[Nico]

Originally posted by wEvil
Got any tips (apart from scrap it and start again! )
 

tips? well, not really, depends on what you use ( LPM+mesh smooth, nurbs, splines... )t, but the common sense asks for you to use a face/side view of the face you want to build and apply it on two planes (really helps, I tried a Nathalie Portman mesh, looks kindda cool, but not really like Portman w/o any map tho ).
I dunno XSI anyway, but I think, at least in max, that LPM+mesh smooth(+ relax to get rid of all the annoying little irregularities) is the quickest/simplest/best way. Tho I'm still in the learning stage for splines, and now I'm getting quite good results, admitedly. As usual, I guess it's all about training.

[wEvil]

i wuz using MAX for this with edge extrusion and meshsmoothing

Already had the two sketches on the planes..

Its just a case of it being very easy to get a messy mesh, plus it takes forever ;(

[Nico]

mmh... wait a min.
ok, I don't have the perfect "recipe" to make great heads, but I know what i did wrong, at least

first, the Nathalie Portman head, done with splines:

you can see it looks nothing like the real "thing". And still the shape is perfect. The rule with splines, that I didn't find out then: use quads as much as possible, no triangles if you can avoid them. Refine if needed, adding verts won't hurt that much.

second, still with splines, my Grey head:

See? using quads only gives you much better results, no crappy edges or anything ( I didn't apply the relax modifier there, so there's still a few "sharp" areas, but with it, it's perfect ). ok, admitedly, non human characters are easier to do anyway.

third and last, my lachdanan character, w/o the cell shading crap:

done from a cube, poly extrusion, 1 tesselate, 1 mesh smooth.
my best human head so far if you ask me, done in... less than 20 minutes! Really, for now, LPM is unmatched if you ask me ( haven't really tried patch modelling yet tho ).
voila

[TheCelestialOne]

He still smells your crap (the last one)

[Nico]

oh you sheddap

[Grey Wolf]

BTW, wEvil, you did d/load the revised Nike, right? The old Nike design is now the Titan.

[Grey Wolf]

Any new concepts or models by anyone?

[wEvil]

More stuff.

Before anyone freaks out that i'm not doing their things as well, this is the reason:

I haven't been able to get all those concept pictures onto my machien since yesterday and as such have had to remember roughly what they looked like...which was a total disaster as you can imagine.

Plus i've had to concentrate on animation for my uni course as much as modelling, because i'll be damned if i'm coming back next year unprepared.



Yep..i know, yawn, you seen it all before.  But I tweaked the running lights anyway.



This is a "hot" Tharsis carrier - I.E, one thats just had a dreadnought Alpha-strike it.

http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/wevil/array.avi

Pay attention to this - Its a test fire for plasma accelerator weapons.  Is the recoil right do you reckon?  

It also goes (with a little tweaking) for other heavy mass-based weapons.  Beams and lasers don't recoil, btw.


http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/wevil/testfire.avi

A tharsis firing its' blast accelerator.   Its a big file, and the quality isnt great, but give it a go (specially mad bomber because I need to peg down how an Enercade actually shoots)

http://www.3dap.com/hlp/hosted/wevil/artic.avi

Test of the P.A guns' articulation.  The funny part where it "double bumps" at the top is meant to be there, I was trying to simulate some kind of dampened clunk but it didnt' quite work.

I'm also aware the turn rate isn't regular but I havent' cracked MAX's TCB controllers yet.

Expect another update sometime after the weekend - i'm too knackered to do anything after work.

[Mad Bomber]

The animation in the testfire.avi looks almost exactly like what I envision the Enercade to look like. (The first part, anyway, not the little blue thing.)

Except the Enercade charges up with a white glow beforehand (like a beam does, except with less chargeup time). And the Enercade bolts are supposed to be larger and significantly brighter than the Blast Gun.

I think its great tho


The PA's and articulation I think are spot on.

[Shrike]

Originally posted by wEvil
Stills of the Lance interceptor

Where's the cockpit?  It needs a cockpit.

[Grey Wolf]

Here's a pic of my model for the Sidhe-class escort. It's a very Trek-inspired design, but here it is:

Some notes: Red=Pulse Lasers, Yellow=Torpedo Launchers, Blue=Shield Generator, Lime Green=Engines, and Cyan= Beam Cannon arrays.

[Nico]

Originally posted by Shrike
Where's the cockpit?  It needs a cockpit.

"they always want a visible cockpit"

[wEvil]

Originally posted by Shrike
Where's the cockpit?  It needs a cockpit.

UPL aren't in the biznizz of exposing their pilots to needless hazards.

The crawl hatch at the front leads to an acceleration tank style cockpit which is connected to sensor arrays suffusing the hull of the fighter.

Neural link required, of course

[Zeronet]

I'll start thinking about a TSI Carrier, cos they were at Polaris.

[Mad Bomber]

I personally can't picture what a Tesser carrier would look like...

[Zeronet]

Big

[Shrike]

Originally posted by wEvil
UPL aren't in the biznizz of exposing their pilots to needless hazards.

The crawl hatch at the front leads to an acceleration tank style cockpit which is connected to sensor arrays suffusing the hull of the fighter.

Neural link required, of course

This is FS.

Add a cockpit.

[Grey Wolf]

I agree. Cockpits=Good.

[Zeronet]

Originally posted by Shrike
This is FS.

Add a cockpit.

I agree, i mean what happens if his optics get damaged? You'll need a backup.

[Grey Wolf]

Well, due to the neural link, I think that you'd get a nasty overload for one thing....