Stuff I've been working on.. New Sovereign, among other things

[Nihilus]

In a very excited George Takei voice... "OOOH MY!"

She looks absolutely fantastic.  Can't wait to see her textured

[cerebus23]

  damn them nacells do look omg good even untextured. really keep that poly count up our 8800gt with 512 meg ram can handle her in this day n age np.

[Nebula]

It's on the model Serv. 

[moed]

Freakin' nice... what more can I say.

[086gf]

Wow, that is just beautiful.

[baz1701]

very, very nice. great to see the level of ships around continually on the up.

Makes us mere mortals bow down and offer the sacrifice of cookes.

[Chronocidal Guy]

You know, every time I sit down to work on this thing, I get the distinct image of John Eaves watching me over my shoulder and laughing as I try to duplicate his work.

Seriously, this ship is so geometrically unwieldly, I half think he designed it as a giant "You think you're good? make this, I dare you!" to all the people who obsess over accurate models of ST ships.

Main reason I think this?  The saucer structure is not level.  Even though you see concentric ovals from the top in the panel details, that doesn't mean that parallel lines are at the same vertical height.  The back half of the saucer actually slopes downward a lot more than the front.

And let's not even go into the freaky flat/curved shape of the pylons to make them bend to match the hull.. this ship is a detail freak's nightmare.

[FarShot]

Well, a designer has a lot more freedom than a duplicator.  As you duplicate, you unwittingly think, "Okay, this needs to be level... this bends at 37 degrees... this is 17.831 meters long..."  Designers just do something and say, "Hey, this looks pretty awesome.  I'll stick with it."   That's why I love sketching.  Producing from a sketch is another story entirely.

[Centurus]

Well, a designer has a lot more freedom than a duplicator.  As you duplicate, you unwittingly think, "Okay, this needs to be level... this bends at 37 degrees... this is 17.831 meters long..."  Designers just do something and say, "Hey, this looks pretty awesome.  I'll stick with it."   That's why I love sketching.  Producing from a sketch is another story entirely.

Good answer.  +1

[Chronocidal Guy]

Heheh how's this for quick work? Well, fake quick work 

I just mapped the entire model with the topside render image.  Little wonky around the nacelles, but not a bad fit.

If I actually take my time, and cut up the renders carefully to build the actual textures, it should be seamless.

As a side note... those renders are NOT orthogonal.  They have a very long focal point, but there are definitely a few small differences between the top and bottom views, and a few rather large ones between front and back.  They don't quite line up like they would if they were true projections, but they're close enough that the differences aren't important.

[Nihilus]

Heheh how's this for quick work? Well, fake quick work  

I just mapped the entire model with the topside render image.  Little wonky around the nacelles, but not a bad fit.

If I actually take my time, and cut up the renders carefully to build the actual textures, it should be seamless.

As a side note... those renders are NOT orthogonal.  They have a very long focal point, but there are definitely a few small differences between the top and bottom views, and a few rather large ones between front and back.  They don't quite line up like they would if they were true projections, but they're close enough that the differences aren't important.

The Saucer looks pretty good, but I see what you mean about the Nacelles.  Still, this gives you a really good idea of how she'll look when completed.  Me likey a lot  

[JamesTiberiusKirk]

Somehow I really like those deep dark red bussards.

[BFGfreak]

I too like the deep dark red, maybe have that be how it looks powered down or something.

Anyway just out of curiosity, do you do anything other then the Sov? Not that I'm complaining about it, if I didn't know any better, I'd say the 1.0 model was just you taking the original and putting it under that machine from Tron or something.

[Chronocidal Guy]

Actually... I think the Sov 1.0 was the only thing I ever officially released.  I worked on a few other projects, but nothing got completed to any release-worthy extent.

I do recall having an X-Wing that was close to being release-able, but I think it might've gotten lost somewhere.

Only other model I ever got close to finishing was my Romulan Warbird, but that was around the time I got buried in college.

Problem is I love building models, but I tend to run out of steam when I get to texturing.  I just don't enjoy it nearly as much, and get distracted by other things too easily.

[Locke]

Problem is I love building models, but I tend to run out of steam when I get to texturing.  I just don't enjoy it nearly as much, and get distracted by other things too easily.

That's exactly my problem.  It seems that texturing is just a big pain in the butt, not allowing for the small parts that are actually FUN to texture.

[Mario]

This makes me want to actually play BC again--that's a very high praise ;)

[eclipse74569]

Actually... I think the Sov 1.0 was the only thing I ever officially released.  I worked on a few other projects, but nothing got completed to any release-worthy extent.

You're forgetting the Nemesis Sovereign back when your username was Hawkeye

The same model I've been working on retexturing and adding a few polies here and there...(Underside of the saucer to be specific)

Also the "textures" Look awesome CG

[FarShot]

Actually... I think the Sov 1.0 was the only thing I ever officially released.  I worked on a few other projects, but nothing got completed to any release-worthy extent.

I do recall having an X-Wing that was close to being release-able, but I think it might've gotten lost somewhere.

Only other model I ever got close to finishing was my Romulan Warbird, but that was around the time I got buried in college.

Problem is I love building models, but I tend to run out of steam when I get to texturing.  I just don't enjoy it nearly as much, and get distracted by other things too easily.

"Looks like the Sovereign..."
*uses sunglasses*
"...was a cut above the rest."
YEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!

[Chronocidal Guy]

Nah, I don't count the Nemesis Sov, it was basically a beta for the CG Sov.. kinda like a version 0.5   Same base model, just reworked a whole bunch.

I wish I could churn out new designs like DJ and others do though.. I might have to just tackle an original design at some point and see what it's like.  Pretty much everything I've done in terms of mods has been replicating someone else's design..  maybe it's time for a CG original.

[Nihilus]

Nah, I don't count the Nemesis Sov, it was basically a beta for the CG Sov.. kinda like a version 0.5   Same base model, just reworked a whole bunch.

I wish I could churn out new designs like DJ and others do though.. I might have to just tackle an original design at some point and see what it's like.  Pretty much everything I've done in terms of mods has been replicating someone else's design..  maybe it's time for a CG original.

I would recommend taking a look at some of John Eaves designs he has on his Blog.  A lot of them are concepts that never went anywhere but man can that guy draw.  I would love to see more of his stuff in game.  Like these for example.  Of course, this isn't a request, just ideas I'm throwing out there.