Hey guys. Introduced myself here - if you want to know some background, and why I'm building this track. https://assettocorsamods.net/threads/hello.1476/#post-9964 Its my local track, and Ive done a good number of real world laps on it, on both the (1988-2014 layout), as well as the updated layout. Reason I'm calling this "Kyalami 2016" is because this is the layout that was opened to the public in that year. The race track went up for auction in 2014, and was bought by a local businessman for around USD 15 M , who then went on to spend about that same amount, again, refurbishing the track, making tweaks to its layout, and upgrading the facility in general. The track got widened in places, the main straight lengthened, and more runoff areas created where possible. It is now an FIA grade 2 track, meaning everything except for F1 can be raced on it. In my opinion this is one of the greatest tracks on the planet, and part of my motivation to build this in AC, is so that people who otherwise cant enjoy the real thing, can experience this amazing historical track at home. Some renovation pics ^^
This is a wip aerial view of my layout in AC editor currently. Still tweaking track layout, but building track side assets in parallel. Some random shots in the editor:
Those Editor shots look very very nice ! Had no idea about this track either, layout seems quite technical tbh. Will be happy to try this ! The only thing I don't like is the very black asphalt. I know it's more realistic giving that the track has been resurfaced, it's just that so many nice details are lost. Please don't take it personal , this is very subjective (and unreasonable) and I feel the same about any track suffering from this (e.g. @LilSKi 's otherwise fantastic Watkins Glen). And to see how ridiculous this is, it's one of the reasons for which I love Sebring .
Hey lucian! I hear you on the dark surfacing ... I actually did lighten it tbh... and ill be adding more detailing (rubber racing line, braking areas) into it once Ive locked down the layout. Some quick tests I did they other day: The youtube vid had the time of day at 5:00 pm, so ambient light is darker, and not showing this up. Love the more gritty surfaces too. Sebring is the world champ of bumpy, gritty, rough surfaces. And its a blast to drive because of that!
PERIMETER BUILDINGS There are around 50 buildings along the track boundary. And then theres the second row of buildings you see between these buildings. There is only one or two places that you actually look directly at buildings ahead of you while driving. The rest are all in your peripheral vision. So having said that, this is where I have to scope out the level of detail needed on these buildings. Generally, its pretty low, based on the criteria listed above, but absolutely essential to be there, to give the driver a sense of the place. A friend of mine, who lives around the corner from the track, took a bunch of pics for reference. These have been absolutely invaluable, both from a modelling, but also from a texturing point of view. Some pics he took^ GEO BUDGETS "Hires" model Bake out Ambient Occlusion of hires model Apply to low res model Texture over AO bake This is the method Ive been using, not sure if there are updated ways to do this kind of thing, but this is how I know to do it. ^^ Buildings 8,9 and 12 showing AO bake only Aiming at an average of 5k verts per building with a 1024 texture. Thats 250k verts for all perimeter buildings, and 50 x (1024 x 1024) texture maps in total. Ill see where I can get away with dropping that to 512 on textures on some of the more periphery buildings. Got some good info from Pixelchaser on overall budgets, so keeping this in mind. WINDOWS I've been experimenting with different ways to do the windows. Initially, a full transparency / reflection separate geo and material, then I removed that - overkill. (Only kept it on the main start straight building). Then tried a black gradient, and finally, the route I think I'Il take - using the photos to "bake" in the windows. Below: Black Gradient Windows: (which Ill be reworking to match the final example shown) -------------------------------------------------------------------- Final Method Ill be using for perimeter buildings:
Yeah its a bit of a task .. I figure I might try and get away with not doing all of them ... say doing around 60% of them - and where you really don't see them from the inboard car perspective, I might duplicate a couple of the more generic looking buildings and place them there... but we'll see ... kinda hate having to do that ...
Aside from the actual superb work, I really love this organized approach. It's something every project needs. And something where I need to improve looking at your shots . I assume this kind of post takes you a lot of time to do, but when you can, PLEASE do more. It's both inspiring and motivating. Looking forward to this project !
Thanks luchain, appreciate the input. : -) Well, I guess planing helps alleviate the difficulties with the inevitable optimization process. Super happy to continue posting. Im going to have a bunch of questions coming soon, so this works both ways! Im still doing stuff Im kinda familiar with, but as I said earlier, Im totally new to building a mod track, (so lots to get through still, and help will be needed from you guys, especially wrt to the AC editor, shaders, best practice methodologies etc. First batch of buildings checked off, and 2nd batch in production from tomorrow. (hires wireframes ^^ )
Those buildings look pretty spot on in terms of mesh resolution imo. You got a deeper modelling background? Also what tool are you making the track with?
Hey AccAkut, Im building the basic layout of the racetrack with RTB, (more on that later!) and the rest of the modelling is being done primarily with Maya and Fusion 360. My background is fairly varied, I'm a multidisciplinary designer and engineer. So this has required for me to have 3D modelling as one of the skill sets needed, although . I've been involved in the CG and video game industry for a long time as well. I co founded this company in the 90's and did pre rendered CG work for around 10 years. Sold my shares and no loner part of it http://www.luma.co.za/cgi/ Then I moved into desktop and console game development, which turned to mobile development from 2008. Still heavily involved in this industry. https://www.ign.com/articles/2012/12/03/bladeslinger-episode-1-review https://octanerush.games/ http://battlestrikeforce.com/ (Some projects: ^^) --------------------------------------------------------------------- The other industry I'm involved with is performance electric vehicle development. Been a car guy and Motorsports enthusiast my entire life. My primary modelling package Im using is Fusion 360 for Engineering CAD work. So NURBS based modelling has been what Ive been doing on a day to day basis for a while now. I plan on also making my first AC car mod of this prototype design Im developing with 2 ex F1 engineers.
Ha ha, well its a fast way to prototype the layout, and figured Id try it out as part of the workflow pipeline. My plan is to use the mesh it exports and clean it up, or build off of it in a traditional 3d modelling piece of software like Maya. There are definitely limitations to its end use as far as I can tell so far, but honestly, its a tool. And its worth trying out as far as Im concerned.
yeah true that, it gets ideas layed down fast and it can cope with lidar data to a degree. well atleast transferring lidar references into rtb to work with. pm`d you some of the stuff I last did with rtb. maybe it inspires..
Awesome! I can't wait to drive this track in AC. I hope my rig can handle all the detail. Regards, Bjoern (ex-KMA)
Do you know the track? Once Ive optimized stuff it should be running better, but right now, it doesn't feel too bad to me. My rig is 3 years old, so specs are so/so. With the following settings: (AC running almost at full quality, with a 20 car grid and gbw) 3840 x 2160 ---> 50-60 fps 2560 x 1440 ---> 90 - 100 fps 1920 x 1080 ---> 100 - 120 fps That said, Ive probably got about 80% of the assets in the scene, and about 20% of the collision meshes in. So we'll see where we land once thats in!
