Hard Light Productions Forums
Modding, Mission Design, and Coding => The Modding Workshop => Topic started by: CaesarCalad on March 02, 2013, 11:05:59 pm
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I would like to know how to add a little bit more detail to this model here.
(http://imageshack.us/a/img33/7082/centurionfront.png)
(http://imageshack.us/a/img708/8905/centurionm.png)
Tutorials on techniques to add detail or tips!!! Anything!!!!
Just looks too darn smooth. No edge definition. I would like to fix that.
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What if any modifiers are you using on the mesh?
From my perspective the main issue with the model at the moment there isnt a structure that takes away from the fact that it is in essence a box. now there is nothing wrong with a box but visually they are pretty boring.
2 suggestions come to mind from similar scale FS ships.
First the Fen/Lev model has the vertical structure which the fusion mortar is mounted on.
Second is the engine section of the Aeolus.
These structures distract the eye from the fact that both ships are in essence stretched cubes, they also provide additional area for small details and other elements, obviously you dont have to go as extreme as the examples above.
Another thing you can do is to model your subsystems such as comms and sensors with dishes and antennas which again provide additional detail for relatively minimum effort.
Lastly plan out the positions of your turrets and add detail to the model to support these such as recesses in the armour or little antennas that could be related, also turret models will need details which will add to the overall detail of the ship
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Yes I was planning on putting in turrets and making structures for subsystems, I just want to know how I can add some darker lines to it, and make the part of the model I have now look more defined instead of smooth.
No modifiers are being used so far
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Use the edge split modifier.
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What does that do?
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adds a nice crisp edge where two faces come together at any angle beyond the one you put in. For a terran ship leave it at about 30.
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Let me put this into a picture, How can i get these nice little details here
(http://imageshack.us/a/img547/8861/examplez.png)
I want nice little detail areas like this one, but i cant seem to make it happen
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I want those nice little details, but I don't know how to get them, All i have had success with is making a big smooth hunk of model.
That is my base structure, now I want to add details, small things, that will add to the eyecandy
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a mixture of subdividing and extruding needed areas of the mesh would be how I would get those details with a little scaling here and there when I need to taper things.
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They are actually (~40%) submodels on that ship, shameful I know. :o
I have been trying to use subdivision and all, but I seem to miss the results I aim for.
EDIT: To do those hull details I used the Cut tool (I am currently useing the 3ds Max 2013 trial) to add polygons.
After that it's a matter of grabbing the individual lines or vertices and using chamfer, taper, etc. on them.
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There's no chamfer or taper tool in Blender as far as I know. Your best friend is the knife tool used in line with the extrude or inset.
You can find some pointers about that in this thread: http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=82710.msg1668727#msg1668727 (http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=82710.msg1668727#msg1668727)
But in the end, there's no simple way of adding eyecandy. You'll have to model it. You can add some as a new object, or add it directly into the base mesh. Armored panels, docking points, tubes, cables, grinders, machinery parts... it's up to you to put them there. You should start looking carefully into other peoples detailing, separating the bits and pieces and finding inspiration for your own.
Bottom line is you'll have to work hard.
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Bevel is in there though if that's what you mean
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AFAIK, Blender has the majority of the basic mods 3ds Max has, just under a different name.
And yeah, I think it was Bevel.
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Here's some useful stuff, CaesarCalad:
1. Specials (W) -> Inset Faces (N)
2. Knife Tool (K)
3. Loop Cut (Ctrl+R)
4. Extrude (E)
5. Scale along normals (Alt+S)
6. 3D cursor (more complex than just one keypress)
The first item is very useful for taking a complex region and giving it a near-uniform border of faces, from which you can extrude the interior region either out or in. I use this a lot to make recessed greeble portions. #2 is for when you need a shape to appear somewhere but manually inserting the vertices necessary would be a pain in the ass. So what you do is press k, and then click wherever you want a new vertex to appear. It automatically snaps to nearby edges and vertices, but can also operate on faces as well. Sometimes it does not work, and so you may have to fiddle with the base geometry before it'll take. #3 is for cutting a large segment of parallel edges in roughly the same place. This is useful for creating detail rings and for adding new vertices to work with. #4 I think you've got the hang of. #5 is for when you have a complex surface that needs to be extruded, but doing so with normal scaling would produce ugly results. Basically, what this does is scale all the selected vertices along their vertex normal. Play around with it a bit and you'll get the hang of it.
The last item here is a pretty important one. The 3D cursor allows you to define a new origin from which to apply any transformation, rotation or scaling operation. It is accessed from the 3D view. In the lower screen header, two roll-out menus to the right of the Mode menu, there's going to be a menu with two overlapping spheres and a blue dot in the center. These are all the different ways you can apply a transformation. The 3D cursor is the one with the reticule-like symbol. The 3D cursor can be quickly manipulated using Shift+S. If you snap the cursor to a selection, your transforms will treat the center of that selection as the center of the transform. So say you need to adjust the location of a vertex on a face that is not perpendicular to any of the global axes, you can select a vertex near it, snap to that vertex, and then scale towards and away from that vertex. I use this mostly to clean up a set of inset faces when the internal algorithm does stupid.
Edit: Also forgot to mention the transform orientation menu, which is the next roll-out to the right, after all of the buttons controlling the manipulator widget. This lets you define how a transform orients itself, and you can choose either Global, Local or Normal. Global means that X, Y and Z axes are taken from the world of the object. Local takes these coordinates from the object's rotation, so if you spun it about, moving along the Z axis would move upwards with respect to the object's own 'up' direction. The most useful of all of these is Normal, however. It lets you transform faces with respect to their current orientation with relative ease, and the direction the Z arrow points serves to warn you if you have any inverted normals. To tell a transform to lock to one of these settings, press the axis you want to lock twice. That'll move the lock from the global lock to the one you've defined in the transform orientation menu. Press a 3rd time to release the lock.
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They are actually (~40%) submodels on that ship, shameful I know. :o
That's not shameful - make them destroyable! :D
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In regards to the subobjects, there's nothing wrong with that. FSO's model hierarchy was rewritten so all subobjects are drawn on the same pass. With the vertex limit of ~32000, the more subobjects you have, the more detail can be created.
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Thanks esarai, thats exactly what i was looking for.
I will post a pic of a more detailed and edited model when I feel like taking one.
Thankyou all for the help.
Also a question on texturing.
I really do not want to do it. Is there a way to send the model to someone else who is willing to texture it?
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AHHH There we go, much more detail.
No longer resembles a slightly detailed cube.
starting work on turrets and destroyable sensors and comms systems (sorry engines, weapons will not be destructable like turrets.)
(http://imageshack.us/a/img24/4311/centurionrender.png)