[stuart133]

Um, this is my first model which I have ever made. I don't really know if it's any good, and what I need to do to improve it so any feedback would be much appreciated. Cheers.



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[Flipside]

Well, the shape is fine, but it's extremely low polygon, I'd say around 150, in order to really come to a judgement it would need more detail, cockpit, jet intakes, fixtures and fittings and general greebling.

As for the shape itself, it's looks like an Interceptor, which was your intention, so nothing wrong there

[Topgun]

its actaully not a bad start.

[Colonol Dekker]

Set yourself a target shape and try to achieve it. If you're not annoyed with the end result. Then you did something right, just keep setting yourself targets and meeting them. Then you'll be on your way in no time.

Sub-dividing surfaces and extrusion is the way forward from here i'd say.

Good first model, i'm assuming this was the third or fourth time you've opened said prog? Truespace by any chance?

[Pyro MX]

I'd go with Blender

[Enigmatic Entity]

Yeah that pink dot gives it away doesn't it.

That ships needs more detail before I can say anything except "No one will fly it the way it is at the moment"

It certainly should turn out nice if you add some sleek engine pods, a cockpit (just the "windscreen" shape for a start and some guns. Start with getting a good base shape. I hope you continue with this and finish it, which is something I don't seem to be able to do .

[stuart133]

Cheers for all the feedback, and it is blender that I am using. Adding more detail now, should have another update in a few hours.

[Pyro MX]

If you are new to Blender, I suggest this text : Blender 3D: Noob to Pro. It has some very useful resources in it. I am still reading bits of it from time to time.

[Thaeris]

What modeling approach do you use?

I tend to sketch a part to the desired dimensions, then extrude it, and eventually incorporate it into the overall model. This takes a bit of time, but results in a model of tremendous accuracy.

Speaking of low-poly fighters, this was an early little drill in modeling I did with AC3D a while back:

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[stuart133]

Ack, can't get a good render at all now.

This is what I've got, but if you want a closer look I can send you the .blend file.



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[Thaeris]

There's an art to doing subdivisions. Don't go overboard until you know you can get a good result.

[Topgun]

Never, ever use subsurface when making a model for a video game.

[stuart133]

Yeah, I know that, I'm just not sure how to get a smooth look. Is there a way of texturing or shading that will give it the look of being smoother than it is??

[FreeSpaceFreak]

Meh, you can use subsurf, just at lvl 1 (or more, if the base model is really low-poly). The HTL Loki nowadays is about 8k polies (mind you, that's triangulated; the subsurf polycount times 2), I would try not to go over that.

But for good smoothing, there's this little tutorial. You may want to look around on that page more, it's a complete guide on how to get Blender models in game.

[Pyro MX]

stuart, looks like you are taking screenshots from the blender screen. For better results, use a camera and render the camera view with F12. Then you can save the render with F3. You'll have more output options with a camera than taking screenshots from the modeling view.

[Topgun]

Yeah, I know that, I'm just not sure how to get a smooth look. Is there a way of texturing or shading that will give it the look of being smoother than it is??

depends what you are trying to do. I use parts of cylinders and spheres to make smooth things. if you are trying to make a piece of geometry smooth, use the knife tool (k) to divide the edges, then pull the corners in.
only though experimentation will you learn the different techniques.

[Thaeris]

That which starts with many polys will tend to end with many polys. The problem is getting a start with all of those polys... 

Subdivision can work, but there's definately an art. And some programs are better at it than others. I don't know how well Blender does subdivision because I've never had the patience to get a grip on that seemingly sinister UI. The only reason I've had to actually play with Blender to date is getting models out of PCS2 to AC3D.

AC3D will subdivide any unlocked model on-screen, I believe. Thus, if you don't want something that way, you disable it in the heirarchy. Committing a subdivision will create the smoothed-out mesh. From that point, you'd drag the desired verticies into the proper position to finalize the form, blah, blah, blah.

However, because subdivision is often a pain-in-the-backside to use, why not try playing directly with verticies? What I typically do is select an edge of the surface and insert verticies along that edge. I might make a similar set of verts  on the other side of the surface I'm trying to smooth. Then, I'll slice the surface (thus creating more polygons) until I've got the number of polys I'll need to do the job. Lastly, I'll pull that higher-poly mesh into form, getting the desired curvature. And that's only one way... And probably a hard one. You'd do something like that for detail modeling, imaginably.

[Pyro MX]

Blender's UI is like the opposite of C4D's (at least in the version I used at school). C4D is cluttered with incomprehensible icons. In blender, gotta know the keyboard functions. It's a question of taste... Personally, I prefer Blender's UI. It just stays out of your way, it's easily customizable... However, about subdivision efficiency, I don't know which is the best. Haven't worked enough with 3D models to determine which is best. I tend to use extrusion to create more complex shapes and mix then with other shapes on the scene using addition/substraction operations.

[Thaeris]

Yalp. Subdivisions are amazing for organic shapes. Especailly living things. They're best employed once the base geometry is done, and that base geometry doesn't even have to be highly detailed. However, mechanical shapes tend not to react too well, as that mechanical simplicity suddenly... disappears. The mechanical shapes often don't react too well either. If you must do subdivisions on a "mechanical" surface, try to isolate the parts of the mechanism individually, performing and then commit the subdivision on each part. Then combine the elements.

I've never heard of C4D, Pyro. The gallery was quite pretty, though. I'll once again advocate trying the AC3D demo at: http://www.inivis.com/ ; never hurts to try! I'll have to try that Silo demo sometime. Since it only runs for 30 days, I've not yet given it a go. The program seems heavily biased towards character modeling/organic shapes, which is cool.