B17 Fortress WIP

[creativecontrol]

Hi guys, thought I'd post post some of this work. It is a bit experimental since I'm using MoI to model the basic shape and then do the final details in LW. Here's where I'm at so far. It's very rough at this point but I'll add more later. Comments most welcome :)

[Mitja]

It's definetly a good start! I'm looking forward to see the textures (if you are planning any)!

[creativecontrol]

It's definetly a good start! I'm looking forward to see the textures (if you are planning any)!

Thanks! There certainly will be. It'll eventually be part of a whole scene. I'm doing it in my spare time though, so it's going to take a while.

[steamthunk]

Awesome! More WWII aircraft. I'm not familiar with the modeling application, but it looks good so far. Why did you choose not to model in Lightwave?

[E-ronin]

Looking good so far Creative, I am looking forward to seeing updates.Do you plan on using this in one of your art prints?

[creativecontrol]

Awesome! More WWII aircraft. I'm not familiar with the modeling application, but it looks good so far. Why did you choose not to model in Lightwave?

Thanks! I've done several others in LW and I decided to try MoI because I was curious about NURBS for this type of work. I have to say (for me at least) it is way faster to get the shapes I want, especially fillets and blends like where the wing joins the fuselage. I'm just doing the basic shapes in MoI then exporting to modeler.

I'll be back at it this weekend :)

[creativecontrol]

Looking good so far Creative, I am looking forward to seeing updates.Do you plan on using this in one of your art prints?

Yes, I found great pilot who used to fly these so I'm working with him. It's headed for 36"x54" canvas.

[creativecontrol]

Well, got a little more done. Still many miles to go :)

Just started laying out the scene. I'm far from happy with the clouds so far but it's coming. Any suggestions on how to get a good cloud look from this altitude and angle would be great.

I'll start texturing the B17 soon. There will also be many more B17's in the shot.

Didn't get as far as I wanted to but maybe next weekend...

[Mitja]

What? Still many miles to go??!
Seriously, I think you're almosst there!!! The mood is perfect, imho.
The only thing I could point out is the explosion right in front of the plane: make it like the others (smoke).
And start making textures, cuz I know how it goes: you start making the scene, some renderings, and slowly you become bored of the project...how many times it happend to me...

[E-ronin]

Looking good so far Creative, I was thinking about creating a scratch map and uv for the glass then putting them on bump and reflection(alpha) channels. I will let you know how it turns out. I still have to do the cockpit on mine before I start the fine details. Let me know if you come up with any good ideas for the glass.

[creativecontrol]

Looking good so far Creative, I was thinking about creating a scratch map and uv for the glass then putting them on bump and reflection(alpha) channels. I will let you know how it turns out. I still have to do the cockpit on mine before I start the fine details. Let me know if you come up with any good ideas for the glass.


I'll be working on it this weekend again. I'll post it if I can make something worth posting :)

[greeb1957]

reminds me of a Luftwaffe Bomber......my favorite plane. :)

[creativecontrol]

Did a little more work on the ground and clouds. The flak bursts still need some work.

Then on to finish the aircraft itself...

[Mitja]

Where have you found the ground image?

[creativecontrol]

Where have you found the ground image?

It's a group of images from yahoo sat maps that is serving as a reference. It will be replaced with a painted version in the end.

[creativecontrol]

Here's an update. I'm concentrating on surfacing at the moment. Obviously there are still parts missing (guns, interior etc.).

Comments most welcome :)

[creativecontrol]

Working on the glass look right now. Here's a few closups.

[theWOODman]

That's looking really cool dude. The sense of height and and movement are really good. As far as cockpit detail, I'm sure once you do your final render most of the glass will have a lot of light reflection and be a bit fogged up due to scratches, dust, etc, so there's probably no need to get super crazy with the cockpit/gunner detail.

good work:thumbsup:

[Algae998]

Very nice modeling indeed. I love your wip renders so far...are they raw renders or do they have some post work?

[creativecontrol]

Thanks Guys! Yes, they are raw renderes so far, no post.

Here's a bit I did this weekend. Tried a new way to doing rivets. The B17 has several very distictive rivet patterns. This sample may show them a little too large but it's just a test.

I just created points from a side view where they should go. Then used KO Pointfit to snap them to the surface. Then used Hypervoxels with solid little spheres to make the rivets. The nice part is that the size can be change very easily.

[creativecontrol]

Finally got around to doing some more on this one. I still haven't done the interior and crew and a few small details outside. The other B17's are just clones right now, I'll individualize them later. The two jets are clones as well. The pilot said he saw 2 Me262's go by on that mission.

I used Dynamite to do the flak this time and I quite like it.

Comments and crits most welcome. :)

[E-ronin]

Wow looking great creative. Have you thought about trying a little DOF, maybe have the background blurred a bit?

[zapper1998]

Awesome looking so far..

Memorial Day here in town they had a B-17 on display one of seven I guess that are still flying.
Took some pictures of the B-17, filled the whole 4gig sandisk in the camera.

Now if the GIRL friend can find WHERE she put IT, I would gladly share them,
She is STILL looking for IT..

Michael

[steamthunk]

Very nice model. I love the B17.

Not sure about the current composition. Why is Fortress "K" falling out of formation with no obvious damage? If you have a 262 how about a shot of the B17s as seen from the 262 cockpit with tracer fire? :)

[steamthunk]

Awesome looking so far..

Memorial Day here in town they had a B-17 on display one of seven I guess that are still flying.
Took some pictures of the B-17, filled the whole 4gig sandisk in the camera.

Now if the GIRL friend can find WHERE she put IT, I would gladly share them,
She is STILL looking for IT..

Michael



I'm unconvinced that if you can take 4GB worth of B17 photos you'd have a girlfriend! :D Kidding. I was in Washington DC for Memorial day and hit both National Air & Space Museums. Great stuff, but I don't understand why so many of their displays are so dimly lit. :(

[creativecontrol]

Wow looking great creative. Have you thought about trying a little DOF, maybe have the background blurred a bit?

Ya, I've been playing with that. I think you're right, it could use more. There is some. I had too much a while back and it made the planes look like little models but now I've gone too far the other way.

[creativecontrol]

Awesome looking so far..

Memorial Day here in town they had a B-17 on display one of seven I guess that are still flying.
Took some pictures of the B-17, filled the whole 4gig sandisk in the camera.

Now if the GIRL friend can find WHERE she put IT, I would gladly share them,
She is STILL looking for IT..

Michael



Hey, that would be great! Let me know if they turn up :)

[creativecontrol]

Very nice model. I love the B17.

Not sure about the current composition. Why is Fortress "K" falling out of formation with no obvious damage? If you have a 262 how about a shot of the B17s as seen from the 262 cockpit with tracer fire? :)

There will be damage, I just haven't gotten to it yet. The pilot said after he took that hit from flak, there was over 250 holes in his B17! Some as big as a fist. The engine governers were shot, and one engine was smoking.

The AC had 95 missions. That was the last!

[creativecontrol]

Here's some small upadates. I've been working on the metal texture for the main AC. Let me know what you think guys.

Haven't started on the interior yet or the exterior damage.

[Algae998]

Very sweet updates :thumbsup:
We had one flying over head yesterday all day. I think it was the B-17 that is native to western NY but never saw any action...they charged $400 for a half hour ride. Tempting but pricey haha. Kinda cool seeing this model and then having one fly overhead.

[vincent1]

Fantastic stuff, very nice metallic surfaces.

One q: Since you are porting from MOI, what is your model's poly count like?

I'm using rhino and my craft (about the size of a ME109) is already approaching 1 million polygons in Lightwave.

I'm wondering if there is a more efficient way to port from rhino to Lightwave.

[creativecontrol]

Fantastic stuff, very nice metallic surfaces.

One q: Since you are porting from MOI, what is your model's poly count like?

I'm using rhino and my craft (about the size of a ME109) is already approaching 1 million polygons in Lightwave.

I'm wondering if there is a more efficient way to port from rhino to Lightwave.


Thanks!

The B17 body without the engines (each engine is about 200,000) is about 500,000 but I made it a pretty dense mesh. The mesh is very efficient. MoI gives you supurb control over the export. I've never used Rhino so I can't compare.

I did the engines in LW for another project and transfered them here. They're a bit overkill at this distance but I had them built already :)

[creativecontrol]

Very sweet updates :thumbsup:
We had one flying over head yesterday all day. I think it was the B-17 that is native to western NY but never saw any action...they charged $400 for a half hour ride. Tempting but pricey haha. Kinda cool seeing this model and then having one fly overhead.


That is cool. I've seen that ride advertised (or one like it). That would be fun.

[creativecontrol]

Well, here's another one. I've added some hits from the flak burst and some damage. Still have to do the gunners and do some weathering.

There's some fighter action in the back now. I'll have a higher res version later but I have to do some touch-up first.

Crits welcome :)

[creativecontrol]

Well I think this is about done, or very close. Thanks for all the kind words.

Cheers!