Can you add better graphics to the mod?

For example this tank:

https://sketchfab.com/models/0bafb6724b0049f48aff410ca7ca245f
imgur.com/a/1jBEaHm

Yes, of course!
I welcome any contributions (especially on graphics), would be especially nice if graphics style is somewhat fitting the vanilla entities. I have nearly zero experience in 3D graphics, I cannot do these work by myself.
Always wanted to have different graphics for the tanks, especially when I have added even more tank choices in "Schall Alien Tech" mod. Every tank using the same vanilla graphics is a bit boring, and maybe confusing as well.

Thank you for making the sprite sheets! Just a few questions before applying:
1) Is this sprite set supposed to be in use by this mod? Or just an example?
2) Are these graphics made by Renafox and you? Whom should I give credit to?
3) Any license regarding the use? Is it "CC Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike" as shown in the link?
4) The square shape is different from the longer shape of vanilla tanks. So I am thinking of the shape of collision/selection box... What do you think about it? Should I apply a square shape collision box as well, or keep it rectangular?

To implement the graphics, one way I can think of would be to introduce a separate add-on mod. (Preliminary named as "Schall Tank Platoon Addon - Pork Tank" or something better.) This "graphics mod" will be dependent on Schall Tank Platoon mod (I call it "base mod" in the following.) The graphics mod only modifies the graphics and minimal coding to apply them. There are a few advantages I can think of:
A) Players/Hosts can pick between the new graphics and vanilla graphics.
B) Base mod can maintain a small size (currently 185 kB), since the new sprite sheets are in graphics mod. (This is important, because there are requests to keep the mod size small.)
C) Collision/selection box (point 4) is a non-issue. Graphics mod would have code adjust the boxes, fitting the graphics.
D) If there are any other graphics submitted in the future, players can choose which to use.
E) Last but not least: graphics style is a non-issue. Only the base mod would be "strict" in style. Graphics mods can use whatever style, since they are optional.

Sorry for the wall of text, I am so happy about this. :D

It must be easier to make new graphics than read this stuff about licensing.

The third paragraph is just my idea of how to implement the graphics. You can ignore that since not too related to you.

About licensing, if your are the sole creator of the graphics, of course it would be much easier since we can decide what we want. But even if these sprite sheets are "derived" work from this URL, I guess it is safe to publish it. The terms of CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license allows such use, as long as the mod gives "appropriate credit" like name of creator(s).
Therefore, I want to make sure about these things:
1) Is this "Pork Tank" just an example? Are you instead making some new graphics for me?
2) If the "Pork Tank" is what you want me to apply, is the URL mentioned above the source for making the sprite sheets? If so, I guess giving credit to you and Renafox is enough, the license allows that.

I think now that we need own graphics, not pork tank. It looks pretty good and can be used as reference for new model.
If you have another idea how your graphics must look, please write me.

Thanks for your help. Such cute look tanks could be a good addition or alternative. But still I prefer more "conventional"/"realistic" style regarding the basic style for my mods. (Tanks with particle in "Schall Alien Tech" mod is another story, I will talk about them separately.)

For the main line tanks of this mod, I like the look of having large angular outline the best (technically caused by design of "sloped armour") in both the chassis and turret part of the tanks. Such shape will be much better than having a dome/oval/round/egg shape in the turret (characterized by Soviet Post WWII tanks, such as T-54), or the steampunk-like vanilla tank which looks fragile and not "badass" enough to me.
There are some reference tanks you can refer to. You can search by just the name of these examples, but I provide a video link for you: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7O7XCt8K5tc
Tanks: "T-14 Armata", "Leopard 2", "M1 Abrams"
These are the modern "Main Battle Tanks", so may refer to the medium tanks (or those heavier) in this mod. The light tanks will have different style though, featuring lighter/shorter gun barrels like autocannons. But that would be another model.

There are needs on "Rocket Artillery", "Flame Tank", and "Command Vehicle" too. I have a post in the forum, so I am not retyping here: https://forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=63683

For the tanks yielding particle weaponry in "Schall Alien Tech" mod, they would have more "futuristic" look. But how much it is different from the "conventional" lines is flexible. The simplest way would be just replace the tank cannon with a new one. But the whole tank can be replaced in look if you feel the need to.

In summary, there are so many vehicles tanks needing graphics. No need to do all! Just pick what you feel most interested. ;-)

Like Merkava?
https://sketchfab.com/models/2f224c120b474b08a2aedc445c154102

Can you find nice models here?

This site provides a great collection of many nice models! However, not every model has clearly stated what license is applied. I am new to the site, so I am not sure the terms of usage in case the license is not stated.

The Merkava is a good model. But I did a brief search and found the following which may look even better:

1. Armata T-14 https://sketchfab.com/models/0615dba0a8434f3dba34aad5cfd8beb1 [no license]
2. Unnamed Tanks https://sketchfab.com/models/67836dc00b014dad9fc51d489066d71a [no license]
3. Panzer III https://sketchfab.com/models/e187546c94ea4d228a36a0d44ded8b64 [no license]
4. M1 Abrams https://sketchfab.com/models/3e8ab5cc2f8f4385bb787908dabbace3 [CC BY 4.0] [need repainting?]
5. Panzer IV https://sketchfab.com/models/14c74d148326448c8edb5fee81be3894 [CC BY 4.0]

Found some good models for light tanks and future-style tanks too. But let's focus on the medium or heavier tanks first.

Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
You are free to:
Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format
Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material
for any purpose, even commercially.

It looks like that we are free to share and free to adapt. Sprite sheet with unique asset looks as pretty big adaptation.

Yes, CC BY 4.0 gives almost no restriction for our uses.

Models 1-3 have no license stated, and do not have the "Download" button like 4-5. (I have no account so no logged in. Maybe it's different after log in.) Perhaps these three cannot be used freely?

From your expertise in 3D graphics and artistic mind, what do you feel about these Merkava, M1 Abrams, and Panzer IV models?

When I can't download then I can make by myself. Colors only, textures are too difficult for me.

Alright, I will keep this in mind when I look for more models.

So here is the fourth link and below my level of modelling.
https://forums.factorio.com/viewtopic.php?f=33&t=64584&p=396473#p396086

So here is Merkava, 16 sprites for turret and 16 for base, rendered in hr size. Just for test.
https://imgur.com/a/Qw5NTwq

Please try https://mods.factorio.com/mod/STP_Graphics

Thanks for making this. I don't have time yet to code this myself.

There are two major things needing improvements for now:
1. It looks very flat on side view. Face the tank towards East/West, and park it near light tank MK1/MK2, then you will know what I mean.
2. The turret looks too small and too flat. Maybe it needs to be scaled up and/or made higher. (Changing scale from 0.5 to 0.66 helped a bit, but not enough.)

Thanks for your hard work!

Jeah, has base has scale 0.66 and turret 0.5, forgot to change it while graphics adjustment.

Updated:
I can't move the point of fire 0_o
https://imgur.com/a/JPxGhLq

The turret still looks too small, compared to the real Merkava. Maybe it needs to scale up much more.
The tank overall still looks too flat. Perhaps the problem comes from the turret. (Same issue)

Point of fire is adjusted by "attack parameters". It is the property of the gun, not the vehicle. You may want to look at "gun.lua" for "tank-cannon" instead.

The other way round, I have not adjusted any parameters of vanilla "tank" or its clone "tank-M". So you may want to use "tank-M" to test the sprites instead.
You may want to shift the sprite to fit "tank-M" and "tank-cannon" instead. If they fit, other tiers of tanks and high caliber cannons will all fit automatically as well.

EDIT:
Vanilla tank turret is too high from realism viewpoint. So forget my last sentence in previous reply.
But still "tank-M" and "tank-cannon" would be the better testground, instead of "tank-L".

Updated [0.0.3]: now graphics on tank-M

Sorry don't have time to go into game. Here comes my comment:

First, there are several versions of Merkava. To avoid confusion, let's make sure we are talking the same one. I am taking Merkava Mk IV as reference. (Which is the newest in service, and use 120mm gun.)
1. Turret is too narrow, compared to real Merkava. It's almost as wide as the chassis I believe.
2. Turret is too elongated in ratio, too "sharp" for the part around gun barrel.
3. Turret is too flat. It should be about 2/3 height of chassis+tractor combined.
4. Chassis looks too long to me. I am not sure it's about the angle of view in game affecting my perspective... Do you know what value is this angle? (Merkava has about 2.0 : 1 length-width ratio, excl. gun barrel.)
5. Track skirt looks too much. It should be about half of tractor height.

There are blueprints available, hope may help you.
https://getoutlines.com/blueprints/18242/merkava-mk-iv-lic-blueprints

It's this model, but without chains
https://sketchfab.com/models/2f224c120b474b08a2aedc445c154102

Argh... okay. Did not notice that much just by looking at the model. But after looking into real photos and blueprints...
There are actually quite a lot of flaws in this model. Especially, the small and flat turret looks really unfit as a tank.

EDIT: I am sorry, this model is actually bad... It is neither realistic, future-look, nor in cute anime style. Maybe have to look into other models.
When I looked at those models carefully (my above links), the M1 Abrams model does not respect the proper dimensions neither. Panzer IV model is somewhat the best among them but still not good enough.
Maybe we should look into other models?

Other models are not free and I need dozens hours to make so detailed model without texture. It's much easier to find something free and good than make same by myself.

Any chance of reviving interest in a graphics patch?

It really is the only thing stopping this from being a perfect mod.

If needed, I can do Blender models, but I'm no good at skinning.

As you can read from above replies, actually we worked out a test version STP Graphics together. But the outcome does not look good, because the sprite sheets (to be specific, actually the original 3D model) looked too flat in game, and did not match the other objects. Darkfrei did not have the time to edit the model.

If you can make a direct product (sprite sheets) to me, I will happily apply them as a new model and give full credits to you and anyone helped.
I learned very elementary 3D modelling in my uni course, but have abandoned my 3D graphics skills for a long time. Clearly I have no time to repick and improve the skills, or to invest time making a new 3D model. So sorry I cannot offer any help on this.
Maybe you can ask if darkfrei is interested again, to see if you two will collaborate on this project.