O.k. when I reactivated this thread I did build some small parts that I have been avoiding for a long time, cause I never really know how I wanted them to look or how to build them. After I tried I felt that it worked out pretty well and I got excited about how much it contributed to the overall design (in my perception at least) and how simple it actually was to build it. That's what I wanted to share, I guess. But after a short rush I quickly run out of inspiration again and started to feel bad about resurrecting this thread after such a long time without having to show very much new.
So I postponed work on the exterior again and worked on the interior instead. And because I couldn't produce useful interior shots with the blender internal render I finally tried to get used to cycles. I never dared to use it before, cause I thought my computer can't handle it (don't have a compatible GPU, for example). And because I was focused on modelling I thought for quick test renders to evaluate my model progress the internal render will do. But on the one hand I got sick of looking at monochromatic grey surfaces and on the other I couldn't light the scene in a way that I actually could see what I was building.
So I spend most of my time in the last days to find out the best set up for cycles. And most of that time was render time. In between I even modelled sometimes.
This is the best that I got so far. Still not very impressive but at least I proved to my self that I actually can use cycles.
And this one is to show the level of detail I'm looking for.
Probably somewhat too clean, given that this is supposed to be a Star Wars ship. But I just like to be precise too much and if I ever get to produce serious materials and textures I hope it will get the right appearance.
I did focus on the cockpit console lately. I have been building a lot of panels, buttons and switches and did place them randomly by heavy use of copy and paste. Still turned out to be much more tedious than I anticipated.
Did add a few more panels in the rear section as well. Just not enough to justify another close-up.
Also I did wonder what it would look like if I use available light only. Therefore I removed the eight area lights that I used in the previous renders and used just emission materials for illumination. I was expecting an awful dark result but in that regard I am pretty pleased with the outcome.
I did increase the Diffuse Bounces from 1 to 3 in order to brighten up the scene and of course the image became much more noisy so that I had to increase the render samples from 700 to 2000 as well. Together that resulted in a 10 hour render time instead of 1 hour 30 min.
I did play with the Light Set Up again. I think for now I am satisfied with the outcome.
And thanks to ashleytinger there is a universe appropriate stand-in sitting in the pilot chair.
I always forget how overly large all of the ship internals in the Star Wars video games end up getting compared to the very cramped ships like the Falcon we get on screen.
Still love what you're doing, just an observation.
Oh, thank you, and don't worry.
I guess it actually might be an issue with my version. To make it larger was one of the re-design choices I made very early on. Because at the time I felt the Ebon Hawk was too cramped. A decision that I myself regret from time to time. But than again I feel like I have to finish what I started.
Still love what you're doing, just an observation.
Oh, thank you, and don't worry.
I guess it actually might be an issue with my version. To make it larger was one of the re-design choices I made very early on. Because at the time I felt the Ebon Hawk was too cramped. A decision that I myself regret from time to time. But than again I feel like I have to finish what I started.
Oh don't worry about it. I think you've hit a good size with her and you're nowhere near to approaching SWTOR levels of interior ship size. I loved TOR but that ans STO had an issue making interiors massive
Well, what a relief.
I never played The Old Republic or Star Trek Online but I have a lot of screenshots of TOR in my reference folder and I remember that whenever I got the feeling I might have gone too big it was kind of comforting to know that I haven't gone that big.
By the way, I made an attempt in creating a scene a while ago. Very poor quality. It really is more of a sketch. But it gives you a good impression of her size.
Well, I made just little progress, 'cause right now I'm wasting my time with unnecessary renders. After I was satisfied with the light set up I thought I would go back to modelling and arranging assets. But than I have to skip through old test renders to decide what to do next and I think wouldn't that all look much better with the new Lighting ... and off there goes the night.
Right, now that you mention it, how was that for you? How long did it take you? Did it make you question your sanity a lot?
Took me about 2 months working on it a day here and there. Just the consoles. It was definitely educational and while sometimes mind-numbing and annoying, it was fun. And I did question why I didn't just use textures about 65% of the time, yes. But it ended up looking more like the actual set than if I'd just slapped down a plane under a panel and threw a texture on it, at least to me anyway.
Thus speaks a person who already knows that the effort paid off. I hold on to believe that I will reach that point one day as well. But at the moment I still feel the pain more than the joy.
In the Meantime I made an attempt to add some "classic" Star Wars elements to the design.
Did add those two buttons on the window frame. Have no clue what's the point of having them, but there are some in the original concept drawings of the Ebon Hawk as well and I thought it looks cool.
I'm not really convinced yet, which is okay after a sloppy first try. But than again I kinda liked the image as a whole and so I'm showing it here as well.
Yes, it was a rough time, wasn't it? I hope that this table will be the place for as many friendly conversations in the future. Actually I am thinking about how I can make this room more comfortable. Believing that the atmosphere of a room can have positive effect on the attitude of the people in it. But I haven't come down with the right idea yet.
It varies between 20 cm in the central room and 38 cm in the cockpit. Although in the most cases the inner hull doesn't serve as outer hull as well. Mostly there is enough space for an additional room in between, which I imagine to be stuffed with water, oxygen and fuel tanks and all sorts of machinery, which of course, we will never see.
Blocking out furniture. To give the crew the opportunity to take seat around the holotable does make more sense for me than the arrangement in the two KotoR games.
Also I feel like I have to rebuild the holotable soon.
The back of one of those benches will double as dining table.
I can't get this one scene from Jedi: Fallen Order out of my head, when the crew is bonding over a shared meal. I want to give my crew the same opportunity.
At first I was pretty sure that I don't want to carry over this part from the original design. Because I thought it was a half-hearted attempt to make it similar to the Falcon. But of course I didn't came up with a better Idea. And now I'm even wondering if I should just copy it to the other side.
Posts
So I postponed work on the exterior again and worked on the interior instead. And because I couldn't produce useful interior shots with the blender internal render I finally tried to get used to cycles. I never dared to use it before, cause I thought my computer can't handle it (don't have a compatible GPU, for example). And because I was focused on modelling I thought for quick test renders to evaluate my model progress the internal render will do. But on the one hand I got sick of looking at monochromatic grey surfaces and on the other I couldn't light the scene in a way that I actually could see what I was building.
So I spend most of my time in the last days to find out the best set up for cycles. And most of that time was render time. In between I even modelled sometimes.
This is the best that I got so far. Still not very impressive but at least I proved to my self that I actually can use cycles.
And this one is to show the level of detail I'm looking for.
Probably somewhat too clean, given that this is supposed to be a Star Wars ship. But I just like to be precise too much and if I ever get to produce serious materials and textures I hope it will get the right appearance.
I'm slowly fleshing out the cockpit and the corridor behind it.
I did focus on the cockpit console lately. I have been building a lot of panels, buttons and switches and did place them randomly by heavy use of copy and paste. Still turned out to be much more tedious than I anticipated.
Did add a few more panels in the rear section as well. Just not enough to justify another close-up.
I did increase the Diffuse Bounces from 1 to 3 in order to brighten up the scene and of course the image became much more noisy so that I had to increase the render samples from 700 to 2000 as well. Together that resulted in a 10 hour render time instead of 1 hour 30 min.
... well, not so much pleased with that.
And thanks to ashleytinger there is a universe appropriate stand-in sitting in the pilot chair.
Still love what you're doing, just an observation
Oh, thank you, and don't worry.
I guess it actually might be an issue with my version. To make it larger was one of the re-design choices I made very early on. Because at the time I felt the Ebon Hawk was too cramped. A decision that I myself regret from time to time. But than again I feel like I have to finish what I started.
Oh don't worry about it. I think you've hit a good size with her and you're nowhere near to approaching SWTOR levels of interior ship size. I loved TOR but that ans STO had an issue making interiors massive
I never played The Old Republic or Star Trek Online but I have a lot of screenshots of TOR in my reference folder and I remember that whenever I got the feeling I might have gone too big it was kind of comforting to know that I haven't gone that big.
By the way, I made an attempt in creating a scene a while ago. Very poor quality. It really is more of a sketch. But it gives you a good impression of her size.
Well, I made just little progress, 'cause right now I'm wasting my time with unnecessary renders. After I was satisfied with the light set up I thought I would go back to modelling and arranging assets. But than I have to skip through old test renders to decide what to do next and I think wouldn't that all look much better with the new Lighting ... and off there goes the night.
This is today's result.
Took me about 2 months working on it a day here and there. Just the consoles. It was definitely educational and while sometimes mind-numbing and annoying, it was fun. And I did question why I didn't just use textures about 65% of the time, yes. But it ended up looking more like the actual set than if I'd just slapped down a plane under a panel and threw a texture on it, at least to me anyway.
In the Meantime I made an attempt to add some "classic" Star Wars elements to the design.
I'm not really convinced yet, which is okay after a sloppy first try. But than again I kinda liked the image as a whole and so I'm showing it here as well.
O.K. 2 Days later it looks like this.
Also I feel like I have to rebuild the holotable soon.
The back of one of those benches will double as dining table.
I can't get this one scene from Jedi: Fallen Order out of my head, when the crew is bonding over a shared meal. I want to give my crew the same opportunity.
At first I was pretty sure that I don't want to carry over this part from the original design. Because I thought it was a half-hearted attempt to make it similar to the Falcon. But of course I didn't came up with a better Idea. And now I'm even wondering if I should just copy it to the other side.