I have been playing about with the game for a month or so. After trawling the wiki (ship tutorial) and forums I decided that it was about time I downloaded a copy of blender and attempt to turn some of the ideas floating around in my head into something resembling 3D.
I figured I would throw my first attempt up here for comment/advice before starting on the UV. This thread seemed a reasonable one to drop into rather than starting a new one.
Im well aware that it is somewhat tri-heavy (approx 1000tris) but this is all a bit of a learning experience... Im hoping to get this into my copy of Pioneer soon.
Bob
Edit: Images now hosed using Picasa! Fingers crossed
Last edited by bobtheterrible on Sun Jan 25, 2015 8:20 pm, edited 3 times in total.
Hi
I'd start a new thread for it, easier to discuss.
The image doesn't show, it says forbidden (403). Did you set up the sharing options properly. I'm guessing it's picasa, where you need to set the albums sharing to be accessible to anyone with the link.
1000 tri is not that heavy.
Also, come by on IRC. I could give real-time feedback and help if I'm around. And since I've started a more indepth ship creation tutorial, I could use you to test it on the intended audiance :D.
Apologies, if there is a admin-y way to (re)move the post then please do. As for the picture itself, it is hosted on google drive on which I thought I had set the individual permissions correctly - I should have logged out to check...
It's a very nice start. The front section feels a bit too busy for me, but altogether it would be a nice space-only craft. I'd ditch the pattern texture though, it doesn't look good.
Do you have any brief, description or intended function, or shipyard for it? I cold imagine it as a Mandarava-Csepel ship I think.
You can get a direct link to the image if you right click on it and open the image in a new tab:
Impaktor: Yes, on a second thought this might be better of as a ship from another CIW shipyard. CIW yards tend to favor curviness more, than SolFed ones.
What's your plan for that intake-like structure on the side? I'd move the retro thrusters there myself, and only put sensors and weapons, and a docking collar to the front part.
The main shape seems quite nice. That top area would be a nice place for a docking collar too.
I can't imagine the rear end of it yet from this image though.
Cheers - glad it is now viewable! The pattern texture is not for the final model and is currently being used to give some idea of "shape" - it will now be ditched with prejudice. I had intended the nose to be "busy" as a contrast to the rest of the ship but concede that it is not easy to make out individual components at anything other than point-blank nor is it clear what any of the components are! I will have a rethink.
As for background (you are not the first person to suggest space-only) it certainly wouldn't be land-able without forward shielding. I had intended it with planetfall in mind, including a ramp at the rear for bulk loading but that exposed front is a little hard to explain-away.
Function was intended to be medium transport with a crew of 2 or 3. Distinguishing features were intended to be speed and range at the expense of manoeuvrability and armament. Big engines at the back and with builtin housings for fuel scoops on the sides. For the manufacturer, Mandarava-Csepel would work as the nose design is similar (not actually intended!) but is pretty ugly in comparison to their other designs! OKB Kaluri was my other possible but not 'aero' enough... will have a think about that one.
I will shunt this to a new thread on your advice to save cluttering this one up :) (Ah It has been done already!!! Cheers for that!)
If you want to go the Kaluri way, then the cockpit would need to be a bit less faceted, since they are keen on a smoother canopy style. Other thing is that then it needs some fin heatsinks on it. Don't sweat that much on the aero nose for it. The story about those two yards, MCS and Kaluri is that they do corporate espionage on each other like if it was a gentleman's sport, so some style overlap could be present. (not sure if I wrote this nugget down anywhere though...)
Nice, a bit oldscool looking, so definitelly a ship from a CIW yard.
Very good silhouette from the top view.
5k tris aren't that much for a curvy ship of this size, I don't think you need to sweat about that too much. With proper LODing, it shouldn't be a problem.
For reference some other ships: Mola Mola and Pumpkinseed are both around 5k, Malabar is almost 20k. The Mola Ramsayi I'm working on is almost 14k. The DSMiner is 18k, Debeb is 8k, Venturestar is 9k, so you are in the green in my opinion.
Before you dive into UV-ing, would you post the model file, so I can check it out more troughly?
