Nighthawk's BB-rific complete guide to ship building for Freelancer

[tansytansey]

Nighthawk's BB-rific complete guide to ship building for Freelancer

[color=#395f91]Best viewed in Default Blue Forum Skin.

[color=white]Table of Contents
0.0 Introduction
1.0 The First Step
2.0 Beginning Construction - Choosing your tools
2.1 Beginning Construction - Modelling your ship
3.0 Post Construction - Fixing your mistakes
3.1 Post Construction - Gaps in the Mesh
3.2 Post Construction - Double faces
3.3 Post Construction - Hidden Faces
3.4 Post Construction - Stacked/unconnected verticies
3.5 Post Construction - Unconnected faces
3.6 Post Construction - Double Sided Faces
3.7 Post Construction - Useless faces/vertices
3.8 Post Construction - Final Notes
4.0 Texturing
4.1 Texturing - Importing your model
4.2 Texturing - Loading your Material files
5.0 Exporting CMP and Mat files - Coming Soon
6.0 Hardpointing Your Model - Coming Soon
7.0 Creating your Hitbox - Coming Soon
8.0 Writing .ini files - Coming Soon
9.0 Testing your Ship - Coming Soon
10.0 Preparing your Submission

0.0 Introduction

Welcome, wannabe ship builders for Freelancer. The aim of this guide is to help all the newbies to ship modding out there get their ideas off the ground and into a complete, submitable form. Note that this guide will not teach you how to build a model in 3D.

The first most important thing you need to know is that no one is going to do the work for you. We already have plenty of ships in the mod, and plenty of decent modellers, so if you want your artwork to be included, then you have to put in all the hard work. Submit a half completed model and no one else is going to be bothered finishing it for you, they aren't that desperate for new models.

At the same time, you need to understand that not every ship submitted for the Discovery Mod will be included with in the next update, so don't get too attached to your models and don't be upset or disappointed when they are not included. Submitting a model does not garuntee it will be included.

1.0 The First Step

So you want to make a model for Freelancer Discovery, huh? You've been tinkering around in a modelling program and think you've got something that looks pretty cool.

STOP!

[color=#ff8ffb]Before you begin building a model, you must
consider these things:
1) What faction so I want to build a ship for?
2) What ship class do I want to build?
3) Does this faction already have a ship of this class?
4) What is my ship's role?
5) Are there any other ships in this faction that have the same role?
6) Does this ship follow my chosen Faction's ship-building lore?

If your ship doesn't have a clear purpose and a unique role, then chances are it's not going to be added to the mod. If you start building a ship without a clear purpose or faction in mind, then chances are it's not going to fit into the game nicely, but rather be forced on top; making it no better than the imports we already have in the game.

2.0 Beginning Construction - Choosing your tools

Before you begin, take a look at what 3D modelling program you have. If you're looking at Milkshape, please exit the building through the nearest window. Other basic modelling programs you want to avoid where neccessary are things like Google Sketchup. While functional, they're not really ideal, and from what I've seen the works produced from such programs is not really up to standard.

At the very least, you should get your hands on Metasequoia. While still rather basic, it has adequate functionality for the kind of modelling work you will be doing. It is free to use, but exporting models becomes a problem unless you decide to pay for it.

Ultimately, the tool you really want to be using is 3DS Max. It is complicated to get a grip on the User Interface at first and has a slightly steeper learning curve. But it is an industry standard program, and the work you will produce from it will be of a higher quality.

I recommend either Metasequoia or 3DS Max (you will need 3DS Max for the .mqo importer if you ever want to get past the modelling stage in Metasquoia without purchasing the product)

http://www.metaseq.net/english/

At the very very least, make sure you are using a program capable of exporting to a format readable by Milkshape.

2.1 Beginning Construction - Modelling your ship

For the sake of length, I will not be including instructions on how to model. If you do not know, then this will be a learning progress for you. I may include a tutorial on the basic functions of Metasquoia at a later date, but for now you're on your own.

If you are a first time user I will offer some helpful tips to get you started.

First, go file and make sure Basic Mode is not checked. Second, to get the 4 port view, click the four box symbol located in the top right corner of the main view port.

Start with a Primitive Cube, and work from there. Always keep your cube centred.

It is best to halve your work by only constructing half of your model and then mirroring it when you complete your work. However if you're like me and you find it hard to envision what half the model would look like, build the whole thing but make sure you leave a split down the middle where you can cut your model in half when you are done and mirror it to create a symmetrical model.

---

http://i668.photobucket.com/albums/vv46/Ni...gcloudscopy.png
Image turned into a URL because it made your sig too tall. -Zuke
|Ashes and Draya's Epic Adventure|Ashes "Nighthawk" Yotaka|Nightfall|Eva Jones|
[5:50:49 PM] JakeSG (William Darkmoor) says: I like you, Ashes. You're more cynical than God.