Forums

The Good:
I'm good at Perl, HTML, CSS, Javascript and decent at Java.
I'm decent at designing levels, making 3d models, and making graphics
I know a LOT about car modification and performance parts.

The Bad:
I don't know C (but knowing Perl and Java gives me most of the concepts)
I'm not firmiliar with OpenGl or Linux
I have never worked on an Open Source Project
I don't have money to pay for expensive software(visual studio,3ds max, ect..), which is a major reason why I don't know C.

I would love to see vdrift have the caliber of a game like Gran Turismo or Forza Motorsport one day. Many successful open source projects like Linux and Apache prove this is possible.
I'm sure this subject has been beat to death, but I think the game physics/controls is the the biggest area for improvement, Closely followed by graphics and sound. I would like to help with one of these areas. I don't know if any of my skills are useful but I love to learn, so I might be able to help if you point me in the right direction.

Hy,

Since you don't know C but do know 3d moddeling/graphics, how about a startoff in graphics?
You could for example improve some of our graphics like the texturing of some cars, I'm a decent 3d modeller for example but suck at texturing so some of the cars I've made are not looking at their best because of bad texturing.
But hey if you wan't to do some modelling, how about creating a track?

We model cars and tracks in Blender. http://www.blender.org

Yeah also if you know a lot about cars and such you might want to try tuning some of our car definitions. Actually our physics system is quite good but we don't have the best data for the cars. In many cases, they need someone to tweak them and test until they feel right. If you'd like to get involved in development read through the FAQ's on the site. Have you ever used IRC? If so you could also stop by our IRC channel #vdrift on irc.freenode.net. That's probably the easiest way to get answers to questions but forums work too, just let us know what you want to do and we'll try to help you.

I have used Blender from the beginning, and I'm very happy that you chose this for your modeling program. I have blender scenes I made that date back to 1998. I used to model things as a hobby, I've even modeled a couple cars on it. I haven't used it for a couple years, but I could pick it back up quickly. I would need to brush up on modeling and get the details on how models need to be done for vdrift. I'm decent at texturing, I've used the excellent GIMP, and I've got a graphics tablet. I'll stop by the IRC channel next time I have a chunk of free time.
I'm not that avid with physics, beyond knowing basics about grip I don't know a great deal about suspension physics. If the problems lie in parameters though, I could see what I can do.

Great! You probably know as much or more than me in terms of how to use Blender, it took me forever to model the XS...and I had a book! It sounds like you have all the skills necessary for working on cars/tracks. Thanks for stopping by IRC today, and let me know if you need to know anything else.

I should also note that the pending new release of blender (version 2.43) has some nifty new features such as ambient occlusion texture baking (a fancy term for "automatically generating cool shading for textures") that is fun to play with and a big help when designing textures.

Cool, finally more 3d modellers

Joe, where do I find the ambient occlusion texture baking feature in the new Blender?

Cool, according to that, we could do more involved texturing in Blender, using rendering effects not available in-game, and then bake them on to our UV maps. Very nice!

Yeah this is great, it will make the texturing allot easier and cooler.