Zooming in the Christmas card ...

[Bluewings]

No doubt about it , it is a nice bit of work .

But let's have a close look at it , shall we ...

1) Snow !
The rendering is perfect . Even by tweaking the pic and zooming in , you cannot see any flaws in the textures .The "grain" in particulary is well rendered . Notice with me the thickness and the "snow bumps" in front of the wheels and tracks . It hasn't been "put" there , it has been "pushed by the wheels/tracks .

2) Shadows !
Here again the details speaks for themselves . You could "draw" the tanks on the snow by following the shadows lines . Nice .

3) Background !
I can see at least 3 interlaced backgrounds . The main subjects in their glorious pose up front , includind the trees behind the Leo1 , the second one is the Hill on the left and few other bits here and there , and the 3rd one being the far hill in the distance .
Have you spotted the elevation of the first hill on the left ?
No vehicules could climb that . We'll have to go around ...hehe .

4) The lighs effects !
Volumetric and directional . Easy to spot on the M1 turret and on the Brad . hehe.

5) The "atmosphere" !
The general "feeling" of the pic is very real , colors , mid-darkness , softness in the rendering and mapping . I like it much ...

6) The vehicules themselves !!
Here , what can I say ?... :shock:
Ah yes I know : WOW !

They are spot on . The Hummer is nothing short of lovely ! The kind of " C'mon drive me " feeling . The Brad is ....a Brad ! The amount of details is eye catching . The T80 ?? It steals the show !!
The Leo 1 in its old fashion outfit look a bit ...out of place .(kidding !.hehe)
The M1 looks much meaner .
And the Leo 2A5(?) ?? Mama mia !! This one WILL run the show in the SB community I guess . Hehe ... ( until the Leclerc comes up!)

Yep . Definatly a very good job you've done here Men of SB2 .

But ....one thing is REALLY missing . I know I'm never happy but where , where the Hell is the Man ?? The Tanker ? The Trooper ? The Grunt ? :(

Merry Christmas all ! :present:

Cheers . :3starsk2:

[Dewman]

Makes my butt cold just looking at all that metal sitting in the snow.

[Trekker]

I see BW got to much time in his hands..lol... :thelmuts:

Can't wait for the real deal...
But were is my BMP-1?

[Kingtiger]

THANK U Ssnake!!! U ARE SANTA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have put the card as my background on mu PC now.. so I Can look at it 24/7!!!!!

[Hell_Hound]

I must nitpick... :)

It's a T-72. Metal ribbed front fenders, and a single driver's episcope.

[eageleye]

Great card SB2 team

[Brad_Edmondson]

Am I correct that it's a T-55 in the back or is it a T-62? I've often mixed those two up from a frontal view. I think the coax is on the other side for a T-62, correct?

Whatever it is, more toys for the guys who want to drive hordes of WP kit at the NATO guys :D

[dejawolf]

the tank in the back is a T-55.
the tank in front of it, is a T-72B

[mapman]

But ....one thing is REALLY missing . I know I'm never happy but where , where the Hell is the Man ?? The Tanker ? The Trooper ? The Grunt ?

I thought for sure I would find Big Al and Ssnake somewhere in the photos....but alas....

[Cpt_Grogg]

Ehum.. BW, I hope you realize you are reviewing a picture made in Photoshop etc. and not a SB2 screenshot. Nice surprise though, Merry Christmas SB team and the rest of you guys!


photoshop CS, and 3ds max 6 is what i used to create, render and style this image.

although the SB2 engine is not yet on this stage, when all the fluff is finished it'll look quite close...


Ssnake, can I expect the old Leo A4 also to be in SB2? :cry: Pleeeaase! :wink: :mrgreen:

[Hell_Hound]

Wheel spacing is a good way to distinguish T-55 (front wheel, space, 4 wheels) and T-62 (5 uniformly spaced), but not in this picture. The fume extractor is normally on the end of the barrel on T-55, and a third of the way down on T-62.

[dejawolf]

you can also distinguish the T-62 by the shape of the front turret. also, the half-circle plated top of the turret is missing on the T-62.

[sheehbr]

Is the entire image a Photo Shop creation, or are the tanks from SB2 and everything else PS, thanks...

[dejawolf]

the tanks were first modeled in max, unwrapped, and then textured in photoshop. each of the tanks took approx 2 weeks to create,
and all of these models will be featured in SB2. the tanks have an average polycount of 3000 (as well as LOD's) and a single 512x512 texture as well as a separate 128x128 texture for the tracks. in comparison, the models featured in UT2k3 had polycounts of 3500, and were mapped with 2 1024x1024 textures (one for the face, and one for the body)

the scene and scenery (except from the trees) was created and rendered in max, with a very basic light setup (a single direct light with shadows, with blue ambience, and some final touchup in photoshop. (a few filters, and the merry christmas writing.)

[RnR]

So....where is this alleged christmas card? Did someone strike me off their list? =)

[Hector]

Oh R&R, is now on the screenshot section, sb2 previews, i think, it was supposed to be a pop up, but, for some of us it did not make pop, hehe

Ah, Deja, long time, mucho job. Thanks again. I know that you surely love to do what you do, just like Al and Ssnake, but, it is always remarkable your positive attitude and work. Thank you all