The Driggs Factor 12/17/09

Hey guys and gals, welcome to the third-ever edition of The Driggs Factor. By now I’d normally be all like “Blah, bloggy blog blog…no topics” but I’m still going strong – which may or may not be a good thing for Wallrunner. Tomorrow is Friday which means we’re almost seven days away from Christmas! So, if you’re like me, NOW is the time to go do your Christmas shopping. Don’t count on Santa Claus bringing it to you, trust me.

If you don’t mind, I need to say one thing before we dive right in to the meat and potatoes of this week’s entry. I do not intend to offend anyone but I must express my feelings on the matter.

The last week has been…trying, to say the least – there was a bit of drama but for the time being the situation has been dealt with, but in my opinion (one that does not necessarily reflect those of the administration or the members of this site) there are some things that need to be addressed in terms of our staff members and their conduct towards each other and other members.

I have always held the staff members here in high regard – there isn’t a single site artist who hasn’t earned their place on the staff with their work, but there are those who seem to have a lack of respect towards their peers. I will not name names but those who are in the know will know exactly who I am talking about. While the talent here is second to none, that talent needs to be backed up by conduct – our cars and graphic design work should not be any excuse to be rude or derisive towards our fellow site members. We represent one of the best sim painting sites on the Web and it is not acceptable, at least not to me, that staff members can undermine or make personal attacks on others.

That being said all artists, and members, regardless of status here on the site, should respect one another. After all, we all have a common interest here, and we all have something unique to offer.

Alright, now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s get down to it.

Rioux’s NSCS10 COT Mod comes to NR2003 (and MRG!)

Late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, Denis Rioux of RiouxMods.com and RacinGrafix.com released his much-anticipated COT mod for NASCAR Racing 2003 Season. There was such a reaction when it came out that it actually shut down both websites for hours on end – people had literally overloaded the servers trying to get this mod. So what’s the deal? Well…

First off, my computer sucks. It can’t run NR2003 at full like most people boast about. Secondly, I don’t have a wheel or a controller for the PC so I can’t say I can give an accurate depiction of the mod except that it appears the cars are a bit slower speed-wise and chunkier as opposed to the SS.net COT mod – meaning it feels a bit more realistic – but I digress. I’m a painter, so that’s where my focus on this mod lies.

Let me start by saying that I absolutely LOVE the Chevy model – actually, I love ALL of the models used in this mod, but I particularly love the Chevy. It’s so much better looking than the SS.net model. It’s nearly spot-on when you compare it to the real Impala. The modelers did a fantastic job on recreating the car bodies. But with all good things, so must come the bad.

Much to my delight, the Chevy Impala model looks amazingly similar to the real thing.

I won’t BS with you, the templates suck. Not the parts, those are fine, but the way the templates are laid out are just awful. I was literally counting the ways I would’ve liked to hurt the people who laid the templates out while I was working on a design the night the mod came out.  My first complaint is that (because GIMP seems to have an issue with opening 2048×2048 templates) the sides of the car on the template are smaller than the hood, roof, and nose. It suggests to me that the template-makers put a higher priority on the smallest parts of the race car than the biggest ones. That means that 1024 templates see a decrease in overall quality. Graphics get pixellated, lines are distorted…needless to say if you’re painting and you want a great renderable design, go with the 2048 template. Good luck finding the right sized logos though.

My second complaint is the actual layout. The biggest pains in the you-kn0w-what on these templates is the top/side of the front fenders, nose (especially on the Impala), and the rear deck lid/trunk area. These are RIDICULOUSLY difficult to line up, especially on a 1024×1024 template. I spent the better part of two-and-a-half hours trying to get the BASE for Dale Jr.’s Amp and National Guard cars finished and I’m still not quite done yet.

The flat image from my attempts to recreate Dale Jr.'s 2010 base on the NSCS10 template. Right click and View Image to see it in full resolution.

As you can see the image on the right, the template is a lot to look at. It’s basically the garage pipe from the Geico commercial – it says “COME, YOU TRY TO PAINT ON ME, AND I BREAK YOU!” It makes noob painters quiver in fear. (I guarantee you someone wet their pants when they went to paint on this sucker. And it wasn’t me. I swear.)

I’ve been told that it’s actually very easy to paint on once you figure it out, but I’m not sure if I’m able to sit and take the time to figure it out. Mind you, I’ve also been told this was formerly an rFactor template, in which case I cede any kind of superiority from myself to rFactor artists. But honestly…rFactor guys, do you know anything about ergonomics? This thing is nuts.

Someone out there’s saying “Oh Guy, you’re just a wimp of a painter. You want everything handed to you.” And that may be true. Yes, I’m a wimpy painter. I hate lining stuff up. I’d rather be punched in the nuts than line stuff up. Unless I’m sending out a design concept or I’m really pumped up about a scheme, I don’t like to line stuff up unless I really have to. Why? Because I’d rather do a car, upload it to the game, and get to racing it as soon as I can. I don’t wanna sit for 3 hours trying to line up ONE SIDE of a car while my buddies are telling me to get on and race with them in their sweet-as-heck cars. Also, I have a bit of a social life (Holy crap, Driggers has a social life? – Matt Rolfe) and I’d rather be out and about than…yeah. You get the picture. But alas, as the saying goes, you get out whatever you put into it. A lot of time put into a car usually yields some of the most epic designs ever…

"...as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced."

As you can see in the flat image I posted, there’s a LOT of stuff. But surprisingly, if you line things up right, things actually line up really well. It’s just there’s a lot of surgery involved to get things to fit – as seen here. Try and picture me seeing this and just pulling my hair out. Or better yet, go watch the part in Star Wars IV: A New Hope where the Death Star blows up that planet. That’s how I felt when I saw the strokes were all wrong. I’ll probably have to go and do the stroke by hand – and if you take that out of context, SHAME ON YOU!

Aside from lining things up a lot and a not-so-pleasant level of quality on 1024×1024 templates, these templates ARE pretty nice. And these cars look amazing in-game – it’s just the turnover from request to final product might be longer than if you were using the SS.net templates. I guess once I get used to the templates I’ll probably feel better about it. I got a lot of respect for the guys who put the hours into the mod that they did, and they did a fantastic job on it. Unless I get a wheel (or at the very least of a controller) I can’t say I’ll be able to fully enjoy the mod on the computer, but for now the challenge lies with painting the cars.

I can’t say this will become the new standard to replace the SS.net mod, but it’s certainly something to keep an eye on in the coming months and years. And even though the templates are a bit difficult to paint on, I look forward to the challenge (regardless of how frustrating it’ll be the first few times.) I wish Rioux and the gang at RiouxMods.com and RacinGrafix.com the best of luck as they continue to improve of this mod. Now if I could just get my hands on a Brazil scene.

The Creativity Gap in NASCAR

If you’re anything like me, every year you look forward to the off-season because of the new paint schemes being unveiled for your favorite drivers. Being a Dale Jr. fan, I was excited to see he changed his design for 2010 to something with a little more color. It’s a nice jolt to one’s imagination to see something new for a change. But this off-season it seems like there’s a severe lack of creativity and decisiveness in the motorsports design industry, particularly in Sprint Cup.

Carhartt is said to be re-upping with Matt Kenseth for the 2010 season, and their designs have always changed in some form over the years.

This coming season, there will be several cars (and probably many more by February) that have “old” designs – like Kevin Harvick’s Pennzoil Chevy, or “throwback” designs – like Matt Kenseth’s Valvoline car. In Harvick’s case, I suppose it’s kind of a trend because his GM Goodwrench car didn’t change much either over the years, so I could give him a pass on that. But Kenseth I can’t let slip by that easily. Now, I’m sure Roush-Fenway has the best designers that they could get their hands on, but really, after Richard Petty Motorsports ran a new, fresh look for Valvoline this season, you would think they could do better than the Mark Martin throwback. And since RPM and Yates are merging and running Fords, I don’t see the harm in running the Valvoline scheme from this season.

This isn’t the only case of a lack of creativity. The same fate has befallen the Hendrick Motorsports stable – though Gordon is given a pass because his schemes only change with every presidential swap. The clean, simple look that Dale Jr. brought with him to Hendrick seems to be permeating the shop because Mark Martin will be running a very simple GoDaddy.com #5 and Jimmie’s Lowe’s scheme will be a simple white/blue two-tone design outlined in red. And if Hendrick is going with a sleek, simple look, that’s fine…but one thing I couldn’t help but notice about Mark’s car is the similarity to Dale Jr.’s 2008 National Guard Citizen Soldier scheme. A trained eye can spot the difference rather easily, but the same look was pulled off already at Hendrick. It’s a bit frustrating to someone who absolutely loves paint schemes when you see something that’s been used before, but I guess I can’t blame the designers.

Regardless, the NASCAR graphic design industry needs a jolt of creativity. This kind of falls in line with what I was

Diecast sales would be so much better if drivers had more creative designs!

saying last week in that there is a new generation of artists coming into their own thanks to NASCAR 09. The need for fresh ideas could revitalize the slumping merchandise market – particularly with diecasts. Diecast sales have been crappy lately, as I can tell you because I’m an avid diecast collector. Last year I bought something like eleven diecasts, most of them of the same drivers but all of them different. This year I’ve bought two – Jeff Gordon’s Firestorm scheme and Dale Jr.’s ACU Camo scheme from the July Daytona race. Both cars look impressive, but with the exception of Gordon’s Firestorm car, Jr.’s car is still…blah. I like it, don’t get me wrong, but the same basic design with a color change is a little boring to me.

I know this rant may not have a realistic solution to offer, but I kind of feel like designers these days have lost sight of what it is they’re doing. But they have to understand that these are not simply race cars they’re designing, they’re icons. They’re what the fans identify with, they’re what the sponsors try to sell on their products, they’re what the driver is associated with, and they’re a major part of branding for a driver and team. In the long run, yes, the driver will more than likely be identified with a “reused” design, but people like me, the diecast collector, the sim painter, will continue to rant about how they couldn’t come up with something cooler.

A Tiny Note: The Christmas Eve 500

If you’ve got an Xbox 360 and you’re not celebrating with your family on Christmas Eve (What, do you hate them? Or do they hate you?) join me and some of the members of MRG on the 24th for a full 500 mile race at Daytona! Check the Leagues section in the forums and look for the thread to sign up.

Random Thing of the Week

Since we’re getting so close to the end of the year, I’ve been looking towards next year’s movies – and let me tell you something, I’m excited….well, not really. I honestly have no idea what movies are coming out next year except for this one: Iron Man 2. And guess what? There’s a trailer out now! If you loved Iron Man then I’m almost positive this trailer will get you pumped up for next May.

http://www.firstshowing.net/2009/12/17/must-watch-first-official-trailer-for-jon-favreaus-iron-man-2/

Oh, and when was Andretti Autosport going to announce that Tony Stark was going to replace Danica Patrick in IndyCar?