Assetto Corsa | Share Your Screenshots

[Hampus Andersson]

Nice post,

 

[diesirae]

Nice post Dave, but a few points caught my eye.

So I can only conclude that for most new cars Forza has had CAD data. There is no other explanation for it. If they get it, then other teams with license deals will get it.

Older cars are probably just laser scanned? For an artist it's gonna be easier to build off a scanned mesh than take many photos and rebuild all those little details accurately, which are needed because of the photomode meshes we find in games from Forza through to AC (ok, super-high res meshes that are used only when the car is so close it's only use is for photo-mode type shots)

Feel free to correct me with some other source, but they do most of the models by scanning and photographing as seen here: http://www.autoblog.com/2012/02/20/how-forza-motorsport-4-gets-its-cars/

I'm not an expert in the subject, but I doubt Kunos would use the CAD models directly in the game as LODA in AC (around 60k-ish) because of the huge amount of scaling down required and the work involved in doing it by hand to achieve. For example the BAC Mono CAD was 3.5 million polygons quoted by one of the modelers at SMS. For Forza and it's photomode models it's possible, but I think they've built them models in accord to the CAD models and not by scaling them down.

I bet for all the cars that are in production or made in the last 5 years CAD data will have been provided for AC without a doubt.
There is also a good chance that BMW have since produced CAD data model (even if just shells etc) for older cars for all manner of reasons, including providing to games developers. Not to say it's been used here though.

I'm not so sure about that; as I said the devs at SMS said that CAD models aren't the most common thing to provide even for newer cars and practically impossible to get for older cars. As did magicfr. And even with a grain of salt this guy sounds rather believable:

To answer the folks asking about why they don't use CAD or laser scans...Both of those methods produce polygon meshes that are typically very dense, and don't reduce resolution very gracefully like the hand laid out flow-lines shown in the video. Automakers are also very careful about giving out their CAD data. I, personally use that type of data every day in my job as an artist working in advertising, and it takes a lot of work to clean the data and tessellate it well (turn the NURBS surfaces into polygons), and some automakers still won't give us access to the official CAD for a variety of reasons. If we sometimes can't get it in our building guarded with bio-metric security measures, the automakers will be very reluctant to even let derivative versions of their own official data out into the hands of consumers.

Like I said, I'm not an expert on the matter, but it's rather fascinating which is why I'd love to hear from the devs how they usually build their cars.

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Good post, interesting to read from someone who really doesn´t know **** basically.

Hopefully Kunoz can give us a nice overview of what they have to work with etc.

 

[Mr Whippy]

Nice post Dave, but a few points caught my eye.


Feel free to correct me with some other source, but they do most of the models by scanning and photographing as seen here: http://www.autoblog.com/2012/02/20/how-forza-motorsport-4-gets-its-cars/

I'm not an expert in the subject, but I doubt Kunos would use the CAD models directly in the game as LODA in AC (around 60k-ish) because of the huge amount of scaling down required and the work involved in doing it by hand to achieve. For example the BAC Mono CAD was 3.5 million polygons quoted by one of the modelers at SMS. For Forza and it's photomode models it's possible, but I think they've built them models in accord to the CAD models and not by scaling them down.


I'm not so sure about that; as I said the devs at SMS said that CAD models aren't the most common thing to provide even for newer cars and practically impossible to get for older cars. As did magicfr. And even with a grain of salt this guy sounds rather believable:


Like I said, I'm not an expert on the matter, but it's rather fascinating which is why I'd love to hear from the devs how they usually build their cars.

CAD > Rhino > mesh (just set poly density or count you want), import to Max... run WrapIt plugin.

40hrs later, 65k polygon game mesh

Then I guess from there you cut into it and cut it down again for the lower LOD's.



Forza obviously don't use the CAD models as they are maths curves/surfaces, but the models they use in photo-mode ARE CAD sourced in plenty of cases.

Just load up GT5 and go into Photomode and look around some of the cars. The details are just crazy in some cases and there is no way they can capture those from photos (ie, they are in hard to get to areas to get enough images to make sense of the shapes from different angles)
Maybe they really do make them from scratch but it just seems mad when for example the TIS manual for BMW's has clear 3D cad model renders in it to show components etc. And BMW will have provided that to a company to produce the manuals (maybe internal to BMW but still)... those models do exist and you'd be bonkers to NOT access them.
Paying a team of guys to travel around to photo cars with all those fancy laser scanners or arm scanners when a CAD model exists would be a business ready to fail, especially when they had to then come back and model the super HD photo-meshes, before making the actual game mesh.


I'm sure some models are captured in fun and interesting ways. That Veyron example is interesting but baffling to me. They didn't show any other car being scanned like that from what I know. It was a great method to use though, you can't question that kinda data

I'm sure some cars are made with good old blood, sweat and tears, hard to get access to a car, no existing models, just photos maybe... a long task to build up a HD model in nurbs perhaps (not your usual game artist discipline, so maybe even bought in models/skills) and then create your low-poly LOD models from!
How they do those cars would be interesting... but I doubt many will really tell us in the cases where it was just good old blood, sweat and tears building processes as I bet they don't actually do it (happy to be honestly corrected but I doubt there is much honesty when it comes to hard questions)



Not wishing to put anyone down who does this work. It takes ages and despite sounding cool to work on car games, it's a heavy going process. Kudos to those who do it for months and months on end...! Even working from existing resource is tough going...!!!

But I won't pretend that it's as fairy-tale as it once may have been with people just using prints and photos so much.
Yes on very rare cars no one has made before maybe, but most stuff there is probably a model out there you can buy or 'access' to reference to make your own from. Be it CAD, through to referencing others models, or HD models made by professional artists etc.


Anyone doing otherwise would be mad, especially in the financially efficient world of games production these days.


Dave

 

[Dinca Andrei]

.....Not wishing to put anyone down who does this work. It takes ages and despite sounding cool to work on car games, it's a heavy going process. Kudos to those who do it for months and months on end...! Even working from existing resource is tough going...!!!

But I won't pretend that it's as fairy-tale as it once may have been with people just using prints and photos so much.
Yes on very rare cars no one has made before maybe, but most stuff there is probably a model out there you can buy or 'access' to reference to make your own from. Be it CAD, through to referencing others models, or HD models made by professional artists etc.


Anyone doing otherwise would be mad, especially in the financially efficient world of games production these days.


Dave

Indeed,for most of the amator modelers the use of blueprints is a must.
I for example,have tried to make a model from blueprints but those were bad quality and the only good ones i found so the result was obvious,pretty bad.
Than i`ve tried a different aproach,guiding from pictures using blueprints only to keep proportion and it pay off,so yeah its alot of work but if i do it with pleasure,its a easy and fun work not a hard one.
On the other hand,proffesional modelers and game makers can use a different system,like CAD files or laser scanned,which gives an impressive amount of quality on the final model.
Not using those options might be because of money,but i doubt it its the case for Kumos Simulazioni.
Besides,doing this work in old fashion gives one great joy,if time is not an issue.
If there is an urgent matter and you have the money to spend,than its easier to just buy a 3D model and work with that,only not that satisfying in the end.

 

[nothke]

Actually, there are A LOT of methods how to make a car model. It is strange that if they already have the licence from a manufacturer they don't get the CAD model. That means that either it is not accounted in the licence, or they find CAD models useless (which I doubt)

BTW, for details, they use photogrammetry (google it).. Aaaand there's more techniques that nobody yet mentioned..

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Guys can you please make a new thread for such discussions as this thread is about screenshots from Assetto Corsa

Just click the "Start a New Discussion" button and carry on

 

[Lars Brugman]

I have been staring to this for 2 minutes and I still can't believe it looks this good!

 

[Vaggelis Theodoridis]

And also these shots from Jon's article..

 

[BanjoMaster]

And also these shots from Jon's article..

Middle shot will be the disguised DTM car I take it? Please, Kunos, Stefano, Marco, Aris, whoever makes the call, please make it the 91 or 92 car (18 inch wheels, more aero, 2.5l lump), I beg, beg, beg you! It's one of the looking racing cars of all time!

 

[Taranta]

 

[Hampus Andersson]

That red M3 looks amazing. If we get a DTM version it will be even more incredible!
They have posted pictures of the real car when they were in Germany so there´s a chance.

 

[Dominik Schollmayer]

That red M3 looks amazing. If we get a DTM version it will be even more incredible!
They have posted pictures of the real car when they were in Germany so there´s a chance.

There will be one, the review confirms it

Next we moved back to the Silverstone GP track, and took out the BMW E30 DTM car. Whilst still in early stages of development, still using the road-going E30’s cockpit and bodywork, this car formed the backbone of BMW’s DTM assault in the early 1990’s...

 

[Bram Hengeveld]

Z4 stole my heart already at Gamescom but this M3 is pretty damn sexy as well.

M-Threesome?

 

[Hampus Andersson]

 

[Dominik Schollmayer]

ohh my god this all looks just too good to be true!

I've been hooked for AC already, I dont even know how to describe my state of mind right now xD

 

[Ralf Ääro]

Z4 stole my heart already at Gamescom but this M3 is pretty damn sexy as well.

M-Threesome?

Imagine a Multiclass Race with Z4, BMW E30 and Lotus Exige.
My last information (from gamescom) was, that the number of players in online racing is not limited by the software. So, we will maybe see online racing in AC (most likely not in v1.0) with more cars on track than in any iR race

 

[Luke Russell]

Where are these other screens coming form?

 

[Hampus Andersson]

There will be one, the review confirms it

Yea sorry about that, i missed the reivew from Jon but i am reading it now awesome!!

What was most notable in this car, with such stiffness, was how controllable and usable it was on track. Positively delightful to drive, pushing the sharp, responsive front-end into a turn would hook the car up into the mid-corner, allowing you to get on the throttle much earlier than you expect, and earlier with every lap. This car is superbly balanced and capable, its taut chassis allows you to understand what every tyre is doing at each stage, and bouncing the car over the Abbey chicane kerbs felt very much under control, and placing the car where you wanted it became more and more natural with each passing lap. I mention to Aris that I have to try something else now or else I could drive this car forever!

i get goose bumps all over the body haha

 

[Hampus Andersson]

Where are these other screens coming form?

http://www.drivingitalia.net/index.html