It involved modeling the car, nearly from scratch, creating all new textures, and creating a one off UV mapping of the car. This meant that it wasn't just a "body kit". The Eclipse features not only the custom wide bodied exterior, but the fully custom interior. As was the case with the exhausts on this car. We keep the development of the designs very fluid, so that if we comes up with something that we thinks fits well in the design. Our attention to detail shines through in the models. We (if i do say so myself) have a gift for hard surface modeling. But there is always room for artistic interpretation! Sometimes things just look better when messaged a bit from the concept. Once we has everything we need, we import the Elite design reference images, and work from there.
The polygonal modeling tools in 3D Studio Max are simply unmatched in any other package. On World, we use Autodesk 3D Studio Max as our 3D package of choice. When we receive CAD, we reduce the detail down until it's usable as reference to build our model off of. CAD data is far too detailed to be used in a video game application, as something as simple as a door panel or dash board might contain more data than one of our completed cars in World. When working on newer vehicles, we are sometimes able to obtain CAD data, which is what a manufacturer (Such as Mitsubishi) uses to build the car from in the real world. We take the existing base car (In this case the Eclipse GS-T), and completely rebody it. Once the design is fully fleshed out by Mike Hayes, and approved by the manufacturer (we must say, having Koenigsegg, Chevrolet, Mitsubishi and SRT look at a design and say "We love it' is great for us on the team), then the modeler begins to work his magic. For today's blog our Lead Vehicle Modeler, Vinod Raju, will be telling you about what we do to actually build the 3D car model. Last edited by COLTSDUDE1000 on Fri 7:29 pm edited 1 time in totalĬontinuing with our two-year anniversary celebrations here is part two of the Building a Car in Need for Speed World series. Tomorrow's blog will be on the subject of car modeling, written by Vinod Raju (Our lead vehicle modeler). (Thanks to our gifted audio engineer Joel Diezel!) So to put the icing on this particular cake, the sub woofers can be activated with a button press. The Elites have to have a stand out feature which can't be found on any other car. This being an Elite car, it had to be designed to be beyond what you would find in a regularly tuned Need For Speed: World car. As the seats, the subs, the amps, all came together thanks to him. The interior design was fleshed out by Vinod Raju (Our lead vehicle modeler). This Eclipse, being a tuner, also features a fully customized interior to match the exterior. The front mount intercooler is emblazoned with a Mitsubishi diamond logo, and the whole car features a massively widened track. The hood features a cutaway with a polycarbonate panel to showcase the upgraded engine. However, being a production environment, we don't always have the time for it. (When time allows, I like to be able to do a couple of quick 3/4 view sketches to show how things sit in perspective. The actual kit design is done with 4 quick plan view drawings to allow the modeler to use them as reference in the 3D modeling package. I wanted to capture some of that Need For Speed: Underground flavor in the livery, while bringing something more contemporary to the kit design. For the Eclipse, I was looking at mainly at the tuner cars of the late 90's, early 2000's, as well as the modern tuning trends. That's where we gather images of things (Not just cars) that are relevant or inspirational for the design. For this particular write-up, I'll use the Mitsubishi Eclipse Elite design.įor starters, any designer working today will use a mood board. Whether it's an Art car, a Cop car or an Elite car, our vehicles go through much the same process. Hey everyone, I'm Mike Hayes, and I have the privilege of designing the customized cars for Need For Speed world.
The first part of this series was written by Lead Concept Artist, Mike Hayes. As part of the two-year anniversary celebrations the Need for Speed World cars team thought it would be cool to give the community some insight into how we build a car for the game.