[Droid803]

Can you guess...

<snip>

...what this is?

Yellow glow for the kicks. I'm too bored to play with the diffuse maps right now...

Nice new texture for the Zephyrus's rear

[Zacam]

While you _can_ have maps of different sizes, it is usually recommended that all basic textures all be the same size.

This prevents any possible distortions that may occur from stretching one map to match the others.

In any case, any normal maps should always match the base map size for the best results.

I would also recommend making a version that is larger than you may strictly need, for use in the Advanced VP. You can scale/resize down from those for the basic resolution maps for general gameplay. Much easier than us up-scaling the release textures or bugging you for the master files. 

And try to limit the number of textures used. 1 per type is optimal. There are, IMO, to many ships that have multiple texture segments when they don't need to.

Also, would it be possible somewhere on the model to place a rectangular section that could serve as a nameplate texture? Not strictly necessary, but I think it would be for the awesome.

[Enioch]

Currently (and I think this will be the final version as well), I'm using 3 textures:

One is the big 2048^2, for the hull (I painted this 4096^2 and downscaled, for better panel anti-aliasing)

One is the pink tanks.

One is a texture from the Orion (Capital something-something) with a lot of pipes and wires, for filling up the 'in-between' of the tanks.

That's it.

And yes, I guess I can reserve something for a nameplate. How do I do that? And where do you want it? I'm thinking somewhere in the rear...?

[ARSPR]

And yes, I guess I can reserve something for a nameplate. How do I do that? And where do you want it? I'm thinking somewhere in the rear...?

Use standard nameplates rather than Orion-like ones.

I mean the nameplate.dds texture is mapped OVER some part of the hull (which already have its own proper texture). I don't know if you also need an auxiliary modelled square (2 triangles) in order to achieve this. As nameplate.dds is transparent, unless there's an in-mission texture change, your ship won't show any real nameplate. (The only little problem is that nameplate.dds is somehow visible under certain lighting/viewing angle conditions, ie. it isn't actually "fully" transparent).

[Enioch]

I'm willing to nameplate the ship, but I'm kind of jittery with it, so I'll need step-by-step instructions. Send out a distress call please, and see if you can figure out how it works -I'll do the same. Then we'll sort of compare notes...

[Enioch]

New in-game screens. 

New & Old (retail) side-by-side...









The last one is meant to show the normal & shine maps. I have upped the contrast on the normal, just to be sure that it will be visible. I'm going to tone it down now...

BTW, note the slight pink-ish hue of the hull next to the gas tanks, and the Xmas-light-glowies all over the (textured) pipes and wires? New glow maps there. I'm gonna change them a bit as well...

EDIT: Oooops, huge images. Sorry...

[Hades]

Those engines could be fattened up a bit, IMO.

[Enioch]

Bigger, you mean?

[Hades]

Yes. They seem too small as it is.

[Enioch]

Actually, their radius is pretty much the same as that of the original Zephy's (textured) engines. So...yeah. I don't think I'll return to the model at this point.

[Snail]

The engine texture doesn't look quite right...

[FoxtrotTango]

How about you make them wider on the outer sides? What I'm suggesting is basically, from a top-down view, take the outermost corners of the engines and pull them a little further out to the sides. It'll give bigger engines without making them pinch inward or look like the old ones, and it might be nice.

We won't be able to tell 100% if the current engines are great or not until we see the babies fired up. Other than that, this model's come along excellently and I really like what you've done with it. Nice work.

[Snail]

That would involve reconverting and retexturing the entire model...

[FoxtrotTango]

That would involve reconverting and retexturing the entire model...

That's why it's called a "suggestion," see?

[Snail]

That would involve reconverting and retexturing the entire model...

That's why it's called a "suggestion," see?

[Zacam]

Currently (and I think this will be the final version as well), I'm using 3 textures:

One is the big 2048^2, for the hull (I painted this 4096^2 and downscaled, for better panel anti-aliasing)

One is the pink tanks.

One is a texture from the Orion (Capital something-something) with a lot of pipes and wires, for filling up the 'in-between' of the tanks.

That's it.

And yes, I guess I can reserve something for a nameplate. How do I do that? And where do you want it? I'm thinking somewhere in the rear...?

Is it possible at all to consolidate any of those textures or optimize the placement of the texture elements to reduce that number at all? Even if it is just to copy the wiring details from the orion map to the tank map would be great if at all possible.

If not, understandable. However, I would recommend copying the texture used by the orion and renaming it to something specific to the Zephyrus in the event the orion model or textures get changed. If you have not done so already, that is.

A nameplate texture is 512x64, currently. Science Vessels use 256x128. Black background, White Text. The text is then repeated in the Alpha channel at roughly C9C9C9 grey. Current format is in DXT3, but being re-evaluated.

Model wise, you just need a rectangular section that loads "nameplate" as it's texture. Good models to example from would be the Deimos, Fenris or Leviathan.

As for where to put it, a possible place would be the mid-section that the dorsal comes down off of. You have the recessed mechanical section and just below it appears (from the provided shots) a great place. If I had a direct side shot of the textured model that was solid lit (F3 Lab, No Lighting selected) then I could guess better.

[Galemp]

Very cool. I love the way you baked the yellow glow onto the other nearby parts of the texture.

However I would strongly suggest editing that section; the inside surfaces that are actually glowing don't transition at all at their edges. Perhaps have the glows wrap around into the recessed engine surfaces, or else have the glowing lines follow the geometry of the polies they're mapped to. There's no point in UV mapping a model when you don't take advantage of making the texture actually fit the model.

I also strongly encourage you to try and map the 'pipes and wires' to a small, unused portion of the main Zephyrus map rather than use a third texture. Always try to use as few textures as possible; there's a sticky thread on this forum about modeling from a coder's point of view that you should read.

Nameplates are very easy to do. Just create a rectangular polygon with 1:8 proportions, map it with a texture called 'nameplate', and place it somewhere on the hull just above the surface. Mission designers can then replace that nameplate texture with the specific ship's name.

Finally, I would recommend either doing your normal map from scratch, or letting someone else handle it. Right now the strength of the grain of the panels is almost as strong as the panel lines themselves. It doesn't enhance the model, it only obscures the beautiful work you've done on the textures. The effect is nice on the reddish-brown areas on the sides of the back but for most of the hull plating, it ought to be toned down.

[General Battuta]

If the glow is baked in, what happens if the engines are disabled?

[blowfish]

If the glow is baked in, what happens if the engines are disabled?

Nothing, actually

The Iceni would suffer from the same problem...

[General Battuta]

You probably shouldn't bake the glow, then...but if it's a real pain don't worry about it. (That said, no expert, so weigh other people's advice more heavily.)