3DMillenium Falcon

Tralfaz

Hi folks,

I needed a break from modeling Star Trek stuff, so dug up this old Millenium Falcon model that I worked on a couple of years ago. This is about as far along as it got. Going to give the ol' girl a try again and see how far along I can get.

Vortex5972

Damn, that's nice.

BlueNeumann

Be sure to hide the batmobile in there!

Starship

It will be a crazy work! All those greebles :argh:

komaro

Nice. I actually have a BIG physical model of it...gathering dust somewhere. And yours is very nice.

Wiz

Ooooh nice, looking forward to seeing this one progress

Tralfaz

Hey, thanks everyone for the kind words. I found some more images of the Falcon online since I last worked on the model, and a lot of the details are different on mine then the 32 inch studio model. I was trying to find pictures of the 5 foot model, but haven't had much luck. Anyway, looks like I will be redoing much of the detail and since I have learned a whole lot more than when I worked on it, it makes me wonder if I should just start over. Things are getting a bit tight money wise and may have to sell my copy of C4D Studio. Thinking Blender may be an alternative since it is free, but will have to deal with the steep learning curve. Hoping I can get things straightened out so I can keep C4D. Really love it's interface and simplicity yet powerful modeling and animating capabilities.

Gestalt

Looks great and I love the notching on the plates!

Did you see the recent post of production photos of the original trilogy models that made the rounds last week?
http://imgur.com/a/Zt9Y4
I wouldn't call them high res but they have some novel shots and some great insight into how the models were put together. There are some shots from angles I don't recall seeing before so it may provide some great material for the model.

Tralfaz

Hi Gestalt,

Yes, I did see those images before. Looks like it is the 5 foot model and am noticing the details are different than on the 32 inch model. The front mandibles I modeled are more of the 5 foot model, so don't know what to do now. I could use the images I have of the 5 foot model and fill in the missing gaps with the 32 inch model.

Tralfaz

I've been diagnosed with repetitive strain injury in both my elbows area, actually with the tendons. Thirty years of being a computer programmer and typing at the keyboard can do that I guess. So, between learning Blender and limited time modeling on the computer, updates are going to be slow. I've got Blender Master on my tablet and will read that on the bus to work and maybe model on my lunches.

Anyway, here is an update to the Falcon. Started working on the escape pods. Lots of tiny details that will probably never be seen, but look cool close-up. The model makers went to a lot of work adding all the details to the model.

Tralfaz

Quick update. Finished the inner details of the escape pod.

TALON_UK

Nicely done that man.

:thumb:

Elowan

Amen to that!:thumb:

Tralfaz

Thanks guys.

Today's update doesn't look like much has changed, but I have re-modeled the cockpit and walkway. Also found a very low poly 3D mesh of Han Solo. Untriangulated the mesh and bumped the resolution on it. Tweaked Han's face a bit. Still have to rig him, but that will be for later. Also downloaded a low poly Chewie, but I don't think it is going to be useable at all. Wish I had the ability to do organic modeling.

evil_genius_180

Looking good, Al. I think the Han model looks good. I wish I could do organic modeling also.

Tralfaz

Finished working on the cockpit and walkway changes. Finished the plating on the walkway and quickly rigged Han so he could be put into a seating position. I've tried resolving the size of the inside of the cockpit, but it's hard when I read the full size set was 40% larger than the model allowed for.

DarkSapiens

What size are you using for the whole ship? I think they resolved the inconsistencies a few years ago, and fixed the size of the Falcon at 34.37 meters in the Millennium Falcon Owner's Workshop Manual book.

Also, great job on the model!

Enterprais

Beautiful model! Will you make the new dish of the antennae, like in the newest trailer?

TALON_UK

I guess if he wanted to he could chop and change between the two depending on what era he wanted to play in?

Cracking work so far Tralfaz, hungry for more.

wibble

How did you do the panels? Did you extrude them from the base mesh or did you model them separately? I know there are a few tutorials out there who promise good and quick results but so far I didn't really got into one of these methods, thats why I ask these old question once more.

Tralfaz

Thanks everyone.

Wibble,
To do the paneling, I first create the base shape. I make a copy of the base shape and start laying out all the panels using a knife tool. Once that is done, I do an extrude inner to give a gap between each panel. I delete the gap which gives me the panels. Then I cut out all the little cut out parts along the edges of the panels. Finally, I extrude all of the panels and then give a slight bevel to all of the edges.

Tralfaz

DarkSapiens,

I was directed to some exceptional images of the 5 foot model which is what I am going to be using. I had been using a mixture of 32" and 5 foot which has led to some inaccurate parts. With the new images and better blueprints of multiple angles, I am thinking of just restarting the whole ship all over again and go for as accurate and highly detailed model as I can.

This is what I found for dimensions:

Final Dimensions Calculated
by Chris Lee • September 16, 2008 • 0 Comments

Using the recently released DK Ultimate Collection blueprints as our guide, we have calculated
the final outer dimensions of the structure. The DK blueprints use the same overall length as
the Robert Brown estimate. From there, we arrive at:

Length: 114 feet
Beam (docking ring to docking ring): 81.485 feet
Height to top of body (not counting quad-laser turret): 24.878 feet
Height to top of dish: 30.889 feet
Clearance: ground to landing gear bay level: 7.779 feet
Clearance: ground to outside bottom of cockpit tube: 13.081 feet

Converting to meters, it works out like this:

Length: 34.7472 meters
Beam (docking ring to docking ring): 24.8366 meters
Height to top of body (not counting quad-laser turret): 7.5828 meters
Height to top of dish: 9.4149 meters
Clearance: ground to landing gear bay level: 2.3710 meters
Clearance: ground to outside bottom of cockpit tube: 3.9870 meters

Wiz

Good luck matey looking forward to seeing this one progress.

(With the panels, for the finishing touch be sure to come back and add misalignments and slight warps etc. in areas to get that extra sense of realism ).

E.g. This panel on the cockpit has come away slightly (although this could do with age rather than purposely done, but still looks cool), gives it a lived in look

https://public.bay.livefilestore.com/y2pBbzueCFKgG59wwHlzO8kFnMIP-1Dq5594XenHNmCXd2MoHk9AW5wxmTxfO4W8DsJA5UZVxkhFKzrtCqFxY5KEWwc97FvEipZBeuD8MCGwm0/_MG_4108.jpg?psid=1

Also if you look around the back edge you can see smoothed corners and also like someone has hit them with a hammer in places

Tralfaz

I never realized how beat up the Falcon really is until seeing these images of the 5 foot model. No wonder Luke called it 'a piece of junk'. With all of the damage on it, it's kind of hard to determine if it is intended battle damage or some OOPS damage over the years, like missing parts or the damage to the lower edge hull just behind the starboard docking port. It does look like someone hit it with a hammer. And with all of the blaster holes in the hull, I wonder how it is able to maintain a pressurized hull.

wibble

Tralfaz wrote: »

And with all of the blaster holes in the hull, I wonder how it is able to maintain a pressurized hull.

duct tape and hope.

Avian

I've been away for a while and it's great to see this! Very, very nice work so far!

Wiz

@Wibble

I am sure there were oops moments (but for the better part looks like it was all as designed), which all added to its character and that is what I loved most about Star Wars, that things are battered, nothing is perfect (other than the film itself ).

Tralfaz

Today's update. Over the past few days, I restarted the Falcon. I was able to re-use the mandibles with some changes as well as the loading platforms. Redid the cockpit around 3 - 4 times before ending up with this one. I was able to get the scalloped edges on the front of it. Pretty happy about that. Would never have worked on the old cockpit. As good as the blueprints are, I have found that they can only be used as general guidelines. Between them and the photos of the studio model, I remodeled the hull to better reflect the 5 foot miniature. Lots of tweaking to get it this far. But, once the shapes are all blocked in and am happy with it, then I will move onto detailing it.

TALON_UK

Looking good already even at this early stage.

:thumb:

Tralfaz

Thanks Talon_UK.

Update for today. I was able to take the docking port details from my old Falcon and use them in this new version (yay!). The engine details and front mandible details are all new. I figure doing this Falcon is going to take a loooonnnnggggg time, but I think the effort will be well worth it.

Vortex5972

Looking awesome. Great stuff.