That's a pretty nice model. How you add the detail really depends on the game engine. If it can handle higher poly counts then maybe add the detail to the geometry. This will ultimately give better results, though at the cost of performance. If it's an older or less advance engine, you may want to add the detail to the texture.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

Hy Steve,

Thanks for the reply!

It's a browser text based game so I only want to create images of those ships so poly counts don't realy matter.

And if I extrude a lot of parts from the ship how would I texture them should I make a texture map for every extruded part or can you combine them in 1 map ?

The thing is I don't know where I should extrude "parts" from the model I don't have inspiration on how to make it more "real"...

What would you do to make it more "real".

Thanks
pMzQ,

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I'd probably add more grooves and channels, just to make it a bit more interesting. Have you had much experience with smoothing models using turbosmooth or meshsmooth?

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

No I do not have had much experience with those tools.

When I smooth an object I most of the time smooth the entire object. but when I do this with this ship it does not come out very nice .

And what kind of grooves / channels are you talking about ?

do you have an example for me ?

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It doesn't have to be grooves just any detail that you can add that will enhance the model. Maybe rivets on the wings, fuel filler caps etc. Check out this awesome model for some ideas.
[Link to www.keyframe1.com]

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

holy shit that's amazing

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The secret of creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
-Albert Einstein

It's awesome isn't it. I should have said it was my own.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

yeah you probably should haha, great detailing and just amazing model, that's a damn good job who ever made it

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The secret of creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
-Albert Einstein

i stared at this image for a good 10 mins.... holy crap!!! it doesn't seem impossible to do though just painstaking!
how do you go about it? do you attach primitives to one another in a single mesh? or do you just place primitives in their correct positions without attaching them?

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Cogito, Ergo Sum

I imagine they'd all be separate objects, I'm not 100% sure though. Whatever it is, it's a lot of work.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

Ok very nice model indeed!

I will try to add some more detail to my model and post you the results!
Thanks for your help..

pMzQ,

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Hy there,

I've tried to create some more detail on the ship. One question I had is would you add the bolts and nails in the model or on the texture ?

here it is:
[Link to www.galaxycommander.nl]

LEt me know what I could improve about the model...

Thanks
pMzQ,

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looking better, i would recommend that you chamfer all the edges on your model, (i know it can be a pain in the ass to do, and lots of repair work will be needed, but it's definitely worth it) that will get you nice highlights as the light bounces off, as with bolts, just dont over chamfer, sharp edges need small chamfer, and those more rounded will require larger. As for bolts, if you want to model them you can use simple spheres with low segments, but be careful, lots of them can make your model really heavy, also you can make those 5-6 side bolts from simple cylinder and just make them 5-6 sided, use autogrid to place them correctly.

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The secret of creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
-Albert Einstein

Hy Altopais,

Thanks for your response!
Do you mean that I have to chamfer ALL edges with the edge tool ?

I'm pretty happy with the model I have right now, it should not become a round object its made of metal so should have sharp edges I think ?

So my next challange would be to unwrap this model and I found myself in trouble .

I normaly make selections and make material ID's for every one but there are just to many parts (panels and stuff) should I make a selection for all individual parts ?

How would you do this cutting up the model for texturing ?

Is it wise to just select the nose of the spaceship and devide that in 4 different textures like:
top / left / right / bottom ? and do so for the entire ship ?

Or is there some other clever way of doing this ?

By the way here is the final model:
[Link to www.galaxycommander.nl]

Thanks!
pMzQ,

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nah you probably didn't understood me, you don't need to make it rounded with chamfer, just a small amount on sharp edge, here's an example rendered with mental ray, everything is with ambient occlusion mat, and glass is with arch&design glass. You can see the difference between first window (chamfered a small amount) and second (unchamfered)
Every sharper corner or edge in max is basilcly infinite sharp and that's not natural.It's a small difference but it adds so much realism.

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The secret of creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
-Albert Einstein

As a low poly model it's looking really good, you've really pushed the detail more than I was expecting you to. Now if you can chamfer those edges and add some smoothing it's going to look really good.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

Thanks for the replies!

Altopais: Very clear example of what you meant! I will try and see what I can do for chamfering my model.

Steve: For the smoothing I never used smoothing for parts of an object I only used it on an entire model. Which parts can I smooth easily and how should I do it selecting all polygons I would like to smooth and then add a smooth modifier ? because when I smooth the entire model then how should I put this doesn't look very nice ...

What do you guys suggest for texturing this model ? my previous post ?

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Ok finished some chamfering of the spaceship hope you can see the differences because they are realy small...

[Link to www.galaxycommander.nl]

I chamferded most on the front of the ship and the body sides... I also chamfered at the back the upgoing panels and the panels on each side of that. I did not chamfer the wings because it didn't make any difference when I render the image ?

Let me know what you guys think ?

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Very Nice.... Applause..

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Rick

[Link to www.3dartconcepts.com]

The small amount of chamfering will make a bigger difference when you get some lights and material.

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Chris

sure does make it look more heavy and solid. looking good. I'd render it with some sort of scifi panels texture all over it multiplied with an ambient occlusion map. and some specular too...

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Does it look any good with turbosmooth on now that you've chamfered the edges?

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

SpitFire: Thanks

cdballew: I already had 2 spotlights in the scene one shining from the top 1 from the bottom just for me to be able to see my model in the design views. I think I should first texture my model before I start working on the lights and stuff ?

Tyson: do you mean use 1 scfi panel texture and apply it to the entire ship ? or cut it down in little pieces ?

Steve: I will try to turbosmooth my ship after I googled for "turbosmooth" and then again turbosmooth the entire ship or small parts ?

I know this is not the right place for discussing texturing should I create a new topic at the right location now my model is nearly finished ?

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Yeh, it's probably best to start a new topic in the texturing section. That way if people run into similar problems that you do it will be easier for them to find a solution.

And you have to turbosmooth the entire ship unfortunately - you can select a part of the mesh and restict it to that area. The keys is chamfereing those fine edges so they don't become too rounded when you apply smoothing.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

well unwrapping it and designing a special texture would probably be the best solution but you could always try and automatic flatten and apply a map like one or all of these. maybe use the last one to mask in a reflective material using blend material...

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Ok project number 2 then:

I want to create a more bumpy model more from one piece:

I started here where I have trouble with is creating nice round edges on the model.

I started out with a plane and then will continue with extruding and stuff. Question I have is if I should chamfer all the corners in while I'm still with a plane so it can be done easily or should I have a rough model and exturde it and at the end chamfer and smooth it ?

[Link to www.galaxycommander.nl]

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chamfering, at least what i mentioned before in my earlier post, is basicly just detailing, it must be done at the end, when you finish the model or when you finish modeling a part or else it would be to much repair work and it will slow your modeling process greatly.
It really depends on what do you plan on doing with it, if you want to round something, or split one edge into two or more, or vert or i don't know what, then go ahead, use the chamfer, but if you want just to go for that nice light reflections at the end, than model first chamfer at the end.
i don't really know how to explain

Smoothing should go when you finish modeling a part or entire model, if you smooth an object which you are currently working on, it would have no effect, because you are still working on that object, extruding, moving polys and verts and don't know what else...and it's just extra work which is not needed.

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The secret of creativity is knowing how to hide your sources.
-Albert Einstein

Generally the process for something like this would be to start with a box or some primitive and rough out the form. gradually adding edges to sharpen up corners after the initial shape has been designed. Either use extrude on edge selections or chamfer. but take advantage of the ring and loop tools and use connect to add extra rows of edges. that way you keep you're mesh quad polygons.
When you chamfer or extrude edges always go in and work at the corners where non quad polygons have been formed because if you leave them they will become overwhelming later on.
Also consider using multiple objects, its not always necessary to have everything connected as one continuous mesh.

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Thanks again!

The loop tool never used is what is it good for ?

About using more then one object and merge them together.

How would this be done ? I only know of the boolean type of object and then you should pick operand B or something and then it substracts that object B from A or other way around ?

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loop and ring are good for making selections and then doing operations like connect, extrude or chamfer. for example you could select a ring around a cylinder (all the parallel edges) then connect it with several edges to add detail to the object all the way around. or you could select an edge loop and use extrude edge to create a thin groove. what I meant by using multiple meshes is that you can often simply model a collection of different pieces and either group them all or attach the pieces together using the attach button in editable poly. its ok to have some things intersect. and in the case of a spaceship it often would make it look more realistic if its made from lots of panels rather than one piece with extruded bits. also you can always weld things together by using collapse on two vertices ( ctrl+alt+c) or by deleting polygons from both meshes selecting the open borders and using the bridge tool.

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Ok thanks again for helping out I got started on my new ship now But it seems that I have mad emy first big failure

I started out with a plane modeld it and exturded the plane to make it 3D.

Everything was going great untill I rendered the model and saw some wierd holes. Then I started turning the ship and the entire floor piece was missing .

So is there a way how I could easily create the bottom part some sort of connection of verts/edges ?
Or should I model the darn thing again with a box ?

Here are some screenshots:
[Link to www.galaxycommander.nl]

And the bottom:
[Link to www.galaxycommander.nl]

It looks like your looking right trough the bottom and see the inside ...

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The easiest solution is to add a symmetry modifier. Make it mirror on the Z axis
You might need to check flip and adjust the position of the symmetry mirror plane.
Go to the modifier's subobject level and move the mirror plane gizmo in the viewport.

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Here's a tutorial I made about smooth groups that might help you.
[Link to www.digitalartsfront.com]

I use this technique for most mechanical objects I want to have pass for photo realistic.
This gun i made uses it:
[Link to isaacg.net]
Notice the lighting isn't anything fancy, but the gun looks good enough.
Those nice curves that blend are important, and smooth groups allow that level of control.

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That gun looks awesome.

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[Link to www.3dprevis.com]

Thanks!

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