there are many strategies to make textures for a fighter, those strategies can be used for capships too.
The problem with "custom" textures is that you have limited tileing possibilities, tileing means to repeat a texture over the same poly/s, obtaining an higher texture resolution aspect: the bigger the model, the bigger will have to be the custom maps to obtain the same resolution aspect achieved with tileing, so you have to find a balance between texture/model size when mapping capital ships.
the strategies:
1-(top-down process) unwrap your model in lithunwrap (or similar). unwrap means to assign poly/s to a specific portion of a map, like peeling potatoes, and then applying the skin over specif areas (maps). When you complete this process, you can save the templates of the maps, and you will draw the textures over those templates.
2-(bottom-up process) you draw the texture for specific poly/s (using screenshots or again lithunwrap to create templates) and then you put all this single textures together, to create a more general texture, then you use lithunwrap (or similar) to assign the poly/s to the right texture's position.
3-actually it is a variant of the one above: after drawing the single textures and applying them to the mesh (before creating the bigger maps), you can use the baking abilities of some modelling programs to create the gereral maps.
in both cases you may have poly/s that will be mapped better with a tileing texture: in this case you can use truespace or (again) lithunwrap to apply the tileing
to draw textures:
1-you can make patchworks of images saved from internet: it is easyer in my opinion that most people think.
Browse the internet to create a library of platings, rusty or dirty metallic areas, mech elements, etc etc etc. You will need an halfway decent knowledge of your painting program to modify/adapt your images and to put them together in a realistic way.
2-draw maps on your own. this is the best way. But at the same time it is the longer and harder one.
use tutorials to see how things are done.
use general tutorials to see how simple general effects can be done and learn the basics of painting programs (
www.photoshopcafe.com)
use specific texturing tutorials to see how others solve the problems related specifically to texturing
some texturing tutorials can be found here:
www.xwaupgrade.comI also wrote a step by step texturing tutorial, but I don't remember the link at this time:p, make a search over this forum
