Looking good there, solid and yet 'old fashioned' like a real first generation frontier exploration starship. Looking at the Dome there is a shuttle bay, so how will the shuttles look like - similar to your avatar?
Nice updates there carlg Something off about the shading makes the indented panel lines look raised slightly. You're also getting some smoothing issues on some of your panels too. But great design so far!
tobian: Yeah, I noticed that too, now that you mentioned it. Especially on the big tank of the secondary hull.
I included a couple of wireframe pics, and I think it has to do with some errant edges that make up some of the panel lines... I need to clean them up or something...
Thanks, flanker!. Yes, that's my shuttle-in-progress. I did a bigger picture a while ago:
And a blueprint-type thing in Illustrator from way back:
Obviously not at your level, but at least I'll know where everything goes when I start the 3d project.
Hmm you really shouldn't have uneven segments on your hull there, it can create smoothing anomalies on it's own. Also you should be careful using edge-bevel between hull plates , as where it forms a 'corner' you can get deformation of the edges. Where I have a diagonal cut going accross the hull, i actually duplicate it to another layer, do the inset, and then stencil it back on the hull, so it cuts across the poly lines, not deforming them. You're getting smoothing issue on that big plate next to the 3 small plates because you have the cut continuing down the whole hull. Disolve those extra edges where they aren't needed, and it should help your smoothing...
Looks much better, though there is still ever such a slight unevenness there, I can't put my finger on. Maybe once you put variated speculars and reflection maps on there you won't see it as much It's the down side of when you work in so close to a model, you can see more of what's wrong with it in macro detail haha, a pain I share!
This looks pretty good to me You have some smoothing issues though, because you've doubled up panel lines and natural edges. By that I mean, you've used the edges created along with your cylinders as edges of panels - this causes the render engine to see the panel line as the end of that curved surface, rather than seeing that it actually continues to curve round. To overcome that, panel lines should be additional edges cut into the base object when it is on a curved surface (on a flat surface its obviously more logical to make use of those 'natural' edges).
Thanks deg, I thought I was going to have to dredge this thread up from page 15 or something.
Martocticvs: Thanks for the input, but doesn't cutting additional panel lines into a curved surface cause uneven-sized polys to either side? Whenever I try cutting lines in between instead of using the existing edges, I get weird lighting and shading artefacts.
Anyhoo, I come bearing a more or less completed fueling hatch, and greebles.
Yeah, but because you're breaking the surface at that point anyway, it doesn't really cause any ill effects (obviously you want to avoid having any really skinny polys there, though).
Working on another section of greebles. Here's what I have so far:
To be honest, I'm not too pleased with how it looks so far. I like the individual pieces, but it's not gelling for me. I tried a variation with a risged backing, but it doesn't really help:
Here's how it looks from afar:
To be honest, I think the greeble areas on the larger tank are more successful. What can I do to improve it?
Hmmm. I think the thing that wrecks it for me is that they're all buried in the back panel - makes them look less real, like a model kit where they're just extruded from the plastic body. But that's just my opinion. Loving it, otherwise...
Hmmm. I think the thing that wrecks it for me is that they're all buried in the back panel - makes them look less real, like a model kit where they're just extruded from the plastic body. But that's just my opinion. Loving it, otherwise...
true, another trick is to connect some of the box shapes together with wires and pipes, also use layers of detail to help create a sense of depth in that area.
When I left off, I was struggling with greebles. So I started over, made the initial indent deeper and used simpler shapes, but in more layers. It seems to give a better effect:
Here's a closeup:
I think I'll extrude the sides a bit to give the impression that the workings extend underneath the hull in all directions, but other than that I'm pretty much finished with thise section (though still open to crits/suggestions, naturally).
I have to give credit to Lee80, IgnusFast, and fractalsponge (aka the God of Greebles) for their assistance -- if this looks good, it's cause of them.
Looks fantastic, though I might suggest you don't have shapes which don't intersect, in non-logical ways, like that pipe does, with the 3 vertical bars in the centre right of that pit. Othwewise it looks great with all the dense layers, though yes it would look MUCH better if the pit went sideways. You should also give the implication the plates are on top of some superstructure (don't just end the panel lines like that) and maybe even make the sides of the pit look a bit structural, like girders, to create more details
Nice stuff, and work, dude. She has a sorta Trek meets 2001 feel to 'er.
deg
Now that's a thought...I wonder if anyone ever thought to make a design study showing how 2001's Discovery might evolve into this type of ship...Of course there will have to be a timeline explaining why Jupiter is still there for the Enterprise to fly by in ST:TMP.
Now that's a thought...I wonder if anyone ever thought to make a design study showing how 2001's Discovery might evolve into this type of ship...Of course there will have to be a timeline explaining why Jupiter is still there for the Enterprise to fly by in ST:TMP.
Given it's trek you could expand that a little with Scotty/Spock/Wesley/Data/Obrien/Gordie/Dax/ or 7of9 fixed it with [Tech] using the [Tech] to make more [Tech].
:-)
Yep, that's the sorts of things I meant, looks ace! Now you should start to put in some little lights and luminous surfaces inside there, especially just outside of where you can see, so it illuminates the depth!
Posts
I included a couple of wireframe pics, and I think it has to do with some errant edges that make up some of the panel lines... I need to clean them up or something...
Thanks, flanker!. Yes, that's my shuttle-in-progress.
And a blueprint-type thing in Illustrator from way back:
Obviously not at your level, but at least I'll know where everything goes when I start the 3d project.
Less chamfers and extra lines running all over the place, and a much more even distribution of lines.
Many thanks for the advice, tobian.
(And this is an angular design -- imagine how much fun a TNG-era ship must be...:devil:)
Anyhoo, got a couple of access hatches done, and a bit of greeble-fication.
Just a quick update with some clamps:
I like the deflector mounting arrangement
deg
Martocticvs: Thanks for the input, but doesn't cutting additional panel lines into a curved surface cause uneven-sized polys to either side? Whenever I try cutting lines in between instead of using the existing edges, I get weird lighting and shading artefacts.
Anyhoo, I come bearing a more or less completed fueling hatch, and greebles.
Lots of greebles.
To be honest, I'm not too pleased with how it looks so far. I like the individual pieces, but it's not gelling for me. I tried a variation with a risged backing, but it doesn't really help:
Here's how it looks from afar:
To be honest, I think the greeble areas on the larger tank are more successful. What can I do to improve it?
true, another trick is to connect some of the box shapes together with wires and pipes, also use layers of detail to help create a sense of depth in that area.
The ship is looking great.
When I left off, I was struggling with greebles. So I started over, made the initial indent deeper and used simpler shapes, but in more layers. It seems to give a better effect:
Here's a closeup:
I think I'll extrude the sides a bit to give the impression that the workings extend underneath the hull in all directions, but other than that I'm pretty much finished with thise section (though still open to crits/suggestions, naturally).
I have to give credit to Lee80, IgnusFast, and fractalsponge (aka the God of Greebles) for their assistance -- if this looks good, it's cause of them.
Now that's a thought...I wonder if anyone ever thought to make a design study showing how 2001's Discovery might evolve into this type of ship...Of course there will have to be a timeline explaining why Jupiter is still there for the Enterprise to fly by in ST:TMP.
It got better.
:-)
I think this is about as close as the camera will ever get to it; so no need to go berserk with the uber-details: