Hard Light Productions Forums

Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The Modding Workshop => Topic started by: Unknown Target on February 01, 2007, 06:20:59 pm

Title: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Unknown Target on February 01, 2007, 06:20:59 pm
Along the same lines of this vessel - http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/UnknownTarget/nodots.jpg, and incorporating a similar (but much smaller) PAC system (Propellant and Ammunition Container), to extend the craft's longevity, I give you my as-yet-unnamed space fighter :)

(This is in modding because, hopefully, I'm going to get it into Freespace 2. Hopefully).

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/UnknownTarget/3DComp.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/UnknownTarget/OrthoComp.jpg)

It's pretty much complete, save for a few details (such as a cockpit/external munitions hardpoints).

C&C?

EDIT: Small addendum - some quickie weapon pylons:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/UnknownTarget/WepPylons.jpg)



EDIT: Orrr, this version?

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/UnknownTarget/5alternatenose2.jpg)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/UnknownTarget/5alternatenose1.jpg)
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Scooby_Doo on February 01, 2007, 07:43:52 pm
Both are very good... You know the first thing I thought of when I saw this was Crimson Sky.
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Black Wolf on February 01, 2007, 08:21:11 pm
For some reason, I like this one a lot better than I like most of your stuff UT. It seems... cleaner somehow. Did you change technique or something?

[EDIT]Also, I really like those engines for some reason. Isn't there a [V] concept picture with very similar ones? They're cool no matter where they came from though :)
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Turey on February 01, 2007, 08:39:58 pm
Isn't there a [V] concept picture with very similar ones?

2_crim13.pcx or crim14.pcx, take your pick.

2_crim29.pcx (or crim30.pcx) is still my favorite :v: concept ship.
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Unknown Target on February 01, 2007, 10:44:28 pm
Cheers, thanks for the comments thus far :)

Scooby: Maybe the Bloodhawk (the one with the big rudder sticking out the bottom? :) )

Blackwolf: Well I've been much more vigilant in keeping my Sketchup meshes clean and free of interfering lines. I don't think I've done any major technique changes, other than to just be more careful when I actually make the model. :)

Turey: crim14's engines look the most similar IMO :)

Oh, and some coloring work, done in Sketchup. Hopefully I can export this and find a way to use what I'm doing as a UV Map :)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/UnknownTarget/5lowpolycolored.jpg)
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Taristin on February 01, 2007, 10:45:48 pm
Its the noses. They look sleek now, as opposed to being bulbous like they used to! :yes:
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: neoterran on February 01, 2007, 11:13:31 pm
go Longhorns ! (UT)  :drevil:
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Nuke on February 01, 2007, 11:15:39 pm
your gatling gun is too small :D

j/k, awesome ship. i see youre doing external pylons and gatling guns, wonder where you got that idea from :D
unless youre gonna use scripting i sugest making the gatling gun a seprate model so as to use vwep for it. i wanted to do something of a similar profile, with a large gun in about the same spot. cept mine would have the engines on gimballed pylons rather than as part of the fusalage.
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Unknown Target on February 02, 2007, 01:07:23 am
To be honest in all my years of modding FS2, I've never actually learned how to convert a ship properly :nervous: What do you mean by vwep? What I was planning on doing was just making the barrels of the gun a separate submodel, and have them continuously rotate. Unless I can do that only when the trigger is pulled?

Update - the cockpit. I cheated a little, and stole parts from some of my older models :D

Outside:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/UnknownTarget/5lowpolycoloredpit.jpg)

Close up:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/UnknownTarget/5lowpolycoloredpit2.jpg)

Inside:
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/UnknownTarget/5lowpolycoloredinsidepit.jpg)
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: MetalDestroyer on February 02, 2007, 01:11:33 am
Good job as always !  :yes:
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Admiral Cheater on February 02, 2007, 01:45:56 am
Wow! That is great! I wish I could make things that good.
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: NGTM-1R on February 02, 2007, 03:39:56 am
I really, really am not loving the way the gun was done like that. If you want to recess it fine, but the way it's currently set up just looks ridiculous. Like the front end of the nose would collapse or snap off.
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Scooby_Doo on February 02, 2007, 04:36:31 am
Wooo love the cockpit.... I'm going to have to start updating mine now  :P
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Col. Fishguts on February 02, 2007, 04:47:26 am
You know... ditch the cockpit and gatling, scale it up and you get a badass corvette/destroyer.

As a fighter it's cool too :P
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: aldo_14 on February 02, 2007, 10:08:12 am
Purdy :yes:
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Unknown Target on February 03, 2007, 12:26:32 am
Cheers, thanks for the comments so far :)

Some more coloring:

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/UnknownTarget/morecoloredcompilation.jpg)
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: NGTM-1R on February 03, 2007, 12:30:53 am
Somehow textured I don't find it so annoying. 0,o
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Nuke on February 03, 2007, 12:42:53 am
what you do for vwep is take the gun and make it a subobject, however save it as a completely different model, and omit it from the ship. then create a single fire point where the gun submodel was. convert both models. in the weapon entry you can add fields for a gun model and spinup acceleration, forget what they are off hand, see the wiki. in the ships table entry, enable weapon models for that bank. if you need an example, just look at nukemod.
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Gregster2k on February 03, 2007, 01:22:07 am
Oh, i see...so that the ship can have different guns mounted (even physically/visually) if the mission designer chooses, Nuke?
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Black Wolf on February 03, 2007, 04:58:15 am
I don't really like where the texs are going. You need thinner lines and bigger plates, or at least less capshippy look to them.

Though I very much doubt you'll stop because I don't like it. ;)
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Nuke on February 03, 2007, 07:35:39 am
Oh, i see...so that the ship can have different guns mounted (even physically/visually) if the mission designer chooses, Nuke?

pretty much, you can say swap a 6 barreled minigun with a 3 barreled autocannon for example.
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Unknown Target on February 04, 2007, 01:15:31 am
Small update. Nailed down the geometry pretty much - reduced polycount from 9000 to 4800.

I know some people are into these things, so here's a wireframe :)

(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v56/UnknownTarget/wireframecomp.jpg)
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Taristin on February 04, 2007, 01:53:34 am
And no noticeable detail loss.
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Mefustae on February 04, 2007, 02:35:08 am
It's okay, but i've got to agree with nuclear on the nose gatling. It just looks odd recessed all the way back there. Now, if it extended from where it is now all the way to the end of that little recess...
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Getter Robo G on February 09, 2007, 11:17:53 pm
Not my cup of tea but it IS a really interesting design (in fact I think I've seen an anime with courier ships that look similar to that.)

I think the lower hull testures are too HW2ish or "noisey" but that's just my opinion.

Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Unknown Target on February 09, 2007, 11:38:44 pm
Problem is I can't get it out of Sketchup and save the smoothing groups...does someone have Max? I heard that that would work, maybe I could send it to you if it does? :)
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Nuke on February 10, 2007, 10:45:41 am
this is one of the reasons i dispise format hopping. models contain data sections for everything from virtices to poly defs, uv tables, point normals, ect. and if it passes through a format that doesnt have one of them, or the converter code lacks support for those sections, they get tossed.
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Unknown Target on February 10, 2007, 11:03:41 am
Well it'd be super nice if we could get an updated POF converter that could run something more industry standard, like .3DS or .OBJ, but that's just me. :(
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Nuke on February 10, 2007, 03:39:25 pm
how about one written in lua?

been thinking about writing one, would run right in the game. would also allow me to use the actual game engine to render the models. im learning alot about 3d programming and it would be something that would help the community. would have the added bonus of being written my somone with alot of modeling / modding expierience. it would also be multi-platform so linux and mac people could mod.

not sure how il pull it off, il probibly just port the pcs converter code for actual model conversion. then code in support other formats. there are some problems with the lua interface, lack of keyboard support being the main one. thinking about just using a text based data sheet that lists data for all the chunks. it will be alot of work, but it would be cool.
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Unknown Target on February 10, 2007, 04:35:52 pm
That would be neat - dunno how possible that is, though. It would be better if it was stuck in FRED though, since that's already a windowed environment (as opposed to running through the game). I think that's not possible though, right? :)
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Nuke on February 10, 2007, 09:50:43 pm
a converter done in lua is certainly possible, an actual editor interface would be hard. it would have a mission, with a ship at 0'0'0. i think theres a model replacement function, if not i can always use the render tech model thingie. right now im limited to a point and click interface. i could probibly code functions for number and vector boxes, dropdown boxes, ect. would be awesome if i could get lua access to the lab window funcs. i can render points and such on top of any model, ive written code to rotate and project vectors in 3d. the trick is getting my projection to lign up with the ship. the file i/o would probibly be the hardest part. porting the pcs converter would be my best bet. ive done fairly simple file i/o with my mouse script. but those were text based and pofs are binary. it would be a challenge.
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Unknown Target on February 11, 2007, 08:11:53 am
All I'd really want is a .3DS or .OBJ converter - if we can't have an editor in LUA that's fine - there's always Modelview :). I'm just tired of having to run through Truespace every time I want to make a model, I hate that godforsaken program :p
If you really want to open up Freespace 2 modding, you'd make a (whatever Blender's file is) or Sketchup converter. Those are free, so everyone can get them, and if there's a direct converter, they don't need more expensive software.
But I'd settle for a .3DS or .OBJ coverter :D
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Nuke on February 11, 2007, 10:12:07 am
truespace likes to rape smoothing to hell and its not the most convertable format either. unfortunately trusepace -> pcs is the most stable means to create a pof right now. as im using max more theese days im starting to see the problem with that. the max plugin has some heirarchy limitations that im not to happy with. it cant deal with more than a couple layers of heirarchy. not to mention the shield bug.

im not too fond of 3ds format either. the format has various versions which are not all 100% cross compatable with eachother. i can never get truespace 3ds import to work. and it has a way of screwing things up.

more format support is the way to go. the more formats you support, the bigger chance there is that theres one you can go through. i like to be able to set up all data chunks in the modeling program, so that reconversions can be made faster. in reality id rather not go through a converter/editor at all, but instead save as pof from the modeling program. thats why i like the max plugin, despite its countless flaws.

alot of modeling programs have built in script interpreters, max and truespace has em, not sure about blender or sketchup. porting pof output code to those script systems might be a good idea. i want to learn more about file i/o and model representation, and making a converter sounds like a way to do both
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Unknown Target on February 11, 2007, 04:39:12 pm
Sketchup has a built in Ruby scripting system, if that helps any.
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: neoterran on February 11, 2007, 05:24:38 pm
Sketchup has a built in Ruby scripting system, if that helps any.

I know ruby..... i can help out if we use this...
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Unknown Target on February 11, 2007, 05:27:37 pm
Maybe you could take a look into seeing what you can do with it? :)
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Nuke on February 11, 2007, 05:47:15 pm
you know i talked to kazan about this, and he hates the idea. i think i should do it now :D
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Sandwich on February 11, 2007, 06:21:36 pm
I know ruby.....

Oh, goodie. Explain it to me... what the heck is it??
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Nuke on February 11, 2007, 06:41:16 pm
nother scripting language as far as i know.
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Flipside on February 11, 2007, 06:42:59 pm
I wish I knew LScript, Lightwave was hopefully going to get an exporter with PCS 2, but now Mikhael has left here, I'm about the only person who uses Lightwave to model with :(
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Unknown Target on February 12, 2007, 05:03:05 am
From what I've seen, Ruby in Sketchup is pretty powerful. I have a plugin that adds raytracing support and lighting placement for rendering.
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: neoterran on February 12, 2007, 12:23:55 pm
Ruby is one of the best scripting languages known to man. It's really object oriented, very strong with strings and regex, and it's just a pleasure to work with.
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Unknown Target on February 12, 2007, 01:13:41 pm
Someone mind doing an exporter then...? :D
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Nuke on February 12, 2007, 09:36:23 pm
would like too, but im not sure have complete enough knoledge to do so. but im certainly planning on looking into it.
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: neoterran on February 12, 2007, 09:53:45 pm
your space fighter is kickass.
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Unknown Target on February 13, 2007, 08:39:22 pm
Thank you much :D Unfortunately it's going to have to stay in the program until I can get a proper exporter/importer :(
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Scooby_Doo on February 13, 2007, 10:45:22 pm
Ruby is one of the best scripting languages known to man. It's really object oriented, very strong with strings and regex, and it's just a pleasure to work with.

Always wanted to learn Ruby..... just not fond of scripting languages their so limited with what they can do.
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: bizzybody on February 14, 2007, 12:47:20 am
Dunno if there's a relation to Ruby, but check out Ruby on Rails (http://www.rubyonrails.com).
Title: Re: UT's Little Space Fighter
Post by: Sandwich on February 14, 2007, 06:30:18 am
Yeah, ROR is how I first heard of Ruby. Considering that I don't know what either Ruby or Rails is, it's doubly confusing my brain.