Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => Arts & Talents => Topic started by: Fineus on January 16, 2006, 04:31:19 am
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Well here it is. My first attempt at designing a starship. The design is something of an "as I went along, I did stuff" effort.. and I'd like your feedback!
I'm really interested in getting good at designing spaceships. I haven't looked at any tutorials... just gone with what I knew already. Please rip it to shreds and make as many (or few) suggestions as you'd like to. They'll all be welcome.
So without further ado I present you with:
My First Starship™
[attachment deleted by admin]
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I'm afraid to say anything bad because you might ban me :nervous:
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Hah, no.
Like I said please rip it to shreds. Insult the hell out of the fact it's all built on one cube. How am I going to learn if I don't get someone pointing out what could be improved / changed.
Or is it just the most fantastic ship you've ever seen? :p
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well, it doesn't remind me of anything, and that's a good thing, if you think about it, when designing starships, it's hard to be original.
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My only criticism is that the hanger bay doesnt look like it's part of the ship's main body.
Other than that, it coud do with a bit more detail just strewn about
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Hmmm, which end is the front of the Ship ?
It could work on both ends really, with the other one more B5 Omega-like box and the other more "traditional" one...
*How stupid of me, the hangar bay points forward...*
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I like the overall shape, but you should add detail.
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The right hand side is the front, ships launch from the bay facing forwards.
Firecrack: That's a good point, and in honesty the fighter bay wasn't part of the main body. I made it separately and then attached it.
Carl: Any suggestions on detail? The ship is obviously lacking in it and I don't have much experience past extruding, bevelling and moving vertexs around.
I also have no experience in texturing.
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Interesting design.
Shows a lot of promise :D
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Carl: Any suggestions on detail? The ship is obviously lacking in it and I don't have much experience past extruding, bevelling and moving vertexs around.
well you're in luck, because all you need to know how to do in order to add detail is extruding, bevelling and moving vertexs around.
really, just select a face and add random junk to it.
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Well here's a bit of an update then. I started adding turrents and beam cannons. I also added a little minor detail to the top of the front of the ship. Lens flares were added quickly in Photoshop for the engine effects.
http://www.zen8740.zen.co.uk/pics/ship/ship_00.jpg
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It sort of looks like that transport thing from Star Wars in Episode 2 if I'm not mistaken, coupled with some features of the Colossus.
In any case, I suggest you make the wall that is in front of the hangar bay dissapear, considering massive collisions when fighters exit the fighterbay. It needs to be smooth sailing ahead, not banging into the wall when you roll off the Orion-esque runway.
Also I'd suggest either cutting the lower part of the front, or extending both the front and back a bit and bridging them down together.
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Fair enough, cheers :)
Oh... and a quick question for any Max nuts. Can you give me a brief description of how to add engine/ thruster glows in Max? I tried a tutorial and it failed to work entirely.
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The space tutorial in max explains it nicely. You need a light, then go into Rendering - Effects, then Add - Lens effects and in the Lens Effects Globals rollout - Parameters tab select Pick Light and click on your light in the scene. Then you can add various effects (Glow, ring, star, streak, ray...) in the Lens Effects Parameters rollout. Tweak with the parameters for the different effects, when you click one, a new rollout will appear for that effect, but you can also modify global parameters in Lens Effects Globals. Use help if you don't know what a parameter does.
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Oooh, nice. :) It's a bit slab-sided at the moment - add some more superstructure to those big flat areas at the front (perhaps extrude the gun banks, or embed them into the hull slightly), and add some sensor booms or something to the front (like the Sulaco from Aliens).
Is there another hangar on the other side, or is that one the only one? If it is assymetrical, I'd suggest making it more so - that will help get rid of the "tacked-on" look the hangar has at the moment.
I'd also like to see some other angles - any chance? :)
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Without further ado.. the latest views. I went for a more convetional 6-view this time plus an additional with background. I added some more detail to the front of the ship as well as taking BD up on his suggestion and moving the entire front section of the ship away from the fighter launch bay (as can be seen in the top view).
http://www.zen8740.zen.co.uk/pics/ship/top.jpg
http://www.zen8740.zen.co.uk/pics/ship/frnt.jpg
http://www.zen8740.zen.co.uk/pics/ship/lft.jpg
http://www.zen8740.zen.co.uk/pics/ship/rt.jpg
http://www.zen8740.zen.co.uk/pics/ship/persp.jpg
http://www.zen8740.zen.co.uk/pics/ship/back.jpg
Any suggestions? :)
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Looks better, though more details would be nice, and where will the ships enter after taking off?
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Neat.
More detail obviously, personally I'd extend the front fat part downards some more to be almost on par with the behind, and then bridge the back and forward with some kind of a cool hallway or...something. That way it'd be double-connected front to back, it'd look more menacing I think anyway.
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At some angles, that looks suspiciously like Inferno's Aesacus cruiser. Only at some angles. I like it. Good work. :)
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Ok, update time. Here's the latest rendition of the ship:
(http://www.zen8740.zen.co.uk/pics/ship/ship_01.jpg)
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Well... if an Orion, a Hippocrates, and a GTC Phobos (Inf) ever had a threesome, that is what i'd expect to result from it... :nervous:
...But, nonetheless, it's very, very good... uh... sir...
please don't ban me
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I'm liking it so far, the second pic is easier to see too. ;)
It does kind of remind me of a cross between an orion and a deimos kinda.
I would say that you have too many plain extrusions. El'classic box art, yeah.
Try and change the overall shape of sections rather than just extruding and beveling. :)
Cut corners off, warp the boxes to make 'em bent shapes etc.
If you get stuck, think of features that you've seen on other designs that you liked the idea of. Try and go with original ones too, mainstream stuff gets boring IMO.
Though its looking good so far for a first ship. :)
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Thankyou guys :)
I have to admit, while extruding/beveling is fine for making simple armor plates and whatnot - I have been finding it limiting - but since I'm still learning what Max can do, I've not really dabbled much. I hope to change that though.
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It looks pretty good, especially for a first effort at starship design...umm...right now the front actually reminds me of those big B5 destroyers, while the middle section reminds me of the Hippocrates from FS.
It's a nice design, but what is that thing sticking out of the front? And those turrets need some work :)
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Definitely looks like something I'd expect to see in Inferno. It's pretty good for a first effort. I agree with UT about the turrets though.
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Which ones? The beam (triangles) or "normal" turrets? And how would you change them?
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THe triangle turrets look fine, but the normal turrets dont look so good. Personaly, i'd add some kind of detail to the lower part of the turret.
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For some reason the front part of the ship looks like the fore section of an Omega, the middle looks like a miniaturized Orion hangar (I like it though - not complaining) on top, the Hippocrates on bottom, and the rear looks like the aft section of a Nebulon-B. That's just what I see when I look at this ship.
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How long is the ship supposed to be exactly?
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Should be easy to deduce from looking at the hangarbay, ne?
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Hey, I like it. Pretty good for an amateur model... wish I could do that much with a modelling program. Looking forward to updates :yes:
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Cheers guys.
I've been advised that adding some windows would help to determin the scale - so that's what I'm going to go ahead and do. The model is supposed to be slightly larger than a Deimos class.
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What program are you using for the modeling of your "starship?"
My advice is to not be so square...also it's too tall for it's length...again adds to that square look
do something wide and long maybe...who knows?
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I'm using 3DS Max 7. As for the shape... I actually rather like the shape of this thing. Although I agree that the majority of what I know is constricted to using squares. Here's the latest update featuring windows etc. I've not yet detailed the forward section though.
[attachment deleted by admin]
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Ooooooo.
Snazzy. I like.
Post FS2 science vessel for prototype fighters? :p
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It's a bit heavily armed for that right now ;) But I suppose I could tweak the designs a little...
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I'm using 3DS Max 7. Although I agree that the majority of what I know is constricted to using squares.
Well i guess you've gotta start somewhere...speaking of which, you should've seen the stuff I started off making :shaking:
Anyways, here is a model i made also using just squares and box modeling in 3DS Max 5(no one has enough money to get a legal version of 8)
(http://www.geocities.com/xagainstthetidex/images/Destroyer2.jpg)
Again, basic box modeling on all surfaces except for a few cylinders and chamfer boxes, also used radiosity function a lot. Me likes
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Not to take away Kalfireth's 15 minutes of fame or anything, but I must say... Supernova's ship ****in' beautiful! You've got to put that thing in a campaign or something. :yes: :yes:
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Kal's model: That thing looks like a Hippocrates that's ready to start giving some back. That's not bad, either; I always liked the Hippocrates design and loved to see it with additional armaments. Good work there. :)
Supernova: Great work on that. Are those Hades-esque engines at the back or missile tubes?
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Kalfireth: I think that if you lighten up a little on the turrets or maybe just replace 1 or 2 with a radar or a hubble looking tube thing, you'd have a first-class post capellan deep exploration vessel. It seems to me like the ship you'd send to an uncharted system, with the fighter bay and guns.
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Definately looks like a small multi-role ship. Get some killer looking turrets and a nice texture to cover it and your good to go!
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Cheers guys. I'm not quite sure what's going to become of the ship at this stage.
Unfortunately I found myself learning quite a lot as I went along - and then looking back at the original model and wondering how to incorporate the new things I'd learnt into it. I'm quite tempted to start over with the original model as a template rather than trying to continue with what I have.
By the by, does anyone have any advice / tutorials / etc. for texturing? It's something I have absolutely no skill with and I think it'd go a long way towards improving what I can do.
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unwrapping or face mapping ? or do you mean for PSP/PS ?
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All of the above?
I am "the zero skillz guy".
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Hmm, bit much to go into in one post.
try http://www.3dbuzz.com/vbforum/sv_dl_tr.php]
or
http://www.3dtotal.com
Haven't seen the 3dBuzz tuts yet as I've been busted to 56k but I've no reason to doubt 'em.
if you need any specific pointers just ask.
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With a few less guns I could actually see it as a bigger than cruiser smaller than Orion ship in the 14 Year War/Great War era.
Of course...that being my favorite era, I'm kind of biased. It's still very mechanical, and I can easily see Apollos flooding out of the fighterbay.