3DStarfield- Ships

SonicN2O

This Is a companion thread to "Starfeild" in the science fiction writer's forum. I'm a LightWaver...

Here I'm basically building a "fleet" for my little sci- fi universe.
I am no means a professional artist, but I want this to be professional quality, so I don't mind scathing (but helpful) critique.

(Below is a spaceship I made a while ago, I'm thinking about remaking it)

SonicN2O

Here's something I'm working on...

General Electric IV Ion Drive- for small ships and single person fighters. This is intended for space, but I'm going to put this on ships that go in the atmosphere, too, so I need it to be somewhat aerodynamic.

Length: about 6m

First image- Thruster closeup
Second image- Steam vent

I'm thinking about putting in some docking seats where this arm type thing holds it in place when the ship is docked.
Here, I want to keep nurnies to the minimum and I'll add some detail when I texture map it.
This is all IMHO, I've never done anything like this before, so tips would be awesome.

SonicN2O

a question...

I'm planning to put this object on spaceships that I create... Is there a way to load surfaces, UV maps, and whatnot into another object, like Layout's "Load from Scene" feature?

SonicN2O

Made some more progress...

Jenny

Hi, fellow lightwaver!

I see you're new to the forum, so let me offer a bit of instruction... if you want a thumbnail to show up in the forum preview, it needs to be in the first post of the thread, which you can edit to keep that first thumbnail current if you like.

There really isn't a lot here to comment on, but hey... it's a start, and sometimes that's the hardest part! Keep plugging, and let's see what you develop this into!

SonicN2O

OK, thanks for the advice!

SonicN2O

In case anyone's wondering what the ugly squares on the side are, they're for this...
This is the docking system that these spaceships will use, where these come in on rotating arms and keep the ship "anchored".

Jenny

I'll warn you that you're not likely to get much feedback for a while. You're doing a non-franchise topic, and it takes people a while to warm to those. Plus, you're giving low-contrast clay renders, and that makes it hard to see things. When I look at your images, nothing leaps out at me as a clear and obvious purposeful thing, so I don't really have much to say about it... and people who don't have much to say often don't bother to say anything, which creates a discouraging silence.

Keep plugging, keep posting, and people will look, and find things to say.

BC

I have an old monitor that is starting to loose contrast to the gray fog they get in their last year or so before going out altogether, so all i see of the gray clay render of the docking arm is something that looks vaguely like power strip in fog. What i can see of the others (especially the thruster closeup, for some reason it seems to show up better) looks nice and detailed. On your ship model from the 15th it looks like you have your engines canted out at a slight angle from the hull which is a good thing if you have some kind of mid-ship engines (i am not sure i am interpreting it correctly without being able to see much) since the usefulness of a particle beam engine like an ion engine (or pretty much any reaction engine if you are close enough to it) is directly proportional to its efficiency as a weapon, something too many designers do not take into account and put other parts of their ships structures in the beam path. The old TV series "Space 1999" had an episode that used that little considered physics factoid to good effect when they were attacked by an alien race whose home planet was badly damaged by an automated Terran space probe that started its engines too soon on the way back out and scorched a wide swath across it so they were following it to exact revenge on those who sent it.

Schimpfy

Good start so far, but like Jenny said, you should attach a pic to your first post. No, you NEED to attach a pic. Otherwise there will be no thumbnail and people will just bypass your thread.

SonicN2O

...there. I think I'm almost done, I'm going to add some more detail and then ask you guys if It's ready for texturing!

SonicN2O

Here are some rendered pics with an HDRI in the background. I think I'm ready to texture. How about you guys?
(note that the level of detail is low because
1: I want this design to be aerodynamic,
and
2: most of the detailing will be in texturing.)

BC

It looks good to me, not every ship has to have its structural supports and systems hanging out in space. In fact something like armored ships would probably tend to be fairly smooth since what would be the point of armor if half of your systems are outside of it on the hull? Star wars with their 'panels off" style for some of the fighters and ships to lighten them for performance started some ridiculous conventions when other writers and sfx people started copying the look out of context.

SonicN2O

yeah, but how do explain that to an uneducated audience that expects a ridiculous amount of detail on the ships?

SonicN2O

anyway, I figured I wouldn't bother posting textured renders of the engine unless you guys want to see them... So I'm going to go ahead and start on the Supernova. It's a single person fighter that is the first spaceship to appear in my movie thing.

Jenny

Sorry to be late getting here. It looks like you have some kind of reaction drive going on there, which is cool, but the way you've got that docking block stuck on the side creates an asymmetry. Remember that ships with reaction drives have to be symmetrical about the axis of thrust, or they're going to tumble. Why does the docking block need to be so large, anyhow?

SonicN2O

Good question... Here's a screenshot that will hopefully make more sense...

Jenny

Not without context, no. Is this four ships attached to something, four drive units attached to something, or something else entirely which I don't understand?

colbmista

strange

SonicN2O

Oh, sorry. It's four engines. that other object I was making was never intended to be "standalone." It was just something I could slap on a ship in groups of 4.

Jenny

Ah, okay. Then, with rotation, it becomes symmetrical about the axis of thrust. I approve. :cool:

SonicN2O

Yeah... I think I should have posted a diagram first... anyway, here's a few more screenshots- the ship is starting to take shape...

For perspective, the ship is a little over 10m long, and is intended to be a fast, single person fighter that flies only in space.

SonicN2O

...and in case someone asks about the awesome nurnies on this ship-
www.liberty3d.com/quadpanels
I did not do everything manually... I had some help from that plugin...

Jenny

What's the mosquito nose for?

SonicN2O

That's a mini particle accelerator for the forward gun :P Idk, I might shorten that. In any case, I'll be gone for about 5 days, so no updates for a while... Merry Christmas!

SonicN2O

Sorry, no updates in a while! OK, I've decided to shorten the "mini particle accelerator" and see what you guys think of it...

SonicN2O

Okay, I've added more detail like screws and the like, and this mesh is starting to look really badass.

SonicN2O

Here's a multipass render I comped in AE:
MultiPass.jpg