Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by Shark »

The ship reminds me a lot of the Serentity in Firefly.
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by Deus Siddis »

-REBEL3- wrote: Just a general comment about the ship-it seems to me it should look somewhat more sexy-sort of like the H496

IMO, it should look like whoever owns it made an effort to make it look pretty. While your model is great, it just seems a bit too utilitarian to me. I guess I would recommend generally make the ship flow together more, and round lots of corners. Since it is a diplomatic ship, it would be a bit of a symbol of the power of the owner.
That's not necessarily an issue, since only certain faction would be concerned with that. What really matters is whether it looks Andolian--

Andolian products generally project an aura of refined efficiency. Not as utilitarian as some of the Unadorned designs, Andolian designs have clearly functional origins, but are highly polished (figuratively, not literally) in their construction. There is little extravagance, and less flash, but Andolian ships are not exercises in simplicity - they are exercises in restraint. Andolian ships, aside from fin-mounted radiators, are fairly solid in the construction of their main bodies and betray little resemblance to their aerospace forebears, being entirely unsuited to atmospheric flight. Ordinance, however, is readily mounted in unenclosed spaces where more efficient. Cockpits or other crew quarters are usually located centrally, and beneath the heaviest sections of armor - the Andolian economic machine can produce replacement parts faster than it can produce new pilots, although their stocks of both are formidable. Andolians make heavy use of automation, and their larger craft tend to require much smaller crews than that of other groups.
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by starbright »

Just a status update. It's been a while since I posted but I'm still adding detail to the spaceship whenever I get the chance.
Progress is slow because of lack of time, oh and I upgraded to Blender 2.5 so I have to relearn a few things too. It's worth it though I like the new interface and it renders faster.

Image

More, panels, boxes, lights, antennas, etc are creeping over the surface of the Franklin. Greebles in other words.
I've also added the red flows of the liquid droplet radiators. There are twelve in all. In this view you can see the three on the upper side of the rear wing.

Blend file here -> http://www.starbrightillustrations.com/ ... p137.blend if you want to have a closer look.

Edit--------

oops linked to a dynamic pic. This one should stick.
Last edited by starbright on Sun Jul 25, 2010 11:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by -REBEL3- »

starbright wrote: I've also added the red flows of the liquid droplet radiators.
I'm not sure if the LDRs should be red. I would expect that the temps would be high enough they might look white.
Heres a link to a site about steel colors/heat. While I doubt we would use steel, it's the best thing I could find. :oops:

http://www.sizes.com/materls/colors_of_ ... metals.htm

I saw on your blog that you added some basic textures (the blue.) Since you're thinking a bit about textures, read this.

http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/forum ... t=andolian

IMO, this is probably the best example of an Andolian ship we have. I'd like to see these colors used again, with the tessellation theme being present in most (if not all) Andolian ships. As a note-you could try making the armored bits of the ship look like that. That style of armor is pretty unique-it'd also make a good general theme for Andolian ships.
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by starbright »

-REBEL3- wrote:... Since you're thinking a bit about textures, read this.

http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/forum ... t=andolian

IMO, this is probably the best example of an Andolian ship we have. I'd like to see these colors used again...
It is very nice. I like the engines too.

----Edit----

Now with white-hot LDRs

Image
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by -REBEL3- »

Any way you could add the back of those engines to yours? Specifically, could just resize these parts of the engines-add them to the back of your current engines? It could be a common Andolian design future. :D

The fronts of the engines could also be a little more angular, and probably a little more armored in general.
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by starbright »

-REBEL3- wrote:Any way you could add the back of those engines to yours?
I think that's a good idea. I think the armour is too thick for a ship this size, but I do like these engines. I'll see if they'll fit.
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by Fendorin »

Very nice job

for the questions about turret i did this but i never post :
Image

If it can help the tiny can be fit point defense turret
i don't now if you decides to add turrets on your fighter/bounty hunter .

Image
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by starbright »

Fendorin wrote: i don't now if you decides to add turrets on your fighter/bounty hunter .
I was told to leave a blank area for the turret. (according to the stats the Franklin is a diplomatic craft - I have been thinking of it as a big fat luxury bus that can fight)

I suppose the two turrets would have to be modelled (the hard point weapons too) - unless they already exist?

BTW

I love the large turret you did on the right in the upper image.

Do you have a blend file for that - if you use Blender that is? :D
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by Fendorin »

Image

this turret is into the blend file too
it was designed as a generic for match and remplace the current ingame
and maybe it can use
DivShare File - turret V01.blend
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by -REBEL3- »

@Fendorian-when you redid the Tesla, you created a new Andolian turret. Any chance you would have that lying around?

@ starbright-the aforementioned ret is on the same page as the Tesla I talked about earlier.

*Edit* @starbright. Here's a nice page done by Fendorian on the Andolian art style.Note that they don't use windows. :cry:

http://vegastrike.sourceforge.net/forum ... =4&t=15019
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by Fendorin »

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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by starbright »

@REBEL3
From ages ago in this thread (page 3 or 4 I think)
chuck_starchaser wrote:The art guide specifically excepts civilian craft from the rule of centralized cockpit, no glass bubble for Andolians, and I'd be of a mind to have a cockpit and a visible pilot whenever possible, just for the scale appreciation value it adds.
Even if windows make no sense, I firmly believe they will be there. Why? Popular demand. Windows are not necessary in the Space Shuttle; but NASA would have to go looking for astronauts on Mars if it removed them, I bet.
A decision was made to go with windows and cockpit bubble, and it's too late to back out now (though I did flirt with a sensor turret instead for a while.
Image
Here's a real old render with the turret.

That said, the thread you link to is great. Great work by Fendorian, and lots of it. I'm going through it now.

@Fendorian - I downloaded and played with your turret blend. Great work. I think point defence turrets like these would look great sticking out of the top and bottom of the Franklin. Who decides what turrets are used in the game? How do we get them included?
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by -REBEL3- »

starbright wrote:@REBEL3
From ages ago in this thread (page 3 or 4 I think)
chuck_starchaser wrote:The art guide specifically excepts civilian craft from the rule of centralized cockpit, no glass bubble for Andolians, and I'd be of a mind to have a cockpit and a visible pilot whenever possible, just for the scale appreciation value it adds.
Even if windows make no sense, I firmly believe they will be there. Why? Popular demand. Windows are not necessary in the Space Shuttle; but NASA would have to go looking for astronauts on Mars if it removed them, I bet.
A decision was made to go with windows and cockpit bubble, and it's too late to back out now (though I did flirt with a sensor turret instead for a while.
Image
Here's a real old render with the turret.
Yeah, I know :D . I do support going with windows-for the reasons Chuck said. I wanted to avoid any canon conflicts-that said, if Chuck says it's good, I'm good with it. (I forgot about that post :oops: .)

Look @ the picture of the Andolian in the link I gave-note the red head sensors. We could make it a design feature for Andolian ships to have that pattern of sensors somewhere on them. You could try sticking them on the nose, in front of the cockpit bubble.
starbright wrote:@Fendorian - I downloaded and played with your turret blend. Great work. I think point defence turrets like these would look great sticking out of the top and bottom of the Franklin. Who decides what turrets are used in the game? How do we get them included?
With regards to turrets-AFIK, you model a flat space-it's designated a hardpoint. Then, the game puts the correct turret (specified in units.csv) on the hardpoint.

The Minister of Information (jacks) decides what's included canonically. He's been gone for a while now-I heard there was talk of nominating Fendorian as the art person.
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by Fendorin »

if you want my point o view as is just my point of view
i like this starship as it is, look nice i would like to se it finish soon
get a windows on "playable starship" make more sense than on huge carrier
for my only mecchanist shouldn't have windows
after all Andolian can consider add windows on starship as they handle few species into their protecorate
and are they are smart design starship without window make their ship difficult to export :mrgreen:
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by starbright »

Fendorin wrote:...i like this starship as it is, look nice i would like to se it finish soon
...
Me too :D
Here are a few more renders just to show I'm still busy.
I'm making good progress, and I hope to be moving on to the UV unwrap pretty soon - although I've been saying that for a while :|

Image
With the new shape engines.
Image
Image
more greebles, and the mesh is a bit neater too
Here's the blend file -> http://www.starbrightillustrations.com/ ... p147.blend
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by Fendorin »

really nice !
the thruster is nice too :mrgreen:

i see into blendr the turret hard point are as nicely made as the modell is a really good job !!
i maybe missed a part but what is those yellow triangles on "wings"?
keep up
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by -REBEL3- »

starbright wrote:
-REBEL3- wrote: Here's the link to the Llama-note that the radiator is mostly done in texturing. However, if you wanted to add some *tiny* ridges to the wings, that would help the texture-makers (i.e. YOU-modelers normally make the textures for their ships.) :mrgreen:
Thanks for the link to the Llama thread.
Beautiful radiator - done by Chuck, right? - but I'm thinking of going another way.
The more I read about liquid-droplet radiators the more I like them for a spaceship that must survive a hostile environment - (battle etc).
http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi. ... 010920.pdf
Just two notches in the armour, one rectangular to shoot a stream of metal droplets, one circular to collect them again. No pipes, lighter and less likely to be damaged my micrometeorites or hostile fire.
I've ripped the old 50s ‘B’ movie rocket ship wings out. I'm now geeking about looking at NASA PDFs and trying to design something a bit more ‘hard’ SF.
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I've also ripped out the tractor beams and replaced them with a second heavy missile system on each wing.
I'm sure nobody is going to be too upset about that.
I love designing spaceships, it's fun. As usual feel free to chime in with input, I probably wouldn't have bothered about radiators, landing arms or making sure the edges looked OK if it wasn't for the feedback I'm getting here. :D

Edit--------------
oops bad link, should be fixed now
Edit-------------
still bad, good now :oops:
Fendorian-the slots on the wings are a type of heat radiation system. Details are in the link above.

@starbright-make the viewing area for the rich people more clear-AFIK, we're going with clear glass in most cases in VS. It won't look like it's glowing that way-I'd like to save glowing panels for radiator surfaces, weapons systems, etc. Also, the pilot looks a bit big to me. Any chance you could compare him against the door in the ship? It should be a good foot higher then him.

Otherwise, keep up the nice work! :D
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by starbright »

-REBEL3- wrote: Also, the pilot looks a bit big to me. Any chance you could compare him against the door in the ship? It should be a good foot higher then him.

Otherwise, keep up the nice work! :D
Hi as you can see in this LA Times link -->http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/washing ... orida.html even top VIPs don't automatically get a big door. And even the shorter George W banged his head getting into Marine One too.
But I'll take a look. :D
I've turned the windows clear too, and I'm working on a low poly interior.

EDIT----

After playing around I think the head-on renders I have been doing have been making the cockpit look big due to the quite exaggerated perspective.
Image
Even in this more side on image the figure in the cockpit looks a little bigger.

Image
In this there is a figure in the passenger compartment, a figure in the airlock and one in the cockpit. I think they all look the same size from the side like this.

Here's the latest blend file with some little spacepeople to push around.
http://www.starbrightillustrations.com/ ... p154.blend
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by Fendorin »

No need to told you but it' s maybe the most well /nice design model of Vegastrike :shock:


but what's for those little space people and the inside part??
Transparent cockpit it was requested for test the cinemut transparent shade no?

let's unwrap it and texture it !!! :mrgreen:
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by Dragonseraph Angel »

No need to told you but it' s maybe the most well /nice design model of Vegastrike
Not much question here at all - it looks like something that could be in a movie - it looks real... not just believable, but tangible... almost like a photograph...

First model on vegastrike and your already a deity :D

And its not even textured yet :shock:
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by starbright »

Thanks for all the encouragement! :D

I'm hard at work, but I don't have much time so it's slow going still.
Fendorin wrote:...but what's for those little space people and the inside part??
Transparent cockpit it was requested for test the cinemut transparent shade no?
Hmm...

Should there be ‘stuff’ inside the spaceship - like a pilot and passenger lounge?
Will anything behind the galss be seen?
Would it be better to leave the pilot etc. out? :?:
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by Fendorin »

starbright wrote:Thanks for all the encouragement! :D

I'm hard at work, but I don't have much time so it's slow going still.
Fendorin wrote:...but what's for those little space people and the inside part??
Transparent cockpit it was requested for test the cinemut transparent shade no?
Hmm...

Should there be ‘stuff’ inside the spaceship - like a pilot and passenger lounge?
Will anything behind the galss be seen?
Would it be better to leave the pilot etc. out? :?:
well it seems consistent, logical
is nice and cute
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by starbright »

It's been a while but I'm still working.
I've generated a test texture preliminary to a proper unwrap.
Image
As you can see there's going to need to be a bit of adjustment done before it will be a proper unwrap with even/regular/smooth test pattern.
And I just noticed some bumps in the mesh that need fixing too.
But it's coming along.
Latest blend file.http://starbrightillustrations.com/blen ... test.blend
Oh and I decided against the droplet radiators. I've used flat gold radiators on the rear wings instead. I'm making an animation to show the model off. See the animation here - http://starbrightillustrations.com/blog ... nimations/ I don't know if the animation works in Internet Explorer and it seems to download slowly in Chrome, but it works well in Firefox 4 and the latest Opera.
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Re: Duelist Heavy Fighter, Hunter's Guild (I'm having a go!)

Post by klauss »

Watch the checkers pattern for shear and other distortions, which flag unwrap issues, before you start texturing.

You can't modify the unwrap after you start texturing, not without getting into a real mess.
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