[Starfury]

A) Which program do you prefer for modeling ships? Why?

B) Anything that I should be keeping in mind while I'm making ships?  

I think I left those broad enough for just about any response.  

[Alikchi]

A) Rhino if you have "sources

B) Always use triangles.

[Bobboau]

truespace4.2 (it is needed for anyone makeing ships in freespace)

make it out of one subobject
or else

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Bobboau, bringing you products that work.............. in theory

[aldo_14]

Blender is nice and easy...I'm using it ahead of 3d Max 3 (which I've yet to learn) at the mo.

[mikhael]

I recommend Lightwave for its modelling tools. The fine mesh control you get is excellent. The biggest drawback to Lightwave is the price ($2300 last I checked). As Aldo said:  

Blender is nice and easy...I'm using it ahead of 3d Max 3 (which I've yet to learn) at the mo.

Blender has the added advantage of being A) free and B) available for almost every modern OS out there.

Always watch for redundant faces. Sometimes you'll end up with faces squirreled away inside a mesh that are not visible from outside, from any angle. Be careful with booleans. They're like the Dark Side of the Force: they're fast, easy, and powerful, but once down that path you step, forever will it dominate your destiny. That power comes at an ugly price in the form of messed up meshes and bizarre results. I recommend avoiding booleans all together. The last thing you should remember is that the eye can be decieved. Sometimes a good texture is better than a good bit of geometry.

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--Mik http://www.404error.com
ruhkferret on ICQ/AIM

[This message has been edited by mikhael (edited 12-27-2001).]

[Starfury]

heh, Got Truespace 4.2 cheap ($99 US!) but, I haven't bothered to learn it yet... do most of my modeling in blender but it kinda looks funny and it never looks as good as what I've drawn... :\

[CP5670]

I have trueSpace 5.1 but it is sort of confusing and I haven't been able to do much with it in the way of building models; I think I will stick to mission and table editing for now.

[Starfury]

Whoops, meant to ask... about how many polys should I aim for:

Fighter:
Bomber:
Cruiser:
Corvette:
Destroyer:
Juggernaut:

Not sayin' I'm gonna make all these, but just so I know.

[Zeronet]

Im using Truespace 1.0 for my Carrier, but thats currently dead in the water until i fiqure out these boolean thingys.

[an0n]

I don't think FS will like the booleans. Just select a face and extrude it a coupla tymes.

Program: Nothing beats 3D Studio MAX (3 or 4)

Stuff to remember: To use non-included plugins click the More button in the Modify panel.

[mikhael]

 

Originally posted by an0n:
I don't think FS will like the booleans. Just select a face and extrude it a coupla tymes.

Program: Nothing beats 3D Studio MAX (3 or 4)

Stuff to remember: To use non-included plugins click the More button in the Modify panel.

Somehow, I doubt FS cares about the process so much as it cares about the resulting geometry.


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--Mik
http://www.404error.com
ruhkferret on ICQ/AIM

[an0n]

Yeah but whenever I use an A-B boolean MAX tends to simply take a chunk out and doesn't make any new vertices or edges to attatch the hole to the rest of the mesh.

[mikhael]

 

Originally posted by an0n:
Yeah but whenever I use an A-B boolean MAX tends to simply take a chunk out and doesn't make any new vertices or edges to attatch the hole to the rest of the mesh.

That would be a failing of Max, no?

Lightwave, for example, builds the appropriate geometry.


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--Mik
http://www.404error.com
ruhkferret on ICQ/AIM

[Starfury]

Hmn... if only I had the $2300 to spend on Lightwave... it sounds so nice... oh well.

[Nico]

 

Originally posted by mikhael:

Originally posted by an0n:
Yeah but whenever I use an A-B boolean MAX tends to simply take a chunk out and doesn't make any new vertices or edges to attatch the hole to the rest of the mesh.

That would be a failing of Max, no?

Lightwave, for example, builds the appropriate geometry.


[/B]

Well, it works for me...

[mikhael]

 

Originally posted by Starfury:
Hmn... if only I had the $2300 to spend on Lightwave... it sounds so nice... oh well.

Check out Blender and Gmax. One of those should get you the tols you need.


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--Mik
http://www.404error.com
ruhkferret on ICQ/AIM

[Starfury]

Yeah, I'm using Blender right now, actually.  Haven't even reinstalled Truespace yet.  How do I tell how many polys I have?

[WraithHost]

for a guide to how many faces a ship should have, look at the Volition ships in Model View 32. Fighters tend to be about 400 - 600 faces for their LOD0.

[LAW ENFORCER]

I USE MS3D! YAY!