LTR - Merlin
The third ship I had to create for Light Trail Rush.
The main choice for the racers was to stand out and offer a unique design for each one, linked to his capacities.
It was also decided to not have a lot of details, considering the in-game speed & view, but to have a retro look and intricate designs.
The ship is build to be entirely customizable from the color scheme to the different parts. To achieve this the in-game version is separated in 5 parts and use a custom shader based on a simple Unity PBR shader. We used colormask to allow painting on top of the model (wich was exported in greyscale) except for some details wich have a fixed color.
Modeling done in Maya LT, texture work in substance painter & designer.
The engine render are made with Unity 2019.3 and HDRP. All shaders are done in Shader Graph.
Original concept by Yohan Monange.
https://www.artstation.com/artwork/k4JgXd
Merlin is the ship with the most powerfull acceleration in the game. Is name is in honor of the Merlin engine created for the Spitfire fighter.
Scroll down to see how the concept grown.
What the ship looks like in the garage/customization Area. This is the closer a player get to the model.
During a match, the fast paced action and camera distance call for a design without too much details.
The back view of the ship is very important, here the idea was to give the feeling of a buffed up engine, like a dragster or a rocket.
You can see the model fully deployed in "Tracer mode"
This moodboard was done after receiving the game design instructions. The general idea was to have a barebone overall with a clearly hot-rod like feeling.
The first concept done by the concept artist Yohan Monange. It was later adapted to better accomodate the in-game view and technical requirements. https://www.artstation.com/artwork/k4JgXd
Unity render of the side
Unity render of the front and back
Unity render of the top & bottom