Proposed Models for Three Uln Stations

[Oblivion]

First a disclaimer: Everything that follows is not a Work-In-Progress, nor a Work-Completed - it's Work-Abandoned. Seriously, they're spin-offs from my experimentation with 3dsmax and strangelet's hull generator. Still can't bake em right, btw. I don't know what I'm doing wrong.


They looked quite nice... to me. So instead of getting flushed with my next disk-space calamity, I decided to offer em up here. I just did them this weekend.

I welcome criticism. As I won't be doing anything more with these stuff, I'd like to know what you think of it. How I could have improved it. and the like. So future models will look better.

So, first of all the resources:

The raw maps used:
http://www.deeplayer.com/Oblivion/Marke ... awMaps.zip

1.Market station maps and models:
http://www.deeplayer.com/Oblivion/MarketStMaps.zip
http://www.deeplayer.com/Oblivion/MarketStModels.zip

2.Refinery maps and models:
http://www.deeplayer.com/Oblivion/RefineryMaps.zip
http://www.deeplayer.com/Oblivion/RefineryModels.zip

3.Asteroid refinery maps and models:
http://www.deeplayer.com/Oblivion/Aster ... ryMaps.zip
http://www.deeplayer.com/Oblivion/Aster ... Models.zip

Everything needed.

And of course the pics:

The number of vertices and polygons for each:
Market Station:
Refinery:

Asteroid Refinery:



Market Station Pics:




Refinery Pics




Asteroid Refinery Pics







So, whatcha think?

And also there were a lot of other stations beside these, including the old market station I was working on, that never saw the light of day. Haha. i mean they exist as half-completed models but never got transmuted to renders and mesh files. Because I didn't like em. But here's some idea I had, about a sort of drydock station:




it's unfinished and abandoned, as is obvious from repetitive textures and not enough little details. I assure you however, those disks look better on close-up. Not emant to be submitted. I only wanted the idea out.

[klauss]

In all cases, I think the geometrical idea is pretty nice.
It only needs a better texturing job (the current, though, isn't bad in all cases, but has some weak points indeed).

I don't think they should be abandoned. I mean... they can be salvaged, since the geometry is quite nice and clean. Retexturing isn't impossible in this case - ie, there exists a texturing job that will make this geometry look good, I'm confident of that.

Perhaps you should move on, and get back to them when you're texturing skills have matured a bit? (not that they're not good already, I've seen worse).

[Paslowo]

Should there be actual doors as a station feature where it opens when a ship is docking with the station, then door closes?

[charlieg]

I quite like the yellowy-brown textures. Industrial with a sense of scale. The main weakness for me is simply the asteroid part as it looks more like a giant poo than a large rocky asteroid.

[Oblivion]

Klauss:

In all cases, I think the geometrical idea is pretty nice.
It only needs a better texturing job (the current, though, isn't bad in all cases, but has some weak points indeed).

For me, I only really liked the market station, though it still seems lacking in further geometric detail to me. It is realtively clean however, only few messed up spaces when I used boolean subtraction. Sooo.. if I really feel up to it. It could easily be retextured, I agree.

And yah. I'm moving on. But perhaps I'll get the urge to redo this someday, as I did with my ancient artemis model.

Paslowo:

Should there be actual doors as a station feature where it opens when a ship is docking with the station, then door closes?

As Klauss said, skeletal animation is not implemented with the current engine, but will be in the Ogre port. So docks are just holes for now.
And I really had it in mind to make the docks better looking, but I guess I got tired of it quickly.

@charlieg:
it does look like poo. Part of the reason why I grew tired of these and decided to scrap em was that darn asteroid. I experimented for hours with textures and I couldn't find one that made it look like a real asteroid. And besides, the points where the asteroid meregs with the structures look too clean and unrealistic.

Okay, thanks for the comments. I'll just leave them here, in case I disappear somewhere (like if I fell off a cliff, or got abducted by venusians... again ).

[charlieg]

The thing is that your textures are too dark and brown. Asteroids are rocky, not muddy! Also the shape is too uniform. Think of asteroids as giant shards of broken planet. They are not likely to be uniformly round.

http://images.google.co.uk/images?q=ast ... rch+Images

[Spaceman Spiff]

IMO the form is OK. Perhaps you could add some large craters. Yet I'd leave the surface smooth and I'd avoid any form of sharp edges. Charlieg is right when he says the major problem is the color. Why don't you use levels of grey. Maybe you could give the asteroid some areas in brown shades which would indicate different materials...

[klauss]

Craters.
It needs craters.

But protuberances are also ok.

[Oblivion]

@charlieg: I disagree with asteroids being solely rocky, . They could be muddy too!, but only when nearing perhaps a heat source. Most of the times, the mud would be like Siberia's permafrost. worse, it think. They're not round though. I tried using fractal noise to get more spikes, but no-show, it looked like an sea urchin then. Too sharp edges, as Spaceman Spiff pointed out. But, sure, I agree it looks too symmetrical and organic. Will keep that in mind.

@Spaceman spiff: It was gray, on my first try, but it contratsed to sharply with the yellow texture of the stations. Try to imagine it. yellow on gray. But maybe I'll stop making stations too colorful from now on. hehe

@Klauss: Craters, yup. craters. funny why I didn't even think of trying to make craters with geometry. Too much reliance on bump maps, I guess. And funny also, why I didn;t even glance at an encyclopedia or encarta at least to see a real crater. Guess, I was just lazy.

Thanks for ze additional input guys.

[Phlogios]

Perfect! Me Want!

[charlieg]

Any chance to see these go into the game? I really like the first two and the 3rd will be good with a bit of extra effort.

[Oblivion]

Urkkh. Have too much on my plate already. Will see...

The mesh and maps are posted anyways. If anyone wants to tweak em...

Really, no promises on these 3.

[Oblivion]

Urkkh. Have too much on my plate already. Will see...

The mesh and maps are posted anyways. If anyone wants to tweak em...

Really, no promises on these 3.

[charlieg]

*nudge*

[Oblivion]

Files lost charlieg. Anyway, now that I've seen em... they suck! LOL

[pyramid]

I'm trying to pick up on the installations models now. My first to try integrate is the Asteroid Refinery.

I came across a problem, I don't know how to solve. After importing the 3ds model into blender, I selected the mesh, changed to Edit Mode and set smooth with W->Set Smooth. The model still continues to render with squared faces in the render view (F12) and the viewport itself.
What do I need to tweak to make the smoothing happen?

Btw, which is the most likely faction to utilize this installation?

[Fendorin]

hello i have worked on the three station no great work but just transform i n .blend files and ad a bump map

if it's could use for Uln for waiting another, when we will have more information about uln style bases (minister???)

DivShare File - AsetroidRefinery.zip

DivShare File - Refinery.zip

DivShare File - MarketStModels.zip

EDIT:
@pyramid i cleaned the mesh =it's because it was double : when you see "solid" after all the standard setting =then enter in edit mode; press "space"; edit; vertices;"REMOVE DOUBLE" (or W+6)

[pyramid]

That's excellent! I will get them at home and start putting them in. The Uln seem a very feasible choice judging by the shabby looks of the stations.

[Fendorin]

here the quick 2K Uln landing base for this 3 stations



http://www.divshare.com/download/5585759-b7b

[pyramid]

Ui. Something seems very wrong with the market station (will become Uln Commerce Center). No matter what I do when exporting to obj, after converting to bfxm the station appears inside out in VS.

The refinery and asteroid refinery are just fine and will be committed later.

[Fendorin]

i will repost and check again the mesh

[Fendorin]

heyllo....

i 've checked over the uln commerces station, now it should be done (i checked the normal orientation an flip it, destroy the double vertices, remake a new material linkded with texture.and subdivise one stage) the size between the market and the refinery is now proportional ( about the 3station..... i don't know if i m clear?) i thought 500 meters tall for the market station should be good.( then is the same for other ...proportional...i don't know if i m still clear again?)

DivShare File - Uln_commerces_station.zip

thank

[pyramid]

Bah! Still something wrong with either the mesh or the conversion. It looks exactly the same after the update, i.e. inverted inside out.

[Fendorin]

i will rework it, with another checking'method. It's very stange i see the normal outside!!!

[charlieg]

Here's some inspiration for giant asteroids (although it is technically a moon).