I decided to build a 3D Model of an armoured vehicle, something that would be fun to rig, and experiment with using Quixel to texture it. The Sd.Kfz 222 is a 4 wheel drive, 4 wheel steering rear engine 3 seat beast with lots of potential for detail. Then I thought, maybe someone else would like to learn this too, so I’ve created a step by step guide (or at least plan to) showing you everything you need to know. (some basic knowledge of the interface and 3D terms wouldn’t hurt…)
Part 1
In this video, I discuss collecting reference material as well as scene set up. We cover two different methods of setting up image planes in 3Ds Max introducing users to the material editor as well as setting the units and scale to the correct real world size. Download the image used in the video below
Part 2
Now that our file/scene is all set up we can start building this thing. In this video I start with the chassis rails and supports, using cubes, chamfers and edit polys. The front and rear differentials are a little more challenging and time-consuming than expected, but I think they will add to the final detail. I will be using The reference images from East Coast Armory’s Facebook page as my reference throughout this build.
Part 3
I was going to build this second Differential off camera, as it is quite similar to the one we built in part two, however, there was quite a bit of modifying to the chassis and learning from the first one that I thought I would include it. This one was built a lot quicker and cleaner. I realised during the build that I had the front and rear Diffs around the wrong way and moved the chassis cross members to a more accurate spot.
Part 4
Suspension time! Here we build the upper and lower swing arms, springs, shocks and more! There are quite a few components to make this piece up but they are all relatively simple to make, and once we’re done we can duplicate it for all 4 wheels. Finding reference material to build such detail wasn’t easy, as in most photos or drawings of 222’s the wheel obstructs the view of this assembly.
