#tank development

[walkingthroughthisworld]

In December 1941, the M3 Medium Tank was the primary tank being produced for the U.S. Army and was a stopgap while America caught up in tank design.

Fast forward to only three years later in 1944, and the T26E3 (later standardized as the M26 Pershing) was finishing evaluation and soon would be rushed to Europe in response to the Battle of the Bulge.

[canvas4everyone]

Steel that angles like it’s learning to dodge A diesel engine humming under all that history 2mm of straight up problem solving Tracks built for mud, snow, and long days And somehow it still fits the moment WWII turns What made it so hard to stop numbers, design, or both? Peek at the choices behind the legend.

[historyofguns]

British Mark I Tank — World War I Changed Everything

The article discusses the introduction and deployment of the British Mark I tank during World War I, emphasizing its significant impact on warfare during the Battle of the Somme. First seen in action on September 15, 1916, the tank was a terrifying sight for the Kaiser’s First Army in France, which was unprepared for this new warfare technology. The Mark I tanks, classified as either "Male" with cannons or "Female" with machine guns, showcased tactical innovation, despite operational challenges such as mechanical failures and the hazardous conditions inside the tank. Developed under great secrecy and inspired by naval technology, these tanks fundamentally changed military strategy. Despite encountering significant issues like spalling and overheating, they proved influential on the battlefield, prompting advancements in both tank design and anti-tank weaponry. The article, written by Will Dabbs, MD, highlights the evolution of tanks from these early days to their crucial role in modern military operations.

[jmayoranimations]

Final Render of the Tank Project

[jmayoranimations]

MDU115 - 3D Asset Production - Internals

I had already finished most of the steps before being reminded that my tank needed to have an internal section. So to compensate, I hollowed out the inside of the tank, and proceeded to try and create an internal section. Fitting the cockpit inside while maintaining the animation of the barrel moving was harder than I thought, but I eventually got the spacing just right so that it doesnt clip through. The section then needed it’s own texture map, since adjusting the existing ones to accommodate the new geometry would be far more difficult. What made matters worse was that I accidentally saved the Green UV Template on top of the photoshop file, and then I couldn’t open the source to remove the layer once I got home. I needed to open the TGA file and edit on top of the texture to cover the lines themselves.

[jmayoranimations]

MDU115 - 3D Asset Production - Texturing

Texturing was a pretty long and annoying process, mainly because of the variance between photoshop versions. When I created a file on campus, I couldnt transfer it over to home, since my home version of photoshop was much older than the one on campus. The incompatibility issue was a real problem, but I managed to work around it by keeping the textures relatively simple.

We were informed of the occular occlusion method, which was new information. I employed this on my texture, and it added a decent shadow effect to the externals of my tank.

The treads required special treatment when it came to textures. They needed to be animated. Animating the texture is considerably easier than animating the mesh for this sort of thing, so I took this route over the latter. This meant that I needed to develop a second texture for the tracks, seperate from the main tank texture. Then, all I needed to do was adjust the UV offset value to make it scroll past as the frames went by.

[jmayoranimations]

MDU115 - 3D Asset Production - Sculpting

The first part of any 3D production is creating the mesh itself, shaping and reshaping the basic polys into the desired shape and form. To start with, I built two boxes, one for the top, and the other for the base. Once they were in the correct shape, I did a similar thing for the treads, creating a cylinder, hollowing it out, and segmenting the outside to create a rigid appearance.