Took me a while, I know. I turned back to the exterior model and started panelling it. At least the parts that I am confident I won't change any more. I already had been that far in a previous version. We'll see how far I get this time.
And just because I wanted to see how it appears in context, I also did a few exterior shots of the cockpit.
Well, thanks for the compliment.
If it comes to that remake I'm equally exited and afraid. For one it would be great to see this game (and the Ebon Hawk in particular) in, lets say Horizon: Zero Dawn quality. But than again there are so many ways this could go wrong. Like if they produce one of those polished and shiny games that loses all the charm of the original. And if they do it right (like letting Ryan Dening do the redesign of the Ebon Hawk) also chances are high that it becomes better than anything I could ever build and I will loose all my motivation to ever finish this project.
Awhile ago I did cut in the main hatch and blocked out size and position of the boarding ramp. But now that I'm slowly getting used to Blender ver. 3.2.1 I was able to produce renders where you actually could see what I did.
There you go with the usual small progress.
I still don't really know where I want to go with the engine. So I just have been tweaking the blocked-out elements. I'm open for suggestions.
Also I played a bit with Hyperspace, following this Tutorial.
I have to say for a first try I was pretty pleased with the result. Unfortunately I couldn't use my ship model and the Hyperspace cylinder in the same scene 'cause the Ship is rendered in cycles and the Hyperspace scene in Eevee. And both looks pretty dull rendered in the respective other renderer.
Can anyone tell me how I can make a render without Background? Than I could at least use the Hyperspace Image as Background in the compositor.
Also I played a bit with Hyperspace, following this Tutorial.
I have to say for a first try I was pretty pleased with the result. Unfortunately I couldn't use my ship model and the Hyperspace cylinder in the same scene 'cause the Ship is rendered in cycles and the Hyperspace scene in Eevee. And both looks pretty dull rendered in the respective other renderer.
Can anyone tell me how I can make a render without Background? Than I could at least use the Hyperspace Image as Background in the compositor.
Sorry, I'm a 3DSMax guy, but from google it appears that there are ways of outputting a PNG image of the ship with alpha in Blender. The hyperspace effect is looking great.
You can render out the scene without a background in Blender by going to Output Properties, then under Output there's a transparent click box as long as you're rendering under PNG.
Correction, that's in Blender for Artists. I dug through standard Blender and I'm not seeing that option BLARG.
Thanks @SCE2Aux and @ashleytinger, the transparent click box is in the Render Properties under Film. But you both pointed me in the right direction, so that really helped.
Thanks for the replies. I guess I will keep 'em then. What made me uncertain was that after this detail draws attention to this region it feels even emptier than before. But I guess the lesson to be learned here is not to overthink every little detail. So I will move on then and if it keeps bothering me it can easily be made undone.
Today I made a few more panels. I had already done this part but I did lower the space between the panels into the model. Thought that would look better but than I decided that I wanted the panels raised like the rest and I had to do them again.
And I cut out these openings on both sides which I will fill with greeble stuff eventually.
Also, I was in the mood for mood.
Now the bow need to be paneled again as well. This time lower the panel lines seems to be the right choice. Not completely happy with those thrusters though. I did build very fine lines which just vanish from a greater distance. I will have to do them again for I would at least like them to be visible from a distance like in the first picture.
I don't know. I kind of like that there's detail really close up and that it naturally fades as you get further from the ship. Adds a level of realism to it I think.
Thank you ashleytinger and actually I agree, you know, to a certain degree. There is plenty of detail all over the model that is not really visible and I always tell myself that it is worth the effort 'cause it adds to the appearance even though the detail itself isn't visible most of the time. But in this case the area appeared just like blank space and beside the occasional WIP shot I doubt that I will ever do such an extreme close-up ever again. What made it kind of useless to have this detail at all. So I just extruded the whole area by 5 mm and also gave the circles around the thrusters a thickness of 5 instead of 2 mm which is just enough to see that there is something and it will still fade away from a higher distance.
And then I continued panelling the underside.
I think that's the right strategy - keeping some details sufficiently fine, they only resolve themselves in close up. It will give you greater flexibility in the long run when deciding where, and how close to place your cameras.
With "the underside" I was mainly talking about this trapezoid thing that is covering the engine tubes. At first it appeared to be pretty easy, 'cause it's a trapezoid, you know. But at the back end where it has to connect with the engines it turned out to be quite tricky. The initial idea was to take up the shape of the engines and morph it over it's length until it fits the shape of the turret. But I quickly had to realise that this was beyond my skill set at the time and also looked kind of silly. Therefore I didn't dare to touch it for several years.
During the last week I have gone trough several iterations once more and found out that I probably like this version the most.
Of course it's still just a sketch that I will have to give more detail. But for now I guess I will leave it like this, 'cause I found out that I have the best ideas if I'm working on something else.
Okay, I did start the next round of panelling. But most of my time I spend with rendering these days, using different HDRI's in order to find a good lighting theme.
Good to see this ship popping up again. The lighting looks good - I know how HDRI lighting can end up quite tricky to get the right angles, contrasts and intensities desired.
@evil_genius_180: Hello, welcome back evil genius. I also remember that you have been quite supportive when I started this project. I took an extensive break myself and to be honest I did count on you when I returned to it 'cause you have been the only one who I could imagine could appreciate that I'm still working on it. And although I could very well understand the reason why I was saddened to here that you turned away from CGI. Anyway it's good that you are back. The place wouldn't be the same without an evil genius.
@SCE2Aux: Thank you. And yes the silly me was expecting it to be as easy as loading a HDRI and get awesome renders in return. One would think that by now I should know that nothing is ever that easy with CGI.
Here you go with the latest panel work. As usual I'm not sure if I like it. This time I feel I might have overdone it and fewer panels might have worked better.
@evil_genius_180: Hello, welcome back evil genius. I also remember that you have been quite supportive when I started this project. I took an extensive break myself and to be honest I did count on you when I returned to it 'cause you have been the only one who I could imagine could appreciate that I'm still working on it. And although I could very well understand the reason why I was saddened to here that you turned away from CGI. Anyway it's good that you are back. The place wouldn't be the same without an evil genius.
Yeah, sorry, I had to step back from this stuff for a while. I just didn't have any passion for it. I definitely like this project and I'm definitely glad to see you're still at it. This ship is one of my favorites, from one of my favorite video games of all time. The paneling looks really good to me.
Posts
And just because I wanted to see how it appears in context, I also did a few exterior shots of the cockpit.
Also, I fleshed out the airlock interior a bit. No big deal, just a little something that was on the schedule for too many years now.
And 'cause space is supposed to be a dark place:
If it comes to that remake I'm equally exited and afraid. For one it would be great to see this game (and the Ebon Hawk in particular) in, lets say Horizon: Zero Dawn quality. But than again there are so many ways this could go wrong. Like if they produce one of those polished and shiny games that loses all the charm of the original. And if they do it right (like letting Ryan Dening do the redesign of the Ebon Hawk) also chances are high that it becomes better than anything I could ever build and I will loose all my motivation to ever finish this project.
I still don't really know where I want to go with the engine. So I just have been tweaking the blocked-out elements. I'm open for suggestions.
Also I played a bit with Hyperspace, following this Tutorial.
I have to say for a first try I was pretty pleased with the result. Unfortunately I couldn't use my ship model and the Hyperspace cylinder in the same scene 'cause the Ship is rendered in cycles and the Hyperspace scene in Eevee. And both looks pretty dull rendered in the respective other renderer.
Can anyone tell me how I can make a render without Background? Than I could at least use the Hyperspace Image as Background in the compositor.
Sorry, I'm a 3DSMax guy, but from google it appears that there are ways of outputting a PNG image of the ship with alpha in Blender. The hyperspace effect is looking great.
Correction, that's in Blender for Artists. I dug through standard Blender and I'm not seeing that option BLARG.
Today I made a few more panels. I had already done this part but I did lower the space between the panels into the model. Thought that would look better but than I decided that I wanted the panels raised like the rest and I had to do them again.
And I cut out these openings on both sides which I will fill with greeble stuff eventually.
Also, I was in the mood for mood.
And then I continued panelling the underside.
Well-maintained I would say. Used but not worn down like the Falcon.
During the last week I have gone trough several iterations once more and found out that I probably like this version the most.
Of course it's still just a sketch that I will have to give more detail. But for now I guess I will leave it like this, 'cause I found out that I have the best ideas if I'm working on something else.
@SCE2Aux: Thank you. And yes the silly me was expecting it to be as easy as loading a HDRI and get awesome renders in return. One would think that by now I should know that nothing is ever that easy with CGI.
Here you go with the latest panel work. As usual I'm not sure if I like it. This time I feel I might have overdone it and fewer panels might have worked better.
Yeah, sorry, I had to step back from this stuff for a while. I just didn't have any passion for it. I definitely like this project and I'm definitely glad to see you're still at it. This ship is one of my favorites, from one of my favorite video games of all time. The paneling looks really good to me.