First Post

[F_Sake]

Hi, I'm new here so please be gentle. I am working on a space fighter. I have built it and textured it but I don't know if it needs anything else and would like fellow modelers oppinions.

One thing I was told was initially it looked too plastic, I have tried to solve that. Please tell me if I have



http://www.onthefly.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Renders/starflyer/sfnew2.jpg

Thanks in advance

F_Sake

[muzzer]

Dude your spaceship is cool and if i may suggeat a few things that may mak it better. I would dial down the main light as it is a tad harsh and you could use a couple of other lights offset to give the sructure more shape, say one from behind and one off to the side. on the texture you could addsome variation using the diffuse, specularity and bump texture channels. You could use your colour image map in greyscale and play aroung with different opacities. i hope this is helpful.

Good luck

[iluvatar]

hi & welcome!

the big missing thing: enviroment ;) a few stars and a nebula would make it much nicer to look at. Second good thing about an enviroment: you can make the ship reflect it :D this would make it much less plastic... Play around with diffuse + reflective
btw, model looks good :cool:

owh, take a look here (http://www.ap3d.com/betterspace/) ;)

[lede]

First off welcome to the forum. This is defiantly a good start for a space fighter. Other have mentioned how to get your textures fixed and I have to agree with them. Turn down the diffuse to ~ 40-60. This will help absorb the light and make the texture darker. A good lighting rig will do wonders, I really can't help you there, I'm still learning this myself.

Now then for some really minor details. To really make your glass look real build a cockpit for your pilot(s) and turn the transparency on for the glass canopy.

If your using Sub Patch then turn the division level up to 5 or 6. This will help round out the polygonal look on your glass canopy.

There are some really good tutorials on how to surface metal and space ships floating around the web.

Overall great start can't wait to see some progress.

-Lee

[F_Sake]

Thank you all for your kind comments.

I took your ideas on board (or at least attempted to) and this is the result

http://www.onthefly.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Renders/starflyer/sfstars.jpg

Any more comments, please let me know

Thanks again

F_Sake

[dstipes]

You have a fun model there! Keep up the good work.

There are a few things you might try.

Consider using more of a back light for your key light source. This will help define your shapes better and make the shot more dramatic. This light can have ray trace "on". As a back key the brightness % can go back up. (I feel you lowered the brightness a bit too much.)

I suspect you have ambient light "on". If so, try turning it off and illuminate the surfaces with low % lights for fill. It is ok to have several fill lights to do the job. Usually, I do not have ray trace on the fills.

If you can break up the surface a tiny bit with stronger panel bumps, then the reak key light will accent the texture for you.

Some thing to think about. Have fun! (P,S, I'm new here, too)

[F_Sake]

Ok, quick post to let you see what I got following dstipes advice about the bumping and lighting.

Next - the cockpit and landing gear (i just hope that when i carve out the space it don't screw up the sub-patch)

http://www.onthefly.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Renders/starflyer/sfbump.jpg

F_Sake

[Mclaren]

I like it, it improves with every image you post.

I do have to say that the bump map adds alot to the model, and your surfacing doesn't look so plastic anymore.

As for the landing gear, if your planning to carve it in I would freeze the sub-d mesh, boolean doesn't work well with sub-d, gives you 4+ point polygons.

Or you can just model the gear "cavity" in sub-d.

[F_Sake]

first off to mclaren: thanks for the advice on freezing the sub-patch - worked a treat :D

Ok , quite a lot to post image and such wise. I have now finished the landing gear (apart from perhaps adding a few more textures)

Here are 2 high quality renders and a low quality anim for you.

http://www.onthefly.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Renders/starflyer/gearup.jpg

http://www.onthefly.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Renders/starflyer/geardown.jpg

gear.zip (5mb) (http://www.onthefly.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/animations/gear.zip)

F_Sake

[F_Sake]

yet another update, god I am working hard this morning :D

Anyway, I took ledes idea and built a cockpit and pilot, now please don't laugh too much this is the first humanoid shape i have ever tried to build, the cockpit though I am quite happy with.

http://www.onthefly.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Renders/starflyer/pilot.jpg

yet again, comments please (and advice on the pilot)

F_Sake

[lede]

The cockpit is starting to get there. Defiantly adds definition to your ship. I would definitely think about the pilots view. Your ship just screams "Take me into a dog fight!" but what would your pilot see in the fight? Just a thought...

Now on the inside of the canopy the surface should be different so that you can tell there is a hull, Cockpit, and Canopy.

Overall it defiantly is look good. The bump really sells your texture. I'm really enjoying the progress you have made from the first pic to the last one.

You might also want to check out the Jetto Bevel plugin which is a free download. Check www.flay.com for the download. It might help you in carving in the extra needed detail on your mesh and keep your sub-d model intact.

-Lee

[glassefx]

Sake,

Thats really great work for your first space-ship. I just wanted to let you know a little bit of info I learned not to long ago and I've been 3d'ing a while.... So simple, yet slips the mind.


When you lower the surface diffusion settings your colors are going to be darker and one has to compensate by making the color in the color slot lighter. Your darker colors from diffusion may look fine I just thought I's share something that had me tricked for a while. The A-Ticket on surfacing is Fractals or "Grunge-maps" applied in the diffuse slot with diff going from say 40-75 (thats just sn off the top o' head example.)

Basically cracks and dirty stuff has lower diffusion that clean flat places. Also, not much goes beyond 80% diffusion in "real-life."

This by no means - means you cant crank it up (or have a need to crank it beyond that scope in the 3d world.)

I really like the transparency color of the canopy. Has a nice 70's retro-sci-fi feel to it.

Peace!

[F_Sake]

Once more thanks for your kind comments. To answer some points:

Lede - Yeah, my freind who animates (I am learning to model and she is getting pretty good at animation) also mentioned the view of the pilot. My answer is that this, now named the Orion Interceptor, is a long range interception craft. I didn't actually design this for close combat dogfights (although thanks for saying that it screams that :D). This is the first of 3 combat craft I am going to create. I plan on also building a fighter and a bomber style craft. As for the texture - working ont ;)

glassefx - Thanks for the comments on the cockpit, the ships were influenced from 4 of my fav Sci-Fi Shows: Babylon 5, Star Trek, Stargate SG1 and, going back a bit, Battlestar Galactica (hence the cockpit)

I have no new images to post at the moment as I was getting frustrated and stressed with it so I took a break. Will get back on it soon though, watch this space.

F_Sake

[F_Sake]

Ignore what i said here, i sorted the problem :D

[lede]

Don't get frustratied. This only kills your creativity. A good break from a project can give you a fresh perspective. Just my 2c. BTW thats why I hang out here looking at other peoples work :D

I've been modeling with Lightwave since the 3.5 on my old Amiga and still can't get anywhere. Shows you how slow I really am when it comes to modeling. I'm just stubborn enough to keep with it though.

Goof luck and hope to see more updates from you.

-Lee

[F_Sake]

Well I am finally happy with the ship and texturing so I am gonna call it quits, the pilot will still be workied on as i can use the same pilot for different ships.

Anyway (sorry but i have run out of hosting space so until i know what I can get rid of i will have to attatch these images so lots of posts)

F_Sake

[F_Sake]

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[F_Sake]

Spot the hommage to another tv show