This model was made as reference on my courses at the Danish Design School.

A train is a very large game object. It’s not really a prop and it’s not a building either. It has a load of small details but mapped with unique textures it will consume a wast texture amount very quickly.

The train project shows how to map large objects with low texture cost. The model uses only two main textures. One boilerplate texture tile that is 100% general, and another texture with a slot arrangement that holds the details as the front, lamps, driveshafts, etc. Both textures has a very high re-useability value.

Elements from the detail texture are mapped on the model by cutting new edges where needed and modify the UV layout.

When creating the diffuse and normalmaps i prefer to bake them in max before painting anything.

The textures for this model was done by creating special highres projection models with details like nails and bolts, and project them to the texture with the Render to Texture panel in MAX.

I found a load of cool reference in Weitzmans book “Superpower”.  The book contains very good illustrations on those enormous super trains.

Reference: Weitzmans book “Superpower”