Creating the cockpit of the Spitfire’s lesser-known contemporary, the Hawker Hurricane, was an undertaking of great complexity and substantial research. Being of a light, functional and open construction, there were no shortcuts for us when forming the model. Using lots of reference material, including photography, we painstakingly created every detail, such as the dials, pulleys, wires and cables.

As with the Hurricane’s exterior, it was essential for us to gather real world reference photography so we could achieve the realism we were looking for. Therefore, we sought-out real Hawker Hurricanes on display at IWM Duxford and the Shuttleworth collection.

Our primary tool of choice for creating the Hawker Hurricane’s textures was Substance Painter. Being an industry leading software package, Substance Painter offered us the ability to create complex textures while maintaining great stability. Thus, we were able to create high resolution, highly detailed and authentic textures with realistic wear and tear.

Above we can see an image showing a few of the texture maps responsible for creating the specific surface qualities we required. From left to right we have, “Base Colour”, “Metalness” and then “Roughness”. The latter two work using a grey-scale to determine the Metalness/Roughness value at a given point on the surface of the model. The lower/darker values create a less metalic/more glossy result in each respective map.

We created this cockpit of the Hawker Hurricane in conjunction with its exterior, which can be seen here. Together these two projects form the most comprehensive CGI replica of this iconic aircraft; with the level of detail ideal for high-end, highly detailed stills and animation.

With the completion of this highly detailed and accurate digital replica, we look forward to the possibility of integrating it into a future, wider project.

Please keep an eye out for further updates still to come.