Unit 9: Adaptation - Stage 2 Concept "Night" Car

Hello Everyone,

Got a few updates coming today I'm just dotting the I's and crossing the T's this is one of the completed ones. Something I had meant to do a long time ago but my own internal fear of cars got the better of me. Suffice to say I have that in check now so hopefully the "Day" cars Stage 2 will not be too far behind this post. Erm... this past week has been attributed to the "Night" car primarily with a bit of further development on Driver thrown in for good measure. Suffice to say things are coming along quite nicely with it all I'm just trying to get textures sorted and thus their UV's...

You will be pleased to hear that I have begun modelling the night car which has been coming on leaps and bounds (a lot quicker then I had anticipated). My main dilemma has been with removing triangles which I know is not an issue in a games mesh but old habits die hard. I want all of my mesh's to be pristine from the low level so I have the option of creating nice subdivides. For those of you that do not know subdividing triangles completely screws over a mesh - one of the reasons its advised not to use them. I know it shouldn't matter for games but what can I say old habits.

Well the next thing to do is post my usual accompanying content - Enjoy!

I started off with picking my favourite from the original base forms I designed in the Stage 1 Concept phase. These were of course derived from rough sketches done periodically by me on various occasions. From this proportion I really loved the higher roof the smaller lights were a little bit of an oversight but I don't know things just made more sense with this version. I particularly loved the wheel base and it made the entire thing feel like a mobsters car... This is something I found interesting when I considered that this vehicle is actually a second hand car...It gets good...

From this I made 3 variants based on the original primitive design only this time adding some additional detail. Fig 1 was my original take on the car but from research I found that most of these cars didn't have horns or wind side mirrors... and then I thought would Driver really need them if he's that good? Hell no... Plus what would he need a horn for? he's meant to be stealthy So I took them off. making this about the car only.

Figure 2 was based on my need to make the car old I wanted rust but I went overboard... I added a custom built make shift cast iron window protector for the Driver side window (largely based on the film - "The Punisher") and completely fell in love.

This brought me to Figure 3 I removed some of the overbearing rust and kept it to areas which are most likely. Mostly crevices which can fall victim to water build up. I added gunshot holes in the windows to show the experience of its previous owner more so then the Driver himself. I even thought about blacking one of the lights out... Of course I changed my mind with the light viser.

Anyway from these chosen variants I decided to have a little fun and make it out to be some kind second hand car sale. This is when I started embracing its previous owner a little more giving the car some depth. I kept rust in key areas and kept a hub cap removed, I also deemed it appropriate to knock out a light... just to keep the car from looking too pristine. I remember my initial conversations with Alan were about the car not being a show model. Its old and rusted much like the reference imagery on my Stage 1 post for this car...

At this point I couldn't resist animating the car a little. Just by getting my point across about the side metal grates. Now I know its 1930s but the window protectors are make shift... low tech manual sliding. Adding these makes it a little more then a car... its an iron box. It also makes the car special but special in a way that is not obvious. When the police show up he could slide the window protectors up and no one would be any the wiser. They hide in plain sight that's what makes them brilliant. The car now has personality and a backstory and of course a nice bit of customisation for a 1930s period.

Next comes the Car Detail colours which I divided into colour zones allowing for easier customisation later on. Now one thing I realised here is that I am by own reference calling this car "Night" so the obvious move is to hit for Dark Blues or Blacks. I threw in a red just to test the water and a purple for good measure still I wound up preferring D. B being a very close second. I guess I wasn't shooting to have something that adopts a cliché but sometimes they work and for good reason. Besides I just love dark colours and those of you who know me know how much.

So there she is in all her glory, of course it wont be that pristine on the model or when I get the final stage concept of the car complete (very soon). I like how it feels slightly off balance too it really does make me feel as though we are driving something that is not perfect. This car has to have a history and has to essentially be a person itself. I mean look at "Grand Theft Auto". I mean really who cares if they are driving a sports car if you are not going faster then the other cars? You would be happy driving a van if it went fast its because the cars have no identity and you throw them away... why? Because you don't care about them...

All of this preaching aside I am actually enjoying getting a chance to work with this car now I know what its about. Its like anything when something has no identity you do not enthuse in it from the first jump. You have to make it interesting to yourself and then hope that other people will find it interesting for those reasons too. I personally don't do cars, never found them interesting which is why Driver got so much attention. Now though these cars are starting to work their way into my interest I'm not sure what the day car will be like yet... gonna have to make that interesting too :P

Hey Ho!
xXStItChXx