[Thaeris]

Although I've personally never used the Kulas during the course of BP: AoA, I have wanted to upgrade the model. There's a few problems, though they might be somewhat arbitrary:

(1.) Permissions. I sent Aldo a message asking if he'd mind if I played with the model. I never recieved a response.

(2.) The nature of the Kulas. This is where it starts to get a little odd:

(a.) First, the BP Kulas and the Meditations on the Abyss Kulas are different fighters in many regards. Personally, I've never played or downloaded MotB, so I can't make a direct comparison. However, from the BP table entry, which contrasts the Wiki entry (which defines the MotA fighter), the difference should be physical as well. The base geometry suits the MotA Kulas well, but it doesn't reflect the BP fighter, which has only one gun bank (thus, both sets of cannons should be the same) and one missile bank (there's a non-functional missile tube on the lower hull in the BP Kulas). Thus, if I were to "HTL" the Kulas, There would be the "MotA" version and a "BP" version.

(b.) Next, a direct "HTL"-ing is technically possible; you can fit a pilot into that tiny cockpit. However, I'd need to clear up the forward support pillar - anyone wanting to use the physical cockpit of the Kulas would be out of luck if you didn't get rid of that thing. I'd be fine with a direct HTL'd version for MotA, where it's doing well as looking like a pirate fighter, but I don't believe this is ideal for BP. And this is where I come to my grey area...

(c.) I'd like to revise the Kulas for BP... the fighter would be more rakish and thus more modern in appearance while having the same general characteritics of the old fighter. There's some problems with that, though: I for one like the HTL models to reflect what the ships we know and love were "intended" to look like... without the HTLer's artistic insights moving too far away from that. The current Boa is a good example of this, I think. Thus, a major redesign is a bit of a mental block for me in this regard - the old Kulas was someone else's "vision." However, I will be happy to proceed with it if the dev staff are in agreement that this fighter, though based off of an old design, is a refined product for the fleet. This is hinted at a little in BP's tech room, though it's not as direct in saying as such.

(3.) The final design. Well, it isn't final yet. Despite several bits of concept art... which are pretty rough, though I certainly could share them... I just can't get the artwork to match up to the fighter I've seen in my head. If there's interest in this, though, I can get back to working on it...

And that about does it for the proposal. Feedback?

[The E]

Go for it! The Kulas desperately needs more awesome. I really want to see what you can come up with here.

[Thaeris]

Don't take the below images too critically; all of the drawings were rather light to begin with. [Rough, preliminary,] Technical concepts tend to come out that way - you keep the pressure on the pencil light as you want ease your troubles if you make a mistake. Scaling was also less than stellar in many of the drawings. Then, after scanning and reducing the images (which were still much too large), they were compiled via paint so as to fit in a reasonably-sized image. This led to a further loss in quality, which was in fact rather drastic... 

Seeing as the drawings weren't great to begin with, there's not much of a loss... Unless someone actually likes them, in which case I'll upload higher-quality images. Being pretty old now in comparison to what I've been doing recently... meh, that's enough of that.

I think what I'll settle on in terms of design concept for the time being is that BP will have a reimagined fighter. If someone wants the old version HTL'd, they (or if I have the time for it) can make it for MotA. Everyone (including myself) should be happy this way.

Looking at the drawings, you can imagine why I didn't post much information on this earlier. The Kulas is a hard concept to revise, and despite my efforts I didn't get too far forward last time I was working on it. Finding an ideal revision for the nose is going to pose a bit of an obstacle...

I did start some modeling progress a while back. The only part which I can confidently say is done are the wing (and now fuselage) guns; I also started working on a revised engine assembly. There's also an image of the Kulas with the new guns fitted on the wings to demonstrate how much just a few more polygons can enhance a model...

I think most of this stuff was from around two months ago. I can't be sure of that, though, as none  of it is dated. 

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Titan]

HOLY SKETCH 

[Thaeris]

Well, at least you seem to like it, Titan. It will be some time before I'm able to commit more time to this, though.

It seems I've got three significant projects on my hands right now, the most important being my concept artwork for headdie's project. Perhaps I can get more details worked out for this by the end of the month. 

[-Norbert-]

Aren't the guns in the wings a bit too long? I assume the ones in the nose are going to be the same as those in the wings, and if you let them protrude that far from the nose, it would look odd.

[asyikarea51]

Wow that's some pretty accurate sketching, I can't do that.

I never used the Kulas either. >_>

[Thaeris]

The model for the wing guns are exactly the same in terms of general dimensions to Aldo's Kulas. They're better, of course, and actually are made to have a real equalateral triangle front profile. The fuselage guns will only show the forward part of the barrel. Seeing as there was originally supposed to be a missile magazine there anyway, it should look quite reasonable once the kinks are ironed out of the concept.

[Stormkeeper]

HOLY SKETCH!

[Topgun]

I like the long guns 

[Snail]

Excellent, this thing has been begging for it for ages! Huzzah!

[Thaeris]

Thanks, Snail.

I'll hopefully be able to work more on the concept next week, as break will be in session. That, and a few more over-due projects... 

[Thaeris]

Well, I was feeling a bit down, but after looking through esarai's art thread I felt that doing a bit of sketching myself would boost my spirits a bit...

And I do feel a bit better, actually. The item I'm going to post here is another prime example of "quick 'n dirty" concept art, and it is indeed that. The primary driver behind the work was simply to work out a few detail changes I wanted to visualize on the BP Kulas, namely the forward fuselage. I also did a little with the engine assembly, but that's old news. Oh well, it'll get there. 

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Darius]

I really do enjoy the vision that you've got for making the BP Kulas a sleeker, modernised version. It's reflected in the lines you've got in the sketch.  Please continue with the direction you're going

Really looking forward to how this is going to turn out.

[Thaeris]

Thank you, Darius.

That really does mean a lot to me, especially coming from you. 

[Commander Zane]

Awsm sketch is awsm.

[Thaeris]

Update time before I cycle back to other commitments...

I've been playing with this project again, and I'm currently working on one of the aspects of the re-design I defined wayyy back when - the new engine assembly. Well, the back portion, at least.

The design of this assembly is akin to something from between FS1 and FS2 in my opinion: heavy thrust vectors and plates with a variable exhaust petal design. Due to the execution of the design in conjunction with the rest of the Blue Planet Kulas, (henceforth known as the "GTF Kulas" ... the MotA fighter will be refered to as the "PF Kulas") however, I feel it will fit in just fine with the rest of the GTVA fleet.

And, although the original design as well as my WIP re-design is quite fanciful, I've tried to make the design a little more realistic. Even still, this isn't serious engineering - just have fun with it.  Here's how the engine vectors work according to my thoughts to date:

(a.) The actual exhaust is shrouded by the heavy vectors, which could concievably provide a little thrust deflection and thus enhance the agility of the fighter. The exhaust is conventional and has variable "petals" to best manage the volume of thrust exiting the engine, just like a modern fighter plane. This works for most of the FS designs we're all familiar with as well...

(b.) The heavy plate vectors surrounding the primary exhaust work in conjunction with it... The in-game idea is that these can be animated in a similar fashion to the Horus' wings when the afterburners are lit: they spread out while the exhaust plume shoots out!  I think this effect would be really neat to see in action, and it would definately make the Kulas more fun for the player to use in terms of visuals.

(c.) Points 'a.' as well as the following are mostly unseen/unproduced details, though if I ever produce a 'cut-scene grade' Kulas I'll definately include them: the Kulas has a thrust reverser. The upper and lower "lips" of the heavy deflection plates are hinged in such a manner so as to meet between the heavy lateral plates while creating an opening above and below the engine which would eject thrust opposite to the fighter's normal flight direction. Obviously this can't be incorporated into the game, but as I've said, I'm trying to make a more worthwhile, more realistic GTF Kulas.

Now back to what I've done in terms of the model...

I needed to produce the attached drawing so as to better envision the engine assembly - which was done after the attached screen capture from AC3D. I'm still not sure what to do in terms of attaching the upper and lower plates, as that starts infringing on what I'm going to do for the missile launchers as well as the rest of the forward hull. However, the lateral plates are done as well as the main portion of the interior exhaust - that's as detailed as it will get. Any more than that and it would be irresponsible... The white thing is what was left of the "engine bounding box," an item used in determining the scale of the new engine.

I suppose that's it for now... 

[attachment deleted by admin]

[General Battuta]

Very cool.

[Aardwolf]

Ah... I thought those looked a bit like the Loki's side panels when I first saw them here.

I haven't looked at the original model for reference, so I wasn't sure (and am still not 100% sure) how they fit in...

[aldo_14]

Ah, I only just checked my PMs recently, but you know you have my permission - it's your baby now.

Offhand, a few memories;
1- it was intended to be FS1-ish, so tbl entries are probably ripped out of a Ulysses or something with minimal changes.  I'm very lazy.
2- the cockpit map/geometry would be a result of trying to keep to tight polygon limits, so feel free to rip it to shredsand change it entirely (I like your suggestions, although I'm not sure whether I originally planned it to be sleek or bulky when I made it).  I very rarely considered scale at that time.
3- Engines also sound good; I think I was copying the Loki at the time
4- I think the wings design was originally essentially 'upside down Valkyrie'.  Certainly that's how it looks to me.
5- Bear in mind, this thing is old.  Really old.  And consequently the design could be improved in innumerable ways.  Especially the wings, as at the moment they're pretty pointless other than as gun housings.

HTH