[BrotherBryon]

Cool.
My suggestion would be to deepen the larger recesses and further extrude the larger details, and also remove some of the smaller detailing that can be done with normal maps. I'd also suggest beveling some of the harsh 90° edges on various parts of the model, as often it's those that can really reduce the perceived detail of a mesh.

Recessing the part that runs along the nose and down into the sensors will take a lot of work but the rest should be easy enough (Sketch-up is a pain when it comes to that kind of work). I was going for two depths on the various recessed parts, From the textures I got the impression that the red glowing sections should be recessed further than the green sections. Which edges would you say need beveling the most, I kind of got the impression that the Engine/Weapons pods were meant to be a bit blocky.

I like it, though the top pod things with the triangular fire points is a tad bland at present.

The original textures give little in the way the weapons systems should look. For now I just modeled them in as they appear. Would any one have any good reference pics for Shivan firing points?

[Woolie Wool]

The large blades sticking out of the sides are stabilizers (in spaaaaace).

They do add rotational inertia, thus stabilizing the ship

You could also stick RCS thrusters on them and use the added leverage to make the ship turn faster.

[Snail]

How do you explain the Valkyrie having intake vents?

Very...carefully.

Actually Nuke had a pretty good explanation. They were ram scoops for harvesting Deuterium from the interstellar medium for longer missions. It would make sense how it is able to recharge its burners I guess.

[Narvi]

There doesn't need to be an explanation for the recharging burners. It's just the existing propellant with whatever mechanism the engines are based on supercharged. That would explain why your afterburners recharge faster when you transfer power to your engines as well.

[Dilmah G]

The large blades sticking out of the sides are stabilizers (in spaaaaace).

They do add rotational inertia, thus stabilizing the ship

You could also stick RCS thrusters on them and use the added leverage to make the ship turn faster.

I fail to see how ships in FS2 seem to be able to turn without some kind of directional thrust.

[Commander Zane]

Rule of Cool?

[FreeSpaceFreak]

I fail to see how ships in FS2 seem to be able to turn without some kind of directional thrust.

Well, there's at least 1 cb_ani that does show maneuvering thrusters. Take a look at cb_FrDock in tango_fs1.vp .

[BrotherBryon]

Better?


By brotherbryon at 2009-02-19

[Commander Zane]

Looks good to me.

[blowfish]

I was thinking something more like this for the missile banks:

(not to scale obviously )

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Commander Zane]

Isn't the original texture's missile bank's tilted though?

[blowfish]

Isn't the original texture's missile bank's tilted though?

The orientation of the missile holes was not what I was trying to show And it was just a quick sketch, so I didn't bother paying attention to details...

[Dilmah G]

I fail to see how ships in FS2 seem to be able to turn without some kind of directional thrust.

Well, there's at least 1 cb_ani that does show maneuvering thrusters. Take a look at cb_FrDock in tango_fs1.vp .

Oh yeah, I forgot about that one

[BrotherBryon]

I'm not so sure about those missile points being recessed. There is just too much going on in those little towers, they house both the missile tubes and the engines. Offsetting and recessing each individual missile tube may work but recessing a large space in that area just seems like trying to cram too much into such a small space.

[Hellstryker]

I'm not even sure how shivan missles work. Take a good look at the manticore in the FS 2 intro.

[Dilmah G]

I'm not even sure how shivan missles work. Take a good look at the manticore in the FS 2 intro.

It just looked like an overdramatised Rockeye. In my recollection anyway.

[Hellstryker]

I'm not even sure how shivan missles work. Take a good look at the manticore in the FS 2 intro.

It just looked like an overdramatised Rockeye. In my recollection anyway.

Yeah, one that charged up like a beam. 

[ssmit132]

Maybe they scoop in fuel before they fire?

Anyway, I like them sticking out from the pylons.

[Dilmah G]

I'm not even sure how shivan missles work. Take a good look at the manticore in the FS 2 intro.

It just looked like an overdramatised Rockeye. In my recollection anyway.

Yeah, one that charged up like a beam. 

Ohh, I assumed that was some random light effect V used in some effort to spice up the intro. I never looked at it that way.

[BrotherBryon]

Made some changes to the cockpit area, toyed with blowfish's suggestion for the missile tubes, enlarged some of the beveling, and added some simple looking guns to the primary banks (Not sure about these though). What do you all think.


By brotherbryon at 2009-02-23


By brotherbryon at 2009-02-23