[Vengence]

I've been having some disagreements and confusion with a mod leader over the Shivan-ness and composition of my model.  So what do you think? Don't ask what it's for, just comment and answer my question.


In case your wondering about the brightness, I enhanced the image to make it easier to see.
For some reason, my shivan models are unusually low poly for some odd reason while my human ships are super high poly.

[Wobble73]

Hmmmm, Yes and no. While Shivan crafts are black, red and spiky, there is something slightly organic about them, and this just doesn't say organic. A little too symetrical and neat! Nice model though!




What's it for again?

[AdmiralRalwood]

Agreed. Introduce asymmetry to increase Shivan-ness.

[Vengence]

Agreed. Introduce asymmetry to increase Shivan-ness.

Thats a little hard considering the source material.

Btw, the Sath, Luci, Demon, Mara, Basilisk, Astaroth, Shivan Comm Node, ect are symetrical .

[Mefustae]

Less pointy, more armour. The Shivans sure do seem to have an predilection for pointy things, but they're not so stupid as to make their craft so pointy that it looks fragile. Bulk it up a little, add some armour, and remember to keep it from looking too fragile and artsy; that's more the Vasudan design philosophy.

[Vengence]

I guess an accident remains an accident. I thought leaving the spikes unscaled like that looked Shivanish. Though perhaps it won't be as fragile as it looks given the scale... no more disclosure.

Hmm, If I reduce the spikes it hurts the overall design. I rescaled and moved a few things and the design really seems... poopy if I rescale these spines. I adjusted the mid body to bulk it up but it became fat and too ugly even for a shivan. It seems that I can't improve the design without clashing it with another part of the ship. Not a very good predicament.

[Mefustae]

It's not exactly a major design flaw. It certainly does look Shivan, and i'm sure she would fit in quite well with its pointy, second generation sisters. By all means, leave it as it is if changing the design compromises the overall feel.

So, you're not going to tell us the class of vessel we're looking at, here?

[Vengence]

I don't want to give out too much, but like I said: I felt that my mod leader's model request would have been a near total ripoff from another, major, mod if I haven't done it by scratch. So if you want to know the class or stuff, look around and you might find something barely similar. Though I feel confident enough to say that it is indeed bigger than a fighter and much smaller than a continent.

[Wobble73]

Curving some of those spikes a little might help make it look a bit more Shivan, and give it a little more organic feel!

[AdmiralRalwood]

By "introducing asymmetry" I was specifically thinking of something simple, like increasing the length of one of the spikes slightly, or adding a tower of some kind to one but not the other. You know, details. Small, simple, effective.

[asyikarea51]

It looks fairly Shivan enough IMO. If it was me, I'd either use it as a monitor vessel or as a super-heavy RBC of some sort. Or if it's juggernaught size, then an SPD (Planet destroyer).

Hmm... <--- minor thinking

[Vengence]

Curving some of those spikes a little might help make it look a bit more Shivan, and give it a little more organic feel!

That could be done ...I'll see about that later though.

It looks fairly Shivan enough IMO. If it was me, I'd either use it as a monitor vessel or as a super-heavy RBC of some sort. Or if it's juggernaught size, then an SPD (Planet destroyer).

I love the smell  of fresh SPDs. I think I'll make something like that for fun someday and have it topple the Death Star for kicks.

[asyikarea51]

Hmm... Death Star...

R1 daydream *imagines four SPD's escorting a Gigas, ready to blow the Death Star up... not forgetting the fighters and a full fleet complement...

Such is the awesomeness of Shivan industrial capacity...

[NGTM-1R]

It's kinda schizophrenic (in the literal sense of that word). On the one hand it's got second-generation Shivan pointy like the Moloch and Sathanas, but on the other hand it's too pointy, and the texturing is first-generation Shivan...additionally the Shivans have generally used a much more subdued red color. They don't do arterial red, but a more subdued oxygen-deprived red, to use the blood metaphor. (I think you've perhaps been confused by the glowmapped Lucifer among others in this case.)

The scorpion-tail and rearmost "legs" are what push it over the top in terms of pointy. It would do well to remove the scorpion bit at the very least and make the rearmost legs slightly chunkier.

[Vengence]

I said I 'Enhanced' the image to make it brighter and easier to see. It is actually MUCH darker and fainter than what I posted. In fact, it was so dark that I could barely make out the outlines on the viewer. The spikey back does need a little fixing but they must stay in per request from leader. Nothing I can do about that.

[Flipside]

I'd say make it more bulky. It looks pretty Shivan to me, but if you look at most Shivan capships, they tend to be a lot more bulky then their Terran eqiuvalents, the Sathanas is an extreme example, but the Demon and the Moloch both follow the same idea. The Lucifer is a bit of an exception to the rule, and the cruisers tend to be less bulky, but certainly for anything bigger than a cruiser, give it some bulk, in my opinon.

[Vengence]

Several small changes to the body did indeed make it bulkier. But I don't feel like going through the frustrating hassle of exporting from 3ds right now. About the design, I suggested to my mod leader that in his mod that the Shivans evolved some, became more evil like I guess. Apparently he said all those years aren't enough. But I think it might be a good idea, evolving shivan designs.

[Mobius]

I like this model a lot,it's beautiful!

[Vengence]

Thanks . I did some modifications and re-exported it for ingame rendering tests. It isn't too different (such as the mega huge side spines) but the rear end has been greatly reduced and SOME (not many) assymetrical changes were done. Mostly on these small spines under the body that would serve a good purpose. I'll post pics later.

[Getter Robo G]

No matter if it gets scrapped or not keep that version on the back burner, I'm sure plenty of people will love it (I for one).

  To me it certainly DOES look "Shivan" enough. Textures might need a tiny bit of tweaking, but overall it's a nice ship.

  As for the Shivan ship philosophy, we don't know hardly anything about their culture. Humans of Freespace we KNOW. We can look at a ship and say "That's a Human ship!" it's near instinctual. So in my book the Shivan design ethos is WIDE open! Feel free to explore your imagination unless someone from V pops in and says, "That's NOT Shivan"