{NOTICE} the custom vehicle icons that i make freely available on my website are not for resale. {/NOTICE}
this is the long postponed second part to my previous instructable "animated gps batmobile icon". in that project i demonstrated how to create a custom vehicle icon for your garmin gps navigation device using photographs of a model car. in this project we'll instead use images generated from a 3d animation program. my program of choice is lightwave 3d, but you can use the same techniques in just about any other program, from freebies like blender, to entry level programs like poser and bryce, to high end programs like 3ds max and maya, just to name a few. i've decided to take the unusual course of demonstrating the project using both lightwave and poser side-by-side to compare and contrast methods, while trying to keep the instructions as generic as practical. i hope that this will be more helpful than confusing.
if you're already familiar with a 3d application, you've got a head start, because i'm not going to explain how to navigate the application or how to construct your model, which is way beyond the scope of this project. you'll have to consult your manual to find out where specific settings and dialog windows are.
this is about setting up your finished model on a virtual turntable, like the actual cardboard turntable we created in the previous instructable, and from there generating the image sequence you'll later assemble in an image editor like photoshop.
at the end of this instructable, once you've imported all the images into a single photoshop file, you'll have to work through steps 7 to 11 of the previous project to finish your icon.
this is the long postponed second part to my previous instructable "animated gps batmobile icon". in that project i demonstrated how to create a custom vehicle icon for your garmin gps navigation device using photographs of a model car. in this project we'll instead use images generated from a 3d animation program. my program of choice is lightwave 3d, but you can use the same techniques in just about any other program, from freebies like blender, to entry level programs like poser and bryce, to high end programs like 3ds max and maya, just to name a few. i've decided to take the unusual course of demonstrating the project using both lightwave and poser side-by-side to compare and contrast methods, while trying to keep the instructions as generic as practical. i hope that this will be more helpful than confusing.
if you're already familiar with a 3d application, you've got a head start, because i'm not going to explain how to navigate the application or how to construct your model, which is way beyond the scope of this project. you'll have to consult your manual to find out where specific settings and dialog windows are.
this is about setting up your finished model on a virtual turntable, like the actual cardboard turntable we created in the previous instructable, and from there generating the image sequence you'll later assemble in an image editor like photoshop.
at the end of this instructable, once you've imported all the images into a single photoshop file, you'll have to work through steps 7 to 11 of the previous project to finish your icon.
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Signing UpStep 1: Setting up the timeline
we'll need 36 images of the car from 360 degrees, so set up your animation for 36 frames.
LIGHTWAVE: programs like lightwave start numbering frames from 0, so the last frame will be frame 35.
POSER: programs like poser start at frame 1, so the last frame will be frame 36.
in both programs the animation timeline appears at the bottom of the main window where you can directly enter a value for the number of frames for the whole animation.
LIGHTWAVE: programs like lightwave start numbering frames from 0, so the last frame will be frame 35.
POSER: programs like poser start at frame 1, so the last frame will be frame 36.
in both programs the animation timeline appears at the bottom of the main window where you can directly enter a value for the number of frames for the whole animation.
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aliceownsj00 says:
Aug 28, 2008. 10:17 AMReply
lol thats awesome! I love how you did the old school version too haha great job!
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