So first of all my weekend before hand in has been more than hectic. I have never had such stress levels like the ones I had over the weekend. Everything was majority done but I kept finding things to do and wanting to add to. Overall I think what I created was ok, I really enjoyed making vehicles and trying to bring them back to there original self as they would of been seen in the day.

Modeling I think has to be my strongest feature when creating something and I have found out through out this project that there is so much to learn, even more so than what I have been taught at university, plus there is so much resource to help you learn what you want. I need to get out there.

Throughout the project I have had the constant problem of time management. I must get over this, I think it was a huge problem due to the fact I got to make my own brief and being open to endless possibilities. If I had made everything alot stricter and consistent and I would of been able to push myself alot further than I have done. Working alone has really made me understand that it isn't all it's cracked up to be. Teamwork as you would when working in a company would be alot better as you can bounce ideas off each other and also keep yourself grounded and not have your head up in the clouds when working. Keeps everyone level headed.

On a more positive note, I enjoyed myself through all of it, including the stress, downs and thinking that I couldn't go on anymore. Even though I do not think I will achieve anything, I have learnt so much. The skills are there, I just need to expand on them and get out and explore. Build sketchbooks of colour and traditional skills, how I've missed that, and photograph everything and anything.

I guess in a way university has made me realise you don't need to be told what to do to achieve something, you need to get out of that box and do something more original. Set the goal for yourself and along the way achieve the goals that are set by other people.

Just a little side quest, that will take you miles from the original quest. There will always be goodies on the way.

I need to add so much more detail to the trailer but this is the basic colouring for the trailer on the diffuse map. 

Really starting to slow down the work flow, I need to bring something in that will keep me motivated for the last couple of weeks. 

I have just downloaded marmoset toolbag to help render out the final models on a turntable, hopefully they will look super cool! only joking, but they should look nicely finished off in the end result. 

So I went down to a couple of stable yards and my own and rummaged around to see what was about, the objects that you over look and don't really considered, even when I use them every day. This made me think of assets I could add as a little extra to the vehicle when set up on a turntable. For example;

Nice quick little assets; two types of bins (one with food in), mounting block, bag, bag of...sawdust, desk and a radio. I've also made a tire that i'll be able to clone and create some horse jumps with.

First model is fully textured, I really like how the wood texture has turned out, all hand painted in Photoshop. I just need to add some lights to show off the specular map. I only have a couple more weeks before final hand in and the stress is starting to rise, I feel like I am falling behind and I am worried the final outcome will either not be finished or not at a standard I want. Just have to keep pushing on...

So earlier at the beginning of the project I thought about having the vehicles set within a scene, to help show them off. But looking at my calendar that I have set for everything, I feel like I will run out of time if I run with this idea. Now time management is a huge deal to me as I am a complete nut at it, (seriously). Time seems to drain everything out of me and I just become a complete mess and stress head. 

As I am scrapping the idea of an environment, I have been looking into other ways of completing a vehicle and to show to an audience. Car games usually start with your vehicle in a garage or something similar, but I have also seen, turn tables. A scene image, out of focus, (as this will stop the player looking else where) with a turn table in the center of the shot with the vehicle on it. Maybe even a styled floor space with the vehicle on, this could help show style, shadows and theme. 

Some examples of what I thinking of for the end render and animation, hopefully. I need to make some development sketches and what exactly might and might not work for each individual vehicle. 

So I have two models out of the three. The first one is partly textured, the second one is modeled and I just need to add some minor detail, and now here is the third model;

At the moment the modeling side is going really strongly and I am really enjoying it, I have learnt alot over the three years, even if it doesn't feel like it.
Considering the time I have left I think I am on track at the moment but it does depend on how long the unwrapping and texturing goes on for. This is the part I am most worried about overall.
I have three models all consistent of the theme that is set in my brief, 'horse boxes', that is an achievement as I do tend to change my mind and ideas, still half way through yet.

Here is some original reference of my own trailer that I used to help model the one above;

Considering where it is, it is very clean, I might have to add some dirt to the model when texturing or it will look boring...

Continuous research. Research is such a huge part when wanting to create anything, even if its imaginary or not, you still need a good source of information to help create it.

Types of wood; depending on what I am aiming for there are ridiculous amounts of wood to even think of. To be honest it doesn't matter about the wood, but the look on the varnish. I want to go for something that looks new but has seen a good part of the world. So not so new that the wood all looks clean and tidy, but it has some sort of age and character to this. For me the wood is the main feature to this vehicle. There is so much detail in each grain of wood, the normal map is going to be interesting to achieve...

Some original images that I used to help model;

So I have started to casually unwrap the first vehicle that is the Bed-ford TK 3.5, the smaller lorry of the two. I wanted to start this unwrap early as to be honest I suck at it. 

To help with still understanding unwrapping and how to neatly lay out the UV map, I have searched the internet to help me out. Just to help see what other vehicle UV maps look like as I learn alot better by seeing what other people do, no this is not copying but just some helpful in sites to everything. 

I noticed when researching that alot of maps only have one side of a vehicle as you would use a 'Symmetry' modifier. So unwrapping the half model and then use the modifier, this will help give you more texture space on the map for later on. This does mean that each side would be identical and you wouldn't have any different detail, unless maybe I could use some decals on later to give some extra detail and effect. 

The main problem I have with unwrapping is the scale part of it, everything has to be in the right proportion or parts will become pixelated or stretched. Stretching isn't that much of an issue now after alot of practice and the love of pelt mapping.  

Instead of just diving in and sticking to the unwrap once, I tried it multiple times to see if I could make any progress in unwrapping. I have split the model up into two ID's to keep everything tidy but to also give me some freedom with the texturing. I aim to hand paint everything on the vehicles, but might also add in a mixture of original photos if I get stuck and what a certain look for example; realistic.

 Finding alot of weaknesses and positives through out this project and hopefully being able to get better at them with continuous practice.