[Oddgrim]

It works the same in the end - specifc poligons applied to very mall portions of a texture. Or should I say vice-versa? Planar mapping I mean.

Unwraping is a more precise and direct approach. Certanly far better for complex maps and smaller ships.

If I have a texture that has griders for he hull, barrels for the turrets and fences and pipes for some greeble? I can use planar mapping to get the same result as unwrapping.

excuse me for butting in but doesn't it sound better if you create a texture after the UV mapping then the other way around? to be serious with you in my opinion all detailed meshwork should be uvmapped no matter the size of the ship. If you work with the model instead of trying to fit a specific 512x512 (and such) texture on it you'll get so much better results.
Also if can work around the subject of haveing multiple maps of geebles by forming it after one uvmapped texture. It's a pity that so much detail of your ship gets lost with the current textureing.

edit: in hindsight this might create a extra mosterious workload but for the sake of teh pretties I think it could very well be worth it.

[TrashMan]

excuse me for butting in but doesn't it sound better if you create a texture after the UV mapping then the other way around?

Depends. I don't really do it exactly that way, not even for fighters.

For fighters I split them into parts, arrange them, then render that in wireframe and I get a nice outline for my fighter/bomber texture. Then I use that map and 3D Max to UV map it.
I guess I could unwrap them, but I never really learend to unwrap properly - the resulting wireframe map, even for something simple as a face, allways ended up looking ugly.

I certanly won't make a new texture if I have perfectly usable ones allready. A good example for large ships would be the Orion. Take for instance the big turret - uses 1 or 2 textures, but mapped very differently on different polygons. Usually done in 3D Max with UV mapping. But I did it in TS with planar mapping - and it ended up the same thing. You can even compare my Orion turret and Bobs Orion turret.
[/quote]

[TrashMan]

Unwraping is a more precise and direct approach. Certanly far better for complex maps and smaller ships.

You mean for bigger ships right?

No.

Well..I guess it is better if the textures are really large and you're not going to be skimming the surface of the ship.
Works great for something like Nexus.
But for something like FS and a ship as big as the Collie? I don't really see it.

[Rico]

I certanly won't make a new texture if I have perfectly usable ones allready. A good example for large ships would be the Orion. Take for instance the big turret - uses 1 or 2 textures, but mapped very differently on different polygons.

I can UV map, so if youd like send me the model in 3ds or obj and ill clean it up for you 

[Spoon]

Unwraping is a more precise and direct approach. Certanly far better for complex maps and smaller ships.

You mean for bigger ships right?

No.

Well..I guess it is better if the textures are really large and you're not going to be skimming the surface of the ship.
Works great for something like Nexus.
But for something like FS and a ship as big as the Collie? I don't really see it.

Exactly Because it is a big ship like the Colly. You usually won't see half the detail on a fighter in game but a large stationary object like the Collossus will draw eye attention and it comes far more noticable if it has been tiled. 

[Droid803]

If you don't tile, then you need MASSIVE maps so that when you're up close, the textures aren't pixellated. On smaller craft ypu can get by with much smaller textures.

I don't find textures being tiled drawing too much attention, when just about everything else is. Sure, you miss AO and stuff I guess, but that's better than have like three 4096 x 4096 maps that weaker GPUs just refuse to load.

[TrashMan]

Right.

I'll be working on improving the collie Mk2 (naturally).

Any comment on the weapon placement?

[Dragon]

Perhaps it could use a forward (nose mounted) cannon, but it's mostly OK.
Also, the reason why I like tile-textured ships:

[The E]

Because it's really easy to make them even uglier?

[General Battuta]

Lordie. I gotta go with The_E here, no offense.

It's good to see new big warships, and this isn't a commentary on the original model, but that reskin doesn't work for me. It's very...well, tiled.

[NGTM-1R]

If tiling was good enough for FS1 it's good enough for you.

[Snail]

If tiling was good enough for FS1 it's good enough for you.

So everything these people have done is completely meaningless? Ok. I'm down with that.

[TrashMan]

I wouldn't say the tiling itself is the problem, more the texture chosen for the tiling. Or in this case, probably both.

[asyikarea51]

Right.

I'll be working on improving the collie Mk2 (naturally).

Any comment on the weapon placement?

Two more fighterbays for even faster takeoff of all its launch mass (which for its size, I doubt it would still be able to launch fighters as fast as a full-on carrier, but I haven't had time to look at the beta release model yet.)? XD

Weapons, idk, maybe not too near the engine pods. Maybe somewhere in between the engines in the case of defending the rear quarter? There was this up-gunned Hecate somewhere, no offense to the modder who did it but it struck me as a bit... "odd"... that a heavy beam cannon could be right on top of a full-sized engine.

I can't think of anything else apart from that 86-turret Colly at the moment tbh. Apart from fighterbays (considering the size of, well, this Terran flagship?).

[TrashMan]

I know I said I'd fix the Collie2 over the weekend...but I kinda got my hands on King Arthur...and I kinda wanted to give it a spin..and one thing led to another and....ya know... I haven't done anything

Forgiveth me.

[Kopachris]

Right.

I'll be working on improving the collie Mk2 (naturally).

Any comment on the weapon placement?

Weapons, idk, maybe not too near the engine pods. Maybe somewhere in between the engines in the case of defending the rear quarter? There was this up-gunned Hecate somewhere, no offense to the modder who did it but it struck me as a bit... "odd"... that a heavy beam cannon could be right on top of a full-sized engine.

No, no, no!  The rear should stay mostly undefended, as it was meant to be.  Maybe some AAA beams, but that's it.  The undefended stern of the Super-soaker could be an interesting tragic flaw in some mod.  Sorry.

[TrashMan]

The rear is where the engines are.
Logic dictates it will be less armed then other parts of the ship, since the engines take up much of the space/surface.