I keep saying this ship is done and locked, and then I keep looking at it and thinking, "what if I did this..."
So, more Astris updates:
Swapped out the texture maps for a lighter set (the ones I created for the Blake's 7 Project) and... Dunno, if I like them or not. May look at different tile system.
Close-up of some of the details:
The "ball turret" weapon thingy... there are 22 of them dotted around the hull, covering most firing angles. Added some forward sensor greebles as this ship is an explorer (who knew?) and tidied up a few things.
Comments and the like welcome, as always. More tomorrow
The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
- Mike Oldfield
Updates, new room behind the windows - just a simple lit corridor set. Bridge and Hanger will remain as one-off sets for this ship only, but I figured it would be nice to have something just for this ship - so new corridor:
Been playing with the UV Mapping and updated textures:
More tweaks are needed I think, but it's close. Comments welcome, more tomorrow.
Post edited by Jayru on
The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
- Mike Oldfield
I'm really liking this ship, especially the engine/ring section. My only comment would that the side hull window cutouts seem a bit "plain" to me for some reason. If it's not to big of a hassle, maybe add another sunken step to each cutout rather then a simple extruded look, and round the corners a bit. I think that would really make them pop, imho.
Also, I love how you give each ship it's own logo symbol.
I'm really liking this ship, especially the engine/ring section. My only comment would that the side hull window cutouts seem a bit "plain" to me for some reason. If it's not to big of a hassle, maybe add another sunken step to each cutout rather then a simple extruded look, and round the corners a bit. I think that would really make them pop, imho.
Also, I love how you give each ship it's own logo symbol.
Thank you!
I will have a look at the window bays, the windows are floor-to-ceiling height, I might be able to add something to break them up a little bit. Rounded corners... Humm, I would have to rebuild the geometry. It's possible I do keep all the iterative saves, so I would have them, for this. Let me have a think and a look at how much work it would be.
And the logos are fun, I used my personal one for the Protectorate fleet, that one is close to my heart. The Cyrathian one needs to be updated, and I think the one for the Astris needs to be done, now I know it's an exploration ship!
Thank you again, more later today!
The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
- Mike Oldfield
The new logo is done, and more in line with Astris being an explorer ship:
And as to the question of just how big this ship is...
She 'ain't small! LOL
And to clarify against something a bit more well-known:
I am investigating a few things - rounding off the window bays and adding some extra detail. My other half has suggested I increase the size of the turrets by about 10-15% and I'm going to look at whether that's an idea that sits well with the frame. Also... Regarding the logo on the actual ship, I may revert to the alien text on its side, I like the logo, but it's not sitting right IMOO.
Comments welcome, more later :-)
The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
- Mike Oldfield
Rounding off the window bays is not possible unless I rebuild those areas. It's doable, and something I will think on. Need to decide if it's worth the extra time it would take to do.
Extra detail to the window bays is going to happen.
Ball turrets have been rescaled to 115% giving them a larger presence on the frame. I don't think it detracts from the fact this is more an explorer ship than combat. Any of the three Protectorate ships I have built could take this out quite easily.
Have reverted back to the alien text on the hull whilst I look at the best way and location for that logo.
Comments welcome, more later :-)
Post edited by Jayru on
The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
- Mike Oldfield
Right, I've finished looking at the Astris and what would be required to change the window bays (ie make them rounded). It would require me to completely rebuild the geometry of two major hull sections and rebuild the flight deck as well.
It's doable. I keep iterative saves (I have nearly 90 for this project). It will be a major pain in the backside to do. But... I do want to get this right. I used the same style of window bays on the Protectorate ships - but those harsh lines work well on that. It's not that the style doesn't work here, it does. But it would be nice to make it different.
Let me have a play and see how hard this is going to be. I may be quiet for a day or two whilst I hunt for the rights files to go back and do this - but I will try and keep you all up to date.
More soon :-)
The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
- Mike Oldfield
Rounded window bays. A ton of mesh errors to fix, but... It's a thing now. Once those are out the way, I think some spot lights and then I can wrap this one up!
Comments and thoughts welcome, more tomorrow.
The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
- Mike Oldfield
Well, someone has been busy the last few months. Since you were so prolific while I wasn't around, this is one of the threads I wanted to take some time and look through thoroughly, which I've now done. Your work is impressive, as always. I really like seeing original Sci-Fi stuff. Your designs are all cool, I can definitely see that they're from a shared universe. Plus, your modeling is clean and your textures really pop. And, I'm loving those action shots.
Also, as much as I love your original work, it's great seeing some Transformers stuff too. The Ark and the Nemesis are great ships and you did fantastic work on those.
Well, someone has been busy the last few months. Since you were so prolific while I wasn't around, this is one of the threads I wanted to take some time and look through thoroughly, which I've now done. Your work is impressive, as always. I really like seeing original Sci-Fi stuff. Your designs are all cool, I can definitely see that they're from a shared universe. Plus, your modeling is clean and your textures really pop. And, I'm loving those action shots.
Also, as much as I love your original work, it's great seeing some Transformers stuff too. The Ark and the Nemesis are great ships and you did fantastic work on those.
I'm looking forward to seeing what you make next.
Firstly, thank you! Good to hear from you :-)
It's been fun to share so many different ships and ideas, the Astris has become my fav of my designs, even if it was a spur-of-the-moment inspiration. But yes... I agree it probably does sit in the same universe as the Protectorate ships, just a different race's take on things. I have a story in mind for the Astris as writing is my other passion, that will pop up on dA soon me thinks.
The Transformers ships were fun to do - I wanted to mark the 40th anniversary of that Franchise. I may have a play with the ships from Beast Wars (the Axalon and the Darksyde), but they are way down my list of ships to do. A million years ago I did create them for Bridge Commander, but never got a chance to port them over. And then there was the loss of all my work. Which I think I have made up for now, lol.
I have a ton of Trek ships completed over on the TrekBB site. I may share a few renders on here of things that are done, but the link can be found here: https://trekbbs.com/threads/jayru-jsnaiths-3d-trek.311502/. Keeping my Trek work sperate at the moment because frankly there is a lot of it, and it's nice to do other things.
Some real-life things have, well not forced my hand, but spurred me on to get things done. I need to finish off the Cyrathian ship, and it could use some love on the render side of things as well. Then there are the Ilgen Imperium ships, which I can see in my mind's-eye, but will look better in 3D.
Going to take a small break, and then come back to building again.
As always, more soon!
The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
- Mike Oldfield
That's a great design, it's very fearsome looking. You've done a great job of making it look completely alien compared to your other designs.
I keep telling myself I'm going to break away and do some original stuff. Maybe when I finish my current Trek ship. Threads like yours are definitely inspirational.
That's a great design, it's very fearsome looking. You've done a great job of making it look completely alien compared to your other designs.
I keep telling myself I'm going to break away and do some original stuff. Maybe when I finish my current Trek ship. Threads like yours are definitely inspirational.
Thank you!
All I can say is do it. It's very liberating to play in your own sandbox :-)
The watcher in the tower... Waiting, hour by hour...
- Mike Oldfield
Ok, I gotta claim dibs and be the first to say this ship resembles the Earth Cruiser from the 5th Element. And for a more obscure reference, the Earth Alliance Avenger Class Carrier from the Babylon 5 Wars game series.
Good start to it! I'm interested in what detailing you will give this one.
Posts
I've made a lot of changes to that ship to avoid that comparison.
More on the Astris, tweaked the shuttle:
I've locked that down for the time being, and so have been able to generate these:
Comments and the like welcome, more later :-)
- Mike Oldfield
And:
Comments and the like welcome, more tomorrow!
- Mike Oldfield
Thank you!
- Mike Oldfield
So, more Astris updates:
Swapped out the texture maps for a lighter set (the ones I created for the Blake's 7 Project) and... Dunno, if I like them or not. May look at different tile system.
Close-up of some of the details:
The "ball turret" weapon thingy... there are 22 of them dotted around the hull, covering most firing angles. Added some forward sensor greebles as this ship is an explorer (who knew?) and tidied up a few things.
Comments and the like welcome, as always. More tomorrow
- Mike Oldfield
I agree:
Remapped the entire ship (oh what fun):
Comments always welcome, more tomorrowish.
- Mike Oldfield
Been playing with the UV Mapping and updated textures:
More tweaks are needed I think, but it's close. Comments welcome, more tomorrow.
- Mike Oldfield
Also, I love how you give each ship it's own logo symbol.
Thank you!
I will have a look at the window bays, the windows are floor-to-ceiling height, I might be able to add something to break them up a little bit. Rounded corners... Humm, I would have to rebuild the geometry. It's possible I do keep all the iterative saves, so I would have them, for this. Let me have a think and a look at how much work it would be.
And the logos are fun, I used my personal one for the Protectorate fleet, that one is close to my heart. The Cyrathian one needs to be updated, and I think the one for the Astris needs to be done, now I know it's an exploration ship!
Thank you again, more later today!
- Mike Oldfield
The new logo is done, and more in line with Astris being an explorer ship:
And as to the question of just how big this ship is...
She 'ain't small! LOL
And to clarify against something a bit more well-known:
I am investigating a few things - rounding off the window bays and adding some extra detail. My other half has suggested I increase the size of the turrets by about 10-15% and I'm going to look at whether that's an idea that sits well with the frame. Also... Regarding the logo on the actual ship, I may revert to the alien text on its side, I like the logo, but it's not sitting right IMOO.
Comments welcome, more later :-)
- Mike Oldfield
Comments welcome, more later :-)
- Mike Oldfield
MUCH better, IMOO
And it sits nicely on the hull now:
The text reads "AEC071 - ASTRIS" :-)
Haven't put one of these up in a while:
Still investigating the window bays, will post about that in the very near future. Comments and the like welcome, more tomorrow.
- Mike Oldfield
Right, I've finished looking at the Astris and what would be required to change the window bays (ie make them rounded). It would require me to completely rebuild the geometry of two major hull sections and rebuild the flight deck as well.
It's doable. I keep iterative saves (I have nearly 90 for this project). It will be a major pain in the backside to do. But... I do want to get this right. I used the same style of window bays on the Protectorate ships - but those harsh lines work well on that. It's not that the style doesn't work here, it does. But it would be nice to make it different.
Let me have a play and see how hard this is going to be. I may be quiet for a day or two whilst I hunt for the rights files to go back and do this - but I will try and keep you all up to date.
More soon :-)
- Mike Oldfield
Rounded window bays. A ton of mesh errors to fix, but... It's a thing now. Once those are out the way, I think some spot lights and then I can wrap this one up!
Comments and thoughts welcome, more tomorrow.
- Mike Oldfield
I'm locking this one down now, and moving on. This is my fav so far :-)
I have a few more scene ideas for this one...
Comments and thoughts welcome, more soon!
- Mike Oldfield
Thank you :-)
- Mike Oldfield
More on the Astris later, lol
- Mike Oldfield
Can you see them?
Airlocks, I forgot the airlocks, lol. Ok, now the fat lady can sing!
- Mike Oldfield
Finally an action shot. This was (not) as much to set up as I thought it would be - but it's done, and others can be created now :-)
Comments welcome, more at some point :-)
- Mike Oldfield
Also, as much as I love your original work, it's great seeing some Transformers stuff too. The Ark and the Nemesis are great ships and you did fantastic work on those.
I'm looking forward to seeing what you make next.
Firstly, thank you! Good to hear from you :-)
It's been fun to share so many different ships and ideas, the Astris has become my fav of my designs, even if it was a spur-of-the-moment inspiration. But yes... I agree it probably does sit in the same universe as the Protectorate ships, just a different race's take on things. I have a story in mind for the Astris as writing is my other passion, that will pop up on dA soon me thinks.
The Transformers ships were fun to do - I wanted to mark the 40th anniversary of that Franchise. I may have a play with the ships from Beast Wars (the Axalon and the Darksyde), but they are way down my list of ships to do. A million years ago I did create them for Bridge Commander, but never got a chance to port them over. And then there was the loss of all my work. Which I think I have made up for now, lol.
I have a ton of Trek ships completed over on the TrekBB site. I may share a few renders on here of things that are done, but the link can be found here: https://trekbbs.com/threads/jayru-jsnaiths-3d-trek.311502/. Keeping my Trek work sperate at the moment because frankly there is a lot of it, and it's nice to do other things.
Some real-life things have, well not forced my hand, but spurred me on to get things done. I need to finish off the Cyrathian ship, and it could use some love on the render side of things as well. Then there are the Ilgen Imperium ships, which I can see in my mind's-eye, but will look better in 3D.
Going to take a small break, and then come back to building again.
As always, more soon!
- Mike Oldfield
These things hunt/travel in packs of three:
Enjoyed finishing this one, one of my better alien designs I think.
Comments and the like welcome, more tomorrow.
- Mike Oldfield
I keep telling myself I'm going to break away and do some original stuff. Maybe when I finish my current Trek ship. Threads like yours are definitely inspirational.
Thank you!
All I can say is do it. It's very liberating to play in your own sandbox :-)
- Mike Oldfield
More later :-)
- Mike Oldfield
She's big, I may scale her down slightly:
Anyways, comments welcome, more later.
- Mike Oldfield
Ok, I gotta claim dibs and be the first to say this ship resembles the Earth Cruiser from the 5th Element. And for a more obscure reference, the Earth Alliance Avenger Class Carrier from the Babylon 5 Wars game series.
Good start to it! I'm interested in what detailing you will give this one.
- Mike Oldfield