BigMac's Ecto-1 3D project continues


by Kingpin

16 years, 11 months ago


Can't wait to see that baby with a Mesh Smooth Modifier on.

by BigMac

16 years, 11 months ago


Yeah it’s going to look really nice when it’s all shaded and textured.

Thank to Chad for posting all those pictures of his 1959 Cadillac I’ve been able to get a really good look at the interior. I even asked him to take some new pictures to help me out with the 3D model and he agreed. So I should be able to get just about every critical detail on the model.

by Kingpin

16 years, 11 months ago


It'd be worth paying additional visits to GBProps and TheEcto-1.com as they both have good collections of Ectomobile reference pictures… even interior shots.

It'd also be worth looking at the photos of the cars undergoing restoration if you haven't already done so.

by BigMac

16 years, 11 months ago


Wow, Thanks Kingpin. I’ve collected every useful reference picture of the ECTO-1 from GBprops.com before but TheEcto-1.com site is new to me and they got a load of photos to help me out.

The good thing about Chad is he got some underbody pictures of the car which will come handy later in the making. Underbody pictures would be hard to find otherwise.

by Kingpin

16 years, 11 months ago


You could've resorted to using the underside of the Polar Lights or Ertle model kits.

Possibly even that big die cast replica. :p

by BigMac

16 years, 11 months ago


As I continue to add more details to the model I’m noticing many changes between my reference pictures. Like some of the interior looks a little different on each ECTO-1 replica. Also the back bumpers are sometimes different.

I guess what I’ll do is just make the 3D ECTO-1 have the styles I like most from the slight variations between the reference pictures.

by BigMac

16 years, 11 months ago


Zmodeler is starting to act really weird as I continue to progress in the construction. Just yesterday I noticed these polygons in the front end of the car that I never recall drawing. It’s like they appeared for no reason… strange.

Also to there is a tool that automatically unites vertices and it for some reason doesn’t work on random vertices so I need to go back and do it manually which is a pain.

The version of Zmodeler I’m using is a beta version but I’m really beginning to notice some weird glitches.

by BigMac

16 years, 10 months ago


Well I’ve just about finished the interior in the back of the car but I got a big proportion problem

This picture basically shows what I mean.


The red lines point out the problems. The white edging between the two chrome strips is too tall and as a result the seat doesn’t raise up high enough next to it. I really don’t see what I can do to fix this. I think it’s because the whole side of the car is too tall and fixing that would be extremely difficult.

This sucks but I think I’ll just let it slide. It looks great even if it’s not totally correct.

by Kingpin

16 years, 10 months ago


I wouldn't worry about it too much.

Although if it still bugs you, you could try increasing the size of the chrome strips on that section of the car's interior.

The jump seat looks great, good to see the interior being developed.

by BigMac

16 years, 10 months ago


Yeah the jump seat is truly a work of art, spent about 4 days making it. It has a count of 4,906 polygons.

But I did try to resize the chrome strips but by the time their big enough to fill the extra space they look too big.

I’ll be sending update pictures to Rockford by the end of this week so be ready to be amazed