[Syder]

And where is the "Rule of Sense" or "Rule of Functionality" then?  
There are frame like looking pieces in the original model, but they are solid and remind me of armour ribs - for better protection (the "neck" is the thinnest vital part of the ship) not of a hollow structure that will crack in half after the first meteor hit.

[Snail]

Well I like the overall look but what I don't buy is that space frame. Any military vehicle engineer will say that leaving vital parts of a superstructure without the armour is a total nonsense.

Frames are always designed to make the structure tougher without losing any vital kilograms. They will withstand stress from acceleration, gravitation, hard manoeuvring etc. but no one designs them to withstand direct weapons fire that's why they are covered with armour plating. I've never seen a modern tank with part of its frame or structure uncovered/unprotected.

Eh, just think of them as construction supports that were never removed.

[sigtau]

Eh, just think of them as construction supports that were never removed.

Space scaffolding.

[Ziame]

Necro kinda, Sigtau


Any progress on the water gun, tho?

[Galemp]

UV mapping and painting was overwhelming. I don't have skills in the same tier as VasudanAdmiral or RagingLoli, which is what this model really deserves.

For now I'm practicing on smaller models: I've unwrapped the Cheops (Vasudan Asteroid Base) and I've been painting that, and I'm also planning on unwrapping the Imhotep (Vasudan science cruiser) and perhaps the Mjolnir as well.

Then maybe I'll take a shot at the Colossus.

[Rodo]

UV mapping and painting was overwhelming. I don't have skills in the same tier as VasudanAdmiral or RagingLoli, which is what this model really deserves.

For now I'm practicing on smaller models: I've unwrapped the Cheops (Vasudan Asteroid Base) and I've been painting that, and I'm also planning on unwrapping the Imhotep (Vasudan science cruiser) and perhaps the Mjolnir as well.

Then maybe I'll take a shot at the Colossus.

UV mapping that... huge work indeed, maybe you can share some base textures and let some of the small details to other people, like a community project but with a more selected crew, and small amounts of work for everyone, so you don't get stuck for so long waiting for the results.

Just a thought...

[Raven2001]

For now I'm practicing on smaller models: I've unwrapped the Cheops (Vasudan Asteroid Base) and I've been painting that, and I'm also planning on unwrapping the Imhotep (Vasudan science cruiser) and perhaps the Mjolnir as well.

Then maybe I'll take a shot at the Colossus.

I can try doing the new HTL Ravana in a jolt so you can practice, I'm always happy to give you means to improve

EDIT: or you might want to join the BWO team, there's some capital ships that need UVmapping and texturing as well, nd we really don't have a problem if you use them for practice

[General Battuta]

yessssss

[Colonol Dekker]

yessssss

In response to whaaaaat?

[Thaeris]

OFF TOPIC:

...Will FS Port 3.2 have an HTL Imhotep model? That would be quite nice...

[Galemp]

I'm looking at enhancing the Cheops and the Imhotep, yes--they needed to be unwrapped anyway so I figured I'd upgrade them anyway.

[Thaeris]

Sounds great. 

[Bobboau]

maybe the anti-tiling propaganda should be toned down, cap-ships are comparable to level geometry more so than character models, and level geometry frequently makes use of tiled textures.

[chief1983]

But there's a lot you can't do with tile-textured ships.  AO baking comes to mind.

[Dragon]

You cannot easly reskin an UVMapped ship though.
I will be happy with either route for Colossus, UVMap will allow greater detail and tile maps will allow me to reskin it and use in my mod as a dreadnought.

[General Battuta]

I'd rather have a single great UVMap than a set of equally ugly tile-mapped skins, I must confess.

[Raven2001]

maybe the anti-tiling propaganda should be toned down, cap-ships are comparable to level geometry more so than character models, and level geometry frequently makes use of tiled textures.

Bob has a good point there. It is a matter of good use of the tiles, and of course you can mix the techniques. The later might be the best approach, even design wise, because you get a mix of repetition and uniqueness in the textures (repetition is a good way to hint scale)

See the Rakshasa for a good example of good use of tiled textures. Alternatively, see the Cain\Lilith for a good example of a mix.

But there's a lot you can't do with tile-textured ships.  AO baking comes to mind.

That's almost a non issue. I have no idea what the coders have in mind, but I'd wager that sooner or later FSO will have either dynamic AO, or stencil shadows. Any of them take care of the problem

[chief1983]

Dynamic AO is very cpu intensive, and baked AO takes no processing time.  Plus, that's only one example, I'm sure there's a few more the unwrapping supporters know of.

[bkd86]

You cannot easly reskin an UVMapped ship though.

Yes you can if you know what your doing. How else to you think all the FPS mods "reskin" models sure isn't with tiled textures.  If you can create a tileable texture you can skin/paint a UV mapped anything. Baked AO is then really simple to add.

[FreeSpaceFreak]

Maybe by the Time Galemp feels he's ready for this, FS will support multiple texture channels
Like that, you could have AO-baked and tilemapped ships.