Freighter MkIII.jpg
New to the boards.
This is a test fit of a WIP star freighter.
Purple is a place-holding color for potential ports. I have already laid out some ports on the front starboard side.
The cargo bay opens across the ship. There is internal detail not visible in this angle.
Posts
Fleshing out the forward decks.
Freighter MkIII (Test 3, Rear).jpg
Also reworked the front decks. In the previous edit the sections leading down to the bridge area were more complex, though awkward from a polygon stance. I removed edges and reworked the angles. The angles, I hope, are a natural draw for the eye to the bridge area.
I like the idea of the bridge area being off center-line. This is obviously not a Star Trek Federation ship. It's more Star Wars or Galactica, if anything. I didn't feel bound by the convention of center-lines and symmetry. What it reminds me of is a concrete hauler whose cab is small and off center-line.
Freighter MkIII (Test 3, Front).jpg
Next, I'll either detail the forward decks more or try a UV unwrap and texture the "cargo hull." Honestly, UV mapping is new to me, so I'm excited to try that out. I built that hull as a separate file and kept the shape fairly simple so that it would unwrap well.
It looks like a cargo hauler. That's for sure.
Created an Aztec Brush in PS, then used it to create test texturing in a UV map.
For the final model, I will be creating additional aztec brushes and depth in texturing. I'm just happy to get the UV map to work this well this time. It's been a bit of learning curve for me.
Also tried some griming here. The blurring looks right on one side, but not the other. I'm wondering if it shouldn't be done in separate layers and then joined.
Rojren, if I had to claim any influence, it would be the Jawa Sandcrawler. Always did like that shape.
Added greebling on the forward decks and along the side.
I've set up separate files for greebles and panels, and I've been appending them onto the deck model. I find this to give me more control over the detail and to be a remarkable time saver.
The only issue I have with it is that the most forward panel section on the starboard side bumps up against the ports. I may try to reconfigure that.
It may have been easier to texture the panels in their file than texturing them on the completed model.
BTW, in the ship's "plans" most of the crew and limited passenger space is in that forward starboard section. I don't think this is any more unusual than an oil tanker's crew space being mostly limited to the superstructure.
It's missing its lander legs and engines because they have no color or textures yet.
Any thoughts?
Quick, dirty build of the SpaceX Dragon.
Experimenting with mix of organic and non-organic shapes.
New Ship.png