Topic: KDF E-7 "Blood Honor" (quv 'lw) class battlecruiser wip...Need your help

[Norsehound]

The texturing of this monster is phenomenal.

A note though- TMP Klinks do not have glowing buzzards. They're only a TNG thing with the Vor'Cha/Negh'var. It's fine if that's where you're going, but since you asked for TMP coloring earlier..

[Raven Night]

The texturing of this monster is phenomenal.

A note though- TMP Klinks do not have glowing buzzards. They're only a TNG thing with the Vor'Cha/Negh'var. It's fine if that's where you're going, but since you asked for TMP coloring earlier..

No doubt...although Im going for an overall TMP feel to the textures, this is actually a modern replacement for the D-7. So im trying to meld different styles...I would like to avoid the red accents of most modern Klingon ships for the most part (except maybe the dorsal wing surface), but she will have some features that remind of the Vorcha or Neghvar, though mostly she will resemble the Ktinga.

[Rod ONeal]

Raven, you asked about spec maps.

I'd take just the base aztec/hull plate texture. Not with all of the raised panels and gray scale it. Make it pretty light and not a lot of contrast. Over that I'd lay the raised plate textures. The way that I'd prepare them though is with 0% fill opacity and a white/black/white gradient stroke set to "shape burst". That should kill any shininess on the seams and create a slow specular gradient moving out from them.

That's basicaly how I did the spec maps on the GK_Ent and it worked out pretty good. Just my 2 cents worth.

[Tus-XC]

Thanks...but how do the speculars look? Too strong?

Im working on the neck at the moment, ive been avoiding the aft lateral wing because im not sure what I want to do with it yet.

look fine, so a fade equalize worked for ya?  If you don't have that function the simple way is to grab your base texture, duplicate into another layer, use equalize on it and then adjust the opacity.  This helps out a bit as equalize ain't perfect and its a one shot wonder ie you have not control over it.  So doing it this way helps you control how strong you want your whites and how black the blacks.

[Raven Night]

Thanks for the help on the specs, Im going to try both methods to see how they turn out.

I started the ventral crew module, just the fore end, let me know if you like how it is shaping up. Note that for most of the top end im going with a plain panel and some greebles, something similar to the towers on the D-7 crew module. Here you can really see my patchwork panel colors in action...I wanted various shades of green and grey-green to come into play.

[jericho]

THat lucks F*ck*ng nice enough to eat my friend.. awsome job.. specs look spot on...

great sh*t

[Fedman NCC-3758]

Hopefully it will come with a brk mod.   

[Raven Night]

Thanks guys.

Well, as far as the brk mod, I dont know how to make one. The mesh will be a max 5 mesh when I am finished with seperate Diffuse, Glow and Specular maps.

What I would lilke to know is how are hardpoints made? Ive seen them in other models before, they seem to be objects in the mesh with no polys or vertices, with names attached. If that is the case, and they can be moved around, I could always import the mod version of the C-9A and move around the hardpoints on that model to use on this one.

[jericho]

Ok.. so follow the image..

1 - helpers button

2- dummy button

3- click drag to create dummy box

4- name the dummy object correctly

if memory serves my friend 1-11 are primary weapons and 12-25 are heavy weapons

so name the dummy object "hardpoint1"   (without inverted commas lol) and so on.

then place the object on your ship and position correctly.. i.e where you want the bullets to come from 

and then thats it.     again hardpoint1 to hardpoint11 are primary and hardpoint12 to hardpoint25 are heavy

[Raven Night]

Absolutely fantastic! Thank you very much.

Ok, does anyone have information on systems? What is allowed, what number they would be, so on? And are they created the same way?

The best was for me to do the hardpointing is to set where the weapons are (I can do that now thanks to jericho ) and then be able to set the major systems as well (Not sure about the system in SFC, but I know most games need things like engines, shields, power cores, bridge, etc. This way weapons can target those areas directly.

Would be nice since this way I could show where the systems are located.

[jericho]

No problem

the systems are not hardpointed, they are shown in the ui only, by modifing the .gf txt document that is released with every model, the only other dummy objects you would see are the progressive damage "a1,a2,a3" "b1,b2,b3" always in groups of three moving up the alphabet in a clockwise direction around the ship, and also the pivot points for the .brk model "object01pivot" these will be placed on the axis of each segment you want the ship to break off. and that piece will pivot on your pivot point.

I have two things you require.. 1. the taldren modelling manual for sfciii which explains everything.

2. dderidex ui hardpoint layout editor..

in the modelling manual it explains an awkward way of doing the ui..  later on the editor was released abd makes things allot easier.

download an sfciii model and browse the model folder..   cut and paste the .gf file to your model folder that your building, and name it accordingly (i.e the folder name must match the .gf and the .mod must be named the same- explained in the manual)

then after you have created the vl,ti and bs images and have them in the folder, open up the dderidex editor, when in there open up the.gf and it will show you harpoints layout, of systems and weapons.. (they will be positioned off the model you took the .gf so just move and add yours to where you have them. then save.

just ask if u have any more questions or if anything is not clear.

everything you need is still hosted here http://sfc.strategyplanet.gamespy.com/files.shtml

good luck.

[Raven Night]

Hehe, now thats irony...the files I need are on one of our sites.

I really appreciate all of your help guys. This will really make a difference.

Well, I had to modify some of the textures a bit, I didnt like how they turned out....and Im still not sure about this top pattern I put on the top of the general bridge area. It may be that I just ended it too short and should run it all the way back...you tell me.

[jericho]

you forgot damage points but im not sure how those work, only they are just like hardpoints but with a different name

lol... no i never.. 

No problem

the systems are not hardpointed, they are shown in the ui only, by modifing the .gf txt document that is released with every model, the only other dummy objects you would see are the progressive damage "a1,a2,a3" "b1,b2,b3" always in groups of three moving up the alphabet in a clockwise direction around the ship, and also the pivot points for the .brk model "object01pivot" these will be placed on the axis of each segment you want the ship to break off. and that piece will pivot on your pivot point.

I have two things you require.. 1. the taldren modelling manual for sfciii which explains everything.

2. dderidex ui hardpoint layout editor..

in the modelling manual it explains an awkward way of doing the ui.. later on the editor was released abd makes things allot easier.

download an sfciii model and browse the model folder.. cut and paste the .gf file to your model folder that your building, and name it accordingly (i.e the folder name must match the .gf and the .mod must be named the same- explained in the manual)

then after you have created the vl,ti and bs images and have them in the folder, open up the dderidex editor, when in there open up the.gf and it will show you harpoints layout, of systems and weapons.. (they will be positioned off the model you took the .gf so just move and add yours to where you have them. then save.

just ask if u have any more questions or if anything is not clear.

everything you need is still hosted here http://sfc.strategyplanet.gamespy.com/files.shtml

good luck.

glad this helps raven

[Raven Night]

Alright, a few questions.

First, note the grey panel (the one greebled up instead of armored) on the upper side of the crew module. The question is, should it be given a greenish hue so it matches the rest of the textures better, or does it look better as it is?

Next, I resized the windows early, to make them closer to what they will probably be. Let me know how they look now.

Third, note the red light ring around the outside of the torp launcher. Now, I realize this is more of a BOP feature, so my question is in two parts...first, does it work? And two, should it be more like the original (no red ring of lights)?

[Rod ONeal]

I like the gray greebling, personally. The windows should be wider than they are tall. I think that something more subtle than the red glows would look better on the torp launcher. Still looks great though.

[Raven Night]

Ok, I subdued the torp ring, finished the torp textures and changed the windows. They are still tentative...I have to check the size of the ship, then figure the decks to see if they are the right size when I am done.

[Rod ONeal]

What size texture maps do you use and how many different materials? I'm just trying to get an idea of the resolution you are working at.

[Raven Night]

My maps are 2048s. I try to limit myself to three sets of 2 2048s....one set of Diffuse, one set of Specular and one set of Glows. As to the materials, not sure what you mean by that, but if by that you mean different texture effects, its all freehand. I dont usually use materials, I like to draw the textures out...longer to do, but I can get them to look exactly the way I want.

[jericho]

Looks sweet as a nut... prefer it subdued definately 

[atheorhaven]

My maps are 2048s. I try to limit myself to three sets of 2 2048s....one set of Diffuse, one set of Specular and one set of Glows. As to the materials, not sure what you mean by that, but if by that you mean different texture effects, its all freehand. I dont usually use materials, I like to draw the textures out...longer to do, but I can get them to look exactly the way I want.

Hey..

So based off this, in Max, you'd have one material.  Diffuse (main texture), Specular, and Glows (self-illumination).

All those'd be assigned under one material most likely.  Think of materials as being slots for textures, and each slot can hold diffuse, specular, bump, ambient, and self-illumination.  (may have missed one).  IM's Firefly (that I'm currently building illumination maps for and beefing up a bit) has one material (as yours) and that'll have:

firefly.bmp (diffuse=main texture)
fireflyi.bmp (glows)
fireflyD.bmp (damage texture, read in by SFC3 and not assigned to the mesh)
fireflyiD.bmp (glowed damage texture, read in by SFC3 and not assigned to the mesh)
fireflyBS.bmp (beauty shot, read in by SFC3 and not assigned to the mesh)
fireflyTI.bmp (tactical image, read in by SFC3 and not assigned to the mesh)
fireflyVL.bmp (computer library image, read in by SFC3 and not assigned to the mesh)

So that's seven textures for the ship, seven read in by SFC 3 (five not attached to a material on the mesh), two read in by SFC 2, one read in by SFC 1.

Which actually does make making a SFC 2 mesh fairly easy to convert to SFC 3 in that fashion.. you don't have to play with materials in Max or Milkshape. just copy the diffuse and glow textures to *D.bmp and rough them up.  And then create the beauty, tactical, and visual library shots, glow the ship (if desired and warranted) and you're done more or less.