Low poly Tank tracks + animation

[NiniGeo]

Hi, my second post here and already a "problem to fixe"

I posted that topic on another forum but I haven't got feedbacks, I hope I'll get some here...

So, let's go to the goal.

I'm currently doing a A7V tank for a personal project under UT3 engine.
The low poly is already done despite the fact I'm not sure I created the tracks in the good way.

My tracks are made of several boxes instancied, I unwraped the box before.
In that way, I wanted them all to share the same uv space. So, I'll have to paint once that uv and all boxes making my track 'll be painted.
I meant those uvs are overlapped. Hope you get what I told at that moment

The problem is I want all the pieces of my tank sharing the same uv space, but I can't attach boxes with the rest of my tank because If I break the instance between boxes, my boxes don't move well along the spline as it should do to simulate the movement of the wheel.

In fact those boxes are linked to a dummy I think, and when I move that one along the spline all the boxes are following it. I did it thanks an usefull script I found on a website. --> Athanaze.fr.st . It was faster than using path follow modifier, array and etc...

So my questions are:

How could I fixe that prob !?
Did i create my low poly tracks in the good way ? (that must be animated after).

Here some screenshots to show you the model and the prob !

http://users.skynet.be/fa341830/A7V_wip2.JPG

what happens when I attach all the boxes of the track together in a single piece.
http://users.skynet.be/fa341830/prob.JPG

I really thank you and wait for you advices and sorry if I wasn't very clear, english isn't my mother language...

[EricChadwick]

I wouldn't use boxes for each tank tread, too many polygons without much result in the silhouette. Instead use one smooth mesh, a distorted cylinder, and animate the UVs to make the treads move.

Besides, a path constraint probably won't export to UT3 properly. Have you tried getting that in-game yet?

[NiniGeo]

Hi Erick, very happy to get an answer !!! Thank you really !

In fact, I had in mind to use an animation of the uvs for this after a friend told me about that possibility but I thought that would be better for an FPS to get those tank tread separated, As the player could be really close the tank and its tracks. But as you said, it doesn't bring so much to the silhouette.

Although he won't be stuck to those tracks :lol:
So about the path constraint, I'm not sure either it could be exported in UT3, I talked to some guys and they told me I should probably do some scripting to get it working in game.

Otherwise, I haven't imported my mesh in UT3, I was waiting for some answers to get me in the right path before texturing it and doing the highpoly model.

So, Thank you !

Could sound stupid, but would you mind to confirm my low poly if I post it here, once I'll redo that !?

Thank you again

[Draxxuss]

use an animated texture... Unreal is good for that. I think you are going in the wrong direction at the moment using a spline to animate the boxes around.

[NiniGeo]

Yes, I will do it, as I use UT3 engine, I've been adviced to use a pannar in the engine.

Here the low-poly with the normal baked Hope it's enough suitable !

[EricChadwick]

Looks good so far, although I'm not seeing much definition between the track plates. What are you using for reference? You might consider using a more interesting tread design, like interlocking pieces.
http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=tank+tread

[NiniGeo]

Indeed, that would better, but those tracks won't be so much visible.
I'm doing it for the A7V tank, a german tank used during WW1 (not widely used).

http://www.tracks-n-troops.com/Emhar/EM5003.jpg

Here a link to a picture, google image will show you more, but it depends sometimes they look a bit different at each other.

Thanks for the comment I should start the highpoly for the rest...
Perhaps I sould open a WIP.:think:

[EricChadwick]

Yeah, a wip thread would make sense. How are you modeling the high-poly treads? I think you need more of a gap or a larger bevel between the treads.

[NiniGeo]

It's a bit too late, I finished it