Author Topic: GTF Iapetus RELEASE  (Read 12356 times)

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Offline Lorric

  • 212
I don't begrudge the star to be honest, its just the shape and colour of the cockpit lends itself to death's head rictus.

Ah, I see what you mean now, I didn't think a skull would look good, but if it was moulded around the shape of the cockpit, then I can see potential there if it was done right.

Shark jaws perhaps could be another option.

 

Offline Raven2001

  • Machina Terra Reborn
  • 211
  • Im not the droid your looking for, move along

I would have to disagree with you there. I think you're confusing "adding complexity" with "complementing the form". Those examples you gave all have normal maps, which increases the apparent complexity. Increased detail and complexity does not necessarily enhance the form. Think camouflage; lots of detail serving to break up the form.

On a smooth piece of mesh, the eye slides easily along its length. In the art world this is often described as visual energy or visual flow. If you have a texture line perpendicular across its length, your eye stops at it, before moving on. This breaks up the flow of the form. The greater the strength of the line (more colour, contrast, etc) the more visual stopping power it has.


I think I was misunderstood on what I said :)
I was actually looking at the non-htl versions of those ships, and I wasn't talking about texture complexity. I was talking about the "big shapes".
So you understand where I'm coming from, my background is on Design (Multimedia and Industrial) and art (drawing+painting), so I'm all too familiar with what you call "visual energy\flow".

What I was talking about when I used the word "reinforcing" was, like I said the big shapes. Look at the Herc2, for instance (being the simplest of the ships I mentioned): the center piece is white, the side pods are grey. The color is placed in such a way that it "reinforces" the Hercs shape. Makes it easier to read its form, than if it was all grey, for example.
If you want to look at the details, the Herc2s panel lines flow along the shape too, reinforcing the visual flow.
That's what I meant. the small details and\or normal maps have nothing to do with it :)

So anyways, those are my thoughts on that topic. For this ship, the paint job was intended to break up the form a bit and trap the viewer's eye. Same with the S-curve on the front wings.

I get what you are trying to do, and now I understand it was a very conscious choice. That's cool! ;)
Yeah, I know you were waiting for a very nice sig, in which I was quoting some very famous scientist or philosopher... guess what?!? I wont indulge you...

Why, you ask? What, do I look like a Shivan to you?!?


Raven is a god.

 

Offline swashmebuckle

  • 210
  • Das Lied von der Turd
    • The Perfect Band
The form of the cockpit and the section behind it makes me think of the nuBSG cylon raider, or an Alien head. I think I'd vote for a Ulysses-style transparent canopy, despite the visual disruption. Not having a human inside just seems a little too drone-like and impersonal for FS IMO. Love the shape!

 
Few suggestions, which I don't expect you to follow as the modelling seems finished.

1. I would personally add like some small pylons/nacelles to the rings. Like if the top ring had say two smaller ones at about 45' degree elevation from the fuselage and the lower one had, say one smaller one at the bottom. I think it would give the rings a bit more, form or function. Like one could imagine those nacelles as being sensor module or thruster module, that sort of thing. Large enough to break up the form a bit but not so large as to overpower the ring visually.

2. For the upper ring, I would create a structural difference at the point where it meets the lower ring. Like a raised surface at the base for example. Or perhaps conversely, a little indented area with a bit of the underworking showing. Basically just a detail to sort of suggest how it might be constructed in a factory.

3. For the forward prongs, I would cut into the form a little at the very tip of the inside edge just to break up the shape a bit and make it a bit more interesting. Not sure how to best describe it? Bevel? Like bevel the edge? And maybe with the outside tip, cut the corner tip off as well. Not so much as to change the shape, just enough to distinguish the end of the prongs as being the end of the prongs.

I'm just quoting this because this thread is getting kind of clamorous and I think these suggestions would address the main problem with the model.
The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell.

 
Star is changed. I'll probably add some things to the hoops. Not nacelles, but something.


 

Offline Alan Bolte

  • 28
  • Deneb III
    • @Compellor
The hoops are very Starslip.

I don't know why, but I keep expecting the tips of the prongs to have headlights.
Anything worth doing is worth analyzing to death -Iranon

 

Offline Droid803

  • Trusted poster of legit stuff
  • 213
  • /人 ◕ ‿‿ ◕ 人\ Do you want to be a Magical Girl?
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I liked the original more.
Had a nice UAV feel to it, even if it's "not freespacey" (which is fine! then again I'm kind of biased.)
Now it's kind of...confused as to what it's trying to be.
(´・ω・`)
=============================================================

 

Offline Luis Dias

  • 211
I think it's looking better and better!

The suicide king texture could be placed in a better position.... it looks as if someone glued a giant card into the ship, instead of being an artsy paint job by the proud pilots themselves. (I'm also pretty sure the rust / dirt textures are still wip)

If you zoom out the ship to like 10, 15 % of the preview screen, you'll basically see how it will appear in FSO most of the times, and it's sleek as hell, with a nice specular profile against the black background! Can't wait to be able to fly it, it looks awesome. Great job!

  

Offline Kobrar44

  • On Suspended Sentence
  • 29
  • Let me tilerape it for you!
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Yeah, I liked the star more too. Skull is a bit too cliche.
Oh guys, use that [ url ][ img ][ /img ][ /url ] :/

 
Few suggestions, which I don't expect you to follow as the modelling seems finished.

1. I would personally add like some small pylons/nacelles to the rings. Like if the top ring had say two smaller ones at about 45' degree elevation from the fuselage and the lower one had, say one smaller one at the bottom. I think it would give the rings a bit more, form or function. Like one could imagine those nacelles as being sensor module or thruster module, that sort of thing. Large enough to break up the form a bit but not so large as to overpower the ring visually.

2. For the upper ring, I would create a structural difference at the point where it meets the lower ring. Like a raised surface at the base for example. Or perhaps conversely, a little indented area with a bit of the underworking showing. Basically just a detail to sort of suggest how it might be constructed in a factory.

3. For the forward prongs, I would cut into the form a little at the very tip of the inside edge just to break up the shape a bit and make it a bit more interesting. Not sure how to best describe it? Bevel? Like bevel the edge? And maybe with the outside tip, cut the corner tip off as well. Not so much as to change the shape, just enough to distinguish the end of the prongs as being the end of the prongs.

Here's some visualizations of what I was talking about.
I tried a nacelle type thing on the lower ring and it didn't look good so. Left it out


 
I'm thinking you could make the rings look like shield projectors or something by putting strips of lit cells along them. I for one like the opaque cockpit, although I think it'd look better if it was just left blank rather than having a decal; that makes it look a bit tacky.
The good Christian should beware of mathematicians, and all those who make empty prophecies. The danger already exists that the mathematicians have made a covenant with the devil to darken the spirit and to confine man in the bonds of Hell.

 

Offline fightermedic

  • 29
  • quite a nice guy, no really, i am
so, after working a bit on a ship that uses team colors i remembered this one of yours
it's almost all gray, that means adding a team color feature to it should be a very quick job
i offer to do it for you, if you do not want to create a misc-map yourself, sending me the (uncompressed) diffuse map would suffice
>>Fully functional cockpits for Freespace<<
>>Ships created by me<<
Campaigns revised/voice-acted by me:
Lightning Marshal 1-4, The Regulus Campaign, Operation: Savior, Operation: Crucible, Titan Rebellion, Fall of Epsilon Pegasi 1.1Aftermath 2.1,
Pandora's Box 2.2, Deep Blood

Other Campaigns I have participated in:
The Antagonist, Warzone, Phantoms & Echo-Gate

All the stuff I release is free to use or change in any way for everybody who likes to do so; take whatever you need

 
Oops. I completely forgot about time zones. No complaints from me about the extension, Black Wolf.   :)







The file was uploaded to freespacemods.net

 

Offline Black Wolf

  • Twisted Infinities
  • 212
  • Hey! You! Get off-a my cloud!
    • Visit the TI homepage!
Yours was one of the models I was thinking about when I posted it - it seemed particularly unfair to exclude what appeared to be a completely finished model from well within the time period because you missed the deadline by what I assumed was only going to be a few hours. :)
TWISTED INFINITIES · SECTORGAME· FRONTLINES
Rarely Updated P3D.
Burn the heretic who killed F2S! Burn him, burn him!!- GalEmp

 

Offline Husker

  • 27
I'm no modeler or anything, but have you thought about detailing the rings like the ST:ENT Vulcan ships? Personally that would help visually with the In'N'Out with subspace. I hope you understand what I'm trying to say.

 
Yeah, I sort of gave up on the subspace thing. I'm sure it could work, but I was pretty busy, so I decided to scratch it. The turret is now the unique thing about it.

 

Offline Husker

  • 27
Ouch, sorry to hear that. Hope everything else went smoothly, I don't have a clue about how hard it is, but it's good work, keep it up!

 

Offline Trivial Psychic

  • 212
  • Snoop Junkie
The file was uploaded to freespacemods.net

I don't see it yet.
The Trivial Psychic Strikes Again!

 

Offline MatthTheGeek

  • Captain Obvious
  • 212
  • Frenchie McFrenchface
I have approved it just now. Enjoy :)
People are stupid, therefore anything popular is at best suspicious.

Mod management tools     -     Wiki stuff!     -     Help us help you

666maslo666: Releasing a finished product is not a good thing! It is a modern fad.

SpardaSon21: it seems like you exist in a permanent state of half-joking misanthropy

Axem: when you put it like that, i sound like an insane person

bigchunk1: it's not retarded it's american!
bigchunk1: ...

batwota: steele's maneuvering for the coup de gras
MatthTheGeek: you mispelled grâce
Awaesaar: grace
batwota: oh right :P
Darius: ah!
Darius: yes, i like that
MatthTheGeek: the way you just spelled it it means fat
Awaesaar: +accent I forgot how to keyboard
MatthTheGeek: or grease
Darius: the killing fat!
Axem: jabba does the coup de gras
MatthTheGeek: XD
Axem: bring me solo and a cookie

 

Offline fightermedic

  • 29
  • quite a nice guy, no really, i am
as threatened, here are textures that are adopted for the use of team colors:
http://www.mediafire.com/download/p40z8gklvykzpng/iaptus-teamcolor.rar



love it or leave it, as they say
bobbtmann, you CAN use this as addidional feature of your model in the competition if you like, not that i expect you to, i just wanted to make that clear
btw the model is fantastic, especially the normal map, impressive work man
« Last Edit: October 06, 2013, 10:53:51 am by fightermedic »
>>Fully functional cockpits for Freespace<<
>>Ships created by me<<
Campaigns revised/voice-acted by me:
Lightning Marshal 1-4, The Regulus Campaign, Operation: Savior, Operation: Crucible, Titan Rebellion, Fall of Epsilon Pegasi 1.1Aftermath 2.1,
Pandora's Box 2.2, Deep Blood

Other Campaigns I have participated in:
The Antagonist, Warzone, Phantoms & Echo-Gate

All the stuff I release is free to use or change in any way for everybody who likes to do so; take whatever you need