Mod-esque vehicles possible in 1.8?

First off, sorry if this is the wrong section to post this in. Please move it if it is.

Anyway, I am making a custom game mode similar to DayZ and was contemplating the idea of using the new block models in a big way by modeling a block to have a large, detailed model; a car, for example.
Since I am not too familiar with resource packs and not a master by any means at creating plugins I thought I would reach out to spigot so get the input from a more experienced person.

Basically I am asking if something like this would be possible to do with 1.8 models, and if that concept could be fleshed out into a better way of making vehicles in Minecraft. Also, assuming that what I mentioned is feasible, where should I look to either hire someone to create these block models or import/create them myself?

I would also like to add this video that feature a large model that seems to prove to concept of large, detailed models.

 

@uksspy Yes, this is possible to do with block models. To make this, you would need BDCraft's Cubik and possibly Techne or Blender (if cubik doesn't support such fine detail). If neither of those work you can edit the json by hand (tedious and complicated as hell), but that shouldn't be necessary.
Not exactly sure how a FallingSand entity would react to a custom block model, haven't tried it yet. But you will need to use a FallingSand entity, as otherwise the car would only move block by block. The entity would probably need to be riding a chicken or something that you can control the AI of, as otherwise the player will see the entity constantly falling and being teleported.
Also remember that you need to get the scale right, and the height of the seat. That's another question, will the player sit right in the middle? You may need an off-center model and custom collision checking.

But in short, yes.

 

Moved to Bukkit Alternates.

 

You touched on a lot on the issues I expected to have I predicted that I would need to create a fairly complecated collision algorithm. Correct me if I'm wrong, but don't FallingSand entities only have one orientation? I was thinking of using a sign that way the vehicle can face diagonal. The downside of course being a less smooth path.

Also, the last link I posted in the OP featured a large model that someone had imported from WoW. Are you aware of how this person that? I have been searching around and honestly I can't find much one block models, I really expected them to be more widely used that then are.

 

@uksspy You'll need a few tools to create your own models (you could make them manually in json, but for complex models, that'll be very hard). First of all, a modeling program, such as Blender, I think Maya too. When you're done creating your model, you'll need to export it to a .obj (I think) and re-import it in a program called BDCraft's Cubik pro (costs money). This program will allow you to scale & adjust the models to Minecraft (and export it to .json).

I'd have a few concerns if I was you. First of all, a block model can be expanded to a maximum of a 3x3x3 cube. The big statue you saw was most likely made of multiple models, which were put together and adjusted so they looked like it was just a single one. Secondly, block models do not change the collision box of placed blocks. Unless they put some barrier blocks around it, players could go through the statue. Thirdly, falling sand entities can "live" at most 30 seconds. After that, they "die" and disappear. Fourthly, a falling sand entity riding an entity is the most inconsistent thing. The textures won't stop flicking and become black occasionally

What I recommend is that you use armor stands: place the modeled block on their head, and optionally make them ride a mob, so that you can modify their AI. The whole stack will then follow their movements. The graphics will most likely be more consistent (not perfect, but better). The collision box problem is still not fixed though.

In the end I think it is still possible; after all, Mineplex did something similar in their Christmas mini-game. In order too fix the collision problem, they knocked back players that were "inside" the cart.

 

@uksspy I just realized how you could keep it in a block style, with any orientation, without using fallingsand, and moving in as small a fraction of a block as you want in increments.
You know how flowers all have the same hitbox, but some are off-center? These are called metas, and they are semi-random models that minecraft chooses between.
This can be controlled with a plugin. Here's the link to a plugin that can control the metas with a blaze rod, although that's not useful to you.
What I'm saying, is that if you have separate json models for a bunch of different directions, and each direction json models for different locations in the block (probably a hell of a lot of models) you can do the same thing that MetaCycler did but as part of the car calculations. Essentially, one block can represent every direction and location that the car can be in.

 

@Totom3 Armor stands is a very good idea, I never thought of that but I think they would be very useful. The statue I saw was one block but it was only 3 blocks high.

Edit: I also am aware that the larger models don't change they hitbox so I would have to make some sort of collision check.

Edit 2: I'm not very familiar with the format for block models. Would it be possible to convert a flan's mod model into json? Here is an example of a flans mod car model.