Vektor
01-11-2003, 07:29 PM
Hi all. This is my first post on CGTalk. I found this board about a month ago and have been drooling over all the incredible work here ever since.
I am still a relative amateur in this field, although I have been doing 3D architectural visualization related to the lighting industry for the last couple of years. Modeling architecture and doing sunlight studies is fine, but on my own time I prefer to do things that are a bit more... creative. :)
With that in mind, I've decided to post my latest project here and see what wonderful insights I can glean from all you CG masters along the way.
Years ago I was involved in a sci-fi role-playing game with several friends of mine that we affectionately called the "Ebonstar Campaign." The name came from the ship we used to toole around the galaxy, an old military transport ship modified into a freighter. At one point the Ebonstar was virtually destroyed while attempting to salvage the drive coils from a wrecked capital ship in the middle of vast debris field. Fortunately, we were able to sell the coils for a small fortune and used the money to rebuild our beloved old ship into a high-performance, bad-ass fighting machine. :D
This is a sketch I drew back around 1992 of what the ship looked like after it's major overhaul:
http://www.vektorsdomain.com/images/Sketches/Ebonstar01.jpg
Now, I've modeled a ship or two in my time. My first serious 3D model was of the USS Constitution. No, not the sailing ship, the class of starship from the original Star Trek series. I think everybody I know in the 3D community has built a Trek ship at least once, even if half of them don't want to admit it. I am also continuing to work on a much more detailed version of the USS Enterprise, mostly as a learning exercise. I have no formal training in 3D so I am constantly trying to learn new things and polish the skills I have.
That's what this Ebonstar project is all about. I'm trying to improve my skills at box modeling, subdivision, lofting, spline cage modeling and a few other techniques that should be applicable to this model. I'm hoping some of you out there will be able to tell me what I'm doing right, what I'm doing wrong, and what I should be doing in entirely different ways.
So, without further ado, here is the beginnings of a box modeled control mesh that I plan to meshsmooth further down the line to achieve the basic hull shape:
http://www.vektorsdomain.com/images/Ebonstar/wip_001.jpg
By the way, I'm working with 3ds Max 4.2 and sometimes use AutoCAD for 2D spline work. I would love to move up to Max 5 but that just isn't in the budget as yet. Maybe later this year.
Thanks for your attention.
I am still a relative amateur in this field, although I have been doing 3D architectural visualization related to the lighting industry for the last couple of years. Modeling architecture and doing sunlight studies is fine, but on my own time I prefer to do things that are a bit more... creative. :)
With that in mind, I've decided to post my latest project here and see what wonderful insights I can glean from all you CG masters along the way.
Years ago I was involved in a sci-fi role-playing game with several friends of mine that we affectionately called the "Ebonstar Campaign." The name came from the ship we used to toole around the galaxy, an old military transport ship modified into a freighter. At one point the Ebonstar was virtually destroyed while attempting to salvage the drive coils from a wrecked capital ship in the middle of vast debris field. Fortunately, we were able to sell the coils for a small fortune and used the money to rebuild our beloved old ship into a high-performance, bad-ass fighting machine. :D
This is a sketch I drew back around 1992 of what the ship looked like after it's major overhaul:
http://www.vektorsdomain.com/images/Sketches/Ebonstar01.jpg
Now, I've modeled a ship or two in my time. My first serious 3D model was of the USS Constitution. No, not the sailing ship, the class of starship from the original Star Trek series. I think everybody I know in the 3D community has built a Trek ship at least once, even if half of them don't want to admit it. I am also continuing to work on a much more detailed version of the USS Enterprise, mostly as a learning exercise. I have no formal training in 3D so I am constantly trying to learn new things and polish the skills I have.
That's what this Ebonstar project is all about. I'm trying to improve my skills at box modeling, subdivision, lofting, spline cage modeling and a few other techniques that should be applicable to this model. I'm hoping some of you out there will be able to tell me what I'm doing right, what I'm doing wrong, and what I should be doing in entirely different ways.
So, without further ado, here is the beginnings of a box modeled control mesh that I plan to meshsmooth further down the line to achieve the basic hull shape:
http://www.vektorsdomain.com/images/Ebonstar/wip_001.jpg
By the way, I'm working with 3ds Max 4.2 and sometimes use AutoCAD for 2D spline work. I would love to move up to Max 5 but that just isn't in the budget as yet. Maybe later this year.
Thanks for your attention.