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3D & Animation Tank tracks: how?

Siegertyp

Grizzled Veteran
Mar 26, 2012
304
4
I want to model tank tracks that can be used at a moving vehicle. If I observed that correctly on the existing versions in this game, the track does not actually rotate, but the vertices move up and down, only the texture rotates. I think for the German tanks TWI uses textures with opacity maps. Do the vertices need to have exact distances from each other? Do I more or less have to model the track with vertices in a distance from each other as if they were real track parts? How do I model the teeth on the inside of the tracks, with one plane and (opacity map) for each tooth, or one plane for several of them?

This is the track that fits my model:
sdkfz11kette01fe8.jpg


You notice the pieces of rubber that sit on top of the tracks. Do I have to ignore them, or is there a way to model them and make them move together with the track texture? There are about 60 of them on each track, that's 120 on the whole vehicle in total. If I modeled each one as a block with 5 sides (10 tris), it would sum up to be 1200 tris for them alone, so I guess it is not practical. Still I hesitate to drop them because they are a distinctive feature.

I progressed quite well so far, but the chassis and tracks were the elements I left out until now.

Any help or suggestion, either from your own experience or links to videos and tutorials is very welcome.

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
treads

treads

Hi Siegertyp, all the details need to be in the texture because we use a panning tiled texture to achieve motion. You can use a bump offset but you won't see the bump detail in profile view, only in front or 3/4 view. Experiment with some shaders to get your desired result. We used a bump offset on the panzer if I remember correctly, but not on the T34.

I've added an image of the T34's tiled treads to give you a better idea of what to do, hope this helps.

Good Luck!

attachment.php
 

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  • Sov_T34_tracks_N.jpg
    Sov_T34_tracks_N.jpg
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Thanks a lot Dion, I think I see the direction. So I can't use the rubber pieces as 3d, I needed that info for the height of the wheels and track that I now have to adjust. The included texture was very informative, also regarding the teeth.

I found a simple tutorial that I'll follow, it is for Bf42, but apparently the basic principles still appliy, only the quality of the textures is much higher now: [url]http://berlin.schoeldgen.de/bf1942/tutorials/Trax_tut.htm[/URL]
 
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maybe separate track links for LOD 0 (including 3d rubber pads)
and
a sliding texture for LOD 1 - 3

LOD 0 should look like this... (RTS game Achtung Panzer: Operation Star)

full-299-19033-shot_2011_09_09_00_42_21_0007.jpg


you could use the same normal map for sliding/tiling texture and a separate track link
In this case you have to put the additional UV coordinates of the separate track link below the tiling texture/polys - so the upper part of your UV layout remained available for a tiling texture (like original T-34 track texture)
 
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Oh, right! Should have noticed the mortar. I have modeled the arm for the rear MG, if it will be implemented is not up to me. Animating and scripting is nothing I am capable of doing. Right now I'm toying with the thought of also modeling the extras for the 251/16 Ausf.C, but I have not made up my mind, since there are the same imponderabilities as with the rear AA.
 
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