Mithra Class WIP (Updated May 29th, 2010)

[Aeries]

Alright, so here's my first ship for Bridge Commander. Truth be told, I've been meaning to post this up for AGES, but I was lazy and lacked (still lack) an internet connection at home and have been extremely busy as of late... anyways, here she is. She's lacking both a ship and class name... and I'm still not entirely sure what her purpose is. I kind of just sat down with MS3D one Saturday and just started making something. :/ I must admit that there are several problems with this model, primarily with missing triangles or triangles that aren't supposed to be there... all placed in positions where I can't actually "reach" into the model from ANY angle to create or delete them... (girr). So yeah, somewhere down the line, I'm going to have to get some help from an experienced modder... somebody who can do the stuff I yet can't. Or just look over the model and make suggestions. [secretly hoping DJ could help... lmao]

Anywho, here she is. When I really think about it, she's got a lot in common with the Achillies and Intrepid starship designs... maybe with a little hint of "Century" here and there... ;)

[Jay Crimson]

Pretty, but is she one single mesh or multiple closed components?

[Aeries]

Not sure whatcha mean. If I'm interpreting things correctly, she's all one mesh. At least she is NOW. I created multiple objects separately, combined them and regrouped. Though I already regret regrouping it all... :/

[yanlou]

it looks reli gd, better then my first attmpt, but yer she interesting, it looks like it was partly inspired by the luna class, altho id change the bussard collectors and for class name how about Mithra 

[moed]

Nice job!

I think she also has a touch of the Luna Class (U.S.S. Titan, Rikers ship)

[Aeries]

Yay! Thank you very much for the support! Mithra sounds very good, actually... and I suppose you are right, she does resemble the Luna... Hmm...

Anyway! Here's a new update! As you can tell, I've added a bunch of details and made MAJOR adjustments to the top portion of the saucer section. I've worked on the lower hull a little, too.  Uhm... OH! Done a bunch of work on the Nacelle Pylons.^_^ *big happy grinn*

Lots of smoothing errors, though... which totally sucks. :/

[Sandtrooper]

The name strikes way too close to home for me....remove taht "H" and you got a person I really liked.

Not bad model...looks way too much polys thouh...

[cordanilus]

Hey

Nice ship there.  The smoothing errors can be ironed out in Milkshape.  You just have to assign the smoothing groups.
Good job, keep up the good work.  8)

[Aeries]

Alrighty; I'll play around in Milkshape when I get home and try to find out how to assign smoothing groups... So yeah. Unfortunately the poly count is only going to go up, as I intend to add the armor plating in a similar fashion as DJ Curtis did on his Century Class. After that, I want to make the thruster quads... and I think I'm going to completely rebuild the warp nacelles, as they've got a massive abundance of missing faces and errors... And it'll be much easier to just rebuild them.

Anywho, anybody have any suggestions on where to take this model next? Any thoughts on changes I can make to the design?

-Aeries.

[Edit: Current poly count is about 12.7k. Nearly 13k. Not entirel certain how that'll effect game play, but I think most of DJ's work is somewhere around twice that, isn't it?]

[Eaika]

Hmmm...that poly count seems a bit high. Try to optimize the model by getting rid of polys that really don't contribute to the model. For example I can tell that the spheres that make up the bussard colelctors are way too detailed. Try to scale back on the number of segments there.

[Aeries]

Hmmm...that poly count seems a bit high. Try to optimize the model by getting rid of polys that really don't contribute to the model. For example I can tell that the spheres that make up the bussard colelctors are way too detailed. Try to scale back on the number of segments there.

Thanks a bunch, I'll give that a shot tonight.

[Aeries]

For ome reason, this forum seems to have reset... maybe it's just me, but some posts just went "poof" and don't exist anymore. :/ Couldn't log in eariler, either.

Anyways, I have an update! *big happy grinn* ^_^
Got a lot done with the armor around the edges of the saucer section, and I fixed a lot of errors that were ever-so present. Re-built the warp nacelles, but they're even bulkier than they were before. I'll work on that more tonight.

Anyways, more suggestions are always welcome. In the mean time, please enjoy the pics of my 11k baby <3. (Also switched to AC3D, but I can't figure out how to make a face like I can ever so simply in MS3D, so... I dunno. :/ I do prefer AC3D, though. :] MUCH better shading system. )

[Nighthawk]

(Also switched to AC3D, but I can't figure out how to make a face like I can ever so simply in MS3D, so... I dunno. :/ I do prefer AC3D, though. :] MUCH better shading system. )

select the vertices you want to make the face in and use the tools at the bottom of the Vertex menu.
you'll have to make sure those vertices are welded and in the same group (it will move the result to a new object, so you'll probabbly have to regroup that part)
once the face/mesh is created, re-weld the vertices and if you get undesired effects, try either flipping normals or optimizing vertices/faces (in the Object menu)
you'll see bad faces marked as red outlines or cyan edges.

one usefull suggestion: never EVER triangulate unless it's extremely necessary.
get used to handle .obj files instead of .3ds. .obj doesn't triangulate.

[Aeries]

Okay, I'm not sure if the forums are messing up or if it's just me. By the way, thank you VERY much for the input, Nighthawk, it means a lot to me. Even though I barely understood any of it. Lol.

[Aeries]

Trying this... AGAIN!!!

[JimmyB76]

Okay, I'm not sure if the forums are messing up or if it's just me.

no, it's not you... 

We will more then likely be experiencing down time this weekend as hour host moves servers. I would ask all our patrons to be patient while this downtime takes place, and thank them for their continued support for BC Central.

Okay, the switch has been sucessfully completed. We have however lost any recent changes in the database, including posts from the last 24 hours. I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

[Nighthawk]

Even though I barely understood any of it. Lol.

-.-

just start trying and ask if you get stuck

on a heads-up: if you weld everything, it will smooth everything. if you want a sharp edge along the saucer, you'll need the ring in a separate object.
just select the faces you want to extract and use Face -> Cut away object.
once you get the individual objects, you can group those that don't share each other's vertices, (like the nacelles and the saucer ring for example) using Object -> Merge. that will reduce the mess a bit.

[Kirk]

I like it. From the front it kind of looks like the excalibur-class, with her nacelles pointed down, and different nacelles. Keep up the good work.

[Aeries]

Okay, I'm not sure if the forums are messing up or if it's just me.

no, it's not you... 

We will more then likely be experiencing down time this weekend as hour host moves servers. I would ask all our patrons to be patient while this downtime takes place, and thank them for their continued support for BC Central.

Okay, the switch has been sucessfully completed. We have however lost any recent changes in the database, including posts from the last 24 hours. I apologise for any inconvenience this may cause.

*pokes the servers with a long stick*

Even though I barely understood any of it. Lol.

-.-

just start trying and ask if you get stuck

on a heads-up: if you weld everything, it will smooth everything. if you want a sharp edge along the saucer, you'll need the ring in a separate object.
just select the faces you want to extract and use Face -> Cut away object.
once you get the individual objects, you can group those that don't share each other's vertices, (like the nacelles and the saucer ring for example) using Object -> Merge. that will reduce the mess a bit.

Aaaah, alrighty, thank you very much! ^__^ All this new info is making my job much easier. I'm pretty sure I have a hang of AC3D now, and I love it! Sp hopefully all its' tools will help to speed up this process. thanks for the heads-up. ^__^

I like it. From the front it kind of looks like the excalibur-class, with her nacelles pointed down, and different nacelles. Keep up the good work.

Thank you very much. ^_^

[Aeries]

Update for Christmas! I'll continue work tonight and on through the week, but once I refine a few things and clean her up a bit... I think she'll be just about ready for textures. So here's what I've done: narrowed-down the warp nacelles so they appear "sleeker", worked out a few errors on the model with unwelded verts and the like... added more window ports, adjusted a whole lot of areas to smooth her out... yeah. Progress continues. Open for further suggestions, though.

Pics...