Deletion Time

[WileyCoyote]

No one said that modding is supposed to be easy. For scaling, I just import an existing model into Max and scale my ships to that mesh. Works for me.

[bankruptstudios]

this is the rule he was talking about
http://bc-central.net/forums/index.php/topic,1244.0.html

BCC does not support piracy, do not discuss piracy in any shape or form on these forums.

You don't need a "V@l#d%" cope of the game to make a mod. First you need to UV map the ship, depending on the size of the ship how much detail you want to add to the ship, i would say you only need 2 maps, top and bottom. Save the maps as a 1024 tga file and export the ship to NIF. Download nif scope and load the ship in there, hit render tab at the top, and then hit settings at the bottom. Next tab you'll hit add folder, then add your forlder that the tga's are in and it will load the texture maps. From there you load the texture maps in a paint program and do some texturing. Once you save a little progress, you can see it in nif scope on your ship.

you can also go to the tutoral page and check out the goodness

http://bc-central.net/forums/index.php/board,44.0.html

[MarkyD]

before that model is ready for mapping, texturing or hardpointing, you will want to make sure it is unified. From what I can see it needs some work before it is ready to move on.

[MarkyD]

One object, not a combination of seperate objects, your model should be one object, clean.. if you draped a thin net over your model, your mesh should be the net, seemless etc.

In the case of the defiant model that you have called it, it would need some booleans and alot of vert tyding and face removing afterward.

[MarkyD]

The Boolean, can either unify / subtract / add etc.

you select the option you require i.e UNIFY in your case.

If elements of your model are vanishing, then it is because those elements, or one of them have mesh errors. Running the STL checker from the modifier list will identify these. You will then need to sort them out.

A frustrating process for sure, but once you master it you will have an important ability to add to your modelling arsenal.

[eclipse74569]

I just figured out what was wrong. Is poly count suppose to go down when you bolean?

It can go down, and then again, it could increase.

[Jb06]

right one in the 1st pic. The left one's engines look too stretched and unnecessary.

~Jb

[Toa_Kaita]

Agreed, the shorter engines look better.

[Locke]

I know Mark said to weld the entire mesh together, but that's not how everyone does it.  I didn't do it for my Sentinel class, and several other people don't.  DJ Curtis, GMunoz, and LC Amaral (creator of the Excalibur) are also modders who fit into this category.  It is a good idea to have a concentrated mesh that uses very few texture maps, but it is not necessary to have the entire thing be one standard piece.  Most of the meshes I manipulate tend to have between 3 and 6 parts that make up the whole mesh.

Oh, and the poly count at the very end of the modeling process is what matters. ;)

[MarkyD]

I know Mark said to weld the entire mesh together, but that's not how everyone does it.  I didn't do it for my Sentinel class, and several other people don't.  DJ Curtis, GMunoz, and LC Amaral (creator of the Excalibur) are also modders who fit into this category.  It is a good idea to have a concentrated mesh that uses very few texture maps, but it is not necessary to have the entire thing be one standard piece.  Most of the meshes I manipulate tend to have between 3 and 6 parts that make up the whole mesh.

Oh, and the poly count at the very end of the modeling process is what matters. ;)

Game meshes should be fully unified and welded, the only exception in this case would be the saucer section on a galaxy class would need to be seperate, also any elements the model that needs to move i.e in an animation, such as a turret, would need to be a seperate entity.

Apart from that the rest of the model should be 100% clean and unified to not do so is either lazy or mabey people just dont have the ability??
It is something you learn with each model you create, I think the last person who managed to get on top of it was Baz1701 and he is improving all the time.


From DJ Curtis    Quality meshes for BC should be fully unified/welded for optimal damaging in-game, as well as to minimize other graphical anomalies.

And thats from the  http://bridgecommander.wikidot.com/creating-and-adding-ships-general-overview

I have read countless books from various game studios, and believe me they all say the same thing.

I am currently studying game modeling part time with Escape Studios. Low and behold this is what they teach.

I am not telling you this is what you have to do, all I am saying is that to make clean meshes is an art and one you should try your best to master.

The best meshes I have seen come from Adonis, and he will reiterate what I am saying here.. and if you can get him on side he is an excellent tutor of such things.

To get your thread back on topic mate, I think it looks allot better now you have rebuilt your model, and allot more defiant like. keep going with it and very good luck. Cookie 

[baz1701]

Download from niftools, unzip and copy into the plugins folder in the main 3D max directory ../program files/autodesk/3d max/plugins

Restart max and then nif should be an option in the export menu.

[Locke]

Actually, 2 and 8 are my favorites.  They seem to be more in the style that the Defiant was built.  Although I have to say that the deflector extension is a bit long.  Perhaps you could shorten it to about 1/2?

Come to think of it, 8 is really my fave. ;)

[markeno]

I'd have to say I like 1 and 8 the most of all of the variations.  I think you might be right about a more Romulan look to 8, but still it's Defiant enough.

[webxro]

2 and 8 are the best , but if you can you should texture all of them . 

[Lionus]

I prefer 1 and 4 myself.

[TheConstable6]

Damashea Fine-as-a-dime!

(That was the name of a friend of a friend. Columbus Public Schools spits out names like that.)

[flarespire]

i just noticed something, if the bridge was at the nacell end instead of the other bit it would make another class of ship on its own(by thiss i mean the deflectors are the impulse engines and the original engines become deflectors youd have a sort of...variant on the saber class....

[TheConstable6]

What?

Damn she is as fine as a dime!

[Hellsgate]

Hmmmm...what if there were only two nacelles on this design and they were pulled a little further back toward the aft?

[bankruptstudios]

I'm not sold on the nacells yet, but i really like the saucer, keep it up.