--
-- -- Rally Shift® Retsu Remix -- -- --
Please
note that this page, "Rally Shift® Retsu Remix,"
is not affiliated with, nor endorsed by CodeBlender.
Retsu.com makes
no promises, warranties, nor guarantees
with regards to the game nor its manufacturer.
For an overview, to see screen shots, and to download
the car racing game, Rally
Shift® (for the Macintosh),
please visit the official CodeBlender web site.
--
-- -- project results -- -- --
png file // screen shots
(click thumbnails for full size images)
"knight foundation/junior high" by Retsu
"team eat organic" by Retsu
"purple crayon car" by Retsu (RXS car)
-- -- -- project overview -- -- --
Simply put, this
project's
goal is explore the results of race cars designed without any standard
design/sponsorship constraints: cars that are personally meaningful!
(Scroll down for simple instructions.)
-- -- --simple instructions -- -- --
1) open this file
(Excelor car). (This is the "wheel"
file.)
2) here is my
outline file (psd format).
3) paint/draw/scan/photo/collage
your car design -- paint/color past my approximate outlines to ensure
the
seams are continuous.
4) save as
a png format file ("save for web..." in Photoshop),
512x512px (appx. 150kb), with the file name as "Excelor.png".
5) if you've installed Rally Shift (application folder/Rally Shift/Game
Data/Cars/Excelor), replace the excelor.png file for your customized
file. Or...
6) send your file to me.
If
you don't have Photoshop, follow step 1) above, and use the file as
the basis for your own design. Be sure to save your artwork in png
format.
Photoshop users note: the aforementioned Photoshop files contain the
original Excelor car image as a layer, so by making your custom art
temporarily transparent (set layer opacity to less than 100), and using
"free transform" you will be able to adjust your custom art to
align with the 512 x 512 pixel car art. Return layer opacity to 100
when you're done.
--
-- -- project abstract -- -- --
The automobile in post-industrial societies represents a unique amalgam
of who we are as a culture. Its ubiquitous presence in, around, and
underlying our daily lives is at once overt as well as subtle. In its
many incarnations -- from the weathered, aged car on cinder blocks
covered by blue plastic tarps, to the iridescent, tricked out
roadsters thumping along to an asphalt-loosening sub woofer -- cars
serve as a reflection of who we as a population are and who we strive
to be.
The car is a machine comprised of many carefully designed parts. Yet,
it is more than just mere engineered components. Mechanically, in its
most basic forms as a vehicle to transport people, cars are a testament
to technology. They are a demonstration of our resourcefulness to
overcome our natural limitations; to move faster than a cheetah, to
carry more than a pack-mule. This functionality is merely one of the
facets that goes into car buying. Everything from the color of a car,
the amenities throughout ("options" in advertisement lingo), to the
perceived use of the car all play a part in this decision. What the
buyer can afford often factors in beyond the practical considerations
to that of the car as socio-economic locators used to display our
position within our class-conscious societies. And just how deeply
automobile culture has become intertwined throughout post-industrial
cultures is apparent when we look at the adoration, romanticization,
and anthropomorphization our societies hoist upon cars. It is at once
who we think we are, as well as how we want to be perceived.
The automobile exists as a physical, static object. Yet, simultaneously
the car exists as a dynamic barometer. While it represents how far
technology has brought us, it also represents how much further we still
have to go. While automotive gasoline consumption is but a fraction of
the petroleum consumed by post industrial (and industrial) nations, the
automobile is an ever present reminder of our dependence on a finite
resource. Cars are also responsible for an incredible number of
fatalities in our societies. It seems safe to assume that the rate of
human deaths are much lower in cheetah hit-and-runs, or
overturned pack mule incidents worldwide. It seems a shortcoming that a
device designed to move people from place to place can also kill people
while doing so, and poses an even greater risk when the operator's
motor coordination is impaired. These shortcomings have challenged
societies to establish laws, and means of enforcing those laws. These practical, sobering
realities continue to drive technological, societal development.
With such a large presence in our lives, it's no wonder that cars draw
our eyes. As individuals strive to distinguish themselves from the
herd, the automobile can serve as a natural extension of this desire to
be recognized as being somehow special. (Ironically, choosing not
to own a car can be a powerful statement as well.) The rusted out, beat-up
car is
as much a statement of the owner's defiance against conformity as is
the
customized, amplified show car. There are many types of showcases for
these unique cars. One such venue is automobile racing. Specifically,
in
this project, the focus is on virtual rally racing, in which a driver's
ability
to control a powerful car amidst the challenges of an undulating course
are tested against the clock.
By taking the existing image files for the established race
cars in the game Rally
Shift and "editing" them, one can customize the
appearance of the car. The image files that make up the outer "skin" of
the cars are simple 512 x 512 pixel png formatted files. As long as
one adheres to the approximate panels of the car, it is possible to
draw a car, save the image file as a png file, and replace it with the
existing file. The result is a "custom painted" rally racer.
We're used to seeing cars designed with an eye towards certain
articulated and unarticulated consumer aliiances to style, class,
gender, and subculture. Race cars incorporate sponsor logos and team
identifying
markings to further shout out those allegiances. What will happen when
those whose loyalties are not necessarily towards the
standard race
car aesthetic take the wheel (pardon the pun) and paint a car that
speaks to themselves? And what if one could race these
cars at top speed? Rather than cheering for a laundry detergent or
engine oil manufacturer, we may find ourselves rooting for accessible health care
for all, an end to
hunger, or simply applaud ourselves.
-- -- -- project components -- -- --
Basically, if you have a
program capable of editing a png
formatted image file, you will be able to design your own car. On the other hand, to
take advantage of the files with guides (below), you
will need to be able to open my psd (Photoshop)
formatted files with
layers preserved.
If you want to race your
custom painted car, you will need the demo or registered version of Rally Shift®
for the Macintosh installed on your own computer (see the official web site).
If you run your car in the Rally Shift application on your own
computer, please send me at least a couple of screen shots, and your
png file for the growth of this project. Or, you
can send me your png file and I will run it in the game and take a few
screen shots to showcase your work. (Please allow some time, as this
will be done by hand.)
For your enjoyment, linked above in the instructions are guide-files
for the customization of
the "Excelor" race car featured in Rally Shift. The reason I have
chosen the Excelor car is because it is the one car that is unlocked in
the demo mode of the game, and it has a fairly
straight forward shape. This particular car shape makes it relatively
easy to figure out the
location of various car exterior parts on the image file. Project participants
should be able to run their car
in the demo mode, should they choose not unlock the full potential of
the game.
I've made a
version of the car which has grid lines
overlaying the paint job. I
further made another file which is an approximate outline of the
various sides of the car as laid out on the flat image file. (My
outlines are approximate, as modern cars have curved surfaces with few
hard corners or edges; Rally Shift does a good job of
mimicking
the way these sides blend into each other -- making it difficult to
clearly demarcate sides.) These files should work as templates for the
paint job.
(click thumbnails for larger views)
from left to right: the png file for my "grid car," choosing the
Excelor with grids painted on, after spinning out on the Desert Rally,
skidding up an embankment in the Highland Rally.
© all images are the properties of their original creators
"knight foundation/junior high" by Retsu
"team eat organic" by Retsu
