[WIP] '69 Dodge Charger

[thomthom]

Sat down for a couple of hours modelling a '69 Dodge Charger. I began to model this in 3D Studio Max many many years ago - never completed it. Picked up the blueprints I used then and started in SketchUp - figured it's be an interesting comparison in experience.

Sub-divides nicely in Artisan - though I wish it created a quad based result when being fed quads. I'd love to see the mesh through Catmull-Clark sub-division.

I do miss having multiple view-ports into a model when doing this kind of work. Being able to see perpendicular onto the side you're modelling while at the same time in perspective does reduce some extra camera tilting.

But all in all I'm enjoying quad modelling in SketchUp. Though I do see the need for some new features. Offsetting, Chamfer etc.

Anyone got some references to a chassis? I can accept chassis that's not from a '69 Dodge Charger - as I mainly just need something for when the camera is low or you see into the wheel well.

[pbacot]

Looking good, ThomThom.

Don't understand this: "Sub-divides nicely in Artisan - though I wish I created a quad based result when being fed quads." Do you mean "...it created..."

Turn on the camera... Would love to see you working on this a little with your tools.

Thanks for posting, Peter

[hellnbak]

I can tell this is going to be another ThomThom masterpiece

Any particular reason you chose this car? Did you maybe used to own one? Or maybe always wanted to own one (like me and the classics I model )

[iichiversii]

I'm a huge fan of your vertex tools and quad based tool plugins and I'm it's great to see it's capabilities in sketchup, looking forward to seen the end result and many other projects developed using these plugins.

[hellnbak]

Allow me to demonstrate my ignorance - what's going on here? I know it must be a plugin but darned if I know which one

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[Rich O Brien]

@Steve

It's Thomthom's new Vertex Tools plugin. He has edges set to red to see when drawing over black.

[boofredlay]

Looks great Thomas.

[cotty]

@thomthom said:

But all in all I'm enjoying quad modelling in SketchUp. Though I do see the need for some new features. Offsetting, Chamfer etc.

You can post your ideas here or here, maybe the author is listening?!

@pbacot said:

Turn on the camera... Would love to see you working on this a little with your tools.

(something like the alien making of...)

[panixia]

nice job sir.. which plugin is this one?

[thomthom]

@pbacot said:

Don't understand this: "Sub-divides nicely in Artisan - though I wish I created a quad based result when being fed quads." Do you mean "...it created..."
oopsie! You're correct!

@pbacot said:

Turn on the camera... Would love to see you working on this a little with your tools.

I will eventually - this is the first time I model a car like this in SketchUp. The initial meshes will be a bit too slow to be of any interest as I'm working out the workflow.

@hellnbak said:

Any particular reason you chose this car? Did you maybe used to own one? Or maybe always wanted to own one (like me and the classics I model )

I have always loved American muscle cars. I've built a number of model kits when I was a kid. Every summer I drool over the ones I see cruising around. I really really want to get one one day. But a car is so incredible expensive here in Norway.
My all time favourite is the '67 Ford Mustang Fastback. But I really like the Charger as well - 68-69 versions look so mean with their wide open mouth in the front.

It's the '50-'60 era of design - the one influenced by the space and aero industry. I loved my final major project in modelmaking - I built a computer with the same design language as these old cars: http://workshop.thomthom.net/minimediacentre/

@rich o brien said:

It's Thomthom's new Vertex Tools plugin. He has edges set to red to see when drawing over black.

Correct - I often skip to Edge only view or X-Ray view so I can line up to my references.
In fact - here is the model: 69 Dodge Charger.skp

@cotty said:

You can post your ideas here or here, maybe the author is listening?!

I hear he's pretty over-worked these days... ..or so he claims - lazy git.

@panixia said:

nice job sir.. which plugin is this one?

That's be Bezier Surface: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=32810
(That's a very old video. I hope to have some interesting to show related to this as Basecamp.)

Thanks for you kind comments.

[panixia]

@thomthom said:

That's be Bezier Surface: http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=32810
(That's a very old video. I hope to have some interesting to show related to this as Basecamp.)

aaaahhhh.. okkk.. i hoped that was some other funny one just to click "download"
some new videos?? just to excite us another little bit?

[thomthom]

I couldn't help myself playing around some more. Bulked out most of the read fender.

Contemplating how to approach the door - it's had some very complex geometry. I remember when I was doing the 3ds model seven years ago that I was bending my mind then as well.

Detail of the door:

Extract from the old 3ds max model: (The mesh has many problems - a lot of triangles...)

I think I need to print this out and trace over some paths with tracing paper. Not sure how to make the loops flow.

[Dropout]

The 69 Chargers don't have a frame, just a few anchor points on the underside of the body. Here is a pic from the rear that shows the front rear spring mounts and the rear torsion bar mounts.

Hope it helps.

http://www.mopardealer.com/_borders/petty_1972_charger_underside_3.jpg

[Dropout]

This might help too:

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2522654/1969-dodge-charger/page-6

[thomthom]

@dropout said:

This might help too:

http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2522654/1969-dodge-charger/page-6

That's some good references.

[ely862me]

That's a great start.
Few things that is good to keep in mind when using artisan :
1.Keep all the diagonals oriented in the same way
2.If you can't go all the way quads then you have to have all the way triangles(at least don't let single quads in the middle of triangles), otherwise the smoothed geometry won't be that nice .

Keep it going !

[thomthom]

@ely862me said:

Few things that is good to keep in mind when using artisan :

Thanks! That's good to know. I only did some quick tests with Artisan to see how smooth the edges where - around the wheel well etc. It did strike me how seemingly random the Artisan mesh was. I understand more what's going on now.

I haven't inspected the diagonals at all as I've worked mainly on the low poly topology in quads. (When I talk about quads I talk about QuadFace Tools quads which can be non-planar.) Would have been nice if Artisan understood these quads and could perform subdivisions based on that instead of the underlying triangulation.
I've been looking up Catmull-Clark subdivision and I'm tempted at trying to implement a version that makes use of QuadFace Tools's type of quads.

[Rich O Brien]

@unknownuser said:

I've been looking up Catmull-Clark subdivision and I'm tempted at trying to implement a version that makes use of QuadFace Tools's type of quads.

Go for it! I'd buy that

[panixia]

@rich o brien said:

@unknownuser said:

I've been looking up Catmull-Clark subdivision and I'm tempted at trying to implement a version that makes use of QuadFace Tools's type of quads.

Go for it! I'd buy that

i'd buy that twice!

[thomthom]

Thank to this:
http://rosettacode.org/wiki/Catmull%E2%80%93Clark_subdivision_surface

I can now make this: