USS Hook 2 of 4

Well here's the second installment for the Hook Class. Now I've got for a much more dramatic shot, and lessened the prominence of the ship ( hence the distance), I was also trying a couple of new ideas. All it all I thought it came out pretty good. Comments?



Btw, the single nacelle is the Hook Class. The two nacelle version, I've decide to take the advice given and make it, it's own class by itself.

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A man's reach should exceed his grasp, for what else are the stars for.

A 3-D Gladiator
3D Gladiators, modeling the TOS world

Well, I'd make the ships a bit bigger. This is mostly a ship website, not a planet website. Also, I'm confused a bit about the lighting. There's presumably a large light source somewhere off screen to the left and slightly below. But the strongest light is on the right side fo the ship, away from the light source.

[meshula]

Bigger ships would be good, just so they read a bit easier. The image is pretty cool.

I suspect that the lighting on the ships does match the planet - the trouble is long skinny things tend to lend themselves to optical illusions; it might be good to move the light higher or lower so that one side or the other of the ship's saucers are illuminated.

Well, let me start off with the stuff about the light, Meshula was right about how the light in the weapon's pylon works ( it makes for some interesting shots though ) As for why I minimized the ships so much. Frankly (and this is pointed at no one), I keep seeing huge ships with small planets in the background. I understand that's because for the most part their showing off the model and not so much the scene. So I decide to do the reverse on this picture. Now with that out of the way, I've rendered another picture with a much larger/closer shot of the ship. So here it is....



Btw, I do appreciate the comments/suggestions,

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A man's reach should exceed his grasp, for what else are the stars for.

A 3-D Gladiator
3D Gladiators, modeling the TOS world

[meshula]

Oh! I never! errm, I resemble that remark!

I actually thought the first image was pretty dramatic, but I think the ships need to be more brightly lit to make them read well against the background.

The new image is nice too, but I think it would really help if the light came from above, or if it is going to come from below, make it about twice as bright. Also if you could move the ship a tiny bit so the end of the nacelle clears the star? It kind of draws unnecessary attention to itself that way.

I wonder if you could reintroduce the other twin nacelle ship all tiny like the first image (so we have the big Hook and the small other vessel), and get the best of both images?

Well, taking the advice of trying to combine the best of both pictures, here's the third one...



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A man's reach should exceed his grasp, for what else are the stars for.

A 3-D Gladiator
3D Gladiators, modeling the TOS world

I think that last one is definitely the best. Good work.

[Thomas P]

I like the final version too. 1 down, 3 to go

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'Every dark cloud has a silver lining, but Lightning kills hundreds of people each year who are trying to find it.'

I'm looking at this picture again, and I'm thinking that the orientation of the ships looks right, but actually is not correct. I didn't notice this problem when you only had either near ships or far ships. The way you have positioned the ships is as if the planet is an object only a bit bigger than the ships. It's as if the planet was a nearby space station rather than a distant, enormous planet.

To see what I mean, try this little demonstration. I'm sitting at my desk and using a can of Coke placed about an arm's length away to represent the planet. In my left hand I hold a paper clip, again at arm's length, to represent the far ships. In my right hand I hold another paper clip to represent the close ship. If you point both paper clips towards the Coke can, they resemble the orientation of your ships in the picture.

However, the planet is not the same place relative to the ships as is the coke can to the paper clips. The planet is in fact very far away. To see the problem, with your hands in the same position, turn your chair so that a distant object, like the clock on the wall takes the same place in your field of view as the Coke can did. Close one eye so you can focus on both the far object and the paper clips. See what's wrong? Although the paper clips paths are converging at the point in space where the Coke can was, the object that they are supposed to be travelling to (the far object) is actually much further behind their paths and their point of convergence.

Although the ships are pointed towards the image of the planet in the picture, in real space they will pass way in front of the planet. If that's your intention, that's fine, but that near ship is probably going to converge with the far ships and crash into them. If they are actually travelling to the planet, we'd probably only see the ships back sides.

I don't mean to pick on your picture, but this is a problem that I've noticed in other people's work. A similar problem also occurs in lighting.

I'm looking at this picture again, and I'm thinking that the orientation of the ships looks right, but actually is not correct. I didn't notice this problem when you only had either near ships or far ships. The way you have positioned the ships is as if the planet is an object only a bit bigger than the ships. It's as if the planet was a nearby space station rather than a distant, enormous planet.

To see what I mean, try this little demonstration. I'm sitting at my desk and using a can of Coke placed about an arm's length away to represent the planet. In my left hand I hold a paper clip, again at arm's length, to represent the far ships. In my right hand I hold another paper clip to represent the close ship. If you point both paper clips towards the Coke can, they resemble the orientation of your ships in the picture.

However, the planet is not the same place relative to the ships as is the coke can to the paper clips. The planet is in fact very far away. To see the problem, with your hands in the same position, turn your chair so that a distant object, like the clock on the wall takes the same place in your field of view as the Coke can did. Close one eye so you can focus on both the far object and the paper clips. See what's wrong? Although the paper clips paths are converging at the point in space where the Coke can was, the object that they are supposed to be travelling to (the far object) is actually much further behind their paths and their point of convergence.

Although the ships are pointed towards the image of the planet in the picture, in real space they will pass way in front of the planet. If that's your intention, that's fine, but that near ship is probably going to converge with the far ships and crash into them. If they are actually travelling to the planet, we'd probably only see the ships back sides.

I don't mean to pick on your picture, but this is a problem that I've noticed in other people's work. A similar problem also occurs in lighting.

Huh???????, just kidding. I think I get what your going at, so I rendered this picture
http://www.angelcities.com/members/o...ookfinal2D.jpg

You'll have to follow the link because this one is in 1024x768 format. Let me know what you think.


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A man's reach should exceed his grasp, for what else are the stars for.

A 3-D Gladiator
3D Gladiators, modeling the TOS world