Yanked off the ribbing and tried out some more conventional Impulse drives, and a mess of tuning of the subdiv and redoing of a lot of subdiv loops. The area under the impulse drives is still a dodgy area, need to figure out what I want to do there. I think this area was one of the reasons I dumped this mesh way back when.
I also need to figure out where to put a shuttle bay. I am not sure I want then in the saucer and flying between the struts. THOUGH I guess I could axe one set of struts >_> but I think it might be in that area the old Impulse was. It is wide enough to get the basic shuttle in. No fat boys and no runabouts. Well I do not think the minivan like ones from nemesis will fit. I cannot find the one I had mocked up or the one I had dled to check. Well not made that strong of an effort to locate it heh. I had considered the warp cut out be it a fly in or a drop down deal but I do not think that location is all that great. Either case it will not be a very big bay. Just a few craft and not much more. IF that.
And EWW that shuttle is causing all sorts of FG freakery. Guess I gotta dump some generic mats on that thing. It is from a 2010 save.
btw length is 241m
Ok just screen caps but shows alterations of bits to see if I can get a shuttle bay in to the odd shapes around back.
ATM I am aiming for the deck the shuttle is aligned to as the one below has struts going in and I would like to retain that area for engineering bits.
Though I am doing all this and thinking maybe I shouldn't make this ship a bit bigger exp when I loaded the IOWA to steal some parts off (lifeboats & markerlights)
Expected it to be at least as wide as the IOWA. heh.
Ok 286m now. I think this is a better size. Smaller than voy but larger than a nova.
really loath having to scale ships in max have to attach it all and do the scaling through poly edit. Scaling it by selection just screws everything else up like say extruding 3ft if scaled could be whatever percentage you scaled the ship as.
Stuff from last night. I have since eased the loops around the saucer rim to give more curvature. I am right now adjusting and tuning all the loops and seeing if I can find better runs fro some of them. Mostly so the mesh looks clean when optimized for cutting as well as easier to optimize. EG I can just select whole loops and yank them vs having to re run loops due to them being involved in geometry changes.
For example the lower delta on the saucer is a bit of a mess. However most of the saucer loops nicely and will give a workable flow for further details. KIM I do not use the wires themselves but the spaces between, this avoids that faceted look. As well I will be yanking a lot of the loops off. Detail I am concerned with most are on the edges and corners.
Windows, a real PITA with this new way to backface culling in 2017, well stupid change made since max2013. Looking at room side I screwed up on the aft most room but I might not be assed to fix it.
Spent most of this time fiddling around with my lum surfaces as I couldnt figure out why they were not lighting up the rooms. UGH. Was yet another introduced or changed setting that would work for room scale stuff to limit the distance of the effect. Still the things clip like mad if seen directly.
AUGH anyone know if there is a radius setting for snapping while cutting verts/edges. I do not mean vert snaps gizmo etc but when I am manually cutting in editable poly there is some radius that makes the cuts jump to the nearest vert it is a real annoyance as I have to zoom in to avoid this and it precludes cutting things in the large scale but have it close to other verts. EG narrow panel lines. Seems to be really bad in 2017 vs 2013.
And yes I gogoled for it, all I get are things pertaning to snapping the poviot gizmos, objects and edit poly to snap say verts to other verts, nothing to do with the cutting process. EG snaps and grid does not affect the cutting tool.
Though I do have to say default max 2017 is borked in the snaps department. Tried to snap verts and at default it wont do anything.
Knowing my luck I will find the solution as soon as I click post. . . .
sorta lol it was SNAP radius, just didnt use a good test to see if it did anything. sigh.
MEH it sorta fixes it starting a cut still has a habit of snapping the cut to the nearest vert and often the wrong one. Sigh, this was a issue in max since forever but it seems much worse now. Probably yet again someones great idea of how everyone else should model vs what has been done prior. Buy a BMW and get a Merc instead.
I'll say again, max 2017 is horrible You really picked one of the worst versions to upgrade to, heh.
well sadly I have no options atm. 2018 is like a base yugo and would take a lot to fix. 2016 isnt an option unless I AHEM find it online. 2019 just wont cut it as it lacks mental ray and I cannot learn ARNOLD nor convert a file in less than a week I need to work this model and others for a deadline. I only have 2010 2013 2017 and 2019 as options.
I mean I guess I could find a copy of 16 somewhere and try my license for 17 on it but I doubt that will work.
Most of all these issues are present in 2019 as well. I dunno when a majority of these annoyances were introduced, so back stepping to 16 or 15 14 might not solve any of them. Some are just some other persons idea of it works better this way. EG making backfaced edges invisible with the outline in the same gray as the backdrop. Somehow someone thought this would AIDE in modeling. . . . all it has done is slow me down by half or more as I cant see shit now. Even in wireframe.
Worst "new" bug I have found so far is selecting things sometimes it treats them as non existent be it hidden edges, edges, verts, polies, objects. Usually some screaming at the software and jiggling the viewport around helps. All the old 2013 bugs exist too, like the loose vert say arranged with just 2 edges exiting it being chamfered 2 times to create a round corner will crash max. Would think 4yrs would be long enough to get something like that fixed. But no it is there in 17 and in 19 as well.
So yeah. I am stuck with it for now. Unless I spend another 300usd or more on some other nvidia gpu or revert to the 770 and throw out the 570 (lit) and return to 2013. (though everything done since will be lost too as I cannot regress the files to 2013, saves limited to 2014.)
one thing that has pissed me off about max for a long time is the ability to know what patches or service packs have been installed. As well as if they are cumulative or not. Meh either way.
render of it with all the bits in place. And no dunno wtf happened to the deflector glow. . . . sigh.
Also a full belly render from last night. Really dislike how those grills render. The ribbing seems to vanish now. Need to find whatever setting it is that is allowing that to happen. It is probably something that will treble render times so it might just have to wait for scene renders vs WIP.
Really thinking those gray panels near the reg were a mistake. Just do not match the stuff done on the saucer top no matter how much I fettle it.
Stuff from last night. I have since eased the loops around the saucer rim to give more curvature. I am right now adjusting and tuning all the loops and seeing if I can find better runs fro some of them. Mostly so the mesh looks clean when optimized for cutting as well as easier to optimize. EG I can just select whole loops and yank them vs having to re run loops due to them being involved in geometry changes.
I´m still chungging in the old 3dsmax 9, but let me ask you: The main hull was built from just one piece, which you worked over verts, faces, and later applyed cuts and smooth?? Looks very clean. I´m impressed how all the lines Works together with no deformation.
Its all cuts extrusions loops etc from a box also matching and merging in separate objects, lower hull in this case but this was mostly because I was adapting a mesh vs scratch building the thing. All doable from v9. Loops and smoothing groups for those loops usually happen last, but that rarely happens as I will change my mind about a shape and have to undo the loops. I then often do a final overview to make sure I am happy with the base mesh before collapsing it.
Here is the base mesh, the colored areas are ones I marked so I can mass delete them once collapsed.
Now there are some iffy bits here like the wire flow across the main hull. Mostly near the outer corners, it bunches up around the deflector cut out as I wanted that tight curve in it. Also all the tight loops have no geometry change so those are separate smoothing groups to keep those curves controlled. Meaning I can mass delete loops that do nothing to the geometry thus going from 116thousand polies to 17thousand.
Here is the wireframe after the first pass clean up. Still got more to do but I want to get some box modeled details in before I start clearing out more.
It is why I think it is key to starting out by getting strong box modeling and later subdiv skills. Learn how loops flow and what needs to be done to get what you want. I still sometimes have to pause and think about how to get something to do what I want it to.
Random small hull details near the centerline before the torps and around the outer rim. Likely going to pull those gray panels off from around the registry, either lower them or do something else as they stand out and do not reflect the same panels on the top of the saucer.
Registry rubbish and more decal like stuff and less bleh panels on those gray bits.
Also need to go about subduing some of the shiny bits on the hull.
Something that just dawned on me. . . . . no forward RCS quads. DERP. I was going to tackle the sensor pod next but I guess it is RCS and the needed remerging of the hull lip, likely gonna detach chunks to weld the rim back so I can also do some detail work across it.
Rough idea for the sensor but it will be a redo as the balance of the inset bits is not right as well as the evenness of some of the shapes. One thing a bit wonk is the scale of it. Might see if I can shrink it. I had thought of doing a aux ship but that I think is horribly overplayed like saucer separations etc. I think I had originally made this bit large to act as a large deflector emitter for the "slip stream" field effect etc. But it has been so long ago I forget exactly why I did some of the things I did with this.
Never managed to get this out of my head, but those underside shots of the Atheling, at least to me, scream 'Federation making a Klingon cruiser'. Probably due to the very aggressive lines you get from it with the neck & 'trench' that runs the bottom of the neck.
It is why I think it is key to starting out by getting strong box modeling and later subdiv skills. Learn how loops flow and what needs to be done to get what you want. I still sometimes have to pause and think about how to get something to do what I want it to.
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I also need to figure out where to put a shuttle bay. I am not sure I want then in the saucer and flying between the struts. THOUGH I guess I could axe one set of struts >_> but I think it might be in that area the old Impulse was. It is wide enough to get the basic shuttle in. No fat boys and no runabouts. Well I do not think the minivan like ones from nemesis will fit. I cannot find the one I had mocked up or the one I had dled to check. Well not made that strong of an effort to locate it heh. I had considered the warp cut out be it a fly in or a drop down deal but I do not think that location is all that great. Either case it will not be a very big bay. Just a few craft and not much more. IF that.
And EWW that shuttle is causing all sorts of FG freakery. Guess I gotta dump some generic mats on that thing. It is from a 2010 save.
btw length is 241m
ATM I am aiming for the deck the shuttle is aligned to as the one below has struts going in and I would like to retain that area for engineering bits.
Though I am doing all this and thinking maybe I shouldn't make this ship a bit bigger exp when I loaded the IOWA to steal some parts off (lifeboats & markerlights)
Expected it to be at least as wide as the IOWA. heh.
really loath having to scale ships in max have to attach it all and do the scaling through poly edit. Scaling it by selection just screws everything else up like say extruding 3ft if scaled could be whatever percentage you scaled the ship as.
For example the lower delta on the saucer is a bit of a mess. However most of the saucer loops nicely and will give a workable flow for further details. KIM I do not use the wires themselves but the spaces between, this avoids that faceted look. As well I will be yanking a lot of the loops off. Detail I am concerned with most are on the edges and corners.
could probably blunt the dome of the bussard grill more as that space really has nothing in it anymore. [/quote]
I really like the Bussard internals!
Never played it this is my own design from 07
Spent most of this time fiddling around with my lum surfaces as I couldnt figure out why they were not lighting up the rooms. UGH. Was yet another introduced or changed setting that would work for room scale stuff to limit the distance of the effect. Still the things clip like mad if seen directly.
Where I paused work today after optimization.
And yes I gogoled for it, all I get are things pertaning to snapping the poviot gizmos, objects and edit poly to snap say verts to other verts, nothing to do with the cutting process. EG snaps and grid does not affect the cutting tool.
Though I do have to say default max 2017 is borked in the snaps department. Tried to snap verts and at default it wont do anything.
Knowing my luck I will find the solution as soon as I click post. . . .
sorta lol it was SNAP radius, just didnt use a good test to see if it did anything. sigh.
MEH it sorta fixes it starting a cut still has a habit of snapping the cut to the nearest vert and often the wrong one. Sigh, this was a issue in max since forever but it seems much worse now. Probably yet again someones great idea of how everyone else should model vs what has been done prior. Buy a BMW and get a Merc instead.
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well sadly I have no options atm. 2018 is like a base yugo and would take a lot to fix. 2016 isnt an option unless I AHEM find it online. 2019 just wont cut it as it lacks mental ray and I cannot learn ARNOLD nor convert a file in less than a week I need to work this model and others for a deadline. I only have 2010 2013 2017 and 2019 as options.
I mean I guess I could find a copy of 16 somewhere and try my license for 17 on it but I doubt that will work.
Most of all these issues are present in 2019 as well. I dunno when a majority of these annoyances were introduced, so back stepping to 16 or 15 14 might not solve any of them. Some are just some other persons idea of it works better this way. EG making backfaced edges invisible with the outline in the same gray as the backdrop. Somehow someone thought this would AIDE in modeling. . . . all it has done is slow me down by half or more as I cant see shit now. Even in wireframe.
Worst "new" bug I have found so far is selecting things sometimes it treats them as non existent be it hidden edges, edges, verts, polies, objects. Usually some screaming at the software and jiggling the viewport around helps. All the old 2013 bugs exist too, like the loose vert say arranged with just 2 edges exiting it being chamfered 2 times to create a round corner will crash max. Would think 4yrs would be long enough to get something like that fixed. But no it is there in 17 and in 19 as well.
So yeah. I am stuck with it for now. Unless I spend another 300usd or more on some other nvidia gpu or revert to the 770 and throw out the 570 (lit) and return to 2013. (though everything done since will be lost too as I cannot regress the files to 2013, saves limited to 2014.)
one thing that has pissed me off about max for a long time is the ability to know what patches or service packs have been installed. As well as if they are cumulative or not. Meh either way.
render of it with all the bits in place. And no dunno wtf happened to the deflector glow. . . . sigh.
Also a full belly render from last night. Really dislike how those grills render. The ribbing seems to vanish now. Need to find whatever setting it is that is allowing that to happen. It is probably something that will treble render times so it might just have to wait for scene renders vs WIP.
Really thinking those gray panels near the reg were a mistake. Just do not match the stuff done on the saucer top no matter how much I fettle it.
I´m still chungging in the old 3dsmax 9, but let me ask you: The main hull was built from just one piece, which you worked over verts, faces, and later applyed cuts and smooth?? Looks very clean. I´m impressed how all the lines Works together with no deformation.
Here is the base mesh, the colored areas are ones I marked so I can mass delete them once collapsed.
Now there are some iffy bits here like the wire flow across the main hull. Mostly near the outer corners, it bunches up around the deflector cut out as I wanted that tight curve in it. Also all the tight loops have no geometry change so those are separate smoothing groups to keep those curves controlled. Meaning I can mass delete loops that do nothing to the geometry thus going from 116thousand polies to 17thousand.
Here is the wireframe after the first pass clean up. Still got more to do but I want to get some box modeled details in before I start clearing out more.
It is why I think it is key to starting out by getting strong box modeling and later subdiv skills. Learn how loops flow and what needs to be done to get what you want. I still sometimes have to pause and think about how to get something to do what I want it to.
Also need to go about subduing some of the shiny bits on the hull.
Something that just dawned on me. . . . . no forward RCS quads. DERP. I was going to tackle the sensor pod next but I guess it is RCS and the needed remerging of the hull lip, likely gonna detach chunks to weld the rim back so I can also do some detail work across it.
Thank you for the explanation!