Bridge Commander Central
BC Forums => BC Modding => Topic started by: pepperman on January 26, 2013, 11:18:04 PM
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Been a Milkshape user for some time now and was intimidated with 3D Max. When Mr. Vulcan from the Armada community made a new SOD exporter script, I began to slowly tinker with Max as I was intrigued with making animations for the Armada models. More recently, I have kept my eyes on Phoenix?s Vor'cha Attack Cruiser, watching the build process with great interest. I certainly found inspiration from seeing all the detail go into that ship.
Well, the time has finally come for me to give Max a try. But which ship? I wanted something that wouldn?t be too hard and had good reference material. Plus, it couldn?t be a Federation design. The choice was made ? the Romulan Bird of Prey. I look forward to hearing your comments and critiques.
(http://img72.imageshack.us/img72/2650/rombop1.png)
(http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/9774/rombop2.png)
(http://img405.imageshack.us/img405/3315/rombop3.png)
(http://img824.imageshack.us/img824/6760/rombop4.png)
(http://img841.imageshack.us/img841/8466/rombop5.png)
(http://img838.imageshack.us/img838/8595/rombop6.png)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
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:eek Slap some paint on her and find someone to get her ingame ASAP, that is gorgeous!
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Very nice indeed! Could we get a wireframe view of it?
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My my! A very welcome addition indeed
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My only nag is the pods around the ship, they are sensor nodes and not so "DOMED on top" they are flat, also got a mesh error in the weapons pod at the front but other wise good job :D if you have problems with the bird give me a shout i've made this ship many a times
if these or anything i have can help u just ask mate, here are some OLD renders of my "not last one" but one before (need to do renders of my newer one lol)
(http://www.chrisjonesgaming.org/phoenix/rom/1.jpg)
(http://www.chrisjonesgaming.org/phoenix/rom/2.jpg)
(http://www.chrisjonesgaming.org/phoenix/rom/3.jpg)
(http://www.chrisjonesgaming.org/phoenix/rom/4.jpg)
(http://www.chrisjonesgaming.org/phoenix/rom/5.jpg)
Hope this helps mate
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Thanks guys.
Toa_Kaita: I'll get you a wireframe view.
Phoenix: Could you post close-in shots from the following areas of your model: sensor pods, shuttle craft bay doors and aft air locks. I'll take a look at fixing the mesh error on the front. Not sure I want to go back and redo all those pods or not. :P
I am going to try using Texporter to UVW unwrap the bird. We'll see how that goes.
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I'll dig out the DVD with all my old stuff on and pull the together for you mate
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Thanks Phoenix. No rush as I know you are quite busy with the Vor'cha.
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Very nice!
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Wow, I like it!.
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Very nice indeed! Could we get a wireframe view of it?
Here is the wireframe view of it.
(http://img577.imageshack.us/img577/8359/bopwireframe.png)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
Mapping all the sensor is a real pain in the *&!*
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You can take that poly count down a bit on the wings and buzzard collectors.
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I am nearing completion on this little bird. I took some artistic liberity on the space sensor arrays. I figured the top section of the ship was the bridge so I nixed the circular band that went around this area and replace them with observation ports.
(http://img441.imageshack.us/img441/3742/observationports.png)
I currently have all the windows mapped to 9 rectangular blocks in the texture file that has an alpha channel.
(http://img547.imageshack.us/img547/9896/portgrid.png)
While solid white is okay, I recalled some suggestion a few had about randomizing the windows on another ship. Maybe different versions of a light blue gradient, with a few of rectangle blacked our (drak grey gradient). I could almost play tic tac toe with the 9 x 9 grid. lol Anyways, if anyone has a suggestion I'd love to hear it.
BTW, here is the ship at the present state.
(http://img90.imageshack.us/img90/4353/bop16feb2013.png)
Uploaded with ImageShack.us (http://imageshack.us)
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watch tos remastard, it actually has a cheackered patten to it, hence why i done mine that way
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As I don't have TOS remastered, I'll take your word for it. :) I'll have to give it some though as to how to pull it off in Paintshop Pro. For the time being, I might just have to leave it like this. Not perfect but not too disappointing either.
To break from the traditional, I am thinking of just doing a black silhouette of the bird on the bottom vice the various colored ones I've see.
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http://tos.trekcore.com/hd/albums/1x14hd/balanceofterrorhd417.jpg
Copy and paste the above, since direct linking most likely won't work.
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thank you DT was trying to find that late last night but i was just too damn tired :hithead: :banghead:
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Thanks guys. I got to thinking about how to make this in Paintshop and I beleive I could do it by drawing a set of vector guideline and the then selecting ever other pannel and changing the brightness and contrast. I also watched a video on youtube that discussed baking an texture image using 3d Max. Some experimentation maybe in order later today.
Do you guys think the remaster version looks better? I think Phoenix implementation of it is very well done. Personally, the checker board pattern in that remastered version of the BOP looks a bit silly to me. The panels seems too large to me. It would be interesting to experiment with the concept but make the pannels smaller (aztec effect similar to what folks use on the fed ships).
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You could add the checkering to your speculars.
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Experimenting a little. I'll need to do a little research on those speculars as Armada didn't use them. lol
(http://img834.imageshack.us/img834/5416/bopexp1.png)
(http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/631/bopexp2.png)
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The larger panels are starting to grow on me ....
(http://img802.imageshack.us/img802/8039/bopexp3.png)
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well, the Rom boP isn't supposed to be that big of a ship to begin with, so the larger panels work (though the arrangement for the wings looks a little bit funky) The last thing I'd been working on before my comp crash was a free-model one of these with some odd UV arrangements. I note you didn't go for the landing feet, here.
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yup agreed looks good but wings are off mate :D
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I think I?ll declare victory on this one and move onward and upward. I accomplished my goal of making a complete model in 3d Max. Being a Milkshape user for several years, I was intimidated by the thought of using Max but that fear has now been conquered. Without question, I learned a lot in the process. In many ways waiting this long to try Max was even more problematic. I?d watch a video on Youtube only to find out the version I?m using didn?t have that functionality. But even in this simple example, I got to experiment with arrays and the like. Once I got past the buttonology, things started to click.
While she?s not perfect by any means, the end result is decent quality. Granted, the triangle count is high (19,644) for such a simple model. But at the end of the day, I am satisfied with the effort and end result. Thanks to all for the advice and encouragement.
I?ll submit the model and textures to the mesh section in case anyone wants to play with it.
(http://img811.imageshack.us/img811/795/romulanboptopview22feb2.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/811/romulanboptopview22feb2.png/)
(http://img803.imageshack.us/img803/2425/romulanbopbottomview22f.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/803/romulanbopbottomview22f.png/)
(http://img706.imageshack.us/img706/9061/romulanbopfrontview22fe.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/706/romulanbopfrontview22fe.png/)
(http://img825.imageshack.us/img825/5170/romulanbopsideview22feb.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/825/romulanbopsideview22feb.png/)
(http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/5310/romulanbopperspective12.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/37/romulanbopperspective12.png/)
(http://img585.imageshack.us/img585/8444/romulanbopperspective22.png) (http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/585/romulanbopperspective22.png/)
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That is too pretty to be left out of the game.
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In case anyone want a link. Hit F5 if it doesn't load straight away.
http://bridgecommander.filefront.com/file/Romulan_Bird_of_Prey;121587
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I would love to help make a hardpoint for this beautiful ship, provided someone managed to get the mesh in game. Splendid work pepperman!