Spaceship WIP

[Korken]

Hello all!

 

Well after having a break in modeling/animating I've started again.

Now, this is only a fast begining on my spaceship/space fighter.

I'd like some crit on the overall design. Not any patch problems.

And might some sugestions for a paint job.

 

And I've thought about this ship beeing a small fighter for a much larger carrier.

How about that idea?

 

//Korken

[Fishman]

I like the design. On the engines, it looks like you have some fan blades inside, I would make the opening bigger to better see them.

 

I know you said no patch comments, but I would change the closure on the front end on the ship from the minute hole method to what I call the basketball closure. I'm going to try to describe it, so bear with me. If you have eight control points around the second to last ring that all feed to the tiny ring, then it is easy to describe. Looking at the circle of eight CP's and numbering them clockwise from 1 to 8, you would a spline from 1 to the middle to 5 and from 3 to the middle to 7. this will produce a cross. The trick is to then go from 2 to the vertical spline in the middle to 8 and from 4 to the vertical spline in the middle to 6. The connections to the vertical spline are not at the center, but at half way between the center and the circumference. This will give you a smoother looking nose.

 

If that was confusing, let me know and I'll post a picture to replace my thousand words.

 

Scott

[pixelmech]

If you look at the top of my robot head in my avatar, that's a basketball type closure. It works well IF you can get all the CPs in the right place, it can be tricky though so be as precise as you can. If you do it right it can look real nice.

[nyahkitty]

Yes please, a picture would be most helpful.

[Dhar]

Good smooth lines.

 

It's funny how the retro look is catching up to space ships too. I mean what's a turbine engine doing on a spaceship? How can such a propulsion engine work in frictionless vacuum? But, alas! The artistic license

[Datameister]

I like it. The design is simple--for some people's tastes, probably too simple. But IMO, it's a nice concise design that seems reasonably realistic (not counting the turbines ). Not bad at all.

[Korken]

Hi!

 

Thx for the comments!

 

Fishman: A pic would be very nice. That basketball type closure was abit confusing.

 

And i know bout the turbines, I didn't know what to have in it so I put a pair of fans.

 

Should I close the front of the turbine and give it a space engine look?

Or how does a space engine look anyway?

 

//Korken

[Fishman]

Apologize for not getting back quicker.

 

As far as the engine goes, I would consider closing off the front, since a turbine with an intake doesn't make any sense in space. Typically they would be solid fuel with a nozzle out the back.

 

Here is a pick of a typical "basketball" closure. I whipped it up on a simple cylinder. It has the added advantage of giving you three additional CP's at the end to manipulate to get the smoothness you want. Hope this helps.

 

Scott

[Korken]

Thx!

 

//Korken

[Korken]

How about the new engine?

 

//Korken

[Fishman]

Looks good! You may want to make the center cone slightly more pointed, but that is just my opinion.

 

Hope the bball closure was helpful!

 

Scott

[Datameister]

I like it. That does make a lot more functional sense. Although, if you really want to get into it, spaceships of the future shouldn't use rockets for propulsion...they should use electrogravitic cells, of the type pioneered by T. Townsend Brown, only with much higher voltages...assuming the Biefield-Brown effect isn't a mere product of ion wind...

 

 

Wow, okay, back on topic. Looks great. There are a lot of artistic choices open to you, and it's really just a matter of deciding what you want and trying to figure out how to make A:M conform to your wishes. Keep up the good work.

[Korken]

The closure was very helpful!

But what is the secret to smooth sufaces? It allways becomes abit "bumpy".

 

I like it. That does make a lot more functional sense. Although, if you really want to get into it, spaceships of the future shouldn't use rockets for propulsion...they should use electrogravitic cells, of the type pioneered by T. Townsend Brown, only with much higher voltages...assuming the Biefield-Brown effect isn't a mere product of ion wind...

I intend to make the center cone in the exaust black and the ring around it blueish (electro like?) collor. Not just some old rocket.

 

//Korken

[Fishman]

Several things I try to do to get smooth surfaces.

 

1) Use continuous splines whereever possible, only dead end at a hole. make sure that any creases are not caused by two splines connecting discontiuously. This can be difficult to diagnose. I find that if you disconnect the CP of spline running perpendicular to the crease, check to see if it is smooth (no kinks). If it has a kink disconnect the two ends and reconnect them.

2) Reduce splines to a minimum. I often find creasing where I've over done it with splines. The corollary to this is that adding splines into a mesh can cause trouble, so start with more splines than you need and then reduce.

3) Tweak CPs by the two view method. Have two windows open, one with a shaded render view and one with a wire frame. Select CP's in the offending area on the wireframe view and tweak (I like to use the arrow keys) watching the shaded render to see if it helps the mesh.

4) Check it with a test texture or color. Sometimes texture or color will hide what seems glaring in the modeling view. Consider the portion of the model where the creasing is occuring. Is it prominent or will it be unlikely to be noticed?

5) Don't be afraid to use 5 point patches. They are very useful and can solve some sticky modelling situations.

6) Use the porcelain material when you've got your mesh to the best you can do by the other methods.

7) Keep practicing. Your models will get better the more you model.

 

Scott

[Korken]

Thx!

5) Don't be afraid to use 5 point patches. They are very useful and can solve some sticky modelling situations.

Hehe. Those allways mess things up for me.

6) Use the porcelain material when you've got your mesh to the best you can do by the other methods.

Where can I find it?

 

//Korken

[tatumrk]

Well......

 

 

If his ship was using a Boussard Ram Scoop for propulsion it would need an intake

(uses free hydrogen in the vacuum for propulsion, I believe.)

 

Problem is, because of the density of hydrogen in the vacuum, the scoop would be many many times the size of the ship.

 

 

There was something like this in one of Larry Niven's books.

[Korken]

Huh?

tatumrk.. No offence but, do you feel well to day?

 

//Korken

[tatumrk]

Huh?

tatumrk.. No offence but, do you feel well to day?

 

//Korken

 

 

Note sure I follow you there...what exactly are you getting at?

[Korken]

I think I must study harder on my english.

Lets just say I'm not so well educated. Exept maths.

 

//Korken

[Fishman]

The porcelain material is on the CD. There is a link to a good porcelain material tutorial in the Software Tutorials section of the forum.

 

Scott

[Korken]

Strange, I can't find it. Is it on the 2004 cd?

 

//Korken

[tatumrk]

I think I must study harder on my english. 

Lets just say I'm not so well educated. Exept maths.

 

//Korken

 

 

no big deal. I wasn't sure what you were trying to say.

 

Someone earlier in the thread had stated that your model would not have intakes in the engines, since it is flying in space (no air)

 

There is a type of theoretical engine which would need intakes in order to function in the vacuum of space.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_scoop

 

I was just pointing out that if you were to make such a ship, the engine would be much larger (comically so) than the cockpit.

 

I'm sorry if you misunderstood what I was saying, and that I misunderstood you.

 

Have a good one.

[Korken]

Thx for all, dude!

I can tell that we missunderstod eachother.

 

This spaceship is suposed to be 99.99% fictional.

So how it's propelled dosen't matter. If only it looks good!

 

//Korken

[Korken]

Hi all!

 

Well, I've made alot of changes now. But I still got some patch problems, if you guys got any ideas on how to fix'em all then just tell me (see pic).

 

And I'd like something to add/change on it too. It looks too futuristic.

All ideas are welcome!

 

//Korken

[Korken]

And wireframe..

 

//Korken

[Datameister]

Lookin' sweet. Patch problems...well, I'm a total newb, but I do see several 3-point patches and those are known to cause creasing. I'm also seeing some spline "squiggling"--as in, the splines squiggle within the plane of the surface. That can give you problems.

 

I need at least as much help with patch issues as you do.

 

Hey, I saw you asked for texturing suggestions back at the beginning of the thread. I'd say make your own decals, once the model is totally finalized. Decals are usually the best way to create truly customized detail. I'm a big fan of blue and silver and white and black, but it's really all up to you what kind of paint job you choose. It always helps me to have a backstory...you could try that. What's the story behind the ship? Who made it? For what purposes? When? With what materials?

[Fishman]

I've marked up your picture to give you some possible places to improve the model.

Hope this is helpful.

 

Scott

[Korken]

Thx for the awnsers! I'll get right on it!

 

//Korken