2027 B2O Endurance Liveries for iRacing Discussion

[Kenadian]

UPLOADED TO TRADING PAINTS:

Collection: 2027 Band of Others Endurance Liveries

INDIVIDUAL CARS/LIVERIES:

Porsche 911 Cup

...

A quick preview of where I think the liveries will go beginning calendar year 2027 for Band of Others.

Before I get started, I wish to deeply apologize for my absence the past few years. I've been busy but don't think that's a fair excuse, I should have found a way to make more time to be supportive of you all and I cannot apologize enough. I'm humbled that you even race for Band of Others anymore, I've done nothing to deserve it.

I also wish to amend my drunken rant about abandoning blue, reverting to red on red as previous. To be fair, I've been working on embracing blue for years now and have been unhappy with every result.

That is until now.

I've promised to attempt return at running laps with you fine folk and thought the best way back would be skinning the car I enjoy driving most, the BMW M4 GT3 EVO.

Although not quite complete at this time as some specmap isn't displaying in the manner I'd like, it's almost there.

I've kept the shocking white as I love the way it appears on the front end. I feel it gives the car an aggressive aesthetic like "hey buddy, outta my way!".

If you wish to give it a preview, I've attached .tga and .mip.

 

[Skid_Marc_]

That looks really good! I like that you kept playing with the white on the front. It looks good without being overdone! Also, great detail on the lower door!

 

[Kenadian]

Thanks Marc, kind of you to say.

The GT World Challenge version is now complete, just buttoning up the IMSA livery as there's issues there.

I'm trying to pull my head from my bum and finally complete/publish both versions at the same time here as well as on Trading Paints.

 

[Noodleguitar]

Looking nice as always Ken!

I must say I do prefer the lighter blue tones to the darker blue ones. I like the front of the car a lot better than the rear for example. Then again, it always looks different in the app renderer from how it looks in-sim.

 

[Kenadian]

Looking nice as always Ken!

I must say I do prefer the lighter blue tones to the darker blue ones. I like the front of the car a lot better than the rear for example. Then again, it always looks different in the app renderer from how it looks in-sim.

In all honesty, I'm the complete opposite. I prefer more vibrant, deeper tones. For example, I'd always pick a midnight blue over a sky blue because I think it looks more sinister.

...and I consider this in every paint I make, maybe I'm an idiot lol.

...but, I like this...

...way more than this...

In reality, there isn't a massive difference between the lightest blue tone (the nose) on both vehicles. I just committed to the transition from medium blue to black much quicker.

It also made the red stand out more somehow so I was able to cut the amount of striping in half, committing to red only instead of light blue with red outline, cutting skinning time down considerably.

Having said that, transition on the Porsche behind door and quarter panel just washes out as I have to pull red from the color for the transition to work. I've spent so many hours trying to make it look what I consider good, and have failed.

This is why I got in Discord and drunkenly ranted about abandoning blue, I was fed up with it at that point (again, sorry for putting you guys through that).

At that point, I have hundreds of hours in blue and have nothing I like to show for it.

Then I committed to a darker hue, stars aligned, angels sang in my ears and I actually got shit done for a change, Shangri-La.

I think the lighter blues look great in iRacing's Livery Preview but not so good on track. I've such a high level of gloss in the clear with zero roughness, so they're really affected by the environment.

For example, seeing the grass reflected on the light blue just looks terrible imho.

This darker tone just looks more vibrant to me somehow and isn't affected by environment nearly as much.

Also, I was messing around with ghost banding which didn't work with light blue but look decent darker:

I'm still not sold on whether the banding works or not but just wanted to try something new?

Our Community is full of "Others", we're all unique and interesting in our own ways. For years I've been trying to figure out the "BAND" part and this is what I came up with lol.

We've always had the Others but never the BAND.

Anyway, this is why I ended up here and this is the first time I'm actually happy with a livery since switching from red on red.

Does any of this rambling nonsense make any sense to anyone crazy enough to read this far?

 

[Noodleguitar]

I haven't noticed reflections that much with the glossy/metallic bright paints. Maybe the colors are little bright during daytime, but I like the way it looks in the morning or evening.

I'm not a fan of the spaghetti banding. It looks alright from close up but I think it will turn into a faded mush when you are looking at it from a distance, like most camera positions.

 

[Skid_Marc_]

I'm not a fan of the spaghetti banding. It looks alright from close up but I think it will turn into a faded mush when you are looking at it from a distance, like most camera positions.

You do need to be very careful of this, in-sim. There are some paints, and high-contrast scenarios, that pull this off, but they are few/far between. It took me a long time to get an angle and zoom where the red LED's around the nose of the BMW were even visible on the front of the BMW because they're only a pixel wide. And even in this shot, you can see it fade out on the top-edge of the (facing car) left side of the nose.

 

[Kenadian]

You do need to be very careful of this, in-sim. There are some paints, and high-contrast scenarios, that pull this off, but they are few/far between. It took me a long time to get an angle and zoom where the red LED's around the nose of the BMW were even visible on the front of the BMW because they're only a pixel wide. And even in this shot, you can see it fade out on the top-edge of the (facing car) left side of the nose.View attachment 6006

While I appreciate this can sometimes be an issue, I'm always going to skin for my desired overall aesthetic, I have no idea how to allot for LED's as I've never considered it?

In most cases, you never see the LED's on real-world vehicles until dusk so even if I do consider it, it won't be noticeable much of the time in daylight hours.

That's not to say I won't consider LED's going forward, but it will always take a back seat to livery continuity in this series of Endurance skins.

 

[Skid_Marc_]

My point wasn't the actual LED lights, my point was the way iRacing's graphics handle 1-2px width lines, on-track and at speed. What looks nice in a sterile white showroom environment can quickly become muddled by shadows, reflections, dirt, etc. I'm just curious to see what that looks like at noon at VIR, or 5pm at Suzuka...

 

[Kenadian]

My point wasn't the actual LED lights, my point was the way iRacing's graphics handle 1-2px width lines, on-track and at speed. What looks nice in a sterile white showroom environment can quickly become muddled by shadows, reflections, dirt, etc. I'm just curious to see what that looks like at noon at VIR, or 5pm at Suzuka...

Point taken.

I did check the BMW M4 GT3 at VIR and absolutely loved the way it looked.

This is why I commented about how drastically environment affects livery as I check all in sim prior to publish.

Having said that, I only check mid day with sun. I think I'll add time and weather acceleration to my test sessions to get a full idea of how liveries look in all settings.

Good idea.

Also, keep an eye here, Ferrari coming soon

 

[Kenadian]

Ferrari 296 GT3 Work in Progress:

 

[Skid_Marc_]

Per our conversation about other cars;
Porsche 911 Cup (992.2)
Dallara P217


Supercars:
Ford Mustang Gen 3

Free:
Toyota GR86

GT4:
Mercedes-AMG GT4
or
Ford Mustang GT4

Other GT3's:
Ford Mustang GT3

GT1:
Corvette C6.R

GTE:
BMW M8 GTE

GTP:
Cadillac V-Series.R GTP
Acurua ARX-06 GTP

Open Wheel:
Super Formula SF23

 

[Kenadian]

Per our conversation about other cars;
Porsche 911 Cup (992.2)
Dallara P217


Supercars:
Ford Mustang Gen 3

Free:
Toyota GR86

GT4:
Mercedes-AMG GT4
or
Ford Mustang GT4

Other GT3's:
Ford Mustang GT3

GT1:
Corvette C6.R

GTE:
BMW M8 GTE

GTP:
Cadillac V-Series.R GTP
Acurua ARX-06 GTP

Open Wheel:
Super Formula SF23

Are all these cars actually being used because there's no way I'll ever get them all done?

Reason I ask is this is well over 200 hours worth of work, guaranteed.

 

[Kenadian]

Porsche 911 Cup (992.2) Work in Progress:

 

[Skid_Marc_]

Per our conversation about other cars;
Porsche 911 Cup (992.2)
Dallara P217


Supercars:
Ford Mustang Gen 3

Free:
Toyota GR86

GT4:
Mercedes-AMG GT4
or
Ford Mustang GT4

Other GT3's:
Ford Mustang GT3

GT1:
Corvette C6.R

GTE:
BMW M8 GTE

GTP:
Cadillac V-Series.R GTP
Acurua ARX-06 GTP

Open Wheel:
Super Formula SF23

You had just asked for suggestions, so is basically just my wishlist. I thought other people would probably chime in with their own, if they had any. I have zero expectations for all of them. That is wholely up to your discretion.

The PCup and Mustang Supercar are almost guaranteed to get SOME use, due to special events. The Dallara has gotten quite a lot of use over the years, but I'm not sure if everyone has kind of moved on to the BMW GTP car, of if there are people that would still prefer to stick to the LMP2 class. I thought the Toyota GR86 would be good, because it's always nice to have a free car that is current.

Just having a GT4 car as an option would be nice because of the sheer number of special events it is elidgable for (NEC, Creventic, Nurb24, Brexit24). I know GT4's get a bad rap for being quite dull, but the Mercedes-AMG still feels pretty good and lively, and having a paint might encourage it's use. Certainly not a priority, though.

Kinger and I have driven the GTE's a lot, recently. We normally drive the C8, or I might choose the Ford, and we both have our own paints for it, but if you ever wanted to join us, the M8 would be the GTE to have, and I think it still only has the OG B2O skin.

Jeff has started racing more, the last week or so,, and he's always done more with open-wheel stuff (F4, Super Formula Light, and Super Formula). The Super Formula SF23 was always a goal to reach for Kinger and I, so I thought it could be something for the three of us. I don't think we've ever had a B2O open-wheel paint.

The Corvette C6.R GT1 is an entirely selfish pick. I think it's the greatest car in the sim. Period. But, it's the only ProtoGT car that has never received a decent B2O paint. I've tried making B2O, or SUN, paints for it but they all look like ass.

Whatever you get to, and however you prioritize things, it's entirely up to you. I'm grateful for any paint you're willing to put time into!

 

[Kenadian]

UPLOADED TO TRADING PAINTS:

Collection: 2027 Band of Others Endurance Liveries

INDIVIDUAL CARS/LIVERIES:

Porsche 911 Cup

 

[Kenadian]

B2O Wingtip LOGO loosely inspired by Team WRT:

A bit cartoony I know but it covers up wingtips when I come up empty on what to actually put there.