Discovery Gaming Community

Ok...so I'm so proud that I got this far.

Unfortunately, my memory capacity has reached its limit and bandwidth has reached its monthly cap...So.

here is what I have.



Don't know if its any good. (sorry if the picture is to big!)

I am taking a 2 year modeling course with 3DS Max 9 and Maya, clay animation, photo shop...ect...ect, purely because I'm jealous of you bloody legends that are able to create mind blowing ships so well, it almost seems as if you acquired the skill at birth! :P

I need ideas on what skin I should use....and where I can get them from, and i want to see what it looks like skinned...stuff like that. so if anyone at all can help me out I would love them forever and ever.

I don't have any plans for this ship going into the Discovery Mod...but, hell...If all goes well, I may as well try.

This is another one I have...but turned out...well....gay. I will show it anyway.



I is no genius modeler so be nice :D

Cheers everyone! :cool:

you do like the upwards bended wings for sure. the second one looks unique - to me it looks like a good basis to keep on working - the first one looks like a plane - that cannot fly.



i don t know much about skinning myself - i just draw a texture in photoshop and strip it over the polygons - look if it fits and thats about it. a few finishing touches - like glow effect, metallic or plastic look and its done.



or at least thats how i did it in milkshape. i have still not managed to work with Gmax. so all my modelling effords are void right now. - wish there was a program that was like milkshape, but freeware, too.

anyway, your models are good allready. they look like spaceships - and have a unique touch. the second one even a freelancer touch. doesn t look like some high end next generation fighter - but we get too many of those anyway - time to build more "common" stuff.

In your case i would recommend to make a concept. You must have an idea about faction, tasks and so on. Then make drawings of the details and the skin. When you have all together start modelling it. I have made it for my first models too.

In the current lvl of process no one can really help you.

Respectful
AoM

Both models seems to have enormous problems over the model (non-symetrical faces, or faces I doubt should be there or here). I do like the general concept of the first.
If it might help you, here's how I do my ships.
This applies mainly to modeling for discovery or freelancer in general.

1. Think about to which faction will it go. This way, you know about the general lines you want your ship to looks like. Also consider wether it'd be capital or fighter. Some Houses doesn't have the same concept; Kusari fighters looks mainly like dragons but heir capital ship could arguably pass for boats with dragon designs.
2. Draw something sketchy on a piece of paper of what you tink it should looks like. Keep it around you when modeling. In my opinion, a good 3D model requires a reference picture. I also suggest you google up some image of ship you know looks a bit like the thing you want to do. Any picture help.
3. Model your ship out from simple polygons and keep them as few as possible. This is to keep the model's face number down as much as possible, so that when a player flies it, it won't lag, making it more enjoyable. Beside, it is also easier to manipulate something that is not poly-heavy. Delete useless faces as much as you can, only keep what you need, and do remember that some detail you can do in 3D, you might want to do them in texture instead.

I would also like to add the tric AoM gave me some time ago, try only do a half of the ship at a time (like, only the right side). When you finish it, mirror it to the other side. Not only does this keep your ship symetrical for sure, but it also makes the task much easier as I've noticed later, since you only have one side of the ship to take care of at a time.

I took the modeling tutorial of lancers reactor, I got the basic ideas from the ship example....made the base and extruded it from there...

Both of them.

The defects seem to be the computer....both wings seem to be peer shaped on one window or the other...I don't think its symmetry related...

I use 3DS Max 9 and GMax...Xing if you can tell me how to mirror the side I create to make the other side...That would be great. Im still a modeling noob.

I recently got Photo Shop...so that good.

Bjorn inspired me on the icon thing....so while you and him work on ship and ID Icons, im trying my hand at the commodities. Trying to learn how to efficiantly learn how 3DS Max, GMax Milkshape and Photo Shop works at the same time...is...well. Hard! :lol:

Cheers for the help guys! :cool:

hehe unfortunately i dont use 3ds or gmax, 3ds lag on my comp while i never managed to get a hand on a gmax copy, I use metasequoia, by Mizno lab, a very basic 3D modeler from which I did all my ships. I know on mqo to mirror, click "selection", and then mirror by ZY axis

Unfortunately, my MED is screwed up, and all I can do is invert triangles.

Does anyone have a link or somthing to the ship modeling tutorial that used to be on Lancers Recator?

I can't find it anymore....And to add to that, I can't find the search function to help me find it. Googling it dosn't help either.

I need that tutorial lol!

:cool:

I doubt you'll find it.LR is down...and it doesn't look like it's going to come back online anytime soon.

Sad stuff ...:(

All I need is the specifications of the box for a regular fighter/bomber. hight, length, width..ect...ect..

Also I can't figure out how to create the box like segmants on the box I create. Like in the above screenshots, I have a kind of wire frame on the extruded box. I can't get that back.

Can an experienced Gmax/3DSMax 9 user help me on that one?

Cheers! :cool: