[WraithHost]

Hi all.
Here is a pic of my latest project, The Mercury.
It's a long range scout ship it's big, not very maneuverable, only has 2 guns and 2 medium sized missile banks. However it is FAST and carries a limited AWACS system.

 

Any sugestions of alterations / improvements appreciated now before i get too far.

On a side note I just downloaded a poly reducer plugin for 3ds MAX. It's great it reduced the poly count on this model from 490 to 290 without touching the actual visible geometry. (ok the original geometry was very wasteful)

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Phil.
  Trust In Me &
  Fall As-well

[Nico]

make the two side arms shorter so it looks a bit like the appollo?

[WraithHost]

You mean something like this?
 

------------------
Phil.
  Trust In Me &
  Fall As-well

[This message has been edited by WraithHost (edited 09-09-2001).]

[Nico]

lol nope, it's not what I was thinkung about, but it's cool anyway  
Now cut the pointy parts on the front end of the arms, w/o making them longer, and make the back part of the middle engine much wider, and I think you have a winner  

[Shrike]

And now for a totally different opinion..... Bulk out the side thruster bits, perhaps make pod-like parts for missile launchers and it'll be good.

[Nico]

both ideas can fit together very well methink  

[WraithHost]

Venom: wouldn't that make it an apollo?

Shrike: you want BIGGER engines? look at the size of the cockpit. there are another 2 engines below (they don't show up to well at the moment but texturing should fix that)

Thanks for the input. I think you might be right about flattening the ends of the pointy bits either side of the cockpit.

This is probably a LOD1 model. I'll add details to make a LOD0 model once I have the basic form ironed out.

------------------
Phil.
  Trust In Me &
  Fall As-well

[Shrike]

 

Originally posted by WraithHost:
Shrike: you want BIGGER engines? look at the size of the cockpit. there are another 2 engines below (they don't show up to well at the moment but texturing should fix that)

Well, it's supposed to be a fast scout no?    Plus it's more for missile bays than engines per se.

[Nico]

 

Originally posted by WraithHost:
Venom: wouldn't that make it an apollo?  

That would make it look a little like an appollo, but with an original design. I think sometimes it's bnice to go back to the roots. But that's just my personnal opinion  

[Kitsune]

Poly reducer?
Would you share where you got it please?

God knows I could use it.

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~Space Kitsuné
Creator of the Anthro FS2 Campaign.
Help!

[Nico]

polyreducers makes a very dirty job, you should not use them.

[Unidan]

Sorry but the name Mercury is already taken. It's an interceptor based on the vasudan support ship, can be found in one of the archives.

[aldo_14]

 

Originally posted by venom2506:
polyreducers makes a very dirty job, you should not use them.

I thought that 3ds Max had a fairly good poly reducer?  although i have TS5, so I just weld the vertices by hand.

It's a very nice model though, looks really good  


[This message has been edited by aldo_14 (edited 09-10-2001).]

[WraithHost]

Mercury taken you say? hmm where did that encyclopedia of mythology go?
How about Iccarus <sp?>

the poly reducer plugin is called polychop ( I know cheesy.)
it's at http://www.cs.ualberta.ca/~melax/polychop/plugin/
I agree poly reducers can screw around with geometries but this one seams to be pretty good if used in moderation.
The 3dsMAX optimise operator tends to be bad at maintaining the geometry.

I'll post an updated pic later tonight. Once I've had some food I think.

------------------
Phil.
  Trust In Me &
  Fall As-well

[WraithHost]

Right I think I've taken on board the sudgestions and cleared up a problem I was having with the different engine vents on the lower engines. I gave all the other engines vents like the lower ones!

 

Hope you like it as I think this may be the final look. Unless anyone has any real strong feelings about this.

This is cool, Consensual group modeling.
a bit like those stories where each person around the camp fire takes turns to make up a line of a story.

------------------
Phil.
  Trust In Me &
  Fall As-well

[aldo_14]

   <Insert thumbs up smily here>

[WraithHost]

Right here is the textured version.
Any offers to improve the skin greatly appreciated.
   

Shouldn't be too long now till it's finished.
Drawing a texture that I even half way like takes forever.


------------------
Phil.
  Trust In Me &
  Fall As-well

[aldo_14]

Looks excelent  
I'd make 1/2 changes if possible, though...

add more little decals (warning labels, triangles etc) all around to add some more detail..

make the bit joining the engines at the back a lighter shade, possibly make it look 'ribbed' or 'corrugated' (can't find the right words)

finally, there is one thing that I do that you may want to try... basically,  I add an extra layer (in PSP) over the texture map with around 50-60% transparency.  Then, I draw on lines to indicate 'plates' of metal all around the craft - this makes the surface seem a lot more detail for less work than you'd think.

an example map (from the Cherufe);

 

(onviously this depends on your mapping technique)

[WraithHost]

Thanks Aldo ,
 I'm currently using Corel Photopaint.
It is pretty good but lacks layers.
I think I'll invest in a copy of PSP as layers look really useful.

[Nico]

 

Originally posted by WraithHost:
Thanks Aldo ,
 I'm currently using Corel Photopaint.
It is pretty good but lacks layers.
I think I'll invest in a copy of PSP as layers look really useful.

w/o a layer, you can draw lines (3 pixels wide is what I usually use) with opacity at 50% and fading edges at 100% (dunno the name of the tool so I give you a clear name).



[This message has been edited by venom2506 (edited 09-25-2001).]