thanks. i think its too really too sleek to be a shuttle or drop ship. fighter is probably the wrong term too, its really more of a hypersonic / orbital interceptor. which i think is the role that small fighter drone type craft would most logically fulfill in the future. Design is based on lifting bodies and hyper-wedges - which are not as painful as they sound.
a little more... the blue cutout near the front is the bay for the ai sensors, not a cockpit, which might be further back... I haven't properly scaled it yet, but at least one crew will be able to sit in the mid section in a cockpit which probably won't have windows.
cheers guys, its subd's essentially for the smoothing. As i've said previously it's basically the same technique you'd use to build a car body. Hard surface/box modelling.
finally got the parts earlier today, which came to less than i'd be quoted, so with the leftover i bought a new hd!
the data for this project and everything else i've checked so far seems to be fine, here's the update i was going to post last sunday, plus the wip of the interceptor. this image is totally unprocessed since i don't have the software installed... gamma is probably way off too, if it wasn't before;) still need to put some more software on here.
Cheers guys, Ok here's some more, i've been thinking of a way of 'hiding' some vertical thrusters which have until now been gaping holes in the nacelle. I always liked the exhausts on the harrier jump jets and here's my attempt at making them a little more aerodynamic, though they aren't used for directly forwards thrust... basically I'm getting fed up of putting things behind doors, i think this is a little more interesting & unusual.
Indeed, looks cool mate. Y'know you can also have smaller, recessed thrusters spread around over the hull to help maneuvering. Y'know a Harrier also has small exhausts on the wingtips and under the nose, barely visilbe. They're mainly used for stabilty during landing.
cheers, its certainly more aerodynamic looking than the gaping holes that were there before;) Meph, Yes the harrier essentially has an RCS (Reaction Control System) like the shuttle orbiter or the lunar lander, only for the harrier its powered by pressurised air thats bled from the engine rather than the usual hypergolic fuel - 2 chemicals that produce an exothermic reaction without any external source of ignition. This ship has a very powerful RCS system for use in space, low dynamic/atmospheric pressure or low speeds.
You might notice from the renders that i've only put the lateral sets in so far, and a couple of vertical bow thrusters, i haven't quite worked out where to put the others. or at least where they would be optimally placed but i'm getting there. basically i need another set on the bow and another on the stern to push down, a set on the stern to push up and perhaps main and retro RCS for finer control than the main engines allow.
RCS engines should be placed as far from the centre of mass as possible, and oriented to fire around that COM. However the complex design of the ship - moving wings, hardpoints, etc, complicates the placement of these thrusters
Jp, i've posted a couple of wires further back in the thread. You have to treat it more like how you would model a car than the usual method. I think it works pretty well. esp up close but it's not the easiest way of doing things and the poly count is very high, its currently at 3 million triangles.
Travis, thankyou if i could get enough orders i'd probably do something like that. If i can get it to render at print sizes;)
Firelode.. hmmm. i'll see what i can do.
Here's a preview of the texturing, just a test... the high res base tile will be supplemented by different layers (probably, assuming i go through with this method and it actually works) on different uv mapping channel(s) to add different colours, weathering, ambient occlusion... i'm working it out as i go along...;)
Thats some nice texturing, though wouldn't the rivets follow the contour around that panel hump?
yep, and they will, that was literally the first test just to see how the panels looked on there.
I'm trying to keep the amount of texture data needed to a minimum but still be able to get very close to the hull so i can't have too many individual textures, more a case of fudging what i have to fit different areas. essentially there will be around 2000 pixels for every 2 or 3 meters of the ship. works out to roughly 80,000 pixels down the length of the ship! Which is probably more than i'd ever need but it's fun to try new things;)
Thanks man, that really means a lot to me. I'm in two minds over the rivets, at this stage of technology you're probably not going to be riveting stuff together, but they instantly provide a scale reference... most people know how big a rivet is and the sub-panelling helps sell the scale close up, but you'd probably be using some advanced adhesive or just making larger complete panels.
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the data for this project and everything else i've checked so far seems to be fine, here's the update i was going to post last sunday, plus the wip of the interceptor. this image is totally unprocessed since i don't have the software installed... gamma is probably way off too, if it wasn't before;) still need to put some more software on here.
You might notice from the renders that i've only put the lateral sets in so far, and a couple of vertical bow thrusters, i haven't quite worked out where to put the others. or at least where they would be optimally placed but i'm getting there. basically i need another set on the bow and another on the stern to push down, a set on the stern to push up and perhaps main and retro RCS for finer control than the main engines allow.
RCS engines should be placed as far from the centre of mass as possible, and oriented to fire around that COM. However the complex design of the ship - moving wings, hardpoints, etc, complicates the placement of these thrusters
Oh and the interceptors looks great thus far.
Here's a little more... detailing creeping slowly to the stern...
Firelode, i don't know... as soon as the outside is done.
here's a 3000 pixel render...
I'm also very interesting to see some wireframe, if you can
The paneling on the ship is very impressive
I'm curious to see how you made them
Thanks
Travis, thankyou if i could get enough orders i'd probably do something like that. If i can get it to render at print sizes;)
Firelode.. hmmm. i'll see what i can do.
Here's a preview of the texturing, just a test... the high res base tile will be supplemented by different layers (probably, assuming i go through with this method and it actually works) on different uv mapping channel(s) to add different colours, weathering, ambient occlusion... i'm working it out as i go along...;)
Seriously - great design and great execution!
yep, and they will, that was literally the first test just to see how the panels looked on there.
I'm trying to keep the amount of texture data needed to a minimum but still be able to get very close to the hull so i can't have too many individual textures, more a case of fudging what i have to fit different areas. essentially there will be around 2000 pixels for every 2 or 3 meters of the ship. works out to roughly 80,000 pixels down the length of the ship! Which is probably more than i'd ever need but it's fun to try new things;)
Thanks man, that really means a lot to me. I'm in two minds over the rivets, at this stage of technology you're probably not going to be riveting stuff together, but they instantly provide a scale reference... most people know how big a rivet is and the sub-panelling helps sell the scale close up, but you'd probably be using some advanced adhesive or just making larger complete panels.