[chief1983]

I've heard Brand's suggestion before in IRC, I think when Axem was modeling his Gunship.  Every greeble should have a story to go with it.  If you're doing an EU ship where you have this kind of liberty, it's up to you to come up with that kind of reasoning for why a part exists in the first place.  Anything beyond the basic recognizable form of the ship needs to have a purpose.  You don't need to document this or anything, but it could help keep it straight in your head to draw these things out on paper or something.

[bobbtmann]

You realize very little about any of these ships has an actual purpose? It would be better to say that the greebles shouldn't look arbitrary.

[brandx0]

i know that the greebles dont have a clear purpose, its a technique i use, however, to help me.  arbitrarily assign functions to greebles, it also helps in the aesthetics department.  you can then ask questions  like why would they need two shield projeectors so close together?  then decide to diversify that area.  its more of a mental technique that focuses your creativity

[bobbtmann]

Gotcha. I guess I could be specific about the purpose issue, too. Functionally, very little serevs a purpose in the fictional sense. Engines, turrets, and hangar bays are an exception to this. Even the domes on an SD don't really serve a fictional purpose, since nobody seems to actually know what that purpose is.

Aesthetically, the greebles do serve a real purpose. They make the ships visually interesting (by contrasting big flat open areas) and most importantly they establish scale. Its easy for spaceships to all look the same size when they're smooth and shiny. By introducing  the smaller elements (ie. greebles) the viewer can guess as to the size of the ship. It seems obvious, but small ships like x-wings or the Falcon don't have greebles.

As for my little experiment: don't worry, they're gone.

[-Norbert-]

There are a few greebles that would make sense. Airlocks, docking ports and sensors (antennae, parabol dishes,...) would be the first to come to mind. Mabe a nameplate too, though that isn't a greeble.

[Archaic]

just a bit of critique, the lower engine section rides a bit too high imo. the painting makes it seem lower.

In addition the drawings in outbound flight show a marked 'v' shape engine block with the lower comm/shield parabolic located there. while i realize that this differs from the version you are representing, it could be implemented as an addition to the bottom of the engine block. just a thought.

and docking ports for greebles makes sense, the cruisers still in service would have been retrofitted for use with lambdas

[bobbtmann]

I would say even the sensor dishes don't really make sense. They look like they serve a function, but it's only the appearance of function. Take the Barah'tok, for instance. It has two massive dishes on either side. We're made to assume that it serves some purpose, but they're not really positioned in a way that makes sense.

About the painting, Archaic. The artist generalized a lot of the forms. It isn't all that aparent at first glance, but there are parts that do't make sense, or are inconsistant. That is what its supposed to do, since the viewer fills in the rest with their mind, the ships actually appear more realistic than if all the details had been painted. A lot of the Impressionist painters did this, and it makes for a great painting. However, it means that what works well on the canvas doesn't work well in the round.

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[brandx0]

It's shaping up nicely, if anything I could suggest, however, is to break up the overall form some more with some smaller greebles, to give it a meaner and tougher appearance.  Of course, I know it's not complete and I'd imaging you were planning to do so already, so this post is probably redundant =P

[Archaic]

anyone who wants to see bobbtman's dreadnaught sliced into every single copy of revenge of the sith, say aye!

[General Battuta]

Aye!

The novelization had a Dreadnaught in it that played a minor but pretty significant role. If you haven't read it, I recommend it, since it's about 842 times better than the movie.

[-Norbert-]

Nay.
Slicing in little bits of goodness are a wasted effort. Those three films need a complete remake! Unless you only watch the battlescenes and skip the rest (which I usually end up doing - and hating it, but hating the alternative even more), then Aye.

[chief1983]

Still, if someone were to take the finished model, and then fake a vid where a dreadnaught actually shows up in the film, kind of like the Thor-in-Hulk thing, that'd be pretty friggin sweet.

[Thaeris]

bobbtmann, I hope you put the Assault Frigate together next...

...After all, a great portion of that ship was in fact made from a Dreadnought.

 

[bobbtmann]

Sorry guys, its been a busy week. Lots of stuff happening. I'll get back to the dreadnaught this weekend, hopefully. Break up its form and all that. If I do make the assault frigate, I'm going to UV map the dreadnaught first so that I don't have to UV map the front portion twice.

[brandx0]

I'd also say the assault frigate could use some reimagining too, considering it's depicted as either a neb B with a dreadnought nose and wings, or just a dreadnought nose with a mess of random greebles.

[bobbtmann]

Yeah, no kidding. I couldn't even tell that it used to be a dreadnaught, so I was surprised to find out what it was.

Here's a little update. There's some windows in the back I intend to get rid of, and I'm not so sure of the ribbing inside the hangar.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[swashmebuckle]

I like it a lot.  As far as the bay goes, I think that if if fighters are supposed to be stored hanging rather than landed on their gear then maybe a pronounced central spine/catwalk thing could look cool, with offshoots that lead out to where the ships are parked.  If they are supposed to land on their gear "upside down" in relation to the rest of the ship though, then just a flat landing area with elevators or something marked out would be fine and you wouldn't need the ribbing.  Either way could be visually effective IMO.

[-Norbert-]

Are the things the dummy is standing before supposed to be launch ports for escape pods?
Their looks reminds me of Hangar doors for some reason.

[bobbtmann]

They're just really big windows.

[MR_T3D]

They're just really big windows.

big windows are nice, but you have to be careful about getting A-wings in them...