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3DColonial Battlestar by martok2112
Martok21120
Posts: 0Member
Hi, all,
Well, finally I restarted my project of building a Colonial Battlestar from the original Battlestar Galactica series. I'm using Blender, and thanks to the very basic, but extremely thorough introductory video tutorial by Karan Shah, I've been learning my way around Blender with considerable pace.
It looks like my model may end up being a bit much for iClone to handle though. (There are conversion programs that allow me to convert .3DS and .OBJ files to iClone ready meshes. But right now, the nose section the battlestar alone, incomplete as it is, is already over 7800 faces).
If it does become a bit much to learn, I believe Blender has animation applications as well...and I also have Anim8or.
Anyhoo...here's the nose section of my Colonial Battlestar thus far. It's not photo perfect, but I think the detail looks pretty durned good.
Constructive criticism and commentary are welcome.
Well, finally I restarted my project of building a Colonial Battlestar from the original Battlestar Galactica series. I'm using Blender, and thanks to the very basic, but extremely thorough introductory video tutorial by Karan Shah, I've been learning my way around Blender with considerable pace.
It looks like my model may end up being a bit much for iClone to handle though. (There are conversion programs that allow me to convert .3DS and .OBJ files to iClone ready meshes. But right now, the nose section the battlestar alone, incomplete as it is, is already over 7800 faces).
If it does become a bit much to learn, I believe Blender has animation applications as well...and I also have Anim8or.
Anyhoo...here's the nose section of my Colonial Battlestar thus far. It's not photo perfect, but I think the detail looks pretty durned good.
Constructive criticism and commentary are welcome.
Post edited by Martok2112 on
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You do seem to be off to a good start here, but I can see some odd polygon shading on the side of the ship you might want to address befoe you get too far into the project. Best of luck to you on this. I'm looking forward to further updates.
Thanks for the advice (which I got similar advice from another friend of mine...so I tried to take it to heart and adjust accordingly.)
I wholeheartedly agree about the varying (yet highly detailed) physical models available for viewing on the net. The reference I've been using (which is surprisingly accurate for a very small miniature) is the Konami Galactica/Pegasus ships that were available for a short time.
Here's my progress thus far. I was trying to build this mesh for conversion and use in iClone, but it would seem that it is a bit much for the conversion app (3DEXChange) to handle. So, I had to render these images in Anim8or. I'll try to see if I can get some renders from Blender. Perhaps I can get some more detailed images from them. I'm glad you like what you see so far, Buckaroo.
The toy was actually called the StarBird, and yes, that's an image of the 3D model I built. I've been mulling over releasing it here but i'm not sure there would be a lot of interest in it because so many of the members were born long after the StarBird went out of production. I'm glad you got a kick out of seeing the image. It was my favorite toy when I was a lad, too.
Your latest images look good. There's a nice amount of detail, but not so much that it overpowers the shape of the ship. Are you planning on using material maps on the model? If so, they will likely make or break how good it will ultimately look. Please keep us updated on your progress.
I used to have a Big Trak when I was a kid. (The tank that had the electronic flashing cannon up front, and a keypad on the back with which you programmed commands. I always pretended it was a new weapon for the Galactic Empire, something to supplement AT-AT walkers.
I'm glad you like what you're seeing so far. Yeah, the TOS battlestars are tough to build, but fun. And I think I'll do some texture details inside of iClone. I do want to give the ship some color in the appropriate areas. And of course, have the name tags ready....Galactica, Columbia, Pegasus, Rycon, and a few others. In iClone is where I'll add lighting effects around the ship....running and window lights, etc.
Hey, that avatar is super cool.
why not do a clay render to really show it off?
Hmmm....I'm still learning the assembly stuff on Blender, and haven't really monkeyed with rendering yet. All the images I've shown have been from when I exported the model into iClone. I'll have to look at Blender and see about the "clay rendering". I am glad you like what you see so far.
Right now, I am working on the landing arms...hope to have them finished in the next day or so. Merry Christmas, btw.
I think she turned out rather nicely. My first model I've ever built with an advanced modeling app....Blender.
I hope you'll like this
Yep, there's nothing like the feeling of biting off more than you think you can chew on your first 3D build, but as someone once said "ambition breeds greatness," so why not reach for the stars? You've made some interesting alterations to the overall design, but I like them. It looks very much like a hybrid of Ralph McQuarries original sketches and the final version that appeared on-screen. Nice work! I'm looking forward to seeing what you decide to tackle next.
I just posted my Cylon Basestar...and she turned out quite nice.
Sorry I've been so long in posting. Life as a musician on Bourbon St. can sometimes be a very busy one.
I've also been working on lots more 3D stuff for my (still in progress) Battlestar Galactica video projects.
One of the things I've been doing lately is modifying my battlestar mesh...because I've been entertaining the idea of doing a CG movie of my fanfic "Galactica: The Last Battlestar". THIS version of the battlestar is what I'll use for that story, since, in my retelling of humanity's fall against the Cylons, the Galactica is a brand new, state of the art addition to the Colonial Fleet. The Ron Moore battlestars will represent the older ships of the line. My story is actually a melding of both the original Glen A. Larson series and the Ron Moore series, told my way.
Anyhoo, here's the modified version of my battlestar, given even more greebling, improving the bridge module, and anti-capital ship, anti-starfighter/point defense, and planetary bombardment ordnance.
I hope you like.
Although I haven't learned AML, I can separately move each cannon and have them fire at will for my animations.
Respectfully to all,
Martok2112 (Steve)
This round, in addition to adding some front greeblage to the nose section, and the forward section of the flight pods, I also added blast shields and extendable platforms to the aft of the flight pods. Both are capable of being animated. The doors can open on command, and the platform extensions have to be keyframed, but, I think it will make a neat addition to the old girl. The platform extension I fabricated myself. The door is actually a resized iProp from the Starship Interiors Collection from the Reallusion content store. So yeah, I kinda cheated....but hey, sometimes cheating's okay.
The platform extension is designed to extend and retract, to create more of a lead deck for the Viper pilots to land on, instead of trying to land their ships inside a tiny box. I thought it would add a little more life to the landing sequences....which, I'll try to make a sample video a little later.
What was amazing was that I was actually able to render a shot with the Galactica AND the Viper at the same time. I'd figured I'd have to shoot them separately and composite them, but sure enough I could shoot the Big G and the Viper in one greenscreen shot, and then add the background in later. Well, I hope you like.