[CAP1331]

Hi,
  I'm new to the forum. I love what you have done with the engine, it's really awesome. As a little tribute, I've tried to redo the medals from FS2. I don't know if this will be usefull but at least I enjoyed doing it. I've tried to keep them as similar as possible with default. I would appreciate your feedback a lot.

[attachment deleted by ninja]

[Rodo]

Welcome to HLP!, hope you enjoy your stay

About the medals, they look like the originals but they don't feel realistic, you might want to add some shadowing and stuff like that... maybe cloth like textures over the ribbons and metal like shine over the medal, not sure what else would help to make them look more real.

BTW, I'm not part of the FSU so.. don't take my input as a competent insight.

[Kolgena]

The default medals were created through modeling, which is why the lighting on them is more convincing. If we're aiming to recreate the Medal room in higher resolution, we'd need to render it in 3D, if only to keep lighting consistent across medals and between the medals and the board. These are quite good for a 2D job though, and I'm wondering if they could be used somehow...

Maybe someone's mod could implement these as ship decals, as a way to decorate fighters with the medals the pilot has earned? This might be more appropriate for the badges than the medals.

Medal 4 has a decent lion on it. I know someone here was working on the Blue Lions insignia, and was looking for a decent lion, but that was many weeks ago. Edit: Herra Tohtori, over here: http://www.hard-light.net/forums/index.php?topic=71959.msg1454968#msg1454968

Oh yeah, I'm also not FSU. Those that are will have the badge under their name. So, what I say also isn't competent insight

[Lucika]

I agree with Rodo, the input of an FSU member would be useful.

*takes a look at the medals, thinking about using them in Syrk*

[Asteroth]

I feel like your images are the reference the GTVA gave to the guy who makes their medals. It looks very nice, but it simply is isn't the real thing, not in a bad way, and it would be a great reference if actual 3d models will be used for the medals. Good work.

[Dragon]

They indeed look like a reference material and could be even used as such when making actual models.

[Droid803]

Oh cool sprite-style medals!

[DaBrain]

If they are vector graphics (Inkscape, Illustrator, etc) we can export them and import them in a 3d software.

Extrude them a bit and chamfer some stuff and you got your 3d models.

[CAP1331]

Thank you guys for your comments. They're 2D vector graphics, and I must agree with you, it's not the real deal. As for adding a ribbon texture, I think it's not necesary, it looks the same once it's shrunk to the retail size and it makes my laptop crash . I will try to export them and make a 3D versions in Sketchup (a process that will take me some time), specially since nobody had any big issue besides the fact that they're not 3D rendered. Let the work begin...

[mjn.mixael]

Huh.. cool. I can scratch this off my to-do list.

[CAP1331]

OK, I've been trying to add the 3rd dimension into those medals. I'm using Sketchup 8 for the models and Kerkythea for rendering. For some reason, I couldn't get Sketchup to work well with the imported curves, so I imported a picture and restarted from there. Here's my progress on the first one. I don't seem to find some good-looking easy-to-do ribbons, so I'll just leave those cartoonish ribbons for now and add them color and texture once they're upgraded (if they are). I've added some little details 'cause it just looked weird with perfectly shaped triangles everywhere.
Hope you like it!

[attachment deleted by ninja]

[Asteroth]

I could get used to that.

[Rodo]

You are definitely on the right track

[sigtau]

* sigtau approves.

[CAP1331]

I've been having problems with Sketchup, I don't know why it seems to mess with normals so that the final rendered image light effects look weird. But I think I've found a way to bypass this.
Now, some results:

[attachment deleted by ninja]

[Rga_Noris]

These are definately looking great.

[Rodo]

You got some nice looking medals there, nice work!

[CAP1331]

Just showing some progress...

[attachment deleted by ninja]

[Kolgena]

Looks good!

(I'm not sure if some of those textures are place-holders or the real deal, but the olive branches might look better in army green rather than bright green. Also, the pink the nebula campaign star disagrees with me, but that's a personal thing )

[CAP1331]

The textures are placeholders for now, but any input will be appreciate. The "pink center" on the nebula medal was suppose to be made of sugilite, a pink/purple semiprecious stone (I want it to be purple with white and darker stripes but I didn't find a good texture, I will make one in the future).  I replace the old gold and purple because I thought it would be odd to see gold (or brass) mixed with some violet nonmetallic material in such a way.