Alan... you are missing a point, let me explain:
I never opened a 3d prog before starting the tf, and the TI is my second model.
To learn, I just picked the xwaup models and used them as reference.
What you are looking here are just optimized versions of what I did 3 years ago. I don't pretend in any way them to be BETTER than xwaup, and now I could make a job looking 10 times better, but nonetheless they still look good enough to be used.
Our politic is "use our own artwork whenever possible at the only condition that it looks good enough".
And it does look good enough in my (and not only mine) opinion.
That's our choice, and it is not debatable, but I'm sure you can guess our reasons.
What you said (almost) was "ehy it suck, xwaup's look better, go get it". And my reply was "ehy, if you don't like it and want xwaup's so bad, go convert it on your own".
Sorry if it sounded harsh, but as said that point is not debatable.
I have no problem talking about the artistic side instead, as I already did in the precedent reply.
The model is based on xwaup's one, I just reduced pcount.
The flaws it may have, are the same (almost) of xwaup's one, plus flaws coming from me being a sucking noob when I did it.
For example, you are right that the side element on the panels should be hexagonal, when they are octagonal, they are that way because xwaup's already had octagonal side elements, and I never verifyed that it was correct looking at official pictures.
The bumps on the panels were there to reproduce bumps already present in the reference model, but they came out different and in different positions. Nonetheless I liked and still like (almost) the result, so I leaved it as it was.
The sensors are those elements at the side of the cockpit (althought they are considered part of the engines in other sources).
They are correct (almost) the way I did them, go check here
http://www.theforce.net/swtc/exhibit/tie.html while in the xwaup model they just are a textured cube attached there.
Other flaws? the hatch for example, it should be modelled but it isn't and the textures of the ball are made with planar uvmap instead of with spherical uvmap. This come by me copying the xwaup's one and not knowing how to unwrap when I built the model.
Also the lines on the ball are wrong (but they were wrong in the xwaup's one too), as many other minor details, and I could continue for more than you.
I am aware of those flaws but nonetheless it looks good, and the alternative, althought looking better and being more precise, it is not THAT better or THAT more precise to convince me using it.
I may instead consider the possibility to make in future a new model/textures more adherent to the ILM model, but for the moment we have more urgent things to do than to remake a model which already looks nice.
As said, sorry if sounded harsch when it wasn't my intention (ehm...almost:p)
