[sigtau]

Hey, why not.  I got bored, and since this appears to be the only decent thing I've modeled recently.

[Solatar]

As long as care is taken to make sure they fit into the HTL freighters (Poseidon).

I actually like how this looks. There's not too much you can do for a cargo container, but the little things are what make the SCP great.

[sigtau]

The whole thing is a good chance to practice some detail work.  I'm already pretty far into more general shape stuff.  Before exporting to PCS, I'll import the Poseidon's model and scale it to the correct size.

And yes, the little things are what keep it going.

(I also need UV map and glowpoint practice.  This is a good opportunity for me.)

[Galemp]

The corners look a little too pronounced to me...

[-Norbert-]

I like that it looks, as if it could be split down the middle to fit the really big stuff inside and the door (assuming it is a door).
But in your place I'd put the door somewere it would be hidden, once a Poseidon grabs the container (to the front perhaps?).

[Hades]

The corners look a little too pronounced to me...

I agree, they look weird.

[Snail]

Yeah. If the shape deviates too much from the source material, I'm not sure it'll work.




I mean, side by side they look completely different. There's a lot of detail on the retail maps you could incorporate into your model without completely sacrificing authenticity.

[Rodo]

like some recess on the small squares of the corners maybe, for those red glow parts.

[sigtau]

Guys, guys, it's faar, FAAAR from done, and I already am working on those little recessed squares.  I'm modeling the details, since that's basically half the model right there.

[Colonol Dekker]

By Vectrons crystal shoes, brothers we should wait for his model to complete fully before judgement is passed.

[Aardwolf]

You need a lot of practice.

[Kolgena]

By Vectrons crystal shoes, brothers we should wait for his model to complete fully before judgement is passed.

It's just that his foundation/base model right now deviates so much from what the containers are supposed to be like that any extra work done on top of it is basically going to waste.

[Colonol Dekker]

Yeah i know, but it's all a learining process.

He can redo it once he learns to finish the "test model"

[Kolgena]

I guess. I just felt that if I was modeling, I'd like to have someone point out an error as big as this, so that any ideas I put in it later don't have to be totally redone because I have to remake the container entirely.

[sigtau]

"An error as big as this?"

By the way, I lost this model when I had to reformat due to massive system slowdown from unknown causes. (It wasn't a virus, it was just ... slow)

[Aardwolf]

I guess. I just felt that if I was modeling, I'd like to have someone point out an error as big as this, so that any ideas I put in it later don't have to be totally redone because I have to remake the container entirely.

To paraphrase:

If I modeled something crummy, and asked people what they thought, and they said it was good, and I believed it was good when it wasn't, that'd suck.

[AthlonBoy]

Your best bet is to get at the original mesh and work from there. That way the proportions will be identical in every way, and you get to keep the original texture if you don't change the UV map too much.

I can see that you're still learning, but this is a great way to sharpen your skills. On that subject, I should really do something about my Boanerges mesh...

I'll give you a bit of a hand. Rather than make you learn how to get files out of FS2, I'll give the cargo container stuff to you. Here's a zip file with the model, the required textures, and a 3DS Max 2010 scene with everything in place in case you use 2010. If not, just import the .obj and apply the textures to the right material slots (glow to self-illumination, shine to reflection).

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1400541/transport02a_cargo.zip

[Aardwolf]

Actually, that's not such a great method either. Problem is, if you work from the originals (particularly with more complicated stuff than cargo containers; fighters, especially) you wind up conforming to the original's edge cuts/polygons, even as you're trying to add more detail / smoothness / whatever. For a cargo container such as this, however, you should be fine working from the original model.

[sigtau]

Hmm.  Taking the original model, beveling it, and adding a bit of detail (such as extrusions and the like) may be a better way to go.

[AthlonBoy]

That's what I was thinking. For cargo containers, everything must be exactly sized up, so that any cargo-hauling ship can use it correctly.

Plus, there's not really a lot to it. You don't constrain yourself by using the existing mesh.