[pecenipicek]

For those of you who want to see the model, go here. HTML5/webgl capable browser required i believe.


The cockpit and the gun have not yet been modelled and thats why the front looks a bit "empty"
In any case, i am a bit stuck on what more to add to the base model, so if anyone has any ideas, pece demands your opinion!

My personal polycount budget is 6k triangles for the main mesh.
Textures will be 2048²

Smoothing is not actually finalised in any way, shape or form.

[Thaeris]

The wings... although this is probably not an aerospace fighter... would look better with actual aerofoil sections. This will subtlely enhance the sleekness of the design. I really like the work done on intake section, though.

[pecenipicek]

care to explain what an aerofoil actually is? i have barely the basest knowledge of aircraft nomenclature...
nevermind that, quick wiki search explained the basic, but how do you mean it in the relation to the model?

[Thaeris]

Here's a simple prototype:

[Aesaar]

pecenipicek: I think you've made the wings too curvy.   I don't think beveling the leading and trailing edges was necessary.  Makes them look really weird, imo.  I'm also not fond of what you did with the engines.  The fighter's supposed to look angular.  The top looks fine, but the wings and the engines look off.

limdaepl made an absolutely stunning high-poly version of the Hiigaran Interceptor.  He contributed to Wing Commander Saga, so it might be worth asking him if you can use his model.  If he does, I'd happily do the converting (if you want).  If not, it's at least worth looking at for reference.

I don't mean to sound harsh.  It's just that this is possibly my favorite fighter design ever, and I've got a very clear image in my mind of what a high poly version looks like.  limdaepl nailed it perfectly.

[z64555]

care to explain what an aerofoil actually is? i have barely the basest knowledge of aircraft nomenclature...
nevermind that, quick wiki search explained the basic, but how do you mean it in the relation to the model?

Thaeris means vary the thickness of the wings like with traditional aerospace wings... not necessarily alter the planar profile of the wings.

Oh, looks good btw. 

[The E]

I think you've made the wings too curvy.   I don't think beveling the leading and trailing edges was necessary.  Makes them look really weird, imo.  I'm also not fond of what you did with the engines.  The fighter's supposed to look angular.  The top looks fine, but the wings and the engines look off.

Not to be rude, but pece is modelling this based on what he wants the fighter to look like. This may not conform to your wishes.
As for myself, I find it hard to choose between the two models; but given that pece is building this according to the needs of the game engine, I am inclined to side with him on this one. Offline render models are rarely, if ever, possible to convert to real-time models; just ask the various people who worked on the new Hatshepsut, the new Collossus, or the new Arcadia models.

[Aesaar]

The E: You're quite right.  He's under no obligation whatsoever to listen to me.  If he prefers his interceptor that way, then he certainly shouldn't change it for my sake.

However, he asked for feedback, and I gave mine.  I was not under the impression that only positive feedback was allowed.  I don't think I was rude or mean (if I was, it wasn't my intention).

Lowering detail is not something that's all that difficult to do (the most time consuming part is reworking the UV map).  In fact, a high-poly model is immensely useful for generating normal maps for a lower-poly one.  And I think pecenipicek already plans on doing that, since there's little reason to model the panel lines otherwise.  Using an existing model might save him some time.

[pecenipicek]

The E: You're quite right.  He's under no obligation whatsoever to listen to me.  If he prefers his interceptor that way, then he certainly shouldn't change it for my sake.

However, he asked for feedback, and I gave mine.  I was not under the impression that only positive feedback was allowed.  I don't think I was rude or mean (if I was, it wasn't my intention).

True.

Lowering detail is not something that's all that difficult to do.  In fact, a high-poly model is immensely useful for generating normal maps for a lower-poly one.  And I think pecenipicek already plans on doing that, since there's little reason to model the panel lines otherwise.  Using an existing model might save him some time.

No, but doing it properly and not ending up with a mess might take up as much time as making a completely new model. And no, this is not going to be used for generating normal maps either. If i just wanted to make normal maps, i could just have taken relic's interceptor, fixed the textures a bit and just make a completely new normal map. I do not want to use Relic's work for TAP directly.

Modelling in the panel lines results in some very very tasty speculars. And i'll just point you at the overall polycount on the p3d link so far. as i've said, my poly budget is 6000 triangles for this model. And i havent bothered optimising it much yet either.

[The E]

It's true that some of the detail in that model _looks_ extraneous. But, at an overall polycount of ~6k, those are polygons well spent; given that these fine details would otherwise depend on the normal map not being affected by texture compression.

The basic shape of the Interceptor, as well as the texture job, do not really give that much room for large-scale greebling (IIRC, anyway), so spending polygons on small details makes sense.

[pecenipicek]

it was one of the things MatthTheGeek and me spent a good while thinking and discussing about, should we make it look up-armoured or should we keep it sleek for example.

[edit]Also, because i forgot, here's another WIP. http://p3d.in/I20o0


also, if you want a bit more faster turnaround in discussion, join us in #tap-dev on irc.esper.net

[Thaeris]

I'm just curious - was the airfoil suggestion any good for the stub wings? Minor detail, indeed, but I do think it would help.

It also looks like the engine exhaust is skewed - You don't want that. If you look at a conventional aircraft's exhaust nozzle (as on an F-14, for instance), all of the flaps are symmetrical about the opening where thrust is expelled:



...That hopefully clarifies some details if my post is otherwise not easily understood. Likewise, I think your engines would be better if they followed similar suit. DO NOT confuse that for saying that they ought to be round, but rather that the exhaust flaps should all lie flat against the exhaust opening. Extruding the engine exhaust and scaling it down would be the easiest means of doing that.

[pecenipicek]

But the exhausts are the circles at the back of the engines

in any case, here's some more progress. feedback welcome. arguments of me not following the retail model to the letter will be ignored, just for the record.
http://p3d.in/poMl5

[z64555]

Thaeris meant "tangent" all flaps should be "tangent" to the exhaust geometry. 

[Hades]

My only issue with it is that literally almost all of the detail you've added would be too small to really see and would be best left up to normal mapping, otherwise, it's a solid mesh.

Was already gone over but meh.

[MatthTheGeek]

Yeah, well, look at the polycount. It's not like if he didn't have a ton of k's to spare.

[pecenipicek]

here's the finished-ish model. things remaining? optimimasation, smoothgroups, probably lod's. http://p3d.in/VTIhR

[zoidburger]

Looks brilliant. Nice that someone's not stuck playing Diaspora on loop