›

Greetings!

Welcome to Scifi-Meshes.com! Click one of these buttons to join in on the fun.

Sign In Register

Quick Links

3DCSS Avenger Render

CaptainjerkyCaptainjerky62 Posts: 0Member
edited May 2012 in Finished Work #1
Hey all-

I've been posting my work in progress in, well, the WIP forum so far where it belonged. I'm now officially out of ideas on what to do to the model. I feel like it still needs something, especially compared to what lots of you are producing here. This is my first real attempt at a large scale project like this. Speaking of scale...
The Avenger has twin fore-to-aft, fly-through hangars on the underside as well, something I'll highlight in another render. Just for those of you who like to scale, the decks are 9 feet tall, with a 1 1/2 foot mechanical space in between. The glass portion of the windows is 3'8" tall. I built it from the inside out so that I'd have a ship that scaled out rationally. Total length is about 1700 feet. Including the bridge levels and hangar deck, she is 22 decks tall.
I plan to use this render or something like it as a book cover for my next novel, so any comments or suggestions on how to make it better are greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Ryan
94568.jpg
Post edited by Captainjerky on
Tagged:

Posts

  • SchimpfySchimpfy396 Posts: 1,632Member
    #2
    Good looking ship, but it definitely needs a bit of help. The biggest thing is to add details here and there to indicate the scale a bit better. Right now the windows don't convey the sense of size that you're going for. Small clusters of sensors, panel detail (aztec type style), maneuvering thrusters and perhaps some small man-sized ports that are clearly defined will go a long way toward making this a more complete model. Good luck! :thumb:
  • CaptainjerkyCaptainjerky62 Posts: 0Member
    #3
    Thanks for the ideas. I tried out the aztec effect and didn't really feel like it worked for this ship. The large panels are supposed to be one piece armor plates that can be replaced if damaged, so I reasoned that they should look like one large cast piece. I get your thoughts, though. I included a single airlock on each side; I should probably add more. Like the idea of maneuvering thrusters at various points as well. Now I have more work to do! :-)
  • SchimpfySchimpfy396 Posts: 1,632Member
    #4
    I like your line of thinking regarding the panels; however, you'll need to be careful about the size of each one. Based on the length you gave (1700') that makes each panel huge and not really feasible to swap. Check out this tutorial by MadKoiFish: Mad Hull-plating The MadFish Way! It's pretty usable across applications and should give you a new route to take. Good luck!
  • CaptainjerkyCaptainjerky62 Posts: 0Member
    #5
    Juvat, I took your suggestions to heart. Well, most of them! I changed up the hull color a tad so hopefully the different panels' color differences show up a little better. I added several airlock hatches, as well as a good dozen thruster ports. Some are on or near the bow, with pairs on the engine pods as well. Not sure how easy it is to tell the difference, so here's a new render to see how it looks. I need to work on the lighting, too. The sun always turns out too bright after I go through putting in the mask and background. I want it darker on the shade side, but I'll worry about model details first! Working on the bridge module as well, I hope to have some renders of that in a week or two...
    94880.jpg
  • CaptainjerkyCaptainjerky62 Posts: 0Member
    #6
    Here's another render of the dorsal aft...
    95249.jpg
  • andar_bandar_b0 Posts: 0Member
    #7
    Wow, most of that last one says "Physical Model" to me. The texture in that depression on the left seems a little strange, and the overall texture gets stretched in some places (the aft edge in the foreground) and the tiling is apparent in others. Otherwise, I think it looks great. I wanted to say 'she', but for some reason, this ship doesn't look like a lady. >:)
  • CaptainjerkyCaptainjerky62 Posts: 0Member
    #8
    Yeah, I see what you're saying. Seems like every time I try another angle, etc, I see something that needs fixing. You guys set such a high standard, it's hard to keep up. Any suggestions on how to fix the tiling issue? I want the texture to be about that size, so making the texture itself bigger so that it doesn't repeat won't work, but in this angle I definitely see the tiling issue you mentioned. (didn't notice it when uploading, was just glad to have another view done!)

    Thanks for the feedback!
  • alonzo11208alonzo11208331 Posts: 0Member
    #9
    Captainjerky wrote: »
    Yeah, I see what you're saying. Seems like every time I try another angle, etc, I see something that needs fixing. You guys set such a high standard, it's hard to keep up. Any suggestions on how to fix the tiling issue? I want the texture to be about that size, so making the texture itself bigger so that it doesn't repeat won't work, but in this angle I definitely see the tiling issue you mentioned. (didn't notice it when uploading, was just glad to have another view done!)

    Thanks for the feedback!

    FOr what its worth, this looks great having come from SU; especially knowing first hand the limitations it carries in regards to texture mapping.

    That said have -and don't mean to be daft- but have you tried forgoing textures in general in SU and doing them in an external program; in regards to the main hull? Or if you have, did you try a simple colour scheme(s) instead?
  • CaptainjerkyCaptainjerky62 Posts: 0Member
    #10
    I suppose I should have mentioned than I'm using the Twilight Render plugin (essentially Kerkythea, but within Sketchup) for rendering. I looked at 3DS and Lightwave, but Sketchup was free and I was on a budget. I've run across some things that I think are stumbling blocks in Sketchup/Twilight that don't seem to be a problem in these better programs, but I'll have to make do for now. I do wish I had the free time to get a more robust program and teach myself/study tutorials for a month, but there's that pesky job that keeps getting in the way! :-)
    I have to do about a six-step post production routine on every render I want to post to get around my inability to straighten some things out that I'd rather do in-program, but I'll have to make do for now.
    Thanks for the comments, by the way; I used to do a lot of instructing in my job and when you're dealing with someone new you need to figure out what they know and have tried and can't just assume! So, your questions are right on!
  • alonzo11208alonzo11208331 Posts: 0Member
    #11
    Hey us newbs have to stick together! :D

    Though I am kinda fluttering between SU and MAYA (too lazy to model in MAYA, when its simple in SU; the tradeoffs are horrid though lol), I also do play around with BLENDER3D which is a free 3d modeling tool. There are plugins to export (import) OBJ files from (to) SU, so its possible you can do main modeling in SU and then do other stuff in BLENDER3D.
  • CaptainjerkyCaptainjerky62 Posts: 0Member
    #12
    alonzo11208 wrote: »
    Hey us newbs have to stick together! :D

    Though I am kinda fluttering between SU and MAYA (too lazy to model in MAYA, when its simple in SU; the tradeoffs are horrid though lol), I also do play around with BLENDER3D which is a free 3d modeling tool. There are plugins to export (import) OBJ files from (to) SU, so its possible you can do main modeling in SU and then do other stuff in BLENDER3D.


    Now there's an idea- take the ease of generating a model in SU but then use (free!) Blender to do the finish work? I'll definitely look into that!
Sign In or Register to comment.