space station

[Ebola0001]

i like the overall look of it, but why do scifi space stations have large blocks of solid color glowing on then in line patterns?... is it some design requirement in some book somewhere that sais "how to draw space stations".



:) JK anyway i like it so far lets see it finished

[TheNeverman]

I agree - the huge glowing blue things are overkill...

I'd replace it with some smaller light banks. Right now it looks like something out of TRON...

n8

[AdamAtomic]

personally i dont mind the bright blue streaks much - its certainly a little tronny, but not in a bad way I don't think. The part that does bug me is the major stretching along the sides of the space station. also, the dots look more or less like dots instead of windows; you could maybe sample some skyscraper photos or something? have some lights on, some off, etc. your traditional sci-fi space station usually has some large, cryptic acronym painted on the side too :) but if you're mirroring your UVs to save space that might not be the best idea. Anyways, I think it looks cool but could use some polishing.

[imscifi]

Well, looks like a lot of posts dissapeared...

so here's my schematics that I had promised a while ago...

So let's see... as for the "tron" look... I can see that. However, part of that look is for a visual refference for pilots... If your system fails on your ship for guidance..your gonna need some kind of refference... and something like that can be seen from very far away... important marker in space... especially when there might not be anything around for light years... Also, it's part of the Deffence and Power grid.

As for the "dots"... well I was just basicly using it for size refference... I have to use photos and other stuff for that... like "skyscraper photos"... (sorry, but it is kinda funny to have read that above... concidering that's what is taught in all of the 3D modeling books I've ever read when it comes to modeling a large building) :P I'm not that incompetent at surfacing... :thumbsup: And as for a "large, cryptic acronym"... hmmm good point! Though, some traditions should be broken, I think that that is a very important tradition to hold onto... hmmm now what the heck do I use!!!

So. Anyways, I hope to get back to the modleing... found out some very important stuff when it comes to modeling for gaming... I have to start from scratch... but that's cool, it's an awesome learning process!

I'll get back hopefully within a few weeks... with a correctly modeled station.

thanks guys for the input! Keep it coming...

and without further ado... a side schematics sketch...

http://www.imscifi.com/spacestation/schematics-sketch-05232004.jpg

tjingeling (toodles)

B.

[imscifi]

Hey there again (been a lot longer than a few weeks!)
So... here's an update... currently working on the surfacing. Which I also have a "?" about. I'm getting the weird warping around the sides of the 4 landing hangers... I currently have the hangers as one type of surface that I map to... should I break out that surface into different surfaces? or is there another way? I currently have everything mapping on the Y axis and cylyndrically... If there is another solution please let me know... I'm all ears.

As for a few other changes.... I ended up re-modeling the station due to it's large poly size prior (4000 before, this is my first time doing stuff for gaming). It is now down to just around 1000 and that is with the tri's. Also, due to a lot of "Troy" comment, the writer of the game has asked if I might take them out. So it should look more like a "realistic" station... hopefully. ;)
ok.. with that said... here are some pics... comments are always welcome! :thumbsup:

http://www.imscifi.com/spacestation/station.4.6252004.jpg

http://www.imscifi.com/spacestation/station.5.6252004.jpg

http://www.imscifi.com/spacestation/station6252004.jpg

http://www.imscifi.com/spacestation/station.2.6252004.jpg

http://www.imscifi.com/spacestation/station.3.6252004.jpg

[TheNeverman]

I like this much much better...
It does need 'some' lights... Just avoid the huge non-realistic neons you had before...

n8

[the_podman]

:thumbsup:
Wow, that is so groovy cool. It makes me want to reinstall and go through the HOMEWORLD series again. Would be great with some "cold space" sound effects.
I want to see more please!

Oh, yeah...btw.... (checks around to see if anyone's listening..)... I am Sci Fi also.. don't tell anyone. If that's your pic on your Avatar, then you're a rare species, ma'am. A hot chick that's into Sci-Fi.

the_podman

My shtuff (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=147967)

My other Shtuff (http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=141895)

[AdamAtomic]

i think you'll see the best UV mapping results if you manually map out one of the 4 sort of "pods" there by doing maybe a cylinder-map on just one of them. Then do similar cylinder maps on the other 3, but hand-modify and move them so that they overlay the first. That way you will have more control over the stretching you see on the sides of the pods, and you will be able to throw a lot of detail on there with very little effort. You could add special details like decals and stuff by putting it on a separate, alpha-mapped poly just above the surface, or by simply adding new geometry (for unique antennas, etc).

I really like the idea of the lights being used for navigation, that's brill - like a space lighthouse! Actually, the Pharos would be a cool name for the station, too.

Keep working on it!

[imscifi]

TheNeverman: Thanks. Next few posts have 'some' light... :thumbsup:

the_podman: LOL... yes, that's me... and thanks :D

Adam Atomic: Thanks for the tips... I'll go ahead and apply them that way I guess when I'm done with the actual image... I'm figuring I'll just cut out the shapes needed for each section out of the larger image... that way all the lines match up and stuff. (at least I hope that's gonna work!) :)

ok... gonna add images... hope you all like... I'm starting to get excited... I really like how the spot lights turned out... *rubbing hands*

thanks again for the support and help!


http://www.imscifi.com/spacestation/station.15.6252004.jpg

http://www.imscifi.com/spacestation/station.14.6252004.jpg

http://www.imscifi.com/spacestation/station.16.6252004.jpg

http://www.imscifi.com/spacestation/station.15.6252004.jpg

http://www.imscifi.com/spacestation/station.13.6252004.jpg

[imscifi]

well, got a chance to work again today on the station... added some windows, big oval thing (in replacement of the "big blue lines" :)..Please let me know what you think about it too), and some more texturing etc... feeling like I'm getting much closer to being able to "cut and paste" things into various places.

for those who might like to know more about the game that is going to use this model...

http://hubcap.clemson.edu/~jfe/ChallengerSFS/ChallengerSFSHome.html

(thread for coding the game)
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=147715

anyhoo, here's some pics... toodles!

B.

http://www.imscifi.com/spacestation/station.3.06282004.jpg

http://www.imscifi.com/spacestation/station.4.06282004.jpg

[TheNeverman]

Coming along nicely. These new lights give a much better indication of the scale of the station. The textures seem to have a few visible seems - kinda hard to tell from these paticular pics...

n8

[JamesMK]

OK, that looks really great.... So I'm a total sucker for sweet light setups, and you've really done some excellent things with the illumination maps here :thumbsup:

And I guess we're counting tris this time, eh? :D .......just teasing..... nanner-nanner.....

The upper part of it is rather amorphous, but for some reason it works really well, so don't change anything!

If the game engine supports specularity maps I think you might be able to do some cool things with that too. There's a tendency to it in one of the pics (not sure if it's a specular or bump map, but anyways...) It could make the surface even more interesting.

Top notch so far - really turning out great me thinks.

[jfelrod1960]

If the game engine supports specularity maps I think you might be able to do some cool things with that too. There's a tendency to it in one of the pics (not sure if it's a specular or bump map, but anyways...) It could make the surface even more interesting.

What kind of cool things?:shrug: :)

[JamesMK]

What kind of cool things?:shrug: :)
Well, that kind of "sheet metal" look benefits greatly from a subtle specularity map, some cellular galvanised steel pattern combined with a thin grid to illustrate seams in the hull... that kind of cool things :) It would need to be a fairly high resolution map though, with very tiny details in it... otherwise the model would lose scale, which would be a pity since the new lights here really make it look HUGE, which, I assume, is the general idea :thumbsup:

[imscifi]

There are three maps that can be used, color, specular and normal.

This actually does bring up a good question for you Jeff. I was wondering which maps I would be able to use. Currently, I've got a color and specular map, along with a bump map, though, I would end up making a normal map (instead of a bump map) for the game... if you can use it though. It helps bring out the "shapes" of a painted item, giving it more of a "3D" look.

here's a good link on how to make them (and how it works)... of course it's not for the program I'm using... there are plugins available though for myself! :thumbsup:

http://members.shaw.ca/jimht03/normal3.html

and here's another one... last post explains what normal mapping does...
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=138110

oh and there's this one as well
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?t=129627

k.

toodles!

(ps. won't be able to work on this until Tues next week, but I will be working on it on Tues definitely! :bounce: )

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