Miscellaneous Stuff
 

I'm not a big fan of using the term "side projects," because that implies that I have a main project I'm working on, which I don't. Right now, my big project is basically a bunch of little projects while I attempt to learn new 3D software. So, to that end, I built this earlier:

http://evilgenius180.files.wordpress...2_01.jpg?w=500

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By the way, in case anybody isn't getting it, it's a lightsaber hilt. :tongue: It's not much, but it's the first object I've finished since switching software. The materials are temporary, I need to look into doing metal materials. More stuff to come, I'll just be posting stuff in this thread as I work on it.

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I chromed the lightsaber hilt. Fortunately, chroming something in one 3D program isn't all that different than doing it in another. All you have to know is what the settings do and then fool around with diffusion, specular, glossiness and reflection settings. Also, it helps to know where to put the environment map. One thing that’s easier is using a node-based texture system with everything done in one window, as opposed to what I had to do in TrueSpace, which involved using multiple windows and was a big pain in the butt at times. (but easy once I got used to it)

http://evilgenius180.files.wordpress...2_04.jpg?w=500

http://evilgenius180.files.wordpress...2_05.jpg?w=500

So, that will pretty much do it for this object. I mostly just created it because I like lightsabers and because I wanted to start off with something simple(ish) to play around with modeling settings. Ironically, this is actually the 2nd hilt I started, I hit a creative wall on the first one, so it’s currently in limbo. ;)

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Very nice work Chris..

a great project to start and finish in any program.. top work

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Thanks Ger. :)

I was looking at a couple Daedalus Class projects on Scifi-Meshes the other day where a couple people are updating the ship to make it look more modern. I was looking at Madkoifish's and I had an interesting thought. Instead of making the ship look more modern, why not make it look less modern? I personally love retro Sci-Fi stuff, especially those old rocket ships. So, I started retooling the ship to look more like those old rockets. Also influential in my design are 1950s automobile designs, I freakin’ love cars from the 50s. Also, yes, there was a drawing circulating a while back of the Enterprise where someone had done it 50s retro style. There were even a couple great 3D models made from it and posted on Scifi-Meshes. That too is an influence here. So, this is where I am so far:

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There’s still much to be done, but this is where I am after a few days working on it. I would be further along, but I recorded the latest episode of Defiance and some 1950s Richard Carlson Sci-Fi movies to my DVR, so I’ve been also watching that stuff. I already watched It Came From Outer Space, which I hadn’t seen in years, and The Magnetic Monster, which I’d never seen. I still have Riders to the Stars to watch, which I’ll probably do here in a bit. Watching classic Sci-Fi films gets me even more in the mood for retro Sci-Fi, so this is actually a good thing. :D

About the ship: Yes, it will be red. (if you don’t like it, come to terms with it) Or, at least, partially red. I plan to do some textures with a more exciting hull pattern, but the material settings are similar to what will be on the final ship. Also, ignore the nacelle pylons, those are just place holders until I build the actual pylons. Also, I may do some more work on the connector between the sphere and the secondary hull, to blend it into those structures a bit more. Anywho, more to come. :)

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I like it.. there is something more appealing with retro designs.. this is a great example ..

Nothing wrong with red...

More, More I call.

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Zarkov would trade his Rocket Ship for that in a second.

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Thanks guys. Yeah, I had to think of Flash Gordon a bit when I was designing this. ;)

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I spent way too much time on the damn fins today. In fact, that’s all I did for several hours. But, that kind of time is worth it to get that look you want. My first fins were too small, so I started over. I sketched out the shape with the pen tool, then beveled it out to get the width. However, to get it to run along the nacelle took some hand work. Then came the sub patching, which revealed some errors that had to be fixed. So, I fixed those and here’s what we have. Though, I have to say that I never would have been able to do these in TrueSpace. To my knowledge, it has nothing like sub patching. So, I’m definitely glad I made the switch to Lightwave, it has so many more great tools to help me get the job done. :)

Since that took most of my modeling energy, I decided to start on the textures and at least make a color map for the nacelles. I want people to have an idea of exactly the type of look I’m going for. So, I opened up Inkscape and started drawing. I wanted to do a blend of 60s Starfleet and retro and I think I got that accomplished. The rest of the hull will be similarly patterned, so you see what the final colors will be (dark red and eggshell white.) Also, I found a cool free handwriting font for the name, because a lot of old planes and rockets had hand painted names on them. The chrome will of course be staying chrome because retro stuff should have chrome. Really, lots of things that don’t have chrome should have chrome, but that may just be my opinion. ;)

http://evilgenius180.files.wordpress..._004.jpg?w=500

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I’m currently torn between grid lines and no grid lines. However, I’ll probably do them if for no other reason that real space ships aren’t poured into molds. They do have hull section separation lines, so I’ll likely be doing those as well.

Anywho, more tomorrow (or when I get it done. ;))

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It’s been a busy couple of days and tomorrow is looking to be another one. But, I've managed to find a few times here and there to pick at the nacelles and get some stuff done. I cut in the lines (and, yes, they will be staying.) They’re only half an inch thick, so they shouldn't be too bad. I’ll do some of the same width on the engineering and sphere sections also. And, I have the bussard collectors mostly done. I spent some time earlier making a bunch of stuff that won’t really be seen, but that’s how it goes. ;) I also spent way too much time trying to figure out how to get the glows to activate in Lightwave before I finally just Googled it. Of course, I found the information I needed quite easily after I did.

Anywho, this is what I have so far. There’s not much more to be done on the nacelles.

http://evilgenius180.files.wordpress..._007.jpg?w=500

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The nacelles are finished. I want them to look like a lot like old rockets, so I didn’t want to overdo the details. So, to that end, I added some running lights and a few other bits to finish them off. The rear running lights are based off of some car taillights from the ’50s.

The only details that I added that aren’t necessarily “retro” are the 8 holes just forward of the end caps. Those are RCS thrusters. As most people who know the history of space flight know, prior to the flights of the X-15 and other “near space” craft, there were no such things as RCS thrusters. In fact, that was one of the points of the X-15 test flights, to test maneuvering in space. Prior to the invention of RCS thrusters and the test flights of the X-15 and other craft, nobody knew how you maneuvered in space. In fact, a lot of retro science fiction rockets and other space craft didn’t address this issue. They usually just put some kind of wings or tail fins on them, I guess assuming that flight dynamics in space would be the same and that you’d use some kind of aileron and rudder system, which of course doesn’t work without air. So, prior to 1959, when the X-15 test flights started, nobody really knew how to do this. The, sometime in the 1960s or so, such thrusters started appearing on science fiction space craft. Even though I’m doing my ship in retro style, I still had to add the thrusters because, realistically, you’re not maneuvering in space without them.

http://evilgenius180.files.wordpress..._010.jpg?w=500

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Up next are the nacelle pylons. The temporary ones are just ugly and don’t look anything like what’s in my head. Then I’ll move on to the engineering section, finish that and then finish the sphere.

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As people who follow my blog probably already know, I started another ship the other day. I was inspired recently to do something from the NX-era, so I started looking through my references and whatnot from that series. That's when I found this great concept drawing by John Eaves:

http://evilgenius180.files.wordpress...xp-2.jpg?w=500

John posted that on his blog at some point and I saved it thinking I would one day use it for inspiration. Well, I'm using it now. As people who are familiar with the series know, the ship on the right was used. It was the Intrepid, which appeared in the episodes The Expanse and Twilight. I like that ship a lot and I did a 3D model of it a few years ago in TrueSpace. That does eventually need to be redone in Lightwave, but not right now. What I'm working on now is the ship on the left, which was never used on the show. I like the design, so I'm building it.

Obviously, the drawing is detailed, but not quite how they detailed things on the show. So, I'm taking cues from other ships from Enterprise and doing details based off of them. Also, since it's easy to scale the ship to the Intrepid using the nacelles, I used the orthos of the Intrepid model from the series for a scale and started with the nacelle. I'm nearly done with it and will be moving on to the warp pylon next. (then those will both get mirrored, of course)

Anywho, this is what I have so far:

http://evilgenius180.files.wordpress...s005.jpg?w=500

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Looks like a great start Chris

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Thanks Ger. :)

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Yeah great start. The nacelle's look great. Doing a great job capturing the NX series style. Look forward to seeing the whole ship. John Eaves concept art looks great.

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Thanks a lot. Yeah, I always like John's concept art. He designs some awesome stuff. :)

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Work continues on the ship. I mostly finished the nacelles. Though, after seeing the “blank” spot I have in front of the pylon connector, I think I need to add a greeble or something there. Also, I started on the pylons. Those went well, better than I’d hoped they would. Of course, I still have to detail them, but getting the shape right was the majority of the work on those. There are a couple tiny issues, but I’ll fix them later.

http://evilgenius180.files.wordpress...s009.jpg?w=500

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Close up on the pylon: (yes, I see the mesh errors.)

http://evilgenius180.files.wordpress...s013.jpg?w=500

RCS thruster:

http://evilgenius180.files.wordpress...s014.jpg?w=500

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very nice,,

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Thanks dude.

I noticed (and so did someone at Scifi-Meshes) that the pylons didn’t have enough girth. Also, while I was initially pleased with them, I didn’t quite like the shape. so, I redid them and their connectors.

http://evilgenius180.files.wordpress...s015.jpg?w=500

http://evilgenius180.files.wordpress...s016.jpg?w=500

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More work on the pylons. In fact, this will probably be all I do with them, modeling wise. For the top, I tried to duplicate John's line pattern as best I could. It's all done using the pylon's existing geometry, so there are a few differences. For the bottom, I just did what I felt like. ;)

http://evilgenius180.files.wordpress...s017.jpg?w=500

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now that does look better........ your doing fantastic work on this in LW.... bravo