Topic: Opinions: Do we really need ANOTHER TOS Constitution?

[markyd]

Thats gonna br good when its done.. cant wait 

[Rhaz]

Lookin' good - I can't wait to see this with textures!!!

To answer the question - If you're not happy with it then add the extra polies.

[Bernard Guignard]

Hello StressPuppy
   
         That is very nice work looking forward to seeing the final product. 

 

 

[Kaenyne]

Simply Splendid!   

[Don Karnage]

The New version im making I am using Alan Sinclairs cad drawings and measurements for my reference. He supposedly has taken these measurements directly off the 11 footer at the smithsonian. I also have tons of photos of the studio model post 2000 restoration to use if the blueprints aint right. The lower saucer bulge is correct on the drawings also the lower saucer has no flat area near the edge that i can see anywhere. its a smooth curve all the way to the edge. Least on the studio model it seems that way. and the blueprints sorta back it up.

Some WIP's The colored areas represent whats new on the model. the grey is whats left of version 2




I know polys are showing in some areas. im not finished optimizing or re-smoothing. My goal is a low poly ship that is almost the same quality of a high. Some of the low poly flaws more than likely wont show after its textured. This version is my "great experiment" in optimization. . The old version 2 nacelle had a poly count of 1200. The new nacelle has twice the detail of the old one and is 800 polys The secondary hull of the older ship was over 1400, Version 3's is sporting 950 at the moment with more work yet to do.
Don i intended to put 1700 markings on her im also making blanks so you can make yer own names

seem good but how do you put a name and number on the saucer?, the last time i did was not as good as the one made when i download the mod.

[markyd]

*****sorry the question was asked off topic****

name and number on the saucer is texturing.... applied via UVW mapping or somthing simular in Lightwave or maya.....

Best to use seperate texture sheets for the saucer so the registry looks spot on im my opinion..

but thats me 

[Darkdrone]

*****sorry the question was asked off topic****

name and number on the saucer is texturing.... applied via UVW mapping or somthing simular in Lightwave or maya.....

Best to use seperate texture sheets for the saucer so the registry looks spot on im my opinion..

but thats me 

you can also model that kind of thing too man


looking great man cant wait too see her with textures

DD

[TheStressPuppy]

Ive ran into a bit of a snag with her   While ive managed to maintain the count at under 4k the problem is...well... you see it in the previous shots. under the saucer u can see the poly errors. I thought by applying a texture it would fade out. it did not. this is cause while the outer edge has 56 sides, the inner cap segments got reduced by a power of 2  (outer cap segment 56-28-14-7 inner segment). i cant seem to smooth these errors out without increasing the count. ive run out of other sections to optimize, and the whole point was to keep this model under 4k. any suggestions?

[Greenvalv]

i cant seem to smooth these errors out without increasing the count. ive run out of other sections to optimize, and the whole point was to keep this model under 4k. any suggestions?

Bah, what's a few more polies than usual.

[Greenvalv]

Hey Lord Schtupp, the link under your username doesn't work for me, what's up?

[TheStressPuppy]

SCHTUPP!! Glad to see ya around!

Anyways i think i managed to smooth the lower saucer enough, i didnt add any more polys i just manipulated them around a bit. still has a slight roughness but i can live with it (even the studio model had some rough areas on it). I succeded in my goal of keeping the mesh under 4000 polys. The count stands at 3856 with the christmas nav lights meshed in, and at 3706 without them. I know i didnt need to mesh in the lights, but to me the model just doesnt look right without them. Anyways heres some shots of the semi final model. i might change things during texturing, i may not. depends on how it goes.




These will be the last shots i post till after shes textured. Im going greg jien trial and tribbulation style with her

[Rhaz]

That's *really*  nice.  I can't wait to see it textured!

[TheStressPuppy]

Das Bump, and A "little" update. It took me from my last post just to texture the saucer, and it still isnt finished yet!  :eek:   The reason being is im experimenting heavily with bump, and specular mapping. Im debating on rebuilding the lower saucer again cause of poly errors showing before, and during render. I was hoping the textures would hide them. I may have to take LS's advise, and increase the count just a little.

All the grid lines, and indentations around the windows are pure bump maps. the ship is a very light grey (cant simulate 1965 chevy corviar grey)
 


IGNORE the red deflector dish! that was an oops on my part. The grids really stand out here with backlighting. You can see what i mean about the poly errors. funny thing is the studio model has a ripple effect on its lower saucer rings too.
 

The grids again, the lines on the color texture are 1 shade darker than the rest of the hull. i use that as the bump reference. at a distance and with the light directly overhead you dont see any lines at all.
 

another view of bottom saucer
 

You are prolly asking "why is he using bump maps when SFC/BC doesnt support them?" The answer is because this ship is being ported into Nexus: The Jupiter Incident. A game that does support bump, and specular maps. For the SFC/BC version im gonna render the textures off these 

[TheStressPuppy]

I was going by my bad memory on the 65 corvair grey u r prolly right and never had a grey version of that car (Nice car BTW ) I suppose there isnt much difference between PS 15% grey and GM 1964 grey.  stupid me posted old pics,  i also textured the impulse engine housing not the engines themselves yet. as we all know the canon ship never lit its impulse engines...im gonna steer away from canon in this respect and light em up TMP style, but ill provide black impulse's for the "purist" out there

Its gonna be real tough to simulate the texture of the studio models impulse engine since i could only planiar map this. i tried cylindrical mapping but it turned out abismal. I did however manage to bump in the raised areas on the sides (the 11 ft studio model uses cloth and dope for the impulse detail)


The textures at the moment look pretty plain. I am going to weather the ship, but not as drasticly as the smithsonian display. more like how greg jien weathered his trial and tribbulation connie. Canon fact that the big E was at least 15 years old when TOS 1st aired (the menagerie). no way can she look as if she just left space dock,  especially after 3 "5 year missions" and quite a few battles.

[ModelsPlease]

I just have to ask,being a novice texturer,but how do you get the saucer lines to look indented like that?

[markyd]

Thats the bump mapping... the only problem with bump mapping i find is that it bumps everything.. is there a way to selectively bump certain areas of a bmp or is it simply a case of applying a different texture to that area... Great model by the way lookibg awsome...

[TheStressPuppy]

Im sorta new to the bump mapping myself. I will tell you what i understand of it so far. I dont think you can do selective like your asking.

The bump maps are a different texture altogether. they are much like illumination maps. in 3ds max the material used for say the top saucer has different slots for diffuse, specular, illumination, bump, alpha, etc... the diffuse is the color texture. what you would see normally in game. self illumination is pretty much self explanitory. The bump map is a greyscale texture. medium grey for the main color, with darker grey's for recessed areas and lighter greys for raised areas. How deep or high depends on the darkness or lightness of the area u want bumped.  Specular maps are similar to bumps except that lighter areas reflect more light while darker areas have little shine.  In some of the newer games like HW2 they use layered dds, or tga files with the Iluumination, bump, and specular maps as alpha layers. i dont quite grasp how thats done yet.

SFC 1,2,OP doesnt support bump, and specular mapping. SFC3 also supports neither, but  has sort of a fake specular effect. Bridge Commander does support specular mapping to a point. What i am going to do is render each part of the ship with the bump and specular maps to texture the SFC/BC version of the ship to simulate the effects you see on the screens, and hope it works

It is my intention that when this ship is finished I will release the master .3ds file broken down into its 70+ groups. Along with all the master textures (including the bump and specular maps) In PSD format with all layers intact, all of the hull fonts, and templates to place the fonts, The blueprint reference i used to make her.  I view this ship as a grand plastic kit only digitized and i want to share this so that the up and comming modellers will have a guide to study for making thier own projects.

[Rat Boy]

So you're using the original series model as a source?  Have you considered perhaps using the rebuilt model from DS9 to base the textures off of?

[TheStressPuppy]

Im using many references,  Im using the 11 ft  studio model on display at the smithsonian to place things that dont look quite right on the blueprints. im using the ds9 greg jien TnT model, and the smithsonian display model as texture references. Understand that the poly count is still under 4000. it may go above a little if i decide to rebuild the lower saucer. It is not going to be 100% accurate and far from perfect. Im just doing the best i can do within a self imposed limit.

[battlestar001]

i love it, keep up the good work