Bridge Commander Central
BC Forums => BC Modding => Topic started by: JB_Wonderboy on February 22, 2009, 11:18:25 AM
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Hello everybody, I am JB, I was playing SFCII the other day and realised the models where looking dated, and I set out to make my own low poly model of my fav ship the defiant, the plan was to build it using 2 x 512 texture sheets and the model be less than 1000 polys. I wanted to see how good I could make it look at this standard. I have been building models for my own fun for some time, so im not too bad. I have this posted on various forums, and twice now I have been told to post it here as I will get some good feedback from this active community. So here I am.
The model and wrapping is already complete, and im currently playing with textures, I plan on bump mapping the entire ship, then use that bump map for a normal map.. use this as a ref for the diff map, so the end result will be a fake render baked normal map ship with speculars. I have no idea how to normal map yet but I do have the Photoshop Plugin that is excellent. Also it means I will have these maps ready for future releases if games will support the maps.
I got it done in 251 Polys (502 tri's)
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Well, you were right about getting good feedback.
THAT IS INCREDIBLE! And only 251 polies? I'm sure we could all learn how to do that...
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Hey, welcome to the forum, Jb.
Very, very nice! This is the sort of modelling SFC should have had to begin with :)
Oh, and can I just say?: "Wonderboy... what is the secret of your power???"
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and then there were 3 JB's lol (myself, Jb06, and JB_Wonderboy) :P J and B are popular initials lol
very nice start! you mentioned bump mapping - while i have zero skills in modeling, i thought BC didnt support bump mapping?
is this a WIP for BC?
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Thanks for all your praise,
BC does not support bump mapping, or normal mapping but when the model is finished, I will bake the textures, to whatever is the best native format for BC, I have read TGA is popular. (this is a big learning exercise for me in different methods of texturing)
This is a WIP for BC / A2 / BOTF / SFC II & III
Thanks
**edit**
I have just realised the mesh is 502 polys :shock: oops
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BC does not support bump mapping, or normal mapping but when the model is finished, I will bake the textures, to whatever is the best native format for BC, I have read TGA is popular. (this is a big learning exercise for me in different methods of texturing)
awesome!
incidentally, the other JB guy (Jb06) and the crew from his team JL Studios found a way to sort of "fake" it when it comes to bump mapping on ships... i personally havent got the slightest idea (since i have zero modeling skills lol) or could even possibly describe anything about the process, but im sure theyd be happy to share their insights :)
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Thanks for the info, that may prove to be usefull
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The bumps Jimmy is talking about is has got nothing to do with modelling. It's easily done with something like GIMP or Photoshop. You just press a few buttons, sort your options out an voila! I've attached to pics as an example.
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The bumps Jimmy is talking about is has got nothing to do with modelling. It's easily done with something like GIMP or Photoshop. You just press a few buttons, sort your options out an voila! I've attached to pics as an example.
Thanks I believe this is the technique I am already applying.
Image 1 bumps applied
Image 2 bump map turned off
Image 3 bump map rendered as a jpeg
Please keep in mind this bake was a basic low level one without proper lighting,
and I am simply drawing the bump map at the minute and no the textures.
Thanks
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That's beautiful. Great work. This is turning out into an interesting WIP.
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Thanks :D
Bumps are almost done, just the rear sections to finish, and the impulse engines / bussards. then i need to start shading in the panels of colour on a greyscale for the normal map.. Still not worked that bit out yet :shock:
I will 8)
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Oh, I forgot something.
Cookie :D
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Another one incoming. ;)
Awesome job. 8)
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8) Cool thanks for them cookies
Finally managed to work out the normal maps, so the bump maps have now gone into the bin :) The next render is a normal map render, so it would react to lighting 100% granted i need to tone it down say 20% and the panelling is yet to be shaded as per the hull, but normal maps really do rock, hence the gaming industry & community now use them as standard i suppose.. even this 500 poly defiant looks not too bad, all because of normal maps 8) Yummy
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cookie for managing to do that model in about a tenth the polys as most BC ships
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Nice work there mate, I was playing around with normal maps and baking a few months ago, once it is finished, and applied with a spec map and diff map, the results can be hugely impressive. Its a shame that BC does not support it, but once you have the diff map and spec maps done, Im certain this will still look awsome for a 502 poly defiant.
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Hmm. perfect for colossal-scale fleet battles.
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This is brilliant! You have to share your secrets, this could open up whole new fleet battles in BC.. outstanding!
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This is brilliant! You have to share your secrets, this could open up whole new fleet battles in BC.. outstanding!
Hmm. perfect for colossal-scale fleet battles.
IIRC, the armada mod was going to do this also. But yeah, very impressive.
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I have just realized the mesh is 502 polys :shock: oops
That's still very low for so much detail. :shock: