Konem proudly presents

[Konem]

Hi, I spent a couple of weeks to create a racer and a track by computer. As a wipeout fan it was always my wish to have something wipeoutish selfmade to look over an over again. maybe you remember the logo chart (or what it is called). that was 2d. now I have learned enough in 3d programms to create something I can render from infinite views. It surely shortened(?) the time between wofusion and wopure (the psp is coming next month here in germany)
I first present you the early steps of the racer I buildt. There are sketches from my sketch book, some construction levels, and three racer models with different uptodateness (you know what I mean, do you). This should give you a small hint for the oncoming pictures.
So enjoy them here:

http://www.wipeoutzone.com/user_files.php?user_id=56

and feel free to tell me what you think.


PS: the konem logo is not a registred trademark, but my personal property, so just imagine it is :!:

[Drakkenmensch]

Any original artistic material and creations are automatically copyrighted to their creator, so you have nothing to worry about.

The shape of your craft is interesting - I find it reminiscent of a clenched fist with two vicious blades extending from the back of the hand. It's definitely something that would get the attention of your competitors at the starting grid!

[eLhabib]

hi konem!
It really does look alot like wolverine's claws :D
keep up the good work, looking great already!

[Lion]

very cool, extremely agressive style :)

[Konem]

well, recheck this

http://www.wipeoutzone.com/user_files.php?user_id=56

I added the racer renderings. so you see the texture and material.

drakkenmensch what did you mean by
your competitors at the starting grid? my english has some ... missing vocabulary :?

to the shape: I always liked the auricom/qirex/goteki style with the forky look. so I adapted this here. I disliked the cubic look of aurcom in fusion / goteki in wo3. that looked cool, but to static for a high speed racer, for me. well, with an anti-gravitiy thingy in the craft shape might be irrelevant but I wanted it to be more stromlinienförmig, like a plane.
I also have an idea for the cockpit, but this is to much for me right now. that's why the cockpit glas is fully reflective, wich is not looking so bad.

I believe this forum is the best place (besides the wo-studios :wink: ) to show my work around. so I am curious of what you think

:!: track flies are coming soon.

[Drakkenmensch]

The starting grid is the waiting area where the ships are lined up before the GO! signal is given to start racing. Seeing your ship with its engine roaring by my side before the start race would certainly feel intimidating!

[eLhabib]

wow, konem, sweet renderings! very cool textures, too!

[Konem]

I deleted the racer files to open up the track topic.
Check fist track sketches, a small 3d documentation and a top view from the track @

http://www.wipeoutzone.com/user_files.php?user_id=56

thats just a little warm up for the oncomig pix. if you liked the racer a bit, then you'll like the track pictures too. wouldn't say love them, but I think it is a pretty work.

to the track: it starts in the rocks in an non concrete part of the track, after the first curve comes a hill where the "real" track begins, after that it goes straight down, then a little bit up and a jump, the first big curve follows, then a looping and the second big curve, then comes a screw through the looping, then comes the starting grid (I learned that vocabulary recently, but is it still the starting grid, when the race already started... to seinfeldish the question...).
the track is 7.5 kilometers long.

:!: next time I show you detailed views of the some parts.

[Mobius]

"Ambassador, your spoiling us!"

[Sausehuhn]

Hey, I like that!! :D

But I hear all the Fusion-haters say "that is not WipEout"

[eLhabib]

except for the fact that it looks like a HUGE fallus symbol, it's pretty cool. but I am missing some harder twists and turns... :(

[Konem]

:oops: better than a small one 8)

about the twists and turns: yes, it is not an extreme track. more a beginner track. it was hard to build that, and I had to make compromises. I am studying architecture an we had to learn a programm to visualize our stuff. I wanted to see how far I can get with it and realized that now is a point where I can make some first wipeout feelings become real (like wipeout is real...on the screen).and though after 10 months I am still a beginner in this programm.
you'll see, that there is not much technology around the track, or futuristic concrete/glass scyscrapers like in many wipeout tracks. I like the offroad passages in fusion. a natural landscape is cool I think to race through like in one of the original wipeout tracks the rocks ,the ice cave in one of the tracks in wo2079, or the forest in one of the tracks in wofusion. in those natural scenes cool are ruins or stylish designed artefacts. wait till you see other views. and I am working on an flythrough, but this needs very long because the renderings are tough.

[Space Cowboy]

except for the fact that it looks like a HUGE fallus symbol

ROFL!! so true :lol:

Good work though man, very nice indeed. I like your lighting for the map. 8)

[Konem]

I deleted the concept pictures to have space for the renderings. so check the link above.

I took a little to do them. so I wonder how the game designers do it. they build a very good looking track wich needs to be shown 25 times in a second or more. and one of my track renderings took 30 minutes minimum. okay, there are reflections and real time shadows here, a real sun an an atmosphere. the game designers can simplyfy the data that the playstation can handle it and it still looks cool, with clouds waterfalls an a lot of surrounding construction. after making this track, I have a little more respect (than I already had) for the developers. :o
there are race renderings in the classical behind-the-vehicle-view and some shots from
anywhere to show some spectacular things.

PS: so I have seen a video of my track, and it is great. but it is full of errors, so this needs longer than I had expected. when the racer does 900 km/h (average speed I had in a time trial race, with feisar) the track is through after 24 secs. so I have to slow the racer down, so that one can enjoy the track. thats another point: how much does one see with 1000km/h? one is always trying to kick the others racers engines, or to not hit the boundarys, or to get the speed ups. nevertheless there have to be surroundings to fill up the space with some atmosphere, whether I watch it excactly or not.

[Sausehuhn]

one word:
awesome! 8O

edit:
Ja, Gebäude in den Bergen wären toll. Ein Restaurant mit großen Fenstern, ein paar Zuschauertribünen und sonstige Gebäude würden die ganze Atmosphere unterstützen!

und mach die Pads ein bisschen größer - normalerweise sind die locker so breit wie ein Schiff, vielleicht auch noch größer! :)
___

yes, buildings in the rocks would be great! A restaurant with big windows, a few tribunes for the spectators and other buildings would fit the whole atmosphere!

and make the pads a little bit bigger - normally they've the double width of a ship - maybe even bigger! :)

[Sumimasen]

They are really good renders! 8)

...So much so that I think I may call it a day with my diary thread. That fact that you seem to have done so much so quickly makes me feel such an amateur. :oops:

Well done, good work - keep it up! :D

[eLhabib]

wow, konem, these renders are simply AMAZING 8O
very fusion style, but still I like them, from an artistic point of view! If by any chance you are able to make a fly-through movie, DO IT! :D

[Konem]

:D thanx. I hoped you won't dislike it.

there is a big tribune (so sehr verglast, wie ich es vertreten kann) at the starting grid, and two big screens in front of it, so that the spectators can follow the race. remember the screens in wo2097 and wo3 wich show excactly what's on the tv screen? I try that to for the movie*. it is darker and cooler in the rocks. they're also tribunes at the top of the towers. I tried to put some kind of hologram in the middle of each tower, wich shows the race. needs more experiments. I think about some bulidings in the rocks but I got some other work to deliver this month.
the pads are 4meters bright(kleiner scherz für die detschen),means two beds, speed and weapon pads. no pit lane, like in pure (I never played it, but I think I read you get the energy by morphing your weapon energy...)
sumimasen (japanese?!), what are you doing, that you feel an amateur. this wasn't done so quickly. a couple of weeks, okay in my spare time, but 'til 1/2/3 o'clock sometimes. it is a fun to see something grow from zero to ready.
there are concrete holders for the track, wich also allow twists. but for the looping it was hard to design a working and good looking structure. as I rendered a pic inside the looping, it was very dark there, so I decided to make some parts of the track glass. you cannot see through as much as in the florion heights but I think it is a better solution that just making the conventional tack transparent, matter of taste (geschmackssache, sausehuhn weiß bescheid).
and there are team logo flags, to honor the original. the konem team logo is there too. all logos are altered (turned, zoomed in, erased words) to fit in a cooler layout for the flag.

*for the movie: I got PAL here in germany. you got NTSC. that should be not problem. but do you have other codecs for quicktime/mediaplayer/realtime? but I think movs, mp3s and avis can be played everywhere.

[Drakkenmensch]

no pit lane, like in pure (I never played it, but I think I read you get the energy by morphing your weapon energy...)

That's correct. Instead of a "Drop weapon" button like in previous versions, you have an "Absorb weapon" where the weapon's power is dumped directly into your shield energy. It adds a new layer of strategy - do you drop that bomb, or do you raise your already critically low shields?

[Sausehuhn]

[...] the pads are 4meters bright (kleiner scherz für die deutschen), means two beds, speed and weapon pads [...]

lol? :D
___

there shouldn't be any problem with the movie - as far as I know (and what I've seen so far), movieplayers for Computers don't make any difference between PAL or NTSC or what ever. I'm nearly sure that movies for Computers have the same code all the way :)

[Mobius]

So, how is it coming along?

If it is a game, do you need a hi spec pc to play it?

The renders look the business.

[Konem]

to play the video is no deal, when it is ready. it is also possible to play it on tv (I'm looking forward to this, but there the pal/ntsc-ness is relevant). the only problem is to render the pix. this needs time, even on a render farm, because of the real time light, shadows, transparency and reflections. so you'll know when it is done. in the games the shadows are all textured on the track so that they don't have to be computed. no reflections in the games and not much transparency...wich is not dumb, because you race with 1000 things. only the racer shadow is maybe calculated permanently, and the effects on it. well, tempus fugit (not the x-files episode)
I made no game (oh I wish I had the skill and the technology, yumm!). it is not interactive. the racer is constained to a defined path. I fear the physics won't look very wipeoutish, but seeing this area passing by and the reflections on the racer changig is way enough to dry tears...
I spent the last weeks to work on important architectural study stuff I have to deliver in 2 days.

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