Beiträge von Cadoras

And here it is, all done. Some more window and normal changes had to be made. The EC motorwagen is a lot different then the TEE one.
Also, weathering and lettering is in place:

After some file changes by Seamon, I've rechecked and refurbished older work and continued working on the EC. The EC differs only slightly in model, but al lot in texture (as you already have seen). One of the parts most changed is the "Motorwagen". Here it is, without lettering & logo's (and weathering), but already with the basic textures, shadowwork and normalmapping in place:

I think opinions about the look of the Eurocity-design are as polarized as the debate on the German "Old vs Elfenbein/Ozeanblau" coloringscheme. Although I must say, that debate is starting to die down because (at least to my experience) the greatest group of detractors were people that actually witnessed the "old" coloringsscheme (old being the colors used between 1945-1974) in real life. As new generations (man that makes me sound old) become more and more vocal on these matters, one sees that people tend to cling to things they saw when they were young. Or better said: still young and unburdened with life's more stressing factors (let's say between 5 and 25 years of age).

As such, I always try to find an objective opinion. I know that's contradictory, but bear with me. If a person judges a color scheme favorably because that color scheme was used in a period of his/her life of which they think fondly of, then that opinion is flawed. That person is no longer judging the colorscheme on its own merits, but by the association that person has with that colorscheme. Which is, from an "academic" point of view, irrelevant. Am I innocent? No. From time to time I catch myself thinking fondly of some music, movies or these kind of things only because it reminds me of a less complicated time. But that in itself is a lie. Less complicated? Dare to ask that person back then if he/she considered that time "less complicated". You may judge it so, but that is because of comparison with your current standards. The younger you would probably scoff and tell you that "grownups" or old people tend to remember the good stuff, but even more tend to forget the bad stuff. Not the traumatic stuff, but the daily grind of annoyances, anxieties, fears, possible boredom or unhappiness and uncertainty.

So that's the philosphical rant of the day. But now to more important stuff? Which is best? The TEE-staple or the Souris Gris (Grauer Maus)? I for myself am a true sucker for any TEE-themed vehicle. You could paint a steam locomotive in that scheme and I would probably buy it. The Grey Mouse however, although very interesting and true asset to this model, doesn't curry the same favor with me. Why? Because it reminds me to much on what was happening back then. Changing of the guard. New projects, new colors and the abandonement of what I considered a truly graceful and elegant concept.

As such, I'm (yet again) guilty of the exact thing I just labeled as "flawed". Judging by association. What would I've said if the Gottardo was launched with this scheme and later became part of the TEE-family?

Disclaimer: this post is not meant as a kickstart to a heated discussion about colorschemes. I just examined my own opinion on the matter and reflected in a rather elaborate way.

Steaming on! Seamon has finished up the base model with additional tweaks I can't figure out. The EC-version has started to take shape:

The "Graue Maus" is coming along nicely!

That's an entirely different locomotive - you know that right? So a repaint won't cut it. And, you may be able to use this:

V 60 und Baureihe 106 der DR

with the conversion tool?

The TEE-version is done! At least, for now. Seamon is going to shoot on it and modify it. But for now:

Things are moving along nicely! Progress so far:

Lettering and weathering is up next. After that, I have to go ingame and see if everything aligns and make any
necessary adjustments.

Then, the "Balge"

I'm back buddy, and making good progress. It has been a very dark couple of months.

And powering on with the last one! Fortunately the layout of the windows of this coach is almost indentical to the window layout on the Triebwagen itself.
That means that one of the more tedious tasks (mapping out the windows) has been killed of before even being a nuisance:

Onward!

Oh dear . I'll just finish the TEE-version and then just incorporate the meshes with the textures - and I'll "repair" them. The only thing, probably, that needs to be changed is the windowplacement. On my to do list:

- finish the last coach texture
- line them all up texturewise (the border ivory/red)
- make the "balge" texture and normal map

Then, the send and rework, then the Eurocity skin.

Hello people!

After a long absence my once broken hand is fit enough again for actual modding and texturing! It's still a bit stiff sometimes, but good enough
to get going again. Finally! As proof of this I managed to finish the 3rd wagon (Speisewagon):

The 4th and last will follow shortly! After that's finished I will first bounce it back to Seamon, who will probably want to add/fix a few things,
whilst I in the meantime produce the 2nd skin.

On that subject: the cast has been removed last friday. All in all it was in a cast for 3,5 weeks. Normally, it would be 4-6 weeks. Although it healed well, it managed to atrofy considerably. Furthermore, the fractured part is still "fresh" (for lack of better terms). In short: cast is gone, pain not (yet). In the coming 2-3 weeks my hand has to regain strength and the bone has to gain more density - I can't even stretch my fingers or make a fist. So, sit tight brothers & sisters I will be back shortly. In the meantime I'll play Stellaris on Slow

Man oh man. Some projects do seem cursed. Poor old Seamon is already waiting a long time on my work, because of unexpected business developments on my part. Grave stuff, but seriously f*cking up my private time. In the meantime, when I could, notching up some stuff. I was really looking forward to the holidays: my target space to finish up the project. But...

I literally broke. my. f*cking. hand in a ridiculous household accident. For the "pics or it didn't happen":

Yes, that's my grubby hand, and this screen on the background. I think, "FML" is a bit appropriate here. To be more precise:

Although it may not be entirely clear, my 5th metacarpal (or 5. Mittelhandknochen) has been snapped in half. Although it looks partly
fractured, it is indeed fully fractured.

So yeah. That's not good. Being righthanded. Al things are complicated now: eating, driving, typing, doing number 2's and mastu... oh,
nevermind. I will drink myself in a stupor the coming days. With luck within 4-6 weeks it may be healed.

As a very small bandaid on the wound, my progress untill the mishap:

No, absolutely not necessary: there will always be differences. No matter what. As I see it, some tasks of (re)painting can be a bit troublesome and hands-on - just like most modellers aren't fan of mapping in particular.

Things going smooth this weekend! Speisewagen unterwegs:

It remains a nasty job to do: cutting out the windows... Most of the time source material doesn't correspond 100% with the model. Which means a lot (and I do mean
a lot) of tweaking. Yes, the modeller could've done it with the model itself, but I prefer it this way so I can control everything going on with those windows.

And the conclusion (for now) on the Maschinenwagen:

And with finished weathering:

Further progress, a lot of time-consuming normal mapping, detailing and so forth:

Hey people!

Again a long absence on my part... Again sickness and career issues demanding most of my time. It's not easy juggling work (60/70 hours a week) with a private life, consisting of a marriage and two kids. In between I hope to do some modding, but lately - the last 6/8 weeks - when I get some time I just numbly do some game on autopilot to escape the rigors from hard labor for a while. Unfortunately, until the end of the year it will remain very busy. But now I hope, by means of an intern (evil laughter in the background), I can delegate some of my duties. But all is not just toil and torture: my wife's expecting our third one! So as of end june/begin july I will be truly screwed

Now I have some time for progress!

Although some might deem it unnecessary, I will do it nevertheless: my apologies for the delay, to the community and especially to @Seamon for this current project and @Grimes who has put a project in the wings.

Second Voiture, first task: mapping out the windows....

Most of the texturing can be cloned from the 1st one, but stuff like the windows and the normal mapping can't be cloned alas.

Sorry for the delay guys, I've been sick for a while (nothing seriously) and suffering from a murderous schedule with my business. But work will resume shortly! With a vengeance...

Here I am again. It has been a while since the latest update: quite a lot of rework had to be done and real life distractions abound!
But the progress so far, I think the first "voiture" is ready:

I've eased up on the weathering, because I've never seen a Gottardo really dirty. The Gottardo was as much as a businesscard as a train, so
they were always kept quite clean. So, this one will get "light" weathering.