The Echolancer...

[A_Pickle]

Hi, all. I've been an active member of Scifi-Meshes.com for a short while, an inactive member of it for a long while, and hopefully now, I'll be an active member again. I've rekindled my interest in 3D here, after taking what seems like an almost year or two year long break. I need to practice and brush up, as well as apply a sort of "new perspective" of mine on my 3d work.

To do this, I'm doing what I've done about a billion times it seems: I'm making what will probably not be the final version of the USS Echolancer, a ship that I intend to use in a science fiction film set in a unique universe (IE, not Star Wars, not Star Trek). I have made like... a billion versions of the Echolancer, none of which I have been satisfied by. They just haven't been detailed enough or armed enough to my liking, and aren't particularly "warship" looking.

So I'm giving it another shot. I'd really appreciate some opinions and insight on it as I go along. Maybe a bit much to ask, but stick with me here and help me see it through to the end stages. I need to know what, at the very least, is required of me to make a basic "good" 3D image.

Anyways. Here's what I have thus far -- rendered with a target direct light with an intensity multiplier of 1.0 and a skylight with an intensity multiplier of 0.5, and a Light Tracer applied to the skylight. Obviously, I haven't textured it yet -- I'll need a LOT of help with that. I am as proficient at texturing as a brick is at driving semis.

[Aresius]

Looks very interesting. Reminds me a bit to the UEF sub. http://totalsupcom.com/images/units/uef1.jpg

No offence.

[A_Pickle]

That's very cool, though, it isn't what I'm basing this ship off of.

[A_Pickle]

Update!

Okay, I am DAMN determined to make this thing the best capital ship I have EVER made. I've largely stuck with the old Scifi-Meshes.com panelling tutorial involving the Slice Plane in Max's Edit Poly modifier. I think that, by and large, it's come out fairly well. I've been using the Inset tool a lot, but I've found that chamfering edges works a LOT better around corners -- it reduces the amount of time I need to dedicate to fix some oddities sometimes caused by using the Inset tool.

You may notice that the uploaded thumbnail in the first post is no longer current -- I did away with the simplistic and repetitive rectangular side panels. I'm looking at a lot of pictures from Google Images, Scifi-Meshes, and Military Meshes to get an idea of what I can use to detail my ship while keeping it adherent to my strict guidelines that it has to be, at the very least, somewhat respectful to what would be a "tactically acceptable" design as a future frigate-class space warship. Of course, I have to do this while making it look... good.

The following pictures are, I think, save #5 or so... but I think it's definitely the best that I've gotten thus far. Keeping in mind, the only thing I've gotten done is a teeny-weeny part of the bridge.

The only thing I can ask of you guys is... please please please please keep the suggestions coming. I have NOWHERE near the ability that many of you exhibit yet, and I need some suggestions on what to add and perhaps even how to add it in the timeliest manner, etc. You guys seem able to come out with CRAZY good stuff in a matter of hours, and hopefully I'll be that good someday... but as of now... I chip away at it a little at a time.

Now for some statistics, I want to see where I stand. At the moment, I right-click the Echolancer and select "Properties," and Max is telling me that it has 5530 vertices and 4408 faces. On the other hand, Max's render progress dialog box tells me (in the "Scene Statistics" box) that I have 11056 faces. Which count do I trust? And moreover, is that number of faces acceptable given the current level of detail? Or is it abysmally high?

Also, should I be using VRay Free or something, versus the Default Scanline Renderer?

With that said, I'll provide some meat. MOAR PIKZ LULZ.


The Echolancer's conning tower as rendered with a Target Direct Light with Raytraced Shadows On, and a multiplier of 0.9 and a Skylight (with Light Tracer) with a multiplier of 0.9. It almost seems plastic-ish, but it hasn't been textured other than with Max's default "Standard" material.


The Echolancer's conning tower rendered with only a Skylight (with Light Tracer) at a multiplier of 1.5. I like this render much better, if it weren't for the abysmally retarded angle I chose to render at.


I fixed the ultrasmoothing of those "greebles," though it looks as though my light tracer settings aren't picking it up very well, and I'm afraid to turn it up any further. I'm thinking those smooth greebles are going to be vents/sensor pods/antennae mounts of sorts. According to Max, this took 2:53 to render.

It's a start. It may not be ANYTHING compared to the utter incredulousness that you guys make on a daily basis... but it's a start. And I'm proud of it.

[Aresius]

interesting details.