2008 F1T Virtual Car

[eidetic]

Hey all,

So awhile ago I started a virtual car, and never got around to finishing it for various reasons, primarily an injury that prevented me from working for a good while. (And completed a really fictional car (though it sorta followed the 2004 regs)

Anyway, I'm going to be doing a brand new car, and thought if anyone's interested, we could maybe do a collaborative effort. I'd like to eventually animate it going around a full track, so if anyone would be interested in doing track creation, that would be awesome, since that would be by far more work than the car.

Here's the thread of the old car: viewtopic.php?t=4367

This time around, I'll be attempting to do the entirety of the car again, complete with internal structures. One thing I could use help on is all the internal workings of the engine and gearbox. I have no idea what the insides are like, so if anyone even has reference images of engines, even non-F1 related if they can help with general engine design, that would be sweet.

I know it's a bit early, but I want to have the car done before the first race, and if necessary, I can modify the car later to look more like a car that you'd see on the 2008 grid.

I use modo for basically all my modeling, using subdivision surfaces, and regular polygon modeling as well. I also use Maya, so that will probably the package of choice for an animating. modo now supports animation, but lacks IK/FK and character animation tools, and I'm not sure if I'd be able to animate the car in modo as just yet. If anyone would like to help on the project, I'm fully capable of taking STL, CAD, etc file formats and converting them. I'll probably do all the exterior work of the car, but I'm open on that. As I said, I'd probably need the most help with track creation and mechanical bits of the car that are normally hidden from the eye.

I thought a cool use of the car might be to create a site explaining all the workings of a modern day car, with animations, and maybe making it interactive via Flash or some such.

[Carlos]

In the forum's Off Topic Chat thread index are several threads on SIM racing, sort of monsterous huge video games played on the web, with real world cars and tracks, extremely realistic physics engines, we have a bunch of players on the forum. I think you can even make your own cars and submit them for different leagues. Goggle for programs on tracks and cars that may lead to modeling programs for cars. Take a look in the forum index. I don't know much about it, I play video games on PS@ and Gamecube, but PM some of the guys on the Forum. It's a start anyway.

[Tifoso]

Hi eidetic!

I want to help as much as I can, I've got some images of engines that you may want, and I can also search for images that you need.

Should I send them to your mail, messenger, pm...?

[modbaraban]

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems that eidetic is trying to create a 3D car that is far more detailed comparing to what is available in the sims (and what their gfx engines and CPUs can 'digest' along with the complex physics).
eidetic, you are aiming to make just a 3D demo of the car later, right?

[scarbs]

I'd be happy to provide any background info to the project if it gets used on this site...

I have been doing a 2d equivalent with some pics here...
http://www.scarbsf1.com/Skeleton/skeleton.htm

[checkered]

I have been doing a 2d equivalent with some pics here...

That must've

taken quite a few hours to achieve! 2D and 3D representations can only complement each other, perhaps you should develop those two projects in tandem. Watching 3D is intuitive, it serves as a flexible framework and can clarify the dynamics of designs, while 2D is much more an access point towards in-depth understanding of the fundamentals and specifics.

[eidetic]

Hey all, thanks for all the comments.

@Carlos/modbaraban:
Yes, I am looking to do something more than what is possible in real time. I'm actually quite an avid sim-racer (mostly rFactor, and some GTL) though.

http://www.eidetic-3d.com/misc/real_time_vs_precalc.jpg - shows the difference between a 3D model for in game/real time use, and one that would be used for pre-rendered scenes.

@Tifoso:

I greatly appreciate your offer, and I'll be sending you a PM with my email address. Alternatively, I can set up an FTP account if you have a lot that you'd be willing to share, and would prefer not to email.

@scarbs:

First of all, love your site, been using it for awhile now. I've already grabbed some images off there in the past for reference (hope you don't mind )

If you'd like, I'd love to collaborate and you'd be free to use any images/animations/interactive components on your site or here on F1T. I could also do any 3d renderings that you might specifically want. I basically wanted to do this for my own learning, and share it with anyone who'd be interested. This is why I'm also keen to find those who are more informed than I (such as yourself)

[eidetic]

Just wanted to let everyone know that I'm about to start work on some of the parts of the car. It's going to be sort of an evolutionary process, as I may start on the front wing, then move on to the body, then go back to the front wing, etc.

Is anyone interested in collaborating in the near future? Again, I'm mostly looking for those with more of an engineering type of background. While I'm confident I could make car that would look cool, I want to be as functional and realistic as possible. IOW, I could use this things like cross sections of wings, diffusers, etc.

[checkered]

A thought, how

many of the F1 teams' websites have you visited recently? At least Williams, BMW and Renault have prerendered 3D presentations, very limited movement though, modelling and maps perhaps a little rough around the edges and functionality limited by what I must only presume being the need to stay on a general enough level. Williams' "car build" is still my favourite, albeit BMW's and Renault's presentations (they're very similar) can be seen as more visually pleasing and diverse.

Would it make sense at all to do an F1 car in a true web based 3D platform also? There are a few around at this point, but I somewhat dislike having to download a lot of add-ons just to be able to see them, though. But that'd enable better freedom of movement even if that model by necessity couldn't (yet) be as detailed as what you're shooting for.

[modbaraban]

I like the option of adjusting the front wing (and chage its specs.) of R27 on Renault's site.

[eidetic]

Preliminary engine modeling:



The top is just a cover, until I model the airbox and all that.

[eidetic]

Preliminary front wing and nosecone modeling (using endplates I had modeled for the last model, based on the R26)

[eidetic]

And the rear wing:

[Carlos]

eidetic - very interesting front and rear wings... all the drawings are impressive...3D graphics are such a powerful design/communications tool... it
must be a very gratifying profession.

[eidetic]

eidetic - very interesting front and rear wings... all the drawings are impressive...3D graphics are such a powerful design/communications tool... it
must be a very gratifying profession.

Thank you Carlos.

3D is indeed very gratifying. I used to do more "traditional" graphic design and illustration for a living, along with web design. Web design was always the worst, but illustration could be quite satisfying. Graphic design usually ran in the middle. I had been doing 3D for a hobby starting in high school, but it wasn't until about 2004 that I decided to make it a profession. My only regret is that I didn't do it sooner.

I think one of the most satisfying parts of the job is the variety. 3D is/can be used in so many different fields. The two that first pop into people's heads are probably film (special FX stuff) and video games, but that's only the tip of the iceberg. I mostly work in advertising, focusing on product renders for print. 3D is fast replacing photography for showing products in print ads. It hasn't come close to completely replacing it, and probably never will 100% replace photography, but will continue to gain ground. This means that often I'll one day model something such as a spray bottle for a cleaning product, and the next day modeling a car. Then maybe the next day a shoe. While I enjoy modeling just about any subject matter, the variety helps keep everything fresh. Even more mundane objects are enjoyable. So not only does the advertising world encompass just about every type of object when it comes to modeling/rendering, there's many other fields. Architects often hire (or use inhouse) 3D artists to render their designs before building, the medical industry is using more and more 3D animated and interactive works,