3DStation project (for other members)

morranspace

He,

I want to start a new starion project

the idee is that members (how like making a station) build a station togetter

If you what to then show your plans (feel free)

maby we all can make the best station of all...

news...
station_idea6[1].jpg

LockeFP

Huh. Sounds interesting, but there are a few problems.

We all like making our own projects, and all have different workflow methods. We also don't all use the same programs to model, nor the same methods of actual modeling. You might be able to get a few of use together to work on a single project, but even that's asking a lot.

Don't get me wrong: I'm interested in the idea, I'm just not sure how it could actually be implemented.

Haturod

We'd need some sort of uniform way of connecting station parts together(I.E. a Docking collar also seen in current space stations like ISS, perhaps a little more robust), export to .obj format and then link it together in a single program

We'd need someone to plan the layout of the station though

LockeFP

So what era of space flight are we talking about? Past, current, or future? I'd opt for a futuristic concept, with slightly sci-fi elements such as weapons and the like.

Haturod

Would be cool to end up with a structure as big as the Citadel seen in Mass Effect

Kalic-Vadek

A 30 Mile long Station Interesting....

(the Citadel's about 30 Mile Long)

Pagrin

You really need to define the level of tech, its no good one person building a details warp corp power unit, if its not trek level of tech.

morranspace

30 mile station sounds good to me

morranspace

so you guys whant a station this big

GOOD!

NOW THIS IS FUN!!

morranspace

so...

I can stick with the idee of:

''export to .obj format and then link it together in a single program''

but...
what progam will we use?

LockeFP

Max or Maya are probably the most powerful tools out there. However, exporting to OBJs all the time would be a gigantic pain, since we would lose a lot of data when importing into a new program. My suggestion is that those that get involved work with a single program, or one that can easily export to a data-rich format and back. Of course, even then, if a person doesn't have the same product issue (Max 2009 vs Max 2010) then you end up with problems far down the road.

Mikey-B

We'd need some sort of uniform way of connecting station parts together(I.E. a Docking collar also seen in current space stations like ISS, perhaps a little more robust), export to .obj format and then link it together in a single program

I did a docking port mesh for my Gemini In Name Only 3D project but it might not be relevant for this 30 mile long space station. I had fun building it though. Here are some background images for you. Maybe the station needs universal docking ports like I did for my Contact Lost (TM) universe. What's funny is that somebody thought that my fictional LIMBS was real!

LockeFP

Funny thing is, Mikey: when he mentioned universal docking, I immediately thought of your ports! They seem perfect for what we're talking about, but they might need upgrading to a higher tech level, if we're doing a farther-future concept.

Mikey-B

Yeah, my stuff is near future, but it might give you ideas for a future tech version.

morranspace

so does any one have a idee what style station it is going to be?

alien or human?

morranspace

just 2 questions

Who's in?

and

what Program do You use?

Knowles2

Well I think it should be modular in design, something like ISS, that we can all design individual components and join them together only in the final stage.

A city type station could work as well, something like Atlantis, but a space station instead of a city.

Melak

I might be in

As for the technical aspects; I use Max 2010.
I have access to 2011 too though(student ), so if we are primarily maxers here it would be no trouble loading all parts in native format. FBX, Collada, etc are "rich" formats as you put it, that should allow for relatively unproblematic transfer to/from most other apps.


There are a great number of more important questions though, of artistic nature

Will this be franchise work or original? If franchise work, time frame and allegiance should provide some general direction in the area of style.
If original, time frame and tech level are still useful information, but we'll have to figure out the style ourselves.
In both cases we'll have to figure out the purpose of the station.

If everyone does his or her own thing, it might end up looking a bit rag tag. That could be desirable, or not. Either way we should probably try to sketch parts we have ideas for or the whole station and see how our ideas could fit together.

First things first though...this is just a personal preference of mine, but 30 miles is well, pretty darn huge.
I tend to dislike overly huge spaceships/spacestations/... because somehow it wrecks the suspension of disbelief for me.

Regardless of that though, a 30 mile sized station might limit the amount of detail we can include, and maybe we should figure out the prupose of the station before we decide on the size (form follows function and all that )

Which is not supposed to mean favor a sensible design over a pretty one

colbmista

Why dont you guys asign 2 or 3 miles to each modeller and how ever the amount of modellers join thid project equals the size of your station

colbmista

Also u should specify weather each section will be square rectangle or calindrical or funky like a triangle

Mikey-B

This sounds like a United Interstellar Nations Space Station, a facility made up of components from several interstellar nations designed to provide a mixing pot for various cultures to come together and mingle and to promote cooperation between participants. Sort of a United Nations in space meets a colony cylindar. Each signatory nation designs, builds, and transports their own piece of the UINSS, so yeah, having a rag-tag look could indeed be appropriate. The real-world ISS is a bit rag tag; just look at the differences between the Russian modules and the US side. And to avoid yet another Trek/Star Wars/Babylon 5/Mass Effect/Halo thread, I'd suggest something original, or something less well known such as the Chronicles of Man, but I'd vote for something original, because then you get to define the culture that spawned the section of the station you're working on.

(Just something to spark creativity...)

United Interstellar Nations Space Station (a.k.a. Nexus Station)

Parts of this station are old, really old. Easily 1,500 years. But unlike what you'd find in some decades old video game, we know exactly who built the original sections of Nexus: The Veran. Heiroglyphics and runes on the walls introduce you to their language, culture, and mathematics, and tell the story of how the Veran reached for the stars, found this amazingly resource rich but inhospitable solar system, and built Nexus in the Jangan-Pandang L-5 point. We even know why they left; like the American public did after Apollo, Verans lost interest in space travel. They went back home, hooked up with each other on their equivalent of the VR Net, and as the writings on the walls predicted, they stopped interacting with each other and wasted away. They're not all gone of course, but it's hard to believe that the primitve Verans we found were once the sole masters of the stars.

Jangan, a chthonian planet with an immense radiation belt loops around Pandang, a "typical" G-type star, in a classic "Hot Jupiter" retrograde orbit. Not the best place to live, but Jangan and its many moons are perfect for mining transuranium elements in the island of stability, especially the ones vital to interstellar travel. Yup. Nexus started out as a mining town, but now it's much more than that. One thing not mentioned is why the original sections of Nexus were so heavily armed. Nobody knows why it's so well armed, but the mining town is definitely also a fort in the black sky.

We weren't the first ones to find Nexus, the... No'an? Nicto? Nickle? Oh Hell, I can't remember their name... Anyway, a bunch of other races found Nexus along their border, and as more and more checked it out, they used the Veran language to communicate. Nexus literally became common ground, with everybody wondering just what the station was built to defend against. It sure wasn't pirates, the weapons are, well, really, really big.

As interstellar nations began trading ideas, that escalated to trading goods, which in turn led to defense pacts and finally, chartering the United Interstellar Nations. As part of the signatory process, each participating nation builds a section onto Nexus, and then opens it up to all cultures. It's sort of like a World Expo, a way to show off what your nation can do...

LockeFP

Mikey has some interesting ideas, there. I'm liking the abandoned-by-aliens concept, but I'm not so hot on the timeframe you have there. 1500 years sounds like an awfully long time for anything to retain it's habitability. Hell, just keeping it in the sky and not having it drift off-course in that amount of time would be a monumental task. Maybe something more like 150 years would be closer to believability. And I for one like the idea of them just disappearing. Mayans did it, why can't the Veran (or whatever we end up calling them)?

The other thing about having a previously built station is that we could "strip it down" and have just the spaceframe to work off of. That way, we have an overall objective for shape, but the actual components and construction techniques could be unique to each designer.

I use Max 2010 (go student licenses!) as well as PaintShopPro for texturing. The other thing is, I believe finishing work (materials and textures) should be done by one person. NOT ME. That way, at least we won't have odd-looking materials next to each other, and those of us that don't know as much about materials can still contribute.

Melak

colbmista wrote: »

Why dont you guys asign 2 or 3 miles to each modeller and how ever the amount of modellers join thid project equals the size of your station

I don't think this would work so well, if we have 10-15 slices of station and put them all on a shish kebab its doubtful anything will fit at all, circle sections with rectangles etc.

Just to put the 30 miles into context...


and against a 30 mile long stick:


If we were to go with something similar in structure to DS9 we could partition it like this:

- a central spire(or more than one, or it could fork into several and then join back to one again..)

- a number of rings of different sizes, smaller ones (plus some part of the spire where they attach) could be built by one person; larger ones could be split into segments

- (possibly) a set of uniform arms for each larger ring, to provide an interface between the individualized sections of the ring

Just an example of how we could approach this, a truss system/skeleton like on the ISS might lend itself more to partitioning it into gird blocks, etc.

The trick will be finding a good mix between a rigid base structure and complete modularization.
I think that the extra planning beforehand will be worth it though

pff I talk a lot

morranspace

I agee with melak

but...

How is gone do the planning
I'm not good in planning stuff.

so... ?

morranspace

I use blender at the moment
I can't affort maya at the moment but blender works for me now
hmmmm... not much ha
gona work later with bryce 7 untill I can effort maya

But it is not that bad (I HOPE)

(for how is looking for a 3d program, don't buy Illusion mage (how cleam to be better than maya and max) it is a copy of blender2 and has just a diverend interfase)

for textures I use All kinds of programs

morranspace

do you mean with that station idee somthing like this

JUST A PICTURE (I DIN'T MAKE THAT)

but this one is small !

colbmista

I said to assign a shape not give each srction a differnt shape im talkin bout standards and who said the sections have to be straight they could be a 45 degree angle that forms a crcle im talkin bout modelcstandereds such as

Station shape: octigon such and such dimetions at a 45 dgree angle
Weapon limt: 2 per section
Module connecter: spacific design made by singlremember

U need to assign standard stuff then let the modellers design from therea base mesh so to speak

colbmista

U wanna group modelling a station section by section give them a base model to modfl off of

morranspace

sounds good

but still we have to plan ahead

morranspace

I can export in fromat;

.3ds
.ac
.dxf/dwg
.tbx
.dae COLLADA 01.3.1
.dae COLLADA 1.4
.x
.lwo
.mot
.m3g,java
.md2
.flt
.iv
.map
.rav
.xsi
.ply
.wrl
.obj
.x3d
.mdd

I hope thats usefull

morranspace

what kind of defendsive waponds do you whant for the station

in 150 or 1500 years a lot can changes
what I mean with ''can'' is that a long time ago people where thinking that now in thw 21 century we would be in space Colonizing planets.
well they where rong!!!!

If we mabe use todays wapons and style it a bit, it will look future like