This will be the main thread on which I'll post progress updates. This will be my first beamng mod. I already have some experience modelling and UV mapping. I'm in the process of learning basically everything. Now, I don't like reading long wikis. I like to look how something's done and then copy and tweak it to my liking. That's what I'm doing here. As this is my first vehicle I'm focusing on the aesthetics of the vehicle. Basically, I'm making my own body and design but using the ETK800 components to create the drivetrain. I also plan to use a lot of the ETK800 scripts and jbeams. What I'm planning: long wheelbase sedan based on the volvo s90 Tesla like drivetrain, I'm going to try and make this electric. So some of the drivetrain will be modified to accomodate motors. Otherwise it is pretty much stock ETK800 setup. - though the drivetrain is considerably longer. Digital wing mirrors - the idea is to have cameras rather than mirrors and then two displays next to the steering wheel with what the cameras see. Not entirely sure if that's possible or how I'll do it. I'll attempt to figure out the GPS. Tesla model 3 like interior. Mercedes E-class inspired front. I have yet to decide on a name. Here's a "teaser" picture. I did not know an S90 was such a large car. The ETK800 looks somewhat a midget next to it. I have scaled the image to be the correct length. Beamng drive uses metres right? I'll be updating this thread every now and then. Suggestions and feedback is welcomed.
I wonder if it would be silly to forget about the electric drivetrain aspect of the vehicle and cram in a fullsize supercharged V8, I could go full American on this with European design. There was something posted by the devs about electric drivetrains coming, that would be something to wait for. For now, Supercharged V8? Doesn't sound stupid to me. If I can get everything to fit in the engine bay.
Electric drivetrains work just fine right now, although I'm sure some improvements will be coming soon.
Little bit of progress today. Ignore that weird "roof bar" which is hanging too low. Going for a Tesla model 3 style roof. Full glass.
Made a bit of progress on the front of the car. Not much work done on the rear. Not too sure if I like the general shape of the headlights, looked great on paper. Thoughts? And I think, by accident, I've created a bit of a muscle car look with the front. An electric can have that right? Namewise I'm thinking something like "Hirochi Stallion". Maybe Bruckel or Gavril. Not sure.
Personally I like the front end but if it were my design i would have gone with a more rounded one (thats just me i still like it). about the name, I would go for one of the american names if you are going for a tesla type of vehicle.
Oooo, this looks pretty sweet. I see your going to be basing it off of the ETK 800, so that shouldn't be too hard to work with from what I know. Your mesh also looks pretty detailed. Mind showing a picture of the polyflow?
Personally an "ETK something-series" name is uncreative. I like the name "Stallion" as a model name, brand undecided. Bit of a play with words in terms of the "Ford Mustang". A mustang and stallion are somewhat the same animal, except a mustang is smaller than a stallion. I have created a bit of a muscle car like front end, could complement it. And lets face it, eventually muscle cars will go electric. Nobody said you can't drift an electric. Here are a few images of the polyflow. I fell this is about right in terms of detail. Getting rid of a lot of the loops going around the car, across the hood along the x axis for example would end up getting rid of some of the curvature on the front. Though I'm open to advice here, this is after all my first model for this game. Now, I don't know how bad tris are, I know ideally everything should be a quad but some spots are kinda unavoidable. The imported DAEs from the game are all tris except there two tris do make up a planar quad if one edge is dissolved. There are a few messy spots that I need to clean up, such as the bottom rightish corner above the cutout on the front bumper. Note, the rear end still needs a lot of work. The bootlid has some extra edge loops because I was playing around with SubdivisionSurface (Not that I will use it for the final model). I do though need to make myself a high poly version of the car for baking normals. I looked at gabe's approach to using a heightmap and pixel offset images but that just seems to complicated to me. And with my pathetic computer drawing skills and paint.net is really do prefer making the actual mesh. Besides, high poly meshes make nice renders, I want to make a neat cinematic "advert" for it eventually.
Yeah that's actually a great idea. And imo, the game needs a modern mega sedan, as in nearing 5 metres long. This, as it's based on a recent S90 is 4.96metres long, 4cm short off 5m.
Going to be starting work on the rear end. Experimenting with the length of the rear. Left is the original and more or less "to-spec" relative to the S90 diagram, right is the elongated rear. This could be called the "Gavril Grand Stallion", rolls off the tongue a bit better than "Gavril Stallion". Thoughts on the rear length? --- Post updated --- That's basically the general shape of the front end complete. Obviously details are to come. Thinking of some chrome square "bracket" accent trim on the front to emphasise the shape of the what would be main grille. The cutouts still need the foglights modelled in and of course a smaller grill, the vehicle still has a radiator just not one as large as you would need for an ICE. Wireframe pic also attached to show the polyflow. I'm not sure if the model is too detailed. Fewer vertices and a lot of the shape would be lost. --- Post updated --- Better view of the elongated version of the body. Extended the rear wheel arch a bit as well.
Did some work on the rear today. Going with the extra long wheelbase version with the long trunk, about 5.2m total this thing. This should give a sense of scale, above is the raw ETK800 body with nothing else attached to it. The drivetrain on the stallion is still just the ETK800 components minus a few bits. I think I'll use the ETK800 suspension setup as suspension jbeams really aren't something I want to learn now. Will need to modify it extensively anyway with new transfer cases and electric motors. Better view of the rear: The rear is still far from anywhere near rough shape complete. I will need to tidy up some of the geometry to make it nicer. Trying to minimise the number of triangles I need to use. I can't seem to avoid some without making other parts of the mesh extremely vertex dense. The rear light casing is not complete, will add another column to the side. Going for something similar to an Audi A8 but different. Well yes, but no; if you see what I mean.
Looks good. I’m getting some Volvo S90/Mustang vibes, especially from the front end. I actually kind of like Hirochi Stallion, as a type of Japanese luxury sedan like Genesis or the Hyundai Equus.
Well, the general outline of the car is based on a Volvo S90, the front end did end up with a somewhat Mustang "hood overhang lip" kind of look - that's why I decided on "Stallion" as the model name. Brand not sure yet. "Hirochi Stallion" sounds more aggressive, though I think "Gavril Stallion" or "Gavril Grand Stallion" might be more appropriate. As someone already suggested this could effectively be a new "grand marshal" .
Maybe Jargl P9, or make it some sort of a Chinese car? Also, long-wheelbase usually doesn't extend the trunk, just the rear passenger compartment.
I know that most modern LWB sedans don't have an extended trunk, It's just that personally I really do like the extended trunk on sedans. Older sedans had really long trunks, the grand marshal itself has a very long trunk. I feel I'm going a bit in-between, not a normal length trunk but also not absurdly long. Just gives it a more executive feel in my opinion. Just the way land yachts ought to be...
