[Martinus]

[color=66ff00]I have to agree, the model is fantastic but the triangle panels just don't feel right.

Still, as someone else pointed out texturing can make something weird look fantastic.
[/color]

[Woolie Wool]

Originally posted by WeatherOp
While it looks amazing, it doesn't capture enough fear. It looks to much machine, and not enough BIO stuff, like bones and flesh.

However with textures, it might change my mind.

I disagree. The Shivans to me have always been the essence of everything mechanical, inhuman, and oppressive. The FS1 Shivan ships in particular were clearly machines made of metal (even the Vasudan ships were clearly metallic).

[Galemp]

Big bump, but big content.

Following up on the success of the Hecate, Raven's given me his Ravana to texture up. It's about 60-70% done.
The triangle panels/beams/girders aren't necessarily finished, but I don't have any definite ideas as to how to map them.

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[Galemp]

I had three issues with Raven's original model, and I've proposed alternatives.

First, I really disliked the launch tubes and spikes on his fighterbay. They felt really 'tacked on' to the original panel, and might be too small to launch some of the larger Shivan bombers. My version fits better with the more mechanical feel of the fighterbay's geometry and that of the rectangular panels around them.

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[WMCoolmon]

Image

Is that bumpmapping on the middle black section, or just highpolying?

[Galemp]

Second, Raven re-imagined the tubes linking the front and back segments as hard-edged, boxy, spiky girders. Obviously the original 'lava' texture map wouldn't be a proper fit. Since these tubes are such an iconic part of the Ravana, I've taken the old ones, smoothed and bulged them a bit as a more conventional alternative.

Finally, there were two large fins underneath the 'chin' of the monster. Although they look nice, there's a particular issue with them that merits discussion. In the Bosch cutscene with the Ravana chasing the Iceni, the camera zooms right through these fins. If we ever re-render any cutscenes, this won't work quite as well. I think these big fins also interrupt the profile enough that they should be scaled down.

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[WeatherOp]

I think the pipes look better.

[Fat Zombie]

Impressive. I've just played the mission where you destroy the Ravana; it's VERY hard.

[BlackDove]

Raven and Galemp sitting in a tree... M O D D E L I N G!

Okay, that didn't rhyme, but god damn, that kicks ass.

[Ghost]

Why can't HLP have the :fap: smiley from SA? Because this deserves it.

Hooray for awesomeness!

[bfobar]

OH THANK GOD. I like your fighterbays that look like fighterbays. I also think that although cool, the spikey girders don't match the ravana. The lava tubes are just such a huge feature of the ship. It's like taking the fins off the hecate.

[Col. Fishguts]

I'd vote for Galemp's fighterbay

About the pipes/girders: I'd go with the organic look, but I like the spikes on the 'joints' of the girders



If your still open for suggestions, what about round/smoothed pipes, which are a bit thicker where Raven put the 'joints', and add the spikes.
But make it look organic, sortof like a branch or a spider leg.

Click here for illustration

[Muriac]

Because it's what non-modellers like me do, I figured I'd throw in my two cents: I like Raven's spiky versions of the Ravana's tubes. I'm not opposed to the idea of tubes in general, but the original model's, as well as the smooth versions here, just don't look like tubes. They look too lumpy and angular.

I actually always thought the tubes on the original Ravana looked sort of like an afterthought. Like, "there's some space we need to fill up here, but we can't use too many polygons". While I don't think the tubes should be removed, I feel that Raven's spiky version is a more appropriate structure. Except maybe maybe for the octagonal joints. Those don't strike me as terribly Shivan.

[StratComm]

I sort of like the spiky joints, but Galemp's 100% right about the texturing issues involved with the way Raven did them.  A hybrid could be really cool, but the straight-up angular connections just won't work.

[Galemp]

Another bumpdate! Texturing is now completely done. Next up is turreting, LODs, debris, and... something else, if I can get it working properly.

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[FireCrack]

evil

[Jeryko]

sexy

[Cobra]

progress?

[Dave2040]

Looks really evil! 

[Admiral Nelson]

The magnitude of improvement is amazing.  That's at last 100 times better than the original model...