it has a lot of the pitfalls and solutions required that you may come across with the integration process. 

Here is a couple of different track textures for you to use on your track: https://mega.co.nz/#!uYsDFQ6B!HAOsbRc5e45tLBkJVGl9-UYWdVNf64gsxz-A56Fz6o0


Hope this helps

Hawk.

[kmracing99]

the textures are perfect, thanks!

[Hawk]

the textures are perfect, thanks!

Thank you for your thanks.... Glad to help mate. 

Hawk.

[Grooveski]

Looking good. 

More polys required through the corners though, your edgelines will be blocky as it is.
Up the extrusion settings until the poly length on the inside of the corners is under a metre - that's around when edgelines start looking even.
At the tighter bits take it be down even further -  200mm or so.

If you make up multiple versions you could cut/paste together a final model from them.  The one you've done will do for the straights.

(Those suggested distances I gave the other night were only for the lofting method - The poly count would have been upped later.)

Might want to do the extrusions with extra segments on either side of the road as well.  Edgestrips that'll later become the kerbs where you need them.

[Grooveski]

will i just need to use 3ds max for exporting?

You could, or you could use the fbx convertor.

I'll probably be going with fbx myself.  LW supports v2012 among others and the more time I spend in max the less I want to spend there. 



Can't help you with which one it is that Blender uses.  Hawk might know, he was looking into which versions worked with the convertor.

[Hawk]

will i just need to use 3ds max for exporting?

You could, or you could use the fbx convertor.

I'll probably be going with fbx myself.  LW supports v2012 among others and the more time I spend in max the less I want to spend there. 



Can't help you with which one it is that Blender uses. Hawk might know, he was looking into which versions worked with the convertor.

Hi guys....

I haven't had chance yet to test the FBX2EDF converter with the 2012 version of the FBX exporter from Maya..... I will certainly test it when I export the Daytona track surface update soon.

Piboso told me that it is the 2012 version of FBX that the FBX2EDF converter was built around, and previously I'd been trying to convert from an FBX file that was exported via the 2010 version of FBX exporter, so as yet I don't know if it works or not? I do know that it doesn't seem to work with the 2010 FBX file version.

As for Blender.... I really don't know about it as I work with Maya so...... 

But just to advise.... When you export a FBX file, do so via the 2012 version exporter(interchangeable via the FBX plugin interface(Well it is in Maya. Not sure about 3ds Max or Blender?)). Then try putting it through the FBX2EDF converter and see if it works. But expect quit a long wait depending on how big your file is and whether you choose to do the "Super Sampling" and "Shadow" maps too in the options. This wait can be up to one and a half hours for detailed tracks and about 10-20 mins for less detailed tracks. For best speed, it's better not to choose the super sampling and shadow maps options for test runs, leave all that for the final version. 

Hawk.

[Grooveski]

Came across this which looks pretty handy.  Autodesk's own convertor.  Imports various file types and exports 2012 fbx.
http://usa.autodesk.com/adsk/servlet/pc/item?siteID=123112&id=20481519

[kmracing99]

i'm terrible with this lmao..
so how do i increase the poly count of the corners? am i going to have to subdivide and manually move the subdivided polys?