Submission for the Dodo

[Tarran]

this is my submission for a replacement for the Dodo.. I haven't skinned it yet, as I'm experimenting with a different way of doing that.











the cockpit is the lighter flat panel in front.. the 4 turret like objects near the front of the unit are 4 tractors.. (which point back to whatever its tugging through space ) the thing below the cockpit is a laser (meant for salvage work, like slicing up hulls)

-=added on=-
while managing my photobucket account, my virus scanner chose that moment to reboot my system.. and someplace in there, the these images above that I was in the process of moving to a different directory, were deleted.

[chuck_starchaser]

Looks nice, but more like a non-atmo-capable, inter-station personnel shuttle.
With a row of windows... I wouldn't mind seeing these coming and going between space stations. And for that I'd halve the steps on the round parts; make it really low poly, so it's almost a zero cost embellisment to the dynamic universe. (Hope you don't mind; would love blowing them up too ... it looks like "game"... makes me salivate... )

[JonathanD]

needs some retros though :p seems to me most of the new models are moving in that direction? (course, without retros, they have to be moving in that direction... emmm nevermind, poor humour)

Otherwise, interesting design. I've been trying my hand at wings the last couple days and just downloaded blender... might see what I'm capable of later. More important things this weekend, though :p

[Ryder P. Moses]

Thrusters need some work. Shouldn't so obviously just be modified cylinder primitives. And you're using a lot of polys for curve fidelity that could be more effectively invested in detailing- a few extruded faces'd go a lot farther towards giving illusion of detail. And would be less of a royal pain in the ass to skin.

In other words, rather than something like this:


Maybe something like this?


Additionally, lose the detailed end caps at the end of the thrusters- you're wasting many times more polys on a little part nobody's going to see than you are on the actual shipmodel itself, which could really use some detailing. A passable texture will accomplish 90% of what you're trying to do there with none of the resource hogging, and odds are that part of the ship's gonna be covered up by thruster glows most of the time anyway.

[Tarran]

revision

this is with the changed thrusters (which by and by, dropped faces by about a third or more)

much of the detail, like hatches and such, I was planning on painting on

the nodes are manuvering jets of sorts.. the concept I have in mind are gravity plates. using much the same technology as the shield, however reacting with the craft (thats pending )
the way I'm thinking is that the upshot of such a method, would be that a player would have manuverability until the shields were destroyed (where, traditional maneuvering jets might get blown off during combat [if this isn't being thought about for imping, someone might concider it.. and it would be pretty kool to add another aspect to limping home after a major fight.. like only being able to turn your craft to the left and thrust forward])








-=added on=-
after thinking it through, I'm added a couple of new details that wouldn't look right as merely being painted on

[Alterscape]

I gotta say the "engines on stalks" don't make sense to me. I presume that the idea is to get wider seperation between thrusters for maneuverability (think Babylon 5's Starfuries) but the way they curve out from the fuselage like that just makes me think "cheezy classic sci-fi." I'd say the engines need some heavier bracing connecting them to the main hull, either shrouded, or exposed. Hey, this could be a place to add some greebles.

Otherwise, good work

[Tarran]

I decided, to redo the whole thing. though it will have a variation of the engines on stalks..

no, I wasn't wanting a wider seperation between thrusters. (not from that paticular POR )

[Silverain]

I gotta say the "engines on stalks" don't make sense to me. I presume that the idea is to get wider seperation between thrusters for maneuverability (think Babylon 5's Starfuries) but the way they curve out from the fuselage like that just makes me think "cheezy classic sci-fi." I'd say the engines need some heavier bracing connecting them to the main hull, either shrouded, or exposed. Hey, this could be a place to add some greebles.

Otherwise, good work

Tarran,

I have to agree with this, but I also admit I love the look of the fore and aft shots. If you stick with this model, maybe you could do ridges (?) instead of the pipes, extending from near the front of the ship for heavier bracing.

That aft shot shows the rear of the main body, just screaming for a turret!

[Tarran]

hmm.. I was thinking of taking up starchasers comment, and turning it into a shuttle..

-=Front of Shuttle=-



-=Engine=- (work in progress)



as far as the engines go.. what I had originally had in mind, were engines pointed out at a like 25o or 30o angle.. from the body..

I'll try your suggestion for the turret and bracing, and post the render/sceenshot of it.

[Ryder P. Moses]

Oh, groovy. I like the improved cockpit, and the engines are definitely a lot cooler this time. Be kinda cool to see those light-gray reinforcing bars worked throughout the model like a roll cage or something...

[Tarran]

I had this alternate idea for a Dodo




just below the cockpit is a repulsor beam both for manuvering the hull into possition as well as easing the impact of the dodo with one of two ways to act as a tug.


upon the top most 'fin' is a reinforced bumper.


there is also the grappling line for towing ships


shield emiter (dual shields)


cockpit


this version would only have about 400 to 450 cargo space.

[Ryder P. Moses]

Man, how'd you get so good so fast?

It looks pretty well-built as a model, and that flying-wing design is always nice to see. What kind of polycount it got?

The upper wing segment could do with something or other, maybe detailing, maybe a big logo decal skinned on, but otherwise it's excellent.

[Tarran]

It looks pretty well-built as a model, and that flying-wing design is always nice to see. What kind of polycount it got?

The upper wing segment could do with something or other, maybe detailing, maybe a big logo decal skinned on, but otherwise it's excellent.

polycount is 1494

I'll go see what I can do with that upper wing


-=added on=-
to your first question. I'm an artist (its what I do for a living) so its really only a matter of learning the program.. (which I'm still doing.. its like being in a candy store.. there's a new thing right around the corner).. so far.. except for being unable to draw in vertices, I like wings better than blender... hmm.. actually I think I might know how to trick wings into drawing in vertices.

[jackS]

well, at <1500 polygons, you've got plenty of headroom for using whatever you feel like doing to break up the angular flat surfaces of the top fin .

I'm liking where this is going, and, fortunately, as the only vessel routinely crewed by Dgn (though of Shaper manufacture) the stylistic constraints are somewhat minimized (it's not drifting away from something looking human in origin, so I think it'll be fine)

[Tarran]

laser cutter for salvage (small beam weapon)


above the cockpit, the docking.. above that.. cargo doors.. to the left of that.. the jump module.


for mounting pods.. depending on what the job requires (personally I don't like them.. and I'm really thinking about cutting them off, and just putting something there when I skin this thing.)

[BradMick]

why not try something more....well, less blocky? some examples. (and yes, i designed and modeled both of these)

http://img361.imageshack.us/img361/9430 ... s232kk.jpg

http://img526.imageshack.us/img526/7619 ... p028fq.jpg

just because its human doesn't mean it has to be blocky/boxy. the second ship there actuall has its wings rotate 90 degrees while in flight in space, rotates level when it enters an atmosphere. anyway, hopefully it'll help.

[klauss]

Actually, I'd like a blocky dodo, with proper texturing (detail to enhance hard edges).
That way it looks more like a flying coffin ...

[Tarran]

why not try something more....well, less blocky? some examples. (and yes, i designed and modeled both of these)

when I think of the dodo, the first thing that comes to mind is .. utility vehicle.. utility vehicles tend to follow the rule of funtion over form. (ingame cargo haulers are a good example of this)

by and by.. I like your models

[BradMick]

well, that second model of mine accomplishes both. its meant to carry a ton of cargo (the big nose area is for that), but still is stylish. utility/function meets the artistic. just because its got to be utilitarian in function, doesn't mean it has to look boring or simple.

[Ryder P. Moses]

The second one's pretty cool. Very like the old-fashioned spaceship designs from fifty years or so ago.

The blocky thing is mostly a new aesthetic (post-Starwars) for what 'ugly' ships should look like. I think it kinda came after the realization that ships operating largely or exclusively in space need not be aerodynamic, and hence cubical hulls rather than cylindrical ones were more efficient storage devices. Also, from a game perspective, it's a lot easier to detail them, for what should be obvious reasons.

That sorta plane would be good for a transatmospheric vehicle, though.

[BradMick]

well, even when designing a more 'blocky' ship i look to make it cool, and interesting. when designing for a game, looks are actually pretty important. who wants to fly in a brick? so the brick is covered in pipes...its still a brick, and its boring.

[Halleck]

Who wants to drive a van? Practical people who need to move stuff in large quantities.

Not everyone has the money or the inclination for the latest streamlined luxury model, here or in VS.

That said, the 'boxy' dodo model could do with additional polys. The plowshare and clydesdale models are good examples of properly boxy vessels (and I think the images here are taken from a low LOD mesh, so they should be seen as a bare minimum).

http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/wiki/Vessel:Plowshare
http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/wiki/ ... Clydesdale

[jackS]

as a side note, don't forget the "in-joke" tradition that the Dodo (name quite intentional) should be leading the competition for being the blockiest craft in our data-set

As for the simplicity/utility nature (universe side) vs. visual simplicity - while there wouldn't be much wasted effort on pure aesthetics for a cargo tug (especially one manufactured by Shapers to be flown by Dgn) functional simplicity can as easily lead to aesthetic complexity as to aesthetic simplicity, with late stage design additions or upgrades to previous designs being tacked on in plain sight or superimposed on top of existing hardware or hull area. A little bit of visual diversity can also go a long way - a few additional polygons thrown at softening hard edges or breaking up empty expanses have excellent price performance.

There is no reason for all craft, even all craft that a player might reasonably pilot (and there will be many in VS that it would be quite odd for a single-player experience to include in their piloting record, being of awkward size, in-system and/or unarmed) to be pretty. While we want to avoid craft that are artistic eyesores (especially such as look so absurdly out of place that they are immediately less visually 'real' than even other craft), there is no reason to avoid craft that are intentionally lacking in the finer graces Old boxy Volvo-esque craft are fine - but Duplo-models of Volvo-esque craft are a bit less than we're looking for

I think this model is going to be fine. If it gets a first skinning and it looks excessively 'modelish', then it'll have to go back for a geometry touchup, but boxiness is not, in and of itself any crime (Especially for a Dodo ).

[Tarran]

do the dgn have thier own sign/symbol? if so.. can someone let me know what it is? (I did a search for it, and didn't find anything)

[Tarran]

what I'm looking for, are opinions on the metal feel of the skin.. does it look right.. if not .. why not.. ect.. ignore the seems.. I'm currently experimenting with a different way to do them, and the difference didn't turn out right this go around.