Author Topic: Assault Gunboat - WIP  (Read 35941 times)

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Assault Gunboat - WIP
I wanted to put this up to show what i'm working with so far. All comments and suggestions are very welcome. I have no idea how long this is gonna take me to complete... I'm pretty new to modeling and haven't even started looking at texturing =p so anyways, with out further ado...






ignore the main hull. i'm gonna trash it and completely redo it. I just put it there for reference... I decided to go with a flat wing instead of a triangular shaped one cuz in the original TIE Fighter, the wings were flat, and could also pivot... you can tell by the design of the S-Foil thingy that i intended on a triangular shaped wing but i didn't like it at all so i scrapped it and started over. I'm gonna keep the base design of the S-Foil and add a cylindrical shaped dohicky to connect the wing to give it pivot power... im pretty sure i can make that work =p

I can't decide if i need to make the wing longer or not... So yeah anyways, by all means throw me the suggestions =D

 

Offline maje

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Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP
I like what you have so far, though a lot of things like extruded panels or rivets can really be faked with normal maps, and I agree that the wings should be flat.  One thing that I'd recommend on having, is the Gunboat's laser cannons mounted on the wing and be able to rotate into "attack" position similar to the that of the Lambda-class Shuttle.

Deuternomy 22:11 explained:

Well there are many different speculations going on about this law about not mixing fibers and at least one explanation claims that it was a symbolic gesture designed to keep a pure sense of culture, people, and religion.  Seperation of crop  in the vinyard, mentioned in Dt. 22:9 and 22:10 seem to reaffirm this idea, though there may be other reasons as well.

And now, an excerpt from the Prayer of Mordecai, the Book of Esther Chapter C (New American Bible Official Catholic version).

Est C:5  You know all things.  You know, O Lord, that it was not out of insolence or pride or desire for fame that I acted thus in not bowing down to the proud Haman.  6  Gladly would I have kissed the soles of his feet for the salvation of Israel.  7  But I acted as I did so as not to place the honor of man above that of God.  I will not bow down to anyone but you, my Lord.  It is not out of pride that I am acting thus.

 
Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP
yup thats what i was going for... do me a favor... splain this normal mapping process to me =p i seriously know 0 about texturing or anything of the sort... i just started doing this a week ago

 

Offline chief1983

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Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP
Basically, small indentations and grooves, etc can be simulated through a texture such as a bump/normal or height/parallax map.  Height is a more extreme version of the normal map.  Look at the Z-95 or ISD threads for examples, much of the panel work on those models is entirely in a texture.  The engine uses the map to generate proper shading as you move around it, so the effect is more obvious when the model is moving around.
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Offline TopAce

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Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP
I'm satisfied with it so far.

Expect more feedback as soon as you get the whole done.
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Offline MR_T3D

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Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP
looking good!

 
Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP
thought i should give an update. Good news is I'm nearing completion of this stage of the model... bad news is as it stands im predicting ~13k polys... as you can see in these screen shots im at 4551 faces per side and i havent even done the hull and top wing yet. good news is thats triangulated. I  haven't gone through the thing yet and deleted unnecessary edges... and i'll prolly remove a few panels that can be normal mapped which should cut down on the poly count a bit... so anyways... progress i thinks =D










 

Offline TopAce

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Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP
The polycount is way too much for a ship of that size. If you gave us a wireframe view, the pros could give you some advice on how to lower it.
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Offline chief1983

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Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP
You're probably rounding things way too much.  Proper smoothing will eliminate the need for most of that kind of rounding.  The gunboat isn't even a very round ship, you shouldn't be approaching anything like that probably.  Any efficient modeler around here could probably make an excellent model in 5-8k polies, including cockpit.  I'm not a pro modeler though, so like TopAce said, show some of the higher poly areas in wireframe and maybe someone else can give you some more tips.
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"You may not sell or otherwise commercially exploit the source or things you created based on the source." -- Excerpt from FSO license, for reference

Nuclear1:  Jesus Christ zack you're a little too hamyurger for HLP right now...
iamzack:  i dont have hamynerge i just want ptatoc hips D:
redsniper:  Platonic hips?!
iamzack:  lays

 

Offline brandx0

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Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP
Yeah, that's just waaaaay too many polies for a ship that size, with that level of detail, please do post up a wireframe view, maybe we can help out and give ya some advice.

The gunboat, looking over some of the shots of it, shouldn't need anything more than 5k tris in total for all of the detail.
Former Senior Modeler, Texturer and Content Moderator (retired), Fate of the Galaxy
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I love you with a highly symbolic torpedo up the exhaust port"
-swashmebuckle's ode to the transport

 
Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP








the highest poly objects are the engine and s-foil thingy after triangulation. I think on the s-foil i'm gonna get rid of the holes on the wing mount. Its a nice touch imo but all of those faces on the inside of the hole are never going to be seen so i might as well leave it solid

Right now i've been deleting unnecessary edges from the engine but TS keeps crashing on me when i try to view as a solid so bleh... i keep having to start over =p also on the smaller wings i'm going to ditch the curved bump lookin thing and just make it square, or maybe even triangular


 

Offline brandx0

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Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP
Okay, let's go through these image by image.

First image: Cut down those rib thingys to simple boxes.  You'll never see that much detail.  If you want them still to have a rounded appearance, then bevel them and assign them the same smooth group.

Second Image: Most of those details, being so small, should be on the normal map, not on the model.  I'd say redo the engine pods as one big box, and model only the largest of details.  In addition, the rounding on the front should be accomplished with a single ring of faces, once again a bevel.  Don't try to round objects for games that are so small.

Third image:  That tube has way too many sides.  It's so small I can't even see where it is on the long view of the model.  It should probably be deleted entirely.

Fourth image:  Get rid of that bump entirely.  Handle that in the mapping.  Also, a gun barrel that small should have 8 sides at most, and be a simple cylinder.  Handle the changes in shape via normal maps.

All in all, your modeling will improve if you step back and look at the larger picture.  A good technique I use to see if I'm using too many faces on an object is to view the entire model in one viewport.  If I see two edges so close together that they look like one, then they probably should be one.

I'd suggest starting by building the entire model, and then detailing, largest details down to the smallest, that way you'll not need to exceed your poly budget.

Look at this image, and hopefully you'll see a good idea of what sort of level of detail can go into mapping. 

« Last Edit: August 27, 2008, 04:21:54 pm by brandx0 »
Former Senior Modeler, Texturer and Content Moderator (retired), Fate of the Galaxy
"I love your wrong proportions--too long, no, wait, too short
I love you with a highly symbolic torpedo up the exhaust port"
-swashmebuckle's ode to the transport

 

Offline brandx0

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Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP
Oh, guess I probably should have labelled what's what on there

Right: Base Model
Middle: Normal Mapped
Left: Diffuse Mapped

That's 2600 polies triangulated

(Also, it's slated for a remake, I'm not too happy with it)
Former Senior Modeler, Texturer and Content Moderator (retired), Fate of the Galaxy
"I love your wrong proportions--too long, no, wait, too short
I love you with a highly symbolic torpedo up the exhaust port"
-swashmebuckle's ode to the transport

 
Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP
alright. Actually thats pretty much what i'm doing to the engine right now... one of the problems with it is the faces are not properly meshed at all. I'm going through and redoing it so i can get fewer faces out of 1 area than previously... i've already knocked out about 200 faces untriangulated by doing so and still maintaining the overall shape. i got rid of the panels except for the one with the handle on it... i like it too much to ditch it =p but i did some revamping on it... anyways ima keep going on this...

btw... the engine front i did bevel... i onry did it like 10 times at a decreasing angle to give the appearance of being curved. i prolly can remove some of the edges with out distorting it to reduce poly count, however.

 

Offline aRaven

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Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP


Mmmmmh...the ewing...one of my favorite craft :)

 

Offline brandx0

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Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP
Only 10 times is far too many, I meant bevel it one time.

Oh, and of the E-Wing again, I just did up a triangulated wire render for ya, note how my large engine pods have less sides than your tiny tiny little tubes for the S-foils.

Former Senior Modeler, Texturer and Content Moderator (retired), Fate of the Galaxy
"I love your wrong proportions--too long, no, wait, too short
I love you with a highly symbolic torpedo up the exhaust port"
-swashmebuckle's ode to the transport

 

Offline maje

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Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP
One other thing if I may, is that the laser cannons should be a little bit larger in relation to the wing that they're mounted on, and also you may want to mirror the mount to the other side of the aforementioned wing.  then move the center the laser cannon so that it's centerline is the same as the wing's.  You want to make sure that the gun appears to be properly mounted from both sides of the wings rather than just one.
Deuternomy 22:11 explained:

Well there are many different speculations going on about this law about not mixing fibers and at least one explanation claims that it was a symbolic gesture designed to keep a pure sense of culture, people, and religion.  Seperation of crop  in the vinyard, mentioned in Dt. 22:9 and 22:10 seem to reaffirm this idea, though there may be other reasons as well.

And now, an excerpt from the Prayer of Mordecai, the Book of Esther Chapter C (New American Bible Official Catholic version).

Est C:5  You know all things.  You know, O Lord, that it was not out of insolence or pride or desire for fame that I acted thus in not bowing down to the proud Haman.  6  Gladly would I have kissed the soles of his feet for the salvation of Israel.  7  But I acted as I did so as not to place the honor of man above that of God.  I will not bow down to anyone but you, my Lord.  It is not out of pride that I am acting thus.

 
Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP
i can mirror it np, but if memory serves, the XG-1 only has 2 lasers (1 on each wing) and 2 ions (above the cockpit) as far as making it larger yeah... it is kinda pewny =p

 

Offline chief1983

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Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP
You definitely need to keep in mind that smoothing is your friend.  You don't need to be able to look directly at the mesh and see a curved surface.  When you have proper mapping and smoothing, even a very non-smooth curved surface will still appear smooth enough.  There are many tricks that a game model will use to keep its poly count down.  I hope you're mirroring most of the model and not modeling each side separately as well.
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"You may not sell or otherwise commercially exploit the source or things you created based on the source." -- Excerpt from FSO license, for reference

Nuclear1:  Jesus Christ zack you're a little too hamyurger for HLP right now...
iamzack:  i dont have hamynerge i just want ptatoc hips D:
redsniper:  Platonic hips?!
iamzack:  lays

 
Re: Assault Gunboat - WIP
oh gods no lol =p i think id shoot myself if i had to duplicate this vertex by vertex... ok so noob question time. I thought that PCS did the smoothing? or is that part of the mapping process... and while i'm on that subject... i seriously have no idea how normal maps are made >.>