Hard Light Productions Forums

Hosted Projects - Standalone => Diaspora => Developer Blog => Topic started by: newman on April 05, 2009, 01:51:15 pm

Title: 2009-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: newman on April 05, 2009, 01:51:15 pm
Here's a few shots of the Cylon Basestar, being built by yours truly. Since you've last seen it I've added the raider racks - all 864 of them; this is a more complex task then you'd think so it took a while. At any rate, it's ready for texturing now - for the late arrivals asking themselves "but haven't we already seen a fully textured one in the videos", that one was just a placeholder done to hold scrutiny from a distance. The final one that you see in the attached renders will allow you to fly into every nook and cranny that this organically shaped thing has - provided it doesn't blow you out of the sky while you're attempting to get closer to it :)

(http://i43.tinypic.com/2mh7ipx.jpg)


[attachment deleted by evil Tolwyn]
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Angelus on April 05, 2009, 02:16:22 pm
that's a beautiful monster!
Great work :yes: :yes:
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Demitri on April 05, 2009, 03:12:16 pm
 :jaw:

 :yes: :yes: :yes:
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: The E on April 05, 2009, 03:15:23 pm
*Looks at the mesh*
*Looks at his GPU*
*Gets a bucket of sand, just in case*
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Ace on April 05, 2009, 04:01:48 pm
Remember pilots to fire your proton torpedoes into the central trench. It's ray shielded, but since we don't use pansy frakin' ray guns that's not a problem.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: StarSlayer on April 05, 2009, 04:41:54 pm
Remember pilots to fire your proton torpedoes into the central trench. It's ray shielded, but since we don't use pansy frakin' ray guns that's not a problem.

It's not impossible. I used to bullseye prairie dogs in my T-16 back on Aerlon, they're not much bigger than two meters.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: The E on April 05, 2009, 04:55:05 pm
Okay, you go do that. Me, I'm staying the frak out of Galactica's firing solution.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Herra Tohtori on April 05, 2009, 05:16:33 pm
ಥ_ಥ ...Beautiful.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Angreifer on April 05, 2009, 11:27:36 pm
Abso-frakkin'-lutely gorgeous. Too bad I'll have to blow it up.  :blah:
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Lt.Cannonfodder on April 06, 2009, 01:50:37 am
I'm afraid you'll be the one doing the blowing up.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Locutus of Borg on April 06, 2009, 03:47:14 pm
I'm afraid you'll be the one doing the blowing up.

Need some ice for that burn nugget?
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: General Battuta on April 06, 2009, 04:34:53 pm
I'm afraid you'll be the one doing the blowing up.

Need some ice for that burn nugget?

Remember, pilots: ice drippings should be collected and returned to the water recycling station aft of Frame Sixteen.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Martini562 on April 08, 2009, 04:50:32 pm
Oh man, I do not even want to know the poly count on that beast. Regardless, frakking awesome!
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Narvi on April 09, 2009, 05:00:26 am
That is one beautiful model, even though the basestar has never been my favourite ship. (Does anybody know what the arms are for?)
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: newman on April 09, 2009, 07:31:12 am
Arms house the weapon systems, and provide excellent shielded entrances to the interior of the ship. Since the arms extend from the core in 6 directions, you get good firing arcs with the weapons housed there. Also, if weapons are damaged by enemy fire, the damage will be limited to the arms (which can apparently grow back), while the core with the critical systems will remain undamaged. All in all, it's not a bad design at all.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Sidestep on April 09, 2009, 07:45:21 am
Wow, that looks amazing Newman. All that difficult work was definitely worth it!

Can't wait to zip in and out of those nooks and crannys when it's in game.

Awesome work.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Devil_orchestra on April 19, 2009, 03:08:32 am
This is so awesome

This is like Awesome²


Great work.


Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Spidey- on April 24, 2009, 02:04:22 pm
w00t! can't wait to see the real textures you've been on about!

but I can't help wondering if the polys you used for the racks could be better spent elsewhere
i'm sure you've considered it, but I'd like to know your rationale anyways
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: newman on April 24, 2009, 02:16:56 pm
There is no rationale. I'm quite, quite mad. And you've made mr. Flibble mad, too. If you don't watch it, you'll be punished with 2 hours of W.O.O. (With Out Oxygen)

(http://i40.tinypic.com/25hmhj5.jpg)

(Mr. Flibble wanted me to pass along a message from the Potato king: detail boxes. I can make use of those so each of the rack areas is replaced by a lower poly one when you're far enough. Considering everything else had been modeled up to that point, no I couldn't have spent those polygons better elsewhere.)
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Wobble73 on April 24, 2009, 06:04:15 pm
There is no rationale. I'm quite, quite mad. And you've made mr. Flibble mad, too. If you don't watch it, you'll be punished with 2 hours of W.O.O. (With Out Oxygen)

(http://i40.tinypic.com/25hmhj5.jpg)

(Mr. Flibble wanted me to pass along a message from the Potato king: detail boxes. I can make use of those so each of the rack areas is replaced by a lower poly one when you're far enough. Considering everything else had been modeled up to that point, no I couldn't have spent those polygons better elsewhere.)


The model is frakkin gorgeous, but that is frakkin hilarious! :lol:
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: boewolf on April 24, 2009, 09:56:09 pm
There is no rationale. I'm quite, quite mad. And you've made mr. Flibble mad, too. If you don't watch it, you'll be punished with 2 hours of W.O.O. (With Out Oxygen)

(http://i40.tinypic.com/25hmhj5.jpg)

(Mr. Flibble wanted me to pass along a message from the Potato king: detail boxes. I can make use of those so each of the rack areas is replaced by a lower poly one when you're far enough. Considering everything else had been modeled up to that point, no I couldn't have spent those polygons better elsewhere.)


The model is frakkin gorgeous, but that is frakkin hilarious! :lol:

BSG or Red Dwarf???  I don't know which one I enjoyed more...  Oh wait.  They can't be compared...  Red Dwarf was a comedy...  Both sweet in their own right.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: TigrisJK on May 19, 2009, 07:14:56 pm
Wow, man. Wow. That's gorgeous. I'm so glad I'm getting a new video card within the next few weeks. =D
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: newman on May 23, 2009, 12:07:59 pm
Texturing progress - i'm still tinkering with a lot of stuff there, and aligning things over uvw areas. But this should give you an idea of how it's going.. The shiny metal look will be achieved with the spec map, this is merely a render of the diffuse texture.

(http://i41.tinypic.com/ouxidu.jpg)

I'd also like to add that artists-wise, we are a bit short handed; sure we can do everything, but it'll take time. So, if you want to help us out, we could certainly use good 3d modelers/texturers (you'll need to know how to uvw map as well to integrate the two).
Drop us a line at [email protected] if you feel you have the skill and time to help us out. We'd also appreciate if you include some examples of your work so far, that's the easiest way to see what you can offer.
You can find out more here (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php/topic,63222.0.html).
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: On_Your_Six on May 29, 2009, 03:23:21 am
Been way too long since I peeked into this thread (I really should get into looking into the developer blog more often in general), but that texturing work was coming around beautifully, I can only imagine what it's looking like now.

Awesome work, Newman.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: newman on June 01, 2009, 03:28:32 am
Thanks, I've improved the texture you see somewhat and done quite a bit on the final 2 maps. I'll post some more pics in a bit.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Aardwolf on September 05, 2009, 06:31:00 pm
Well, it's been a bit. Long enough, in fact, that I'm getting the 30-days-since-last-post warning. Got any pretty pics for us?
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: newman on September 11, 2009, 04:22:29 pm
Well, it's been a bit. Long enough, in fact, that I'm getting the 30-days-since-last-post warning. Got any pretty pics for us?

It's undergoing some final touches right now, actually. I've been tweaking the textures and assembling a light rig for the glow maps. It should be ready quite soon. In the mean time, however, I seem to have forgotten to post these pics here - I did have them posted elsewhere so you may have seen them already. Keep in mind though that these aren't the latest and don't show a finished product - the end result should look better.

(http://i39.tinypic.com/346kpqh.jpg)

(http://i43.tinypic.com/1h85kk.jpg)
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Rodo on September 11, 2009, 04:54:12 pm
it looks quite good, I envy your texturing skills ^^
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Thaeris on September 12, 2009, 12:34:10 am
I see no reason to not envy any of Newman's awesome skills. Glorious, my good man!
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Bilal18 on September 12, 2009, 05:57:47 am
Its wonderful newman :)
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Sidestep on September 12, 2009, 06:50:43 am
Very cool. Can't wait to see it being blown up.  :D
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: MR_T3D on September 14, 2009, 10:09:20 am
It's undergoing some final touches right now, actually. I've been tweaking the textures and assembling a light rig for the glow maps. It should be ready quite soon. In the mean time, however, I seem to have forgotten to post these pics here - I did have them posted elsewhere so you may have seen them already. Keep in mind though that these aren't the latest and don't show a finished product - the end result should look better.
bettER?
that sounds pretty hard from what i can see..
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: ark2010 on September 14, 2009, 10:28:57 am
 :shaking:        That thing.... it'sevil... pure,evil...     :shaking:


That does, however, look fantastic!
Well done!!! Can't wait to throw my viper into a kamikazee attack against it.  ;7
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: newman on September 14, 2009, 11:52:52 am
Can't wait to throw my viper into a kamikazee attack against it.  ;7

Oh yeah. That's gonna hurt it.. :P
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: StarSlayer on September 14, 2009, 12:39:37 pm
Having Vipers smash themselves against the Baseship's armor like bugs hitting a windshield might ruffle the Cylons' tender sensebilities
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Felix 039 on September 14, 2009, 01:23:43 pm
Having Vipers smash themselves against the Baseship's armor like bugs hitting a windshield might ruffle the Cylons' tender sensebilities
Like throwing cotton buds against tanks, yelling "take that you *beep*"     :lol:
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: ark2010 on September 14, 2009, 04:44:18 pm
... not if i fly inside it... with a nuke... and a strongly worded letter, explaining my disgruntle with their extermination of the human race. That outta do it.. right? :yes:
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Thaeris on September 14, 2009, 05:44:52 pm
Now, if BSG had Viet Cong sappers, that might actually be viable.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: FraktuRe on September 15, 2009, 02:35:23 am
spy sappin mah basestar?
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Felix 039 on September 15, 2009, 08:08:41 am
no touche touche my base...star.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: newman on September 16, 2009, 06:45:29 am
It's time to show some in-game shots, previous ones were renders. Also, previous ones didn't have the lights - I set up a light rig and baked glow maps for the game model. All are taken from the game, first 3 from the lab, the rest from an actual mission. No hot Cylons babes were harmed during the making of these screenshots.

(http://i31.tinypic.com/jgjpeh.jpg)

(http://i26.tinypic.com/2qteq0g.jpg)

(http://i27.tinypic.com/2psoi7t.jpg)

(http://i31.tinypic.com/23tp3ed.jpg)

(http://i32.tinypic.com/zno6ch.jpg)

(http://i27.tinypic.com/5a41s2.jpg)

(http://i29.tinypic.com/2jd0y1s.jpg)
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Wobble73 on September 16, 2009, 06:55:13 am
I just drooled all over my paperwork in the office.  :D


I cannot wait to go up against that bad boy, (and have my testes handed to me on a plate) :lol:
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: FraktuRe on September 16, 2009, 08:27:09 am
truly a god amongst men and idiots.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Madcat on September 16, 2009, 09:10:09 am
Is that really the shape of things to come?
It's... beyond awesome!!!  :D :yes:

Now you finally did it and made this lurker get an account... hi there everyone!  :)

Great work everyone, I'm really looking forward to the release (whenever that may be, take your time!).

Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Angreifer on September 16, 2009, 09:40:48 am
Goodness gracious, great balls of fire!

Some stunning work there, loving the progress being made.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Felix 039 on September 16, 2009, 12:21:51 pm
No hot Cylons babes were harmed during the making of these screenshots.
lol  :lol:


I want the hot Cylon babes, not basestar   ;7
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Sidestep on September 17, 2009, 01:46:40 am
Epic
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Bilal18 on September 17, 2009, 05:44:55 am
Epic

So say we all!
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: YIIMM on September 17, 2009, 06:04:01 pm
Am I right in thinking that's the first in-game shot of Theseus too?
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: newman on September 17, 2009, 06:14:22 pm
Am I right in thinking that's the first in-game shot of Theseus too?

First time in-game? Perhaps. It's not as close to being done as the basestar, which is why you only get to see it from the distance, for now.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: karajorma on September 17, 2009, 07:39:41 pm
First one we've deliberately released. There were a couple of accidental ones but I think we stomped on them. :)
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: redsniper on September 20, 2009, 03:25:31 am
OMG. Dat flak screen.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Felix 039 on September 20, 2009, 05:08:49 am
OMG. Dat flak screen.

Well, not overkill yet... Considering how much Raider a Basestar launch at once  ;7
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: newman on September 20, 2009, 05:17:39 am
Well, not overkill yet... Considering how much Raider a Basestar launch at once  ;7

In theory, if every slot housed a raider, and you launched all of them at once, you'd have 864 raiders in the air. Well, vacuum :)
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Angelus on September 25, 2009, 05:41:28 am
Holy...!  :eek2:
Awesome work!
Can i has info abouts the ~fps?
I think i need a new computer for that...:)



btw. do you guys see sometimes strange behaviour of the missiles during the tests?
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: newman on September 25, 2009, 08:25:09 am
One thing I've noticed is that a lot of people seem to panic about FPS when they see this ship :) I've tested the basestar on my not-so-new system in a variety of missions and found no FPS problems. And the thing doesn't even have LODs yet, plus I was using tga's so no mipmaps yet either. Final version will both have LODs and dds textures with full mips so I wouldn't worry about the FPS. Current systems are able to handle large amounts of polygons - and a space game is specific because there's no environment to be modeled - a starfield or a simple skybox does the trick most of the time. So we can have a bit more detailed ships without any problems..
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: MR_T3D on September 27, 2009, 12:55:04 pm
Holy...!  :eek2:
Awesome work!
Can i has info abouts the ~fps?
I think i need a new computer for that...:)



btw. do you guys see sometimes strange behaviour of the missiles during the tests?
it appears to be work on 'arcing' missles, more like the show,
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Colonol Dekker on September 27, 2009, 03:48:29 pm
What the heck is with those white specks?

Orbiting the Colonial ship?
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: FUBAR-BDHR on September 27, 2009, 04:01:58 pm
You mean the flak explosions?
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Colonol Dekker on September 27, 2009, 05:22:10 pm
That's my question answered. Thanks :)
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: MR_T3D on September 27, 2009, 06:50:17 pm
flying near that much flack is going to be epic
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Aardwolf on September 27, 2009, 08:41:21 pm
It still looks to me like the [random] flak spread is a cube shape, rather than being a random 'sphere' of flak... something for the coders to look into, really
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: FUBAR-BDHR on September 27, 2009, 08:50:31 pm
How do you know if you have never seen it in game?  The pics don't do it justice at all. 
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Aardwolf on September 27, 2009, 09:24:12 pm
Well I've seen clips of the BtRL flak focus-firing on an incoming Cylon missile, and that looked a lot like what I think I'm seeing here too.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: karajorma on September 27, 2009, 09:46:49 pm
That was a demonstration of the flak wall effect IIRC. It's meant to be flat.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Rodo on September 28, 2009, 06:14:06 am
looks freaking cool. I wanna crash this one with my loki as well :cool:
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Deckard on October 09, 2009, 10:10:19 am
Looking good, indeed ;)
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Aardwolf on October 25, 2009, 03:12:35 pm
That was a demonstration of the flak wall effect IIRC. It's meant to be flat.

Eh... it wasn't flat like a wall, though. It was boxy like a cube.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: newman on October 25, 2009, 06:17:27 pm
Eh... it wasn't flat like a wall, though. It was boxy like a cube.

It's pretty hard to gauge whether or not it's a wall or a cube from 2d screenshots. Until the game or at least a trailer showing this is out you'll just have to trust us we're doing this right.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: Aardwolf on October 25, 2009, 08:39:36 pm
Eh... it wasn't flat like a wall, though. It was boxy like a cube.

It's pretty hard to gauge whether or not it's a wall or a cube from 2d screenshots. Until the game or at least a trailer showing this is out you'll just have to trust us we're doing this right.

Screenshots? It was a video!
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: newman on October 26, 2009, 04:18:10 am
And there I was, thinking you were actually discussing something ontopic using shots from this thread. Silly me :) Try not to worry about trailers of a different game.
Title: Re: 09-04-05 - Cylon Basestar
Post by: TigrisJK on November 30, 2009, 10:15:30 pm
OH. MY. GOD.

Newman, that is bleeding GORGEOUS.