Base scale (advice please!)

isopsyco · Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 11:49 am Post subject:

Nice! Clean lines, kinda has that Mass Effect color scheme the Normandy has.

gloryhound · Posted: Sat May 30, 2009 3:39 pm Post subject:

WOW

Every time I look at your amazing models I get ideas for changes to my own.. sweet lord above that is a nice battleship

jaydan · Space Emperor Joined: May 23, 2009

I like da way you paynt. lol. I love ur designs they are very much Awesome! That battleship stole my heart Very Happy

By the way...what paint program are you using? I'm trying my hand at modeling and I have made a tentative model using animator. I am trying to follow Fyron's instructions as best I can but I was unabe to locate "Artgem" so I need a program to paint/texture my model. Any points in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks and nice work once again!

kotau · Space Emperor Joined: Mar 06, 2006

here you go I find this helps with bass scales.

Praetor · Space Emperor Joined: Aug 25, 2006

Thanks guys! Working on the dreadnought now, and kind of stuck on it's final shape... Seems like the further you go up the size scale the harder it is to get them looking good Confused

@jaydan: I actually use Adobe Illustrator to do my textures, which I gather is a bit of an oddball choice (most prefer Photoshop) but it's what I'm most familiar with. One of these days I thought about writing a tutorial on the method I'm using... got to finish this set first, though, I think Smile

Of course, the price tag on those is pretty hefty, but there are some good low-cost alternatives: The GIMP is free (as in beer and speech Wink

) and while the hardcore tend to prefer Photoshop the GIMP would probably be perfectly adequate for something like this; If working in vector is your thing though, the OSS Illustrator alternative, Inkscape, is sadly lacking. Beyond that, there's Paint Shop Pro, which I believe is shareware(?) and is a solid tool for basic stuff. There's also a stripped-down version of Photoshop called "Elements" meant as a low-cost alternative for non-pros... haven't used it myself but I've heard good things.

@kotau: I'm afraid I can't see the image you posted? Sad

jaydan · Space Emperor Joined: May 23, 2009

Praetor...thanks for the pointers I think i'll give Gimp a try before I spring out the cash lol. I'm having another issue...whenever I open my.obj file (my ship model) in UVmapper and make the appropriate changes to the file...i.e. changing to 'box' and setting the size (w/h 256) I start to save it but it saves it as a.bmp file not.obj and anim8or won't open it. Is the appropriate file type.obj and that is why it won't open or should it be a.bmp file and there is another issue? By the way it has not had the colors converted to 24 yet cuz I did not have the paint program at the time. Sry to bother you with the question but the future of my 'ship' depends on it your thoughts would be helpful thanks and do make haste on that shipset of urs...as you can see the lack of shipsets has forced me into the modeling business Very Happy

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Praetor · Space Emperor Joined: Aug 25, 2006

Unfortunately I've never used anim8or or uvmapper, so I can't speak to the specifics, but as I understand it UVMapper is a standalone utility for creating uv maps, not a modelling program; So naturally the output is going to be a bitmap or other image file. (maybe it allows you to automatically apply coordinates to the model too? Anyone else who uses UVMapper care to comment?) I think what you need to do is create a uv map for your object, and then from that template paint the texture in GIMP or your editing program of choice; Then you can apply the finished texture to your model in anim8or.

gloryhound · Posted: Fri Jun 05, 2009 11:43 am Post subject:

UVmapper is just for setting the faces of the model into a box format UVmap.. so.. just load the model.. go edit -> UV map -> Box select ok on the default options.. you'll see a distinct seperation of your model into
something like this:
Front
left bottom right top
Back

Then click on File -> Save Model
save it as an OBJ file.
Load into Lithunwrap and Organize the faces of the model into a better format so when you create your texture you can reach every face. You'll have to experiment here a bit to get used to how faces are displayed and moved around.

I find it's better to out put the texture file from Lithunwrap because it gives you more power to control the detail and what exactly each face of the model has on it.
You can however save the UVmap from UVmapper as a texture and edit it, but I find it more difficult to include more detail this way.
To save a texture map simple follow the uvmap creation the select File -> Save Texturemap. Select BMP file type and name it something easy to remember.

jaydan · Space Emperor Joined: May 23, 2009

Thanks guys I really appreciate your help...it looks like i'm gonna have to invest a lot of trial and error time before I get it right. Sad

I will endeavor to press forward however. Smile

Tim_Ward · Space Emperor Joined: Jan 20, 2009

I changed my mind about the orange.

JimboTex · Posted: Sat Jan 30, 2010 7:16 pm Post subject: Update?

Hey, Praetor, it's been a while since you last updated on this shipset. Do you know when it might be available for download?

Praetor · Space Emperor Joined: Aug 25, 2006

Oh man, sorry... I got badly, badly distracted with another project (that happens to me a lot :/ ) I do plan to get back and finish up the last couple sometime, but no timeframe, unfortunately. If people want I can post what I do have, its only lacking a dreadnought, starbase, and race portrait right now, and the battleship just needs some polishing (adjusting the position of the engine lights, etc.)

ekolis · Posted: Thu Feb 18, 2010 2:10 pm Post subject:

Praetor, if you're still looking for a low-cost image editing solution, may I recommend Paint.NET?

http://www.getpaint.net/

About as powerful as GIMP, and resembles Photoshop more closely (no gazillion floating windows, most everything's contained in a main window, except for some palettes and stuff) Smile

Tim_Ward · Space Emperor Joined: Jan 20, 2009

Hey Praetor- is it possible to post what you have using larger versions of the battleship and spacestation models to fill for the missing models until you have time to finish the set? Failing that, I would be very grateful if you were to post what you have already. Your designs are exactly what I've been looking for for a SE5 ship set.

Incidentally, if you're stuck for a final shape of the Dreadnaught, might I suggest that it should have the same basic appearance as the battleship but feature:

a) Four of the larger turrets, no medium turrent and the same smaller turrets (which are presumably point-defense weapons) as the historical dreadnaughts were "all big gun battleships"
b) Moar superstructure to suit the navy's requirements for a "more bad ass" ship.

Praetor · Space Emperor Joined: Aug 25, 2006

Tim_Ward · Space Emperor Joined: Jan 20, 2009

JimboTex · Posted: Sun Feb 21, 2010 10:24 pm Post subject:

Praetor, that's just awesome! What modeling program do you use?

BTW, take as much time as you need - don't feel pressured to finish quickly just because some of us on this board are eagerly anticipating your contribution. Laughing

Praetor · Space Emperor Joined: Aug 25, 2006

Submitted it but not seeing it in the shipyards section... I guess they need to be reviewed first? Here's the direct link, anyhow:

http://files.spaceempires.net/user/697/Helian.rar

@JimboTex: Thanks! I use 3DS Max Smile

Tim_Ward · Space Emperor Joined: Jan 20, 2009

Man, this set is ace.

Vindictus · Space Emperor Joined: May 13, 2010

Wow! This is by far the best shipset I've seen so far both in terms of design and texture.

It looks very "human" and I will replace the terran shipset with this one.

Excellent work. Thanks so much for sharing these.

Tim_Ward · Space Emperor Joined: Jan 20, 2009

So, I recently had to replace my GPU due to heat death, got an ATI card and now the textures on the light cruiser look all screwed up at maximum zoom and becoming increasingly less screwed up

Any ideas?

Praetor · Space Emperor Joined: Aug 25, 2006

Hey Tim,

Can't really see the screenshots too well, but I think I know what you're talking about: I had a similar problem with the light cruiser, but I thought it was fixed. Let me take another look at it when I get a chance and see if I can reproduce the problem.

Tim_Ward · Space Emperor Joined: Jan 20, 2009

I will try and do a bigger screenshot.

Tim_Ward · Space Emperor Joined: Jan 20, 2009