Saturday, February 22, 2014

Wrestlemania XXX

Welcome to Wrestlemania!

With news coming out that Hulkamania will be walking as briskly as his walker allows him to all over Wrestlemania, one must ask themselves - whatcha gonna do?

Well, I'm going to make the set.

Unfortunately I don't have a great deal of time to dedicate to it, and the absence of a model of the Superdome (of usable quality) makes it very difficult. However, I am going to have a go at it.

The main focal point is an 18m high fleur-de-lys. Wrestlers enter through the base of this. Two videoboards extend out from either side. There's still a lot I want to do but it is very difficult unless I can accurately represent where everything behind the set is located. Expect though a lot of light and a lot of colour.

I apologise for how harsh the yellow lighting is - it will be toned down but I wanted to emphasise the shape of things.

Early render of the model.

First lighting test. I am pleased with how clearly apparent the fleur-de-lys is even from a distance.

Some more videoboards added.

Experimenting with some lighting tubes running along the trusses. I like it.

Angled view of the set with more lighting added.

Front on view of the set.
Feel free to provide feedback.

Thursday, February 13, 2014

Istanbul Park, Istanbul

The first of the 'classic tracks' I will upload is Istanbul Park.

Nation: Turkey
Locality: Istanbul
Track: Istanbul Park
Purpose: F1 race host (2005-2011)
Lap Record: 1:24.770 (2005)

Overhead shot. Start-finish straight is on the bottom.

Angled shot

The start-finish straight. The track drops away from drivers into turn 1 making braking here difficult and easy to lock up. Aim to brake just before the dip.

Once the driver makes it through here, there is a long, curving, uphill section to contend with. The car is constantly pulling toward the outside of the track making it difficult to stay on the road.

Turn 4 sees the track drop away again, aiding in getting a good drive away.

But be careful - coming up soon is a double-left hander. Easy to run wide

The famous turn 8. A quadruple-apex left hander ensures the drivers neck muscles are strained to the limit.

A left-right chicane follows this, providing good overtaking opportunities as well as a chance to launch yourself down the DRS straight.

The end of the lap features a slow and tricky left-right-left sequence. Be careful on the throttle here as a car can easily run off the road.
 Unfortunately there will be no video of this circuit as my controller has no battery and driving by keyboard is interesting to say the least. Take care and happy modelling.