Cherryh Station

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zaydana
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Cherryh Station

Post by zaydana »

Hey Peeps

I just spent a few hours doing up what I have named 'Cherryh Commerce Station' (screenshots below)... i used dear old wings and managed to come up with a 5000 poly model that looks semi-respectable. I especially like the stalactite city i put on it, which took an hour or two to do :S Problem is it will be very hard to texture it. And anybody that has been around these forums long enough knows that I am no good at texturing my creations.

Since texturing seems to be in the in thing atm 8) I thought i'd post some screenshots of my model here, and proclaim that anybody interested in texturing the commerce station just say here and i'll somehow get the model to you. If enough people are interested then I'll put the model online somewhere.

You never know, I might get some texturing guns like strangelet and etheral walker working on it, and perhaps hurleybird too this time, and we might have another competition? :P

- Zaydana

P.S. C J Cherryh is the author of a few great sci-fi series' that I love reading, my favourites being the Chanur series and 'Downbelow Station' from the Union/Alliance Universe she created.

Image
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/album ... r_Side.jpg

Image
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/album ... r_View.jpg

Image
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/album ... Bottom.jpg
Last edited by zaydana on Tue Aug 17, 2004 9:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
scheherazade
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Post by scheherazade »

actually, tha would be super ez to map.
just cut out all like pieces. and map only one.
then clone it all around and re assemble the station from the unique pieces.
weld it all together, and you're done.
you'll have a nicely shared textures for every like piece, which there are a LOT of...

-scheherazade
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Post by dandandaman »

I know it's not what you meant for it, but it actually (with a good texture) could be a really good Aeran installation. :-)

Dan.a
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Post by TestMan »

if there is a way to apply multiple textures on a complicated model or a single texture on a face, then it shouldent be that hard to do else it would be near impossible to do with the entire map.
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Post by etheral walker »

post it somewhere, I can't promise anything because I'm a bit overbooked those days, but if the mesh is accessible some people should begin working on it
I see dead polygons....
zaydana
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Post by zaydana »

Ok, I uploaded the model to the net, its in .wings format. I hope you've all got wings :)

http://zaydana.stonedlife.com/Commerce% ... %203.wings

Ignore 'LOD 3', the ones before it don't have the stalactite city so they are a bit useless :/

I don't mind if it is an Aera station, as long as it is 'Cherryh' station of some sort :P

Also, I don't think it would be too hard to texture, but every building in that stalactite city is different - it is random and it took ages... It would look an awful lot better if it was all done a bit different as well, not saying you have to do it like that tho :P But Vegastrike wants quality stuff, and if something like that was done properly it would be able to compete with commercial stuff :)

Also, the texturing might still not be that bad, its just making sure the UV mapping is something possible :S That would be kinda hard in wings I know, but I dunno how good any of the other modellers are...

- zaydana
jackS
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Post by jackS »

I'd say honor C.J. by making it absurdly large, unique, and in orbit around the planet with the Merchants' headquarters
zaydana
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Post by zaydana »

well, it's already pretty large (i think, at least by the looks of it in comparison to other stations we have). It is a pretty unique model from what I have seen as well.

In orbit around the merchant HQ, well we can't exactly have that till it's textured :)

I was thinking perhaps the things that almost look like docking bays are probably more likely to be dry-docks for a shipyard or something, and the actual normal docks should go somewhere else?

I might give a go at starting to texture it as soon as I get myself a decent image manipulation program...
jackS
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Post by jackS »

zaydana wrote:well, it's already pretty large (i think, at least by the looks of it in comparison to other stations we have).

How can you tell? I don't see any particular points of reference.
It is a pretty unique model from what I have seen as well.
when I said unique I meant unique as in, "exists exactly one of"
I was thinking perhaps the things that almost look like docking bays are probably more likely to be dry-docks for a shipyard or something, and the actual normal docks should go somewhere else?
adding smaller bays for fighters will add a point of reference that will make the larger bays stand out as large (there's currently nothing that tells you that they aren't just fighter sized right now). Likewise, adding external mooring points for cargo vessels and visiting capships seems a good idea. As a giant station is going to be in need of serious re-supply, you might even want to dedicate part of the model to obvious freight handling of container shipping.

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zaydana
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Post by zaydana »

jackS wrote: How can you tell? I don't see any particular points of reference.
I think the drydocks would be the point of reference - but then again it isn't really a point of reference till you have something inside them. I was thinking you could probably fit at least a frigate in each of them...
jackS wrote: adding smaller bays for fighters will add a point of reference that will make the larger bays stand out as large (there's currently nothing that tells you that they aren't just fighter sized right now).
Thats a good idea, but do i need to add smaller 'bays' for fighters or is there some other form of docking? Surely I wouldn't need such big holes in the structure just for little ships? The reason the drydocks are already there (now i think of it) is that there needs to be a lot of space around the ship and protection of any people in there, as lots of protection from the environment through the actual station is better than through spacesuits.
jackS wrote: Likewise, adding external mooring points for cargo vessels and visiting capships seems a good idea.
I've already done that :) Look at the big 'sticks' poking out from the top and bottom of the station. I call them 'umbilicals', although you've probably got a different name for them.
jackS wrote: As a giant station is going to be in need of serious re-supply, you might even want to dedicate part of the model to obvious freight handling of container shipping.
Hmm, how so? I thought the whole idea of merchanters was re-supply? So the docks shuold take care of that? Or you think not?


I was thinking also, for the Vega Strike universe to be a hell of a lot more engaging, we need different stations at every system. I don't think they all need to look different (although it would be good for a few to do so) we definitely need to give an identity to all the stations. I used to play VS and come across a station and go 'wow, a station', but it quickly wears out. It would be much more engaging if each station at least had a different name... and even better if seperate stations had better relations with you.
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Post by strangelet »

or maybe even a modular station system...
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Post by hurleybird »

from the side view th station looks fairly robotic. It would fit right in with a robotic race, or a manufacturing station of some sort.
zaydana
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Post by zaydana »

robotic? meh. I can't see how robots would have use for all the irregular stuff in there, like the stalactites, etc. The reason its designed like it is is to make it a bit fancy, which i thought a commerce station probably would be - eye candy that doesn't make it's function too obscure. Pluis, the view from one of those stalactites would be awesome - the idea of them is to maximize the viewable area of space. I just don't fthink it fits with robots :P Unless jackS has another idea?

Also, i added about 120 small docking clamps on the upper side of the station, 10 on each side of all the bars going out frmo the center (there are 8 of them). It gives it a bit of an idea of scale as well - those covered bays that are alerady there could probably hold 20 fighters each from my experiments with scale, but then again jackS might want to say something about that. It would be possible to make docking clamps inside the docking bays and have a few ships fit in each one... almost like parking lots :) But I do like the idea of it having a shipyard. What do you think?
jackS
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Post by jackS »

zaydana wrote: I just don't fthink it fits with robots :P Unless jackS has another idea?

I'm still fairly set in thinking this station goes in as the premier station in orbit around the Merchant faction's headquarters. I don't see anything "robot oriented" about the design.
zaydana wrote: Also, i added about 120 small docking clamps on the upper side of the station, 10 on each side of all the bars going out frmo the center (there are 8 of them). It gives it a bit of an idea of scale as well - those covered bays that are alerady there could probably hold 20 fighters each from my experiments with scale, but then again jackS might want to say something about that. It would be possible to make docking clamps inside the docking bays and have a few ships fit in each one... almost like parking lots :) But I do like the idea of it having a shipyard. What do you think?
I think having construction and maintenance facilities for moderate sized craft like Mules and, perhaps, depending on exactly how big the ox ends up being (apologies to pincushion for not remembering) oxen, will be a pleasantly unique feature of this station relative to other stations operated by the Merchants which would not have both commerce and construction at the same facility.
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Post by pincushionman »

No apologies necessary. It's about 865x250x450. Ish. That's what you need to plan for in terms of docking and cargo handling. Plus the cargo units are external, so the ship doesn't even have to dock -- you could stop the ship nearby and pull off the cargo pods with tugs, and move them in that way. They're only 250m long.

But it's all modular, so a maintenance bay about 300x300x500 should be big enough to fit the engineering section (the largest part by far) with enough room to do useful work around it. The other sections are all less than 250m (I think) in any dimension.

-pincushionman
Conquer space!
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Post by hurleybird »

(embarassed) Ok, i guess its not robotic looking after all :oops:

...so, has anybody started to texture this beast yet?
zaydana
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Post by zaydana »

Can somebody tell me if anybody is going to do some textures for this station, or should i just unsticky the post and leave it? If nobody starts working on it soon i don't think theres much point leaving it at the top of the forum.
AnaxGuest

Post by AnaxGuest »

Can somebody re-post those pictures? i'm dying to see what this city thingy looks like, but i don't seem to be able to find said screenshots... :\
Hoehrer

Post by Hoehrer »

AnaxGuest wrote:Can somebody re-post those pictures? i'm dying to see what this city thingy looks like, but i don't seem to be able to find said screenshots... :\
They have been moved to another gallery for better seperation:
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/galle ... oncept-Art

Werner
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Post by Anax »

ah cool thanx
...

...


dude that thing is f*ing weird eh....

not nessessarily in a bad way, just weird ;)
Guest

Post by Guest »

Nice station. VS should have a repository to upload not-yet-in-game ships as lots of people make ships but very few accually are anything more than screenshots to anyone except the creator.

I hope someone skins that station. It would be nice to have a variety of commerce stations rather than the same one all the time.
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