I dunno what Collada XML is but it sounds good.
In the interim, I've started my first model. Well . . . technically my second model since years ago I did some rough TBP Dilgar Fighter which got shot down because I didn't know what the hell I was doing.
I was just wondering, I'm taking like an intro Maya course right now . . and my instructor said something about . . . quads are best, triangles are okay, anything else is bad. Is this pretty accurate? I'm trying to stick to quads, but when I have a screwed up polygon, it's a little difficult to maintain the quads. By screwed up I mean there's no . . . well, basically the surface is concave, or convex, when it should be flat. So typically you can just join the corners, but then you get triangles rather than quads. So . . . yeah, I think 3sides and 4sides are good. Not totally sure.
Oh, another question. Do people still do those . . . 3d engine flares for fighters? Is that something I'm supposed to do?
Anyway, with luck I'll post the rough model tomorrow in a new thread. Maybe the day after. I'm still learning this maya/3d modelling stuff. But it seems to be going okay so far.