Homeworld: Hiigarian Transport 'Bishop'

[limdaepl]

Well here we are, back again :)
I started this thread just a few days before the crash so if you missed it you didn't miss very much :p
If someone asked a question i havn't answered yet (or you couldn't read the answer in time) just ask me again.

images removed and new thumbnail added [The first image is showing the last state of the WIP before the crash (i guess) the remaining are showing the current state. The grooves/flutes on the front part (in the last image) are not modeled but made with normals.]

Those who are not familiar with the original model from the game may want to have a look at the screenshots here (http://shipyards.relicnews.com/hw2/images/demo_091303_30.jpg) and here (http://shipyards.relicnews.com/hw2/images/home_screen002.jpg).

C&C appreciated

Have i forgotten something? :confused:
either way! :D

Regards Roman

[Cal]

Very impressive! :)

I really like this HW stuff - there was another one done just recently (hope he posts it back up), which was also very professional.

Keep it up. I'm watching! :cool:

[EDIT:] I'd love to have a shot at texturing this one when it's done. I'm on Max7.

[limdaepl]

The only recent HW stuff i'm aware of is this (www.triple-r.net/images/naarmah_inty_1200.jpg) image by Enterprise-E and the corresponding WIP-threads to the models. Any of these?

Regards Roman

[Fly]

Looks awesome so far!

Looks like its going to have the same quality as your intercepter. Nice job!

[limdaepl]

Looks awesome so far!

Looks like its going to have the same quality as your intercepter. Nice job!

Thanks!
I'll try to make it even better than my interceptor :D
At the current state the model has already the same polycount as the final version of the interceptor :eek:
Whereas this is more due to the size of it than the detailing...

[Cal]

The only recent HW stuff i'm aware of is this (www.triple-r.net/images/naarmah_inty_1200.jpg) image by Enterprise-E and the corresponding WIP-threads to the models. Any of these?

Regards Roman

Well, it was that ship, but I'm not sure if that's the model. That's a great render, by the way - really captures the whole HW thing. :)

[chrono]

Oh! Now that's lovely. :)

[limdaepl]

Well, it was that ship, but I'm not sure if that's the model. That's a great render, by the way - really captures the whole HW thing. :)

Which one do you mean? The Interceptor is by me. I have a lot of images of it here :) The Cruiser is by Enterprise-E. You'll have to wait for him to re-register (so do i)

It's definately a great render. Enterprise-E mentioned that he was doing an animation just before the crash. I'm looking forward to see him here again.

Regards Roman

[lt paul]

Wow, I had'nt seen that image before. Your interceptors look amazing in it. An if course Enterprise-E's light cruiser doesn't lokk bad either. Keep up the good work.

[Larsen]

Still looks cool man, even the second time around...

And you are ofcourse Mr Homeworld :D

[Fafnir_6]

Awesome! Man I love HW stuff. Your rendition is very well executed too.

Cheers,

Fafnir_6

[JeffrySG]

This ship looks so very cool! keep up the great modeling!

[Tovette]

Holy hell that's sick. I am inspired to make my next starship HW inspired.

[Prime_8]

ooh homworld goodness.


one of the main food groups . LOL

his transport looks fricking huge .. can't wait to see it a decked out and textured

[Ozylot]

Great stuff... I believe you forgot to post a wireframe. :D

Are you using the virtual mirror feature? or are you modelling both sides simultainiously?

[limdaepl]

Great stuff... I believe you forgot to post a wireframe.

Are you using the virtual mirror feature? or are you modelling both sides simultainiously?

here you go :D
http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/120/344wy.jpg
http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/8867/352sp.jpg

I'm using the virtual mirror feature. Actually i'm modeling one half of it and virtualmirror/freeze it just for the renderings (and screenshots) to save computing time during the modeling process (not the fastest computer here).

Regards Roman

edit: i want to notice that i'm heavily against posting large images directly into the forum ;)

[Ozylot]

Now thats awsome!

[robert]

:eek:
ozylot is right, that IS awsome

[BlueRaa]

Man, she is BEAUTIFUL! Love the surface details, they are amazing.

[limdaepl]

Well it took a while but here's finally an update

I modeled most of the back part and rounded those humps on the midpart. latter was quite tricky. i maybe should have done this before adding the details :rolleyes:
As you might recognize some of the geometry in the back part is similar to geometry elsewhere on the hull. They are of course copied. It's however getting tricky if you want to merge those copied parts with the existing geometry. Wings3D wont do this automatically. But with some fiddling around and with my rox0r-modeling-1337-skillz i finally forced it to do what i wanted it to do http://www.3dallusions.com/forums/images/smilies/shiner.gif

Well that's it for now
Regards Roman

edit: i need that :shiner: smilie back... :(
edit2: hooray he's back! http://www.3dallusions.com/forums/images/smilies/shiner.gif

[limdaepl]

...and here are the wire frames for ozylot :)

[Ozylot]

SWEEEEET!!

ok... what method do you use to copy the same details to another part of the ship? loop cut to object then move?

Looks like you do alot of edge cleanup. well done!

[Tovette]

i am totally going to make HW inspired ship at some point for sure. Looks badass man!

[farcry]

Ever since i first saw this class of ship in HW2 i loved it! im so happy someone is modeling it, its looking great man!

[limdaepl]

SWEEEEET!!

ok... what method do you use to copy the same details to another part of the ship? loop cut to object then move?

Looks like you do alot of edge cleanup. well done!

Thanks. Yeah basically i'm doing this. The tricky part is to merge this with the model again when it's at its new position. When you cut out geometry Wings automatically creates a new face on the back side to make the object watertight. I select that face, switch to vertex mode to get the number of points (this is important as i later use the bridge feature) then i move it to its destination. There i "stencil" that polygon into the surface. Well, Wings can't stencil but you can do this manually with excessive use of the "set default axis" and the "intersect>default axis"-feature. Then i select that stanciled faces, make them to one single face by hitting "del" then if necessary add some extra vertices with "cut" to make the face of equal vertex count. Then i mark this face and the opposing one on the copied part and use the "bridge" tool. afterwards i select the unnecessary edges (the "bridge" so to speak) and collapse them. Note that you can easily select those edges by selecting only one and use "select>similar" (or hit "g"). This workes always if you did everything right up to there.

Hope i could help
Regards Roman

[Ozylot]

excellent... very helpfull.

Why not just leave as a seperate object?

[limdaepl]

excellent... very helpfull.

Why not just leave as a seperate object?

on the one hand because it's more acurate that way and on the other hand there is geometry that looms into the hull. i would have to remove the overlapping polys anyway.

[Prime_8]

awsome work.. and as stated nice clena edges all over .. cool

[Trooper]

Looks great there. :)

Although I've never played HW2 so I can't say I know it.

But it looks good. :)

[WildCard]

Looking forward to seeing the end results of this one. If it's anything like your interceptor I'm sure it will exceed exceptations!

[Thomasthecat]

The ship design from the Homeworld series is some of the best in the business, and your modeling is certainly doing it justice!

[limdaepl]

I couldn't help myself. The grooves/flutes on the front part are now modeled as well :rolleyes:
This was quite tricky. Just like the last time i should again have made this before adding the detail but i'm getting used to it by and by... ;)

Enjoy!
Regards Roman

[Larsen]

This is really good work mate... keep 'em coming!

[JeffrySG]

yeah, this really does look slick! that last render looks great... love all the panel work!

[Makotokat]

That is some sweet detail!

[Ozylot]

Sweetness!

[Dallidas]

sweet! i think i love you....lol jk

[mental|plate]

Hot stufff!

[moerkem]

very very hot! ave homeworld!

[Melak]

Awesome!! HW/2 has great shipdesigns, will you take on some more after you finished this extraordinary baby? I never could have imagined I'd become an artist lol but right now I'm on the best way to become one! I want to be able to do things like that, too!

[JeffrySG]

ps... care to post any wires of your mesh for us to see?? thanks!!! ;)

[limdaepl]

Here you go!
The grooves are not attached to the body but seperate objects.

Regards Roman

[captain07]

Wow. I honestly thought the Bishop was damn near as cool as the battlecruiser, despite it's not combat role. I think it had to do with the cinematic with sections boosting from ground and docking to the spine. You've definitely done the ship justice.

Out of curiosity, what sort of smoothing options do you have on when you're rendering? The actual mesh seems quite polygonal. In fact, what's your rendering program?

[Novak]

Really nice design.. Great work so far Limdaepl.. Keep posting..


Greetz, Novak

[Larsen]

Perfact modeling there mate... very efficient!... well done, It looks perfect when rendered!... looking forward to you texturing this baby!

[limdaepl]

...Out of curiosity, what sort of smoothing options do you have on when you're rendering? The actual mesh seems quite polygonal. In fact, what's your rendering program?

My rendering app is POVRay. It's a free (open source) script based raytracer. Conversion from Wings3D to POVRay mesh2 via PoseRay.

In Wings the smoothing is applied manually. You might want to look up the wireframes again. The black edges are hard edges, the gray ones are smooth. I don't know which smoothing method is used here to interpolate the normals though. Fortunatelly the normals are converted into POVRay readable mesh2 without any problems (unlike most other rendering apps i know).

There is however a function called autosmooth which reads a treshold angle and applies the appropriate mode to the edges automatically but i never used this and prefer to adjust every edge manually.

Hope this helps
Regards Roman

[Melak]

Wow, the shape looks just so perfect with the details on it, everything is so clean, just Wow!

[limdaepl]

*next update*
The upper hull is now completed. Still alot to do. Polycount so far: 62K :o:eek:
I attached one render and two wireframes.

Enjoy!
Regards Roman

[Ozylot]

Fantastic!

How are you managing the high poly count in wings?

[limdaepl]

... How are you managing the high poly count in wings?

Not at all! :lol:

As i'm modeling only one half of it and just virtual mirror/freeze it for the renderings i've "only" 31K in the editor. In addition i hide the geometry i'm not working on in the geometry graph. But performance is becoming a problem (autosave is a pain in the neck). now that the upper hull is completed i'll start again from the basic shape for the next part. When the different parts are done i'll merge them into one file.

Regards Roman

[Ozylot]

Yeah I was guessing as much, the ion cannon im working on is already in 6 pieces and some parts still lag. Very nice work there.

[lt paul]

Looks amazing. Does wings have problems with polycounts that low? (Not that it's low poly but it seems odd to me that it would have difficulty at that kind of detail) Whatever that is, your work is amazing. Wings seems to have nicer polygon tools than blender judging by your wireframes. Keep it up. Just a few more ship types to go until you can recrate Mission 2 in high res. (Never mind that one of those ships just happens to be a mothership class vessel)

[limdaepl]

Looks amazing. Does wings have problems with polycounts that low? (Not that it's low poly but it seems odd to me that it would have difficulty at that kind of detail) Whatever that is, your work is amazing. Wings seems to have nicer polygon tools than blender judging by your wireframes. Keep it up. Just a few more ship types to go until you can recrate Mission 2 in high res. (Never mind that one of those ships just happens to be a mothership class vessel)

Thanks. I don't know if wings does have problems with many polys. at least my (crappy) computer has. Hiding some of the geometry spares a lot of computing time during the modeling process but the autosave function saves everything thus the time needed grows with the model.

I'm not familiar with blender so i can't tell you anything about possible advantages of wings. One thing i appreciate the most is that one can define an axis for almost everything like extruding, rotating, translating, intersecting... that way (and with some knowledge of basic geometry) there's almost nothing that can't be done. There are mostly several possibilities to archive the same result and it is however not always obvious which possibility is the simplest.

As for the mothership: I'll try to avoid modeling her as long as possible ;) the next ship will definiately be a vagyr one, possibly the bomber. I'll need some enemys to blow up :devil:

Maybe in 2027 when the "pride of hiigara" will be the last hw2 ship i haven't modeled yet i'll crown my lifework with her :lol:

Well, i'd better lower my sights i guess ;)

Anyways
Regards Roman

[Larsen]

Well hiding geometry is every highdetail modelers friend:D... I've had to hide everything else but the element I'm working on... even elements of that element... on my BSGR:(... but if it gets the job done, I guess it's fine:D

You're doing some awsome stuff here mate. I love the HW universe:thumb:... say how about modeling the Vagyr battle cruiser... that's certainly a kick ass aponent:D

[gthompsn]

I love the HW universe:thumb:... say how about modeling the Vagyr battle cruiser... that's certainly a kick ass aponent:D
Agreed, they are excellent, but so are the Vaygr AssaultFrigate and Destroyer... the Hiigaran BattleCruiser, the Keepers ... the Taiidan ships, Kushan ships, Kadeshi Ships, Bentusi...

[Ozylot]

So what refs do you use? do you have orthos that you work from or do you just eyeball it and make it look similar?

There are alot of homeworld ships that could use builds like this... :thumb:

[Tovette]

it's coming along really sweet...:)

[captain07]

Wow.. This is amazing stuff... How long did it take you to become proficient with Wings, Limdaepl?

[limdaepl]

So what refs do you use? do you have orthos that you work from or do you just eyeball it and make it look similar?

There are alot of homeworld ships that could use builds like this... :thumb:

My approach is quite cheaty. I import the game model into wings and build my model "around" that one (see attachment). Gives the best results though. ;)



How long did it take you to become proficient with Wings, Limdaepl?

I'm modeling with wings since March 05 (at least the oldest file of my first model I found was such dated). I can't say at which point in time i became proficient though :lol:
It took quite a while for me to find those functions i'm modeling now with. My first model only made use of extrude, inset and bevel :rolleyes:

Thanks alot for the kind replies everybody!
Regards Roman

[Tovette]

Ok, I am soooo making a HW style ship.

/puts it on list of ships to build...

[mental|plate]

Cheater!!!! :devil:
Nice work!

[Ozylot]

Well I suppose that is a way to get it accurrate... *goes and fines ship models....*

[Auralis]

Very nice and very clean work.
most excellent.

[limdaepl]

Ok, I am soooo making a HW style ship.

/puts it on list of ships to build...

I'd love to see someone making a hw ship as well. When i started my interceptor thread some other users started a few hw inspired wip threads but unfortunately none of them has been finished (with the exception of the fantasic naar-mah by enterprise-e of course).

Regards Roman

[Ozylot]

... but unfortunately none of them has been finished ....

A common problem among 3D modellers... ;)

BTW where did you get the Ref models for use in wings?

[limdaepl]

I decompiled the game with a tool called UnfBig which converts the *.big files to, well... other files whereas the ship models are converted to *.hod. Those can be converted to *.obj with a tool called HODTool. The textures (*.dds) are converted to *.bmp via DDS Converter 2. Due to some default language keybord issue all the "," in the obj file have to be replaced with "." (good ol' notepad :D) and the textures have to be flipped vertically (good ol' paint :D). Now wings can import them.
May sound complicated but once you're used to it it works like a charme :cool:

Regards Roman

[Ozylot]

Yikes! ... that IS complicated... DOH!

[Larsen]

I bow to you... oh my allmighty HW god:flippy: :flippy:

I have no doubt that Tovette will do an awsome job on an HW inspired ship:D... looking forward to that...

Since you're the leading SFM official on HW ships... well you and Ent-e... you just have to do a tut on the basic design features of HW designs:p :devil: :flippy:

[limdaepl]

I bow to you... oh my allmighty HW god

I have no doubt that Tovette will do an awsome job on an HW inspired ship... looking forward to that...

Since you're the leading SFM official on HW ships... well you and Ent-e... you just have to do a tut on the basic design features of HW designs

:lol: hehe:

:flippy: http://www.world-of-smilies.com/html/images/smilies/sonstige/760.gif:flippy:


What could i say about the basic hw design. I'm just rebuilding :rolleyes:
But Ent-E's design is original. We might ask him to write something :devil:

Regards Roman

[Enterprise-E]

limdaepl, You can change a setting in windows to overcome the "," changed to "." issue. guess it's faster than to correct all coordinates by hand ;-)

PM me if You want explanation

[limdaepl]

limdaepl, You can change a setting in windows to overcome the "," changed to "." issue. guess it's faster than to correct all coordinates by hand ;-)

PM me if You want explanation

Now that you gave me the hint i found it on my own. I haven't tested yet if the HODTool writes "." now but there aren't many ships i haven't converted yet anyway :rolleyes:

Thanks nevertheless! :thumb:
Regards Roman

[limdaepl]

Yesterday night i worked a little on the back section. I wasn't happy with the result went back and started off new for about four times so that's why it's not much but i thought you might feel happy to hear that i'm still working on it ;)

The nozzles are just rough scetches to fill up the empty space. i'll remodel cooler ones later.

till then!
Regards Roman

[Larsen]

Sweetness mate:thumb:

[mental|plate]

nicely done, hope my progres will be like this! :D

[JRL3001]

Wow, thats looking great man! :) I love the detail!

[Ozylot]

Truly stunning!

[Dallidas]

the engines look great, even for rough sketches!

[lt paul]

Looking great.

[limdaepl]

How do you like this engine? :)

Regards Roman

[chrono]

*thinks.... it's round and it blows.... of course it's good!*
*thinks.... nah! that just too... well course*
*thinks.... wtf! why am I thinking to myself like this!*

---

Nice design. Got some mesh errors that need cleaning up. ;)

[Ozylot]

Mesh errors?! no such thing... I call it a smoothing inconsistancy. :D

Great stuff! Should do the trick.

[lt paul]

Very nice, looks like pain to texture. (shudders)

[limdaepl]

Thank you all for your replys. I take this as an ok :p


Nice design. Got some mesh errors that need cleaning up. ;)
You're right (well noticed :thumb:). It was quite tricky to get those cylindical holes in there as Wings can't boolean. As a result of my fiddling I'm getting those errors there. I *could* fix them but I thought it wouldn't be worth the effort as the engines will be fired anyway in practice and one wouldn't see this behind all the glows and stuff.
In addition I think it's looking somewhat weathered and worn that way.


Very nice, looks like pain to texture. (shudders)

Maybe it's looking more complicated than it is but I don't think it would be exceedingly difficult :confused:

Thanks again! :thumb:
Regards Roman

[Berticus]

Oh! And all this time I thought Wings had a GREAT boolean system...

You guys have it hard. But it builds character I suppose. :thumb:

Fababulous work so far!
-albert

[limdaepl]

Here are some images of the backpart with the new engines and some additional detailing. I'm not sure if I like those engines but I'll leave them for now as they will most likely hide behind heavy glows later anyway. Also I corrected the smoothing errors. Wasn't as hard as i expected.

I attached some wires as well.
current polycount (triangulated): 121K :eek:

I hope i'll be able to give a bigger update soon!
Regards Roman

[Dallidas]

looks great! engines aswell! the round holes look odd though, doesnt fit well with the blockiness of everything else.

[limdaepl]

Thanks, yeah the general design is rather blocky but nozzles are usually round :lol:

I also made a test with glows. Oddly enough the glows are also appearing behind the geomerty but I think it's pretty cool for a few minutes of work.

What do you think?
Regards Roman

[Ozylot]

Wow! :eek!:

So your gonna write a tutorial right? :D

[Dallidas]

wow! that is awesome! the glow going outside amlost makes it look like its making particles that can go through matter! lol and pleeeease write a tut!!

[limdaepl]

lol and pleeeease write a tut!!

I'm up to writing a tut but I'm less on spare time ATM. You'll be the first ones to know when I start writing something :thumb:

Thanks for you replies!
Regards Roman

[Dallidas]

I'm up to writing a tut but I'm less on spare time ATM. You'll be the first ones to know when I start writing something :thumb:

Thanks for you replies!
Regards Roman


as long as its good!:lol:

[limdaepl]

Here is finally another update. As you can see I've done the bridge and i've started the underside. I made the bridge quite detailed so that it can stand some closeups in an animation.

C&C apprechiated!
Regards Roman

[Dallidas]

looks fantastic mate! love the hint of glow on the 1st render

[limdaepl]

Thanks Dallidas! I'm using specular bloom almost everywhere but I'm always trying to keep it subtle. Glad you like it.

Regards Roman

[Ozylot]

Looking really great. love the bridge module! What technique do you used to get those lovely rounded corners?

[limdaepl]

Looking really great. love the bridge module! What technique do you used to get those lovely rounded corners?

Well that's easy. select the edge you want to have round and bevel it. then select two of those four created edges and bevel them again. repeat this until your happy with the result. Works similar if you want to smooth several edges.
Another possibility is beveling once and afterwards use the smooth function. Make sure you have applied the right hardness mode to the confining edges before smoothing. Alot of cleaning up/deleting unnessecary edges is neccessary after smoothing in this case...

Hope this helps
Regards Roman

[lt paul]

I low the detail on the bridge.

[Ozylot]

I thought thats how it was done, I just thought that there were other side effects. Such as a small triangle effect at the base of each bevel.

[Enterprise-E]

Wow, this is developing beautifully. i should seriously start my next HW ship too...

[limdaepl]

I thought thats how it was done, I just thought that there were other side effects. Such as a small triangle effect at the base of each bevel.

Yeah. Those unnecessary triangles are of course cleaned up after the bevel. Seems like I'm doing this such automatically in the meantime that I even forgot to mention this in my short breakdown :o

[Scorndrake]

Once this puppy is finished I think it should be a Header for sure cause

this mesh simply rocks! Keep it coming, I can't wait to see more on this

ship! Cheers :thumb:

[limdaepl]

Wow, this is developing beautifully. i should seriously start my next HW ship too...

Oh thanks. Nice to see you commenting on my work again! :thumb:
(Not that I wouldn't be glad upon the comments of you other guys as well)

I'd like to endorse you to start another HW ship. When it's of equal quality as your naar-mah it'll be great!

Regards Roman

edit: Thanks scorndrake. Your confidence honors me!
once this puppy is finished... i can't even dream of that day yet ;)

[limdaepl]

More progress on the underside. Enjoy! :thumb:
C&C apprechiated as always!

Regards Roman


edit: as one can see I got sick of that blue ;-)

[Ozylot]

Wow... im torn... I'd like to make a HW ship, but after seeing this, I think to myself 'could I ever get it as good as that?!'

Doh

Great work. You must do so much clean up when you model, it shows.

[limdaepl]

I finished the bottom back part and started detailing on the bottom front part. this time with somewhat better quality renders and again wireframes for ozylot :D

C&C apprechiated

Regards Roman

[Ozylot]

Sweet! :thumb: :thumb:

Im still trying to figure out what it is that you add to a mesh (as to style) to make it look like a hiigiaran ship.

Great work!

[limdaepl]

I'm just modeling what the textures are telling me. nothing more and nothing less :)

[Larsen]

Wow, this is developing beautifully. i should seriously start my next HW ship too...

What's keeping you:devil:... Snap to it:devil:... I'll coment, I promise:D

Limdeapl: Absolutely outstanding work man... great modeling:thumb:... If I hadn't allready given the official HW expert title to EE, I'd hand it right over to you:devil:... well maybe if he dosn't get off his bu** and start a new ship, I will:D

J/K

Sweet work mate:thumb:

[limdaepl]

You're absulutely right Larsen!

:flippy: Enterprise-E get busy! :flippy:


Thanks for the kind replys. You guys keep me going!
and um... you could at least give me the official HW2 expert title :rolleyes: :shiner: j/k

Regards Roman

[yasotay]

I vote Roman get the title as Ent-E has been remiss in his duties to retaining the honors.

Fantastic Bishop class. Really enjoy the detail.

[limdaepl]

lol! no ent-e has done some fabulous work so far. unlike me. You may want to check out his deviant art gallery (http://enterprise-e.deviantart.com/gallery/) to see some of his works as he hasn't uploaded everything again here after the crash. I like particulary the "Qwaar-Jet In Nebula" image very much closely followed by "Submission" :thumb:

Regards Roman

[Enterprise-E]

Hey, thanks for all the promotion and stuff. Great feeling that i come to mind. Even greater that i almost feel like a celebrity under HW 3D fans now :-P
Here is what You desired, look in the 3D wips forum :-)

limdaepl: You're the captain of the "USS Homeworld2".
Though, i have fiddled with the thought of doing a Vaygr BC now and then...:devil:

[limdaepl]

lol thanks :)
Don't you dare doing a HW2 related ship! :devil:

[JustinDixon]

Alright, I'll admit it - that's kickass.

[limdaepl]

No update yet but i made a largescale render of the whole model over the last night on my dads computer (it's so much faster than mine :().
Attached is a 1024x768 version. For a 3200x2400 version follow this link (http://www.stud.uni-karlsruhe.de/~ugblh/data/hw_tanker_top_3200.jpg).

Hope you like it!
Regards Roman

edit: oops. this was my 100th post :thumb:

[BDelacroix]

I like the Homeworld design. It incorporates the colorful paint jobs (as opposed to utilitarian military grey paint jobs) of the two general schools of space ship paint jobs. Err. I used the phrase paint job too much.

Anyway, lately I've been trying make a consistent design in my ship models. As I have always liked the stuff from the Spacecraft books (Terran Trade Authority that has recently been revived) and Homeworld follows that kind of style as opposed to the Trek grey style, that is the direction I find myself going. Most recently I've fallen into super detailing the inside of one of the cockpits of a smaller craft. That and your model has gotten me to thinking about the line between modeled details and material (faked) details. So, I have to ask. Are all the details on that object modeled or are some of them bump/displacement maps? They look modeled. It also makes things easier to "paint" when you have to paint the details.

[limdaepl]

everything on that one is modeled

the few labels which are on there are (for now) stenciled. I make it that way as they then show up on the uv-maps which makes it easy for me to paint them on the correct position. afterwards i merge those extra polygons into one again.

[Sukhoi_Flagon]

looking seriously sweet. after looking at this and ent-e's carrier concept, am somewhat inclined to make a hw or hw inspired ship myself :)

but anyway, awesome detail level!
Sukhoi

[Enterprise-E]

OMG!!! That's movie detail!!! i wanna have that model when finished!
*goes deleting the Saarkin-Cho carrier MAX file...*

Is the whole model on that state, or only the upperside yet?

[limdaepl]

OMG!!! That's movie detail!!! i wanna have that model when finished!
*goes deleting the Saarkin-Cho carrier MAX file...*

Is the whole model on that state, or only the upperside yet?

lol thanks mate!
nono keep that carrier, the geometry of the bishop is just 20MB for now :lol:

for the state of the underside have a look at the attachment. it's just 1600x400 and has some radiosity errors. the 3200x800 version with improved radiosity settings is still rendering :o

Regards Roman

[Trooper]

I've been inspired as well to do some Homeworld stuff.

First gen HW textures are so small though, it's hard to get any good details out of them!

[limdaepl]

the remaining two largescale renders have arrived. 1024-width versions attached, the 3200-width versions can be found here (http://www.stud.uni-karlsruhe.de/~ugblh/data/hw_tanker_top2_3200.jpg) and here (http://www.stud.uni-karlsruhe.de/~ugblh/data/hw_tanker_bottom_3200.jpg).
c&c welcome as usual.
I'll now return to modeling.

@trooper: if the textures aren't showing enough details just make you're own :p (details not textures ;))


Regards Roman

[mental|plate]

whooo nice details dude, loving the bridge section, can i see it up close :D

[Dallidas]

this is simply fantastic, i love it

[limdaepl]

Thank you guys! I appreciate your compliments! :thumb:


whooo nice details dude, loving the bridge section, can i see it up close :D

You may want to look up post #92 :D

Regards Roman

[mental|plate]

how the hell did i missed that....
great stuff lots of details, are you making them up, cus i dont remmeber bridge looking like that!

[Larsen]

WOW... really coming together now... awsome work mate:thumb:

What colorscheme are you going for? org... or something more wicked?

[seanr]

That is really really cool! Nice work!

[limdaepl]

the details on the bridge are mostly my "invention" there isn't very much detail on the original model in that area. heck! the pixels of the textures are twice as big as my windows :D
only thing one can hardly recognize is that the bridge is 3 or 4 decked. the rest was up to me.
i made it that detailed to give the possibility for close-ups as the bridge is sort of the face of the transport.

about the colorscheme: just as with my interceptor i intend to make the textures up in PS giving the possibility to change the colors easily.

Thanks for your comments! Keep em comming :thumb:
Regards Roman

[Aresius]

looks quite good, but the lower side needs some texturing..

[limdaepl]

I'm getting a reply to my thread without getting notified via email... ace what's going on?! :confused:
Anyway:


looks quite good, but the lower side needs some texturing..

I'd rather say: everything need texturing :shiner:
Let me finish the modeling and i'll start the texturing right after it okay? :thumb:

I'm just returning from my last examination for this semester right now. (Thus i'm kinda drunk atm :shiner:)


There will be progress soon!

Regards Roman

[Aresius]

ah, sry, with texturing I've meant detailing...
sry, I've lost the words due to heavy ICQ-chat's...

well, as I said, the upper side still has quite nice details, barely things to make there, but therefore the lower side evenmore...

best wishes about the exams...:thumb: :thumb:

[limdaepl]

ah, sry, with texturing I've meant detailing...
sry, I've lost the words due to heavy ICQ-chat's...

well, as I said, the upper side still has quite nice details, barely things to make there, but therefore the lower side evenmore...

best wishes about the exams...:thumb: :thumb:

No offence! :thumb:

ICQ-chats are bewildering sometimes.... I remember a couple of situations where two lines of a task bar aren't sufficient anymore ;)

thanks for the wishes about the tests! they're kinda late now :shiner:
i think i managed to get the attestation with today´'s examination nonetheless...

I should go to bed now :rolleyes::shiner:

Regards Roman

[Ozylot]

Great Stuff!! Love it. Is it lagging wings alot?

[limdaepl]

Great Stuff!! Love it. Is it lagging wings alot?

Thanks a lot! Yeah, with the whole geometry loaded and visible it's lagging heavily (drops to 0.5 fps :D). That's why i distributed the objects into several files and i'm only loading the geometry i'm actually working on. But the lagging is rather due to the suckiness of my laptop than a problem with wings i guess. Last time i checked the (triangulated) polycount was 157339.
insane for my measurements :shiner:

Regards Roman

[Ozylot]

Wow. Impressive.

[Jayden]

Very nice. Its good to see the least common homeworld ship up close in all its glory. and very nicely modeled.

[limdaepl]

Now that the examinations are done and it's semester break again (:flippy:):

Next update :)

I finished the smaller one of the two cargo pods. I also remodeled the windows on the back end of the transport as their size didn't fit the size of the windows on the bridge. in addition i modeled the area which is between those two cargo pods so the only thing left to do now is the other cargo pod (and the hangar if i should decide to model it)

erm... too much cargo pods in that paragraph :shiner:

c&c appreciated as usual :thumb:

Regards Roman

[Aresius]

looks still good..

[Ozylot]

Simply Awsome! Love what you've done with the windows.

[limdaepl]

Thanks Aresius and Ozylot

I completed the front cargo pod. Render and wireframes attached and c&c welcome as usual.

The mesh is now finished. I'll proceed with uv-mapping/texturing soon (i'll probably start a new thread).
I couldn't make a render of the complete model yet as i'll do that on a different computer which is faster than mine.

Final polycount is 209K :o

Regards Roman

edit: i should have mentioned that the grooves which you can see in the render are not modeled but made with a normal texture (as you can see in the wireframes).

[Tveakk]

nice work, looking really detailed.

[limdaepl]

Here is a render of the underside showing the whole model. i also attached the AO pass to make sure you can see all the detail :D
1600 width versions attached, 3200 width versions here (http://www.stud.uni-karlsruhe.de/~ugblh/data/bishop_final_mesh.jpg) and here (http://www.stud.uni-karlsruhe.de/~ugblh/data/bishop_final_mesh_ao.jpg).

Hope you like it :thumb:

Regards Roman

[TheCoredump]

really really really nice :thumb:

[Dallidas]

ahh my eyes!! lol looks fantastic!

[Ozylot]

Truely awsome. :thumb: :thumb:

[Larsen]

Excellent work mate:thumb:

[mental|plate]

awsome dude, now go make a few renders....

[limdaepl]

I've been fiddling around with the textures for a while and finally got to a point where i have something to update my thread with ;)
For no particular reason i started with texturing the backside cargopod. The texture is still not finished (needs more abrasion and dirt) but i thought i let you know what i'm doing here.

Let me know what you think! :thumb:

Regards Roman

[Dallidas]

well like before its fuggin awesome!

[limdaepl]

How about some weathering? :cool:

edit: thanks dallidas :thumb:

[Ozylot]

I love it! Care to describe your texturing method?

[limdaepl]

Thanks ozy.
erm texturing method... texturing method...
well first of all: go to Mayang's Homepage (http://mayang.com/textures/) and download some of those awsome textures :D Then spend a whole day or longer to make them tileable (that was fun :shiner:) Now you can get things started. Mainly it's base texture, wheathered texture and a blend map (if that's the right word).
Do you have PS? I could make a little psd file for you to analyze...

Regards Roman

[Ozylot]

I was mainly curious about the technical approach. (how you got the image onto the ship) Did you start with a wireframe texture file?

[limdaepl]

Yep. UVMapped in Wings, exported the wireframe and used that as a reference in PS.
I make the wireframe the uppermost layer in my template and kill the faces (best with the magic wand tool) then make the remaining edges half transparent. now i can easily paint the subjacent layer with the wire as an orientation guide.

[Larsen]

Sweet textures mate:thumb:

I'd like to see how you'd approached the textures... I think I have a pretty good idea, but one can never learn enough, right?

Looks very nice!

[limdaepl]

Thanks again.
Larsen i'll see what i can put together.

Here's another update with the right and the left side weathered as well and additional work on the bumpmaps. i think the weathering on the left rim is a bit too strong. at least the bump map. i'm going to revise that area a little.
afterwards i'll make the two navlights on the underside (they are in those two dark holes at the ends of that bar). i intend to make the light cast by the navlights part of the texture with an ambient map (just like it's done in the game). with about 50 navlights in total i can't make every single one an actual light.

Keep the C&C coming!

Regards Roman

[mental|plate]

wow, exelent texturing job Roman, me likes the bloom on white stripes!

[limdaepl]

i'm updating like a machine gun atm :lol:

I revised the mentioned area and the bump maps.
first attachment shows a render of the current (final) version and the second attachment shows a first test on the navlights. Note that there are no lights used (beside ofc the one lighting the scene)! The spotlights and the lightspots (huh?:shiner:) are actually part of the texture.
The hint of a glow comes with the specular bloom.

Let me know what you think!

Regards Roman

[Ozylot]

What is the resolution on those maps? They look stunning up close.

[limdaepl]

it's a 4k map for both the color and the bumpmap. the grids and the two poles are using several smaller maps as does the navlight area.

I have to make them on my dads computer. My laptop refuses work when trying to load that file :(

Regards Roman

[yasotay]

Magnificent. The detail of the weathering... (can you call it that for a spacecraft??) I really enjoy how you make the details look so realistic.

[limdaepl]

yes of course it's weathering. it's raining little rocks in space :D

[MWelter]

hi, that's very cool.. you make every poly count :thumb:
textures are equally cool. :thumb:
Btw. It must really be raining a lot in space. Those textures look like pure rust ;)

I would like to know how you go on with texturing the other parts. How many maps is it going to be ? That 4k is just for the single part you showed, right ?

best regards
Michael

[limdaepl]

yes the 4k map is just for that part. comparing the size i guess i'll need another 3 or 4 ones for the other cargo pod. as they are very similar i can maybe re-use some parts of the current map. i dont know how many maps it'll be in the end but i guess quite a lot :)

after that i'll first make the base textures for the whole model, then the basic detailing for the whole model, then the fine detailing for the whole model rather than going texture by texture in order to obtain a consistant design.

the rest will be less weathered. my idea is that the cargo pods are removable from the ship. they are mounted/unmounted at some space habor and brought to their appropriate destination (maybe even on a planets surface) befor being unloaded (the front cargo pod would be detached into four independent cargopods similar to the back one). therefore they're looking more "used" as the ship itself.

i have no idea to what extend this matches the thoughts of the actual designers :shiner:

i hope at least you guys are at one with me :lol:


Regards Roman

[limdaepl]

i can now switch the navlight on and off by layering or not layering an additional texture. check out the little animation to view it in action :D

[Enterprise-E]

Wow, very impressive, limdaepl. How are You drawing these super textures?

[limdaepl]

Wow, very impressive, limdaepl. How are You drawing these super textures?

Thanks Ent-E. I'm starting from the textures aviable at Mayang's Homepage (http://mayang.com) (check out the metal section). color correction and composing in photoshop. nothing special here :)

Regards Roman

[Enterprise-E]

i guessed You're using photo sources. im new into that stuff and would like to learn more. Before i have drawn everything myself... it takes long, and sux compared to photosource.

Are You using special brushes to combine the "intact" and "weathered" areas?

[limdaepl]

i guessed You're using photo sources. im new into that stuff and would like to learn more. Before i have drawn everything myself... it takes long, and sux compared to photosource.

Are You using special brushes to combine the "intact" and "weathered" areas?

there are two types of weathered areas. I'm always starting with b/w maps and later use them as a layer mask. the first type is handpainted meaning i'm using the airbrush tool with the fuzzy spray mode (that which looks like MSPaint spray tool ;)) following the UVMaps as a guideline. Afterwards i apply some grainy filters. The second type is more automated and uses the heavy bumpmap which makes the panel lines as a template. i select the borders between the panels ('magic wand' and 'select>modify>border'), render clouds on them, use brightness/contrast to get a nice balance between worn (white) and intact (black) areas and apply some grainy filters to make it look more natural.

Hope this helps :thumb:

i guess i could waste some time to set up a little tutorial about the technics used if there's a demand. i'm not lacking updates atm :p

Regards Roman

[Enterprise-E]

That's interesting. i'll definitely try it out on my Saarkin-Cho carrier, it may save me loads of time.

[limdaepl]

i'm looking forward to the completion of your model. feel free to ask me about my technics and let me know when i can help you.

Regards Roman

[limdaepl]

Almost done with the front cargopod. May be boring for you to watch the progress as there's not really something new compared to the back cargopod but it has to be done nevertheless. Same **** four times again :rolleyes:

Anyway, 1600 width version attached, 3200 width version here (http://www.stud.uni-karlsruhe.de/~ugblh/data/cargo_front3.jpg).

Regards Roman

[dreamwalker]

I've got about 20 questions to ask you if you don't mind?
:O

[limdaepl]

sure, i'm all ears!

[dreamwalker]

Your using Max correct?
Any modeling plugins?

Which type of modeling are you using, box, poly, splines etc?

Do you use mesh/turbo smooth (or your programs mesh modifier?) IF so, do you keep it as a modiferer or do you convert the result to a mesh and edit on top of that? (I usualy keep the modifer and edit the under laying mesh - but never get the tonnes and tonnes of detail ;) )

Is the model/ship currently 1 complete object or is it (sneekly) multipe objects?

Thanks

-----------------------
Actually, I just noticed your using POV ray.... :O

:D

[limdaepl]

Wrong. i'm using Wings3D for modelling and POVRay for the renders. PoseRay for the Wings -> POVRay conversion. No additional plugins.

The type of modeling is polygon i guess (not sure what the others mean at least ;))

I'm not using an automatic smooth function. neither some kind of subdivision nor for hardness/smoothness of the edges. Latter is applied manually for every single edge (there is however a autosmooth option which reads a threshold angle).

The model consists of several objects. it has already been several objects when the model was finished and i'm slicing it now even more as it isn't very easy (but possible) to apply several image maps to one single object in Wings.

Hope this helps nevertheless :thumb:
Regards Roman

[Ozylot]

please give me more to say then 'looks great'.. :D

[MWelter]

Hi again, thanks for all the info.
Did someone mention that your uv-mapping is pretty cool.. i mean no seams or distorsion visible. Really nice... and that last shot looks much better than the closeups ( were a bit too close ;) )

[limdaepl]

ozylot: next time i'll add an error for you to find and comment on :lol:

mwelter: Thanks mate! and about the info: You're welcome. I'm always happy when i can write more than just *update* :thumb:

Regards Roman

[lt paul]

looking great. I would be very interested to see a (scaled-down) version of your textures, if possible.

[limdaepl]

Sure.
The attached maps (color and bump obviously) are one of the four textures of the front cargo pod scaled down to 25%. I also attached the uv wireframe of that part.

Feel free to ask if there's anything i can help you with :thumb:
Regards Roman

[limdaepl]

Here's a render of the finished cargo pods. I could revise them some more but i'll put this back in favor of making the rest of the textures first.
1600 width version attached, 3200 width version here (http://www.stud.uni-karlsruhe.de/~ugblh/data/cargo_front5.jpg).

Again no lightsources at the navlights. Just textures and specular bloom :cool:

C&C appreciated as usual :thumb:

Regards Roman

[Kiith Somtaaw]

Wow, do you mind if I use this thread as inspiration for the Carrier i'm doing.
... Also to keep the ship details similar to each other.

[gthompsn]

@ limdaepl : Are you going to have each of the cargo pods a separate (detachable) model?

[limdaepl]

Kiith Somtaaw: Thank you mate. I'm glad you like my model, it's appreciated. Where can i have a look at your WIP?

gthompsn: The cargopods are already seperate objects. As it is rather difficult in Wings to apply several textures to one object (yet possible) i'm slicing the model everywhere i want to use another texture file. Now to answer your question: It wont be possible to make scenes with detached cargopods because neither do the cargopods have an upper side nor has the bishop a bottom side where they cover each other. This could be changed though but i'm not very keen on that atm ;)

Sorry for the lack of updates, i'm tied up with preparing myself for two important examinations atm :(
Have a look a the gallery instead (^sig) :thumb:

Regards Roman

[Kiith Somtaaw]

Where can i have a look at your WIP?


I'll probably start a thread in a few days, it's been a bit slow lately.
I've only done the engines, some weapons and other details.

The problem is I put so much detail into little things that you don't see, and forget about doing the more important things.

[The Observer]

I just saw the pictures of the Hiigarian Transport and... wow... Literally, and quoting myself again, it would be good for a HWIII cutscene. It's superb, amazing. :)

[StCyrilmedic]

absolutly stunning... When are you doing the interior? ;)

[limdaepl]

*blows the dust off his thread...

in case anybody's wondering why there's no update on this one: intermediate diploma examinations next two weeks :shiner:

[gthompsn]

*blows the dust off his thread...

in case anybody's wondering why there's no update on this one: intermediate diploma examinations next two weeks :shiner:

...and best wishes on those tests.

[lukas123haha]

looking great

[Wolf Star]

Beautiful work! I love Homeworld and the ship designs, you really give the Bishop justice!

[Auralis]

Most excellent modelling and texturing. A model to be proud off.

[limdaepl]

Ah... Thanks for resurrecting this thread every now and then.

I fear those examinations i used to refer to as an excuse are long gone (and i performed well btw) but as i might have mentioned already i'm still busy with that project i'm currently involved with. Unfortunately the production isn't public so i can't show you what i'm working on but as soon as we're going to release it i'll make sure you'll catch sight of it! :D

So no worries: I'll definitely finish this one. It might only take some time until i can resume work :(

Thank you all for your interest and your kind words nevertheless! :)

Regards Roman

[lostami]

Hi Im new to this forum, and I was hoping to make a request of you oh great one LOL

Can you make a hiigaran carrier that can be ported to the game X3 Reunion.
I happen to know that there is a lot of people praying for such a thing, and that no one (as of yet) has made one. not even a poorly made one ^^!

so if you can take your skills and use them to make one would be ever so happy!

[limdaepl]

Wow, you just posted in a thread which is almost two years old :)
To answer your question: Fries with that?

[limdaepl]

Ah well, in order to not disappoint those who come to this thread thinking there is an update,
...
an update! :D

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk103/limdaepl/shadertest.jpg

[Berticus]

OHSHI-

An update! When I saw this thread pop up my first thought was "necroposting." I was right! But there IS cake! And its NOT A LIE!

Sersiously, that is an awesome update.

[lostami]

I got the green thumb for threads :thumb:

Also, Yes I'll have some fries with that!

HA HA 200th post LOL!!!

[dvrss]

Beautiful texture!

[Tovette]

crap that's awesome surfacing. :thumb:

[gthompsn]

agreed.

[Ozylot]

crap that's awesome surfacing. :thumb:

For sure!

Great work Roman! :thumb: :thumb:

[Dallidas]

you= homeworld god :D

[limdaepl]

Thanks everyone!

I textured the front and the bottom of the front:

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk103/limdaepl/wip19.jpg

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk103/limdaepl/wip21.jpg

After this update you'll have to wait again for two and a half month at least i'm afraid as i'm going on a travel though asia (my flight will take of in 5 hours :))

Regards Roman

[tobian]

Ooh those really are nice! Keep up the good work and I look forward to seeing more, when you get back! :)

[Ozylot]

I'm sure someday we'll see it finished. :shiner:

Looking great Roman!

[Tovette]

Hotttt :D

[limdaepl]

Hey gang,
i had a wonderful trip and a save return. I'll make you jealous with some holiday pics once i got them sorted (i took over 4000 photos).

Anyway, had the time to work on the texturing some more.

The top is done now:
http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk103/limdaepl/topdone.jpg

At this resolution/distance you can't make out the detail though, so here is a closeup shot and a section of the actual texture:

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk103/limdaepl/closeup.jpg

http://i278.photobucket.com/albums/kk103/limdaepl/part4.jpg

As you can see this is pretty detailed and i'm running into out-of-memory errors from time to time. seems like i'll have to scale down those textures for long shots...

More coming,
Regards Roman

[Berkut]

wow, just wow, gorgeous texture. If they made a homeworld movie this would be the quality I'd hope ships would be. Remember having to protect convoys of these things from vaygar raids. Will you be making any more homeworld ships after?

[Tovette]

Holy fricking crap.

This is badass and I would love to see some more ships at this detail. Are you going to build more??

[Ozylot]

Looking brilliant. Are you still doing the work in wings or have to completely switched to Maya now?

[StarSlayer]

Holy fricking crap.

This is badass and I would love to see some more ships at this detail. Are you going to build more??

2nded I would love to see a Hiigarian Destroyer done up like this. It looks Ace

[gthompsn]

...Or even some of the HW1 ships.

[Tovette]

hell any hw ship...

[limdaepl]

Thank you everybody.


... Will you be making any more homeworld ships after?


... Are you going to build more??

I have the vaygr bomber (http://img527.imageshack.us/img527/3728/bomber20bpu8.jpg) almost done modeling wise. This will be the next ship to finish after the bishop. Afterwards i'll re-texture my interceptor (http://fc92.deviantart.com/fs12/f/2006/327/f/4/Hiigarian_Interceptor_by_limdaepl.jpg) to match with the standart of the other two models i think.


Looking brilliant. Are you still doing the work in wings or have to completely switched to Maya now?

I 'm using Wings3D for modeling and unwraping, photoshop for painting the textures and Maya for shaders and rendering.

Regards Roman

[tobian]

Fabulous modelling and texture work! :)

[Aresius]

wow, that's impressive.

[limdaepl]

Thank you :)

[Elowan]

The interceptor is one of my faves. Aside from this one - is there a good mesh of this critter around?

[Raposo]

Wow ... just ... wow ...

[limdaepl]

The interceptor is one of my faves. Aside from this one - is there a good mesh of this critter around?

You mean beside my own mesh? No, i don't think so.
There is the lightwave conversion of the in-game models by fabio of course. but apart from this i think my mesh is the only one.
And no, mine isn't public, sorry.

Regards Roman

[Lee80]

Beautiful work Roman.

[Darkone]

That's a big WOW!

[D.M.J.]

Looking good. Well done for getting a "wow" factor on this. I barely even registered the Bishops in the game, they lacked the "wow" of the warships, but it just goes to show that a well made, well textured model looks great regardless.