Get your model on!

This isnt directly relevant to my model in specific but i just saw this model on a blog and thought it was dammmn cool. I would like my final to be this sort of mock realistic style.

The Bike So Far

Ok so what I'm doing for this project at the moment is building the bike with no consideration for level of detail. The goal of this exercise is to get a model which I like the look of and would be happy to have as a final piece. The next step will then be to model all the different parts of the bike focusing on LOD and swap them out for the high detail parts.

This isnt yet at that stage. I would like to spend a couple more days working into it and re-working it if necesarry to make sure I get the best aesthetic as possible. Here is a quick render which i set the computer doing over night. Mwahaha my computer never sleeps!

RE DRAW.

I sat down this weekend and went for a massive re-draw. This was because i gave it a day, then looked back at my previous design and to me it just looks like some sort of 'desert' 'mad max' style pod racer. This is not what i want out of this project.

I would like a semi realistic looking concept bike out of this project that looks both believable and attractive. I came up with this design based on the classic 'Vespa' Here are some of the pictures i used as reference for this new design:

Bike Concepts

So after switching from car to bike (reasons in last post) I came up with my first concept for my bike. Here is a drawn and modeled concept for my bike.

Back to a Bike

After speaking to Alex, i raised the point that i hadnt fully decided whether to make a strafe bike or strafe car. After telling him that i am incorporating Apple into my car/bike he raised quite an important issue.

If apple made a car, it would be the most functional sleek car ever. basically a white rectangle with curved edges. This has been somthing ive been silently thinking of for a few days now.

He recommended that I think again about making a bike as this will be a more dynamic shape, with a more interesting final product. And since we are being marked on our models, I dont really want to get marked down because i designed ALL of the details out of my car! So I am going back to the idea of a bike, however I still think i can incorporate much of the work ive done so far with the car.

Over the last couple days i have been blocking out a simple design and here is as far as the car idea will be taken:

Also just for the record, this model is around 1000 Polys.

Structure

Today i set some time aside to get a first visual done. This visual is by no means what my end product will be based on, I'm just of the opinion that the best was to start designing somthing is to do -anything-. With this basic idea put down, i can now analyse it for whats wrong with it and also the parts i would like to take through to the next stage of this project. Just out of interest, the poly count for this model is around 360 faces. As a side note, i'd like to analyse the models i make for this project for their poly count, to help me get a good idea of the graph curve for detail x resolution. Heres a quick drawing, which i then modeled from as refference.

this is actually an idea i had for how the spherical wheels could oporate. I got the idea from an old wheel mouse. I will include an exclusive post for this though

Functional Solutions

I have been going through my break down of the basic car, and comming up with functional solutions to problems. Here are my workings:

Breakdown of a car.

and not the bad kind that leaves you urinating in a hedge in full view of the m25.

 

This is the worlds most normal average car. Voted by top gear to be the best 'everyman's automobile' the ford mondeo is the best example i could look at for the functional breakdown of a car.

Functional Features
4 wheels
3 mirrors
front and side and rear windows
headlights, hazzard lights and indicators
vents for engine cooling
handles for opporating doors
locking mechanism
4 doors, 1 boot door
boot space for storage/cargo transport
5 seats (including driver's)
steering device (wheel)
breaking and gear change
gears
seatbelts
ariel for receiving transmission
theft alarm
input for key
arm rests/handles
window controls
aircon + controls for.
bumpers
licence plate
dashboard
glove compartment storage
cigerete lighter


But i do not want to stop here. As this is an Apple car, who have a firm standing in the internet technologies, i would also like to include items such as:
Bluetooth connectablility
myfi
all inputs for audio/video
gps
onboard computer
surround sound system
tinted back lit winscreen with display
food and beverage storage/stands
touch and gesture based driving
inovative steering control
onscreen stats
biometric scanner
cellular transmiter
internet capabillities

Also for the sake of it being Apple, i may investigate having this as an electric car. Electric cars are essentially rubbish at the moment, needing 8 hours charging time for every 80 miles they do, however apple has always been ahead of competitor devices with their batteries lasting double or even triple in some cases of those of the competitor's.

The next thing i plan to do is to use this break down to find the most functional ways of achieving all of these aspects in my car.

Concept Cars

after trying and failing to draw anything that looks remotly like a car, i searched online for images of concept cars to give me inspiration. Most of these are so extremely wacky that i don't think we will be seeing them doing the school run for a good few years. However they do prove the fact that a car can break the 'traditional ford mondeo' rectangle with wheels. however in my next post i will be looking at the Mondeo and the Astra to help break down the essentials of the 'car'.

So here are some examples of how different a car's body can be!: