Aztec problems

[Phoenix Bondi]

Hi all i thought i'd start a sepearte thread for this so others could throw in questions if they have them too, i need to make some aztecs for my strider and have been shown a tutorial or two and just not getting anything that looks right, any help would be great!

[DJ Curtis]

if you want precision on textures that make lots of sense, you do them by hand, and mirror where you can.  It takes time, but in my experience, its the best way to maintain a uniform level of quality.

What I mean by this, is that often time you will see people's ships where the aztec looks like it should stop (at a hull line or something), but  it just gets cut off.

[Phoenix Bondi]

Aww, ok that makes some sense saucer wise, but what about the ships main hull, how would u do that? thanks for answering these things are really getting me down

[DJ Curtis]

I usually do it in steps.

1. Start with main hull lines.
2. Draw in an aztec pattern.  With Sec hulls, usually a variety of squared off L, I, U, E, and other shapes will do.  Just look closely at the textures of other ships to get ideas.
3. Add windows and escape pods.
4. Do a round of detailing, adding in panels, etc.

[Phoenix Bondi]

do u know what dj, that's acutally really helpful, is there anyway i can send u my WIP and have u say honest comments on it and tell me what i can do diffrently?

[DJ Curtis]

post some pix of the work you've done so far.

[Phoenix Bondi]

if u mean on this ship
here it is

[Phoenix Bondi]

was just re-reading and what did u mean by this

2. Draw in an aztec pattern.  With Sec hulls, usually a variety of squared off L, I, U, E, and other shapes will do.  Just look closely at the textures of other ships to get ideas.

[WileyCoyote]

Aztec patterns don't always have to be the same ship to ship.  What DJ means are smaller, little panels that are associated with the normal typical aztec paneling.  The First ship that comes to mind is the Enteprise-E.  It is composed of colored sections of hull, combined with lots of small L, U, I, E-shaped panels.

[Phoenix Bondi]

So how would u go about doing it with the strider?

[DJ Curtis]

this is a pretty standard type of pattern.

[Phoenix Bondi]

AWWW now my brain starting to make sense of it ok when going up on the tears of each strand, use one of the diffrent ones awsome thanks Dj, i'll get to it tomorrow

[MarkyD]

Also for saucer shapes, when your constructing your aztec pattern, B/W you can make enough segments to cover the segments of your saucer.. eg, if your saucer has 18 segments going radially, then build 18 horizontally, resize the map to a square and apply the polar coordinates folder, it will then fit perfectly. But like dj said, for things like pylons and the main hull, its normally better to do them by hand 

[Phoenix Bondi]

ok guys i must just be the worse modder ever!! i'm not getting anywhere with these damn things, they just ant fitting right!!! GRRR!!! any more sujestions before i lose my temper lol  :x

Marky-d
Dj

Thanks for the help though i really appricate it