3D Bolitho class corvette (BSG) [Archive]

DaBrain

26th Nov 2006, 23:54

The first thing I post here.

It's a mesh for a freeware game, called Beyond the Red Line. It's based on a concept from StarSlayer. (http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/109994-post45.html)

My limit is 20-30k polygons. I haven't done many meshes before, so I always fear I'm doing things too complicated.

The turrets are placeholders till I can come up with a better low-poly model for them.

Parker Midwinter

27th Nov 2006, 01:12

THat's a cool little gunship you got there...it's making it into BTRL? cool!!

Ozylot

27th Nov 2006, 03:11

Wow... thats a really cool design, bit segmented but cool.

nice work.

Starship

27th Nov 2006, 10:22

It´s a dammed cool loking ship, no doubt ! Keep posting. :)

Bug 2000

27th Nov 2006, 10:41

Cool. I think she deserves also a hi-poly version, doesn’t she? :D

Take care, mate.

DaBrain

27th Nov 2006, 11:09

I'm really tempted to... but I then I again I should get it into the game first. ;)

Oh the other hand I wanted to create a normal map for it anyway. Hmm...

Thanks for your comments. :)

MagnumHB

27th Nov 2006, 12:50

Very cool. Can't wait to play BTRL.

StarSlayer

27th Nov 2006, 13:16

Hmm gotta get busy drawing a bottom shot for DaB to work on. Heh course we need to borrow Viper 16's Raptor to couple to its side docks ;)

backstept

27th Nov 2006, 14:39

very cool :thumb:
I like it a lot.

Tovette

27th Nov 2006, 20:27

that's awesome!!

chrisbarnett20

27th Nov 2006, 20:30

looks great.

Lord Erisu

27th Nov 2006, 20:54

Sweet design.

JustinDixon

27th Nov 2006, 21:15

Cool. I think she deserves also a hi-poly version, doesn’t she? :D

Take care, mate.

been on it for about a week and a half now :p Gonna be posting wip next week. :) but shhhh

DaBrain

27th Nov 2006, 22:38

I've been trying out a few things for the normal map...

It's not exactly an attempt for a high-poly mesh though. I'll add the smallest details in PS.

Edit: I guess some of this stuff would be already too small for a 2048² texture map... hmmm...

JustinDixon

27th Nov 2006, 22:50

whoa whoa whoa. No, remove that! Greeble plugin is really bad. That ruins it.

DaBrain

27th Nov 2006, 22:53

Ok.. I knew it wouldn't be that easy. ;)

I like the stuff between the ribs a lot though. I'll keep that.
It's hard to notice, because the first shot wasn't a close-up, but I've made the ribs an some other things a lot smoother for the normal map version.

Elowan

28th Nov 2006, 04:24

nice one!

DaBrain

11th Dec 2006, 00:42

StarSlayer worked out some concepts for the bottom side, so I can complete the model now. ;)

JustinDixon

11th Dec 2006, 02:25

yey

Lee80

11th Dec 2006, 04:54

Great lookin ship. Nice work.

punchface

11th Dec 2006, 05:04

There's a lot of folks around here that can competantly model in their 3d app of choice. What sets this ship apart in my opinion is that design. It's attractive, it "feels" like what it is, and obvious attention has been paid to the mimicry of what we suppose are Cylon war era design conventions in Colonial naval architecture.

Very nice.

punchface

peabuddy

11th Dec 2006, 05:08

Yeah, that is a cool concept. Lookin' good!

Elowan

11th Dec 2006, 15:51

Really like the latest

Paveway

12th Dec 2006, 21:41

Looks good.

I dislike the smaller turret on the dorsal rear. Just looks out of place style wise, and I don't think has the ammo storage room to spare. Between the big guns and presumably smaller AA guns, what does it need a third caliber for.

Again on the ammo storage issue, does it have enough room for three main gun turrets? I'd still think it would look cool with just the two turrets amidships maybe?

I think it needs some kind of small hangar for a couple of raptors, if for nothing else than crew transfer etc. It doesn't have to be a run way or carrier deck style, just a pad really and a small hangar for two raptors. Like the helo pad on the stern of a modern destroyer or cruiser.

Love the look and feel of the design. Could we get a scale view with the Galactica, this think looks small enough to land on her.

StarSlayer

13th Dec 2006, 04:04

Here was a bottom view I whipped up for DaB to work on not my best work quality wise but he needed it quick. Never fear, the secondary guns are being replaced by the standard Colonial CIWS, as you can see the third heavy rail turret is actually going to be semi integrated(like Peg's bow batteries). There will be docking points on the outer hull for the Bolitho's twin Raptors. She also has some big retro packs and landing skids for atmo ops.

Mission profile is a cross between the old Sloops of the age of sale and a coastal cutter. Force Recon, Anti Strikecraft Warfare, SAR, Customs Inspections, transporting dispatches beyond the wireless range are all among the Bolitho's duties. An interesting note is that they are almost entirely crewed by Marines. In peace time, the SAR, anti piracy and Customs Inspections require a lot of boarding actions with skilled operators. Bolitho btw is for Richard Bolitho the main character from the Alexander Kent series of Naval Yarns, if anybody likes good man of war stories i highly recommend them ;)

DaBrain

13th Dec 2006, 23:53

I think I could post a scale view of the Bolitho and the Galactica, although I'd like to keep myself the possibility to scale it up a bit later. ;)

I've worked a bit on the bottom side.
Not very much and additionally, I'm not statisfied with the nose part, but it's progress.

Optimizing the mesh will take a while. I'm not looking forward to that.

punchface

14th Dec 2006, 00:33

Man, the load-out on that things is nuts. Between the power core, the drives, the weaponry and their magazines, life support, sensors, et. al. I'm figuring that you have room for a crew of maybe a dozen guys.

The idea of hard points for raptors, if she's going to ship them at all, is sensible though given the sloop's small size.

How long is she anyway? 500-600 feet?

punchface

Majestic

6th Jan 2007, 01:39

Looks outstanding guys, strays from the traditional battlestar look which really appeals to me but also looks very Colonial so fits in well.

You both have done a great job on this design and model. :D

DaBrain

10th Feb 2007, 16:13

I'm reviving this.

It's not going to be in the demo, so it had low priority and I had some other stuff to do. Anyway... I just felt like working on it a bit. ;)

The bottom side still needs a lot of work. And I'll redo the turrets. The included turrets are just placeholders.

http://i6.tinypic.com/40caf85.jpg
http://i7.tinypic.com/2utkg34.jpg

Ozylot

10th Feb 2007, 16:37

Thats a fine looking ship!

Jedilaw

10th Feb 2007, 20:02

Good work so far. Gotta say, though, it reminds me a hell of a lot of this ship (which is okay, most of my models were disguised Star Destroyers):

Road Warrior

10th Feb 2007, 22:40

Thats a fine looking ship!

I'll have to agree with my pal Ozylot. Awsome ship.:D :D

StarSlayer

11th Feb 2007, 01:12

Good work so far. Gotta say, though, it reminds me a hell of a lot of this ship (which is okay, most of my models were disguised Star Destroyers):

That's Coolhands isn't it? Bolitho is prolly as big as that thing's conning tower ;) Actually when i designed it i was worried it looked to much like a Hiigaran Gunship more then anything.

Dallidas

11th Feb 2007, 01:27

actually its not that big. look at the one with the specs and what not and you can see a little green guy by the landing pad.

great work BTW i hope you do a high poly version

DAve

11th Feb 2007, 16:18

Superb mesh!

I'm looking forward to see this one progress. I'm glad you are doing a higher poly version to get the normal map, this design deserves detailing.

Good job :thumb:
DAve

Jedilaw

12th Feb 2007, 01:46

That's Coolhands isn't it? Bolitho is prolly as big as that thing's conning tower ;) Actually when i designed it i was worried it looked to much like a Hiigaran Gunship more then anything.

Yeah, that's Coolhand's. Personally, I love his design and I've caught myself subconsciously cribbing from it in some of my models.

nuno

28th Feb 2007, 12:09

Nice ship. But don't you think that you can put in a few more weapons?

StarSlayer

28th Feb 2007, 12:58

Bolitho is a basically a corvette/coastal cutter, in practice its not even bigger then Colonial One. Its weaponry is already borderline implausible due to a lack of forethought on my part. Room for Marines, fuel, and ammunition is already horribly skewed.

JustinDixon

28th Feb 2007, 13:03

Not to mention recoil ;)

BombardierBob

28th Feb 2007, 13:58

I have to say I love this little ship of yours. Awsome mesh work.
Just one thing about the weapons on this, ditch the foward bottom
turrent and it should equal out the ammunition and space issue.
You have to remember corvette's are smaller and faster and
lighter on all armor to weapons to make it the best intercepter
and first strike vessel. Also from the view of the front turrent
it can only fire straight forward, great for a frontal assault but
not practicle in a firefight. Just my opinion on this. :thumb:

Keep up the awsome job,

~Bob:thumb:

Starship

28th Feb 2007, 21:24

Nice ship !

smallworld

28th Feb 2007, 21:49

Great little ship, and I love the concept, brilliant stuff overall.

efritsch

28th Feb 2007, 23:37

Digital Daydream

8th Apr 2007, 12:21

damn that's so cool looking

Barricade

16th Apr 2007, 08:51

http://img221.imageshack.us/img221/4255/artemisclasspatrolstarti0.th.png (http://img221.imageshack.us/my.php?image=artemisclasspatrolstarti0.png)

I hope you don't mind, but I did this up as a pixel art just because how good it looks.
The design makes my own personal stuff look horrid in comparison.

Elowan

17th Apr 2007, 14:01

Hobbes

17th Apr 2007, 21:22

I think this would make a great support ship. Even if it had to re-arm after every engagement. A ship like this is bound to be a fleet escort anyways, so that's not at all implausible. The small size and likely fast speed and manoeuverability would make it a very tough mobile weapons platform to hit.

Barricade

17th Apr 2007, 22:17

You could have made the image smaller.:p

Considering the turrets are the same as the galactica, I scaled the ship to the same size as what most people at the Wolf's Shipyard forums are scaling the ships at.

For Example:
Size Comparison (http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/9706/sizecomparisonsmr9.png)

And as Hobbes put it, its going to be one small but fast ship. The engines alone are if you scaled the ship up at least 50-70% larger then the Galactica's. It won't be near Viper fast, but it's easily going to outrun and possibly outmanuever anything bigger then itself.

williethefool

21st Apr 2007, 12:39

"We at Orbital Artillery are said to have a 'God Complex'. We would like to set the record straight - We are not god. We merely borrowed his 'Smite' button." ~ Me
Thats funny!:lol:
Also, I like the design, and I am looking forward to seeing the finished product.:thumb:

sorceress21

21st Apr 2007, 16:48

Wow, I really really love this ship! You what might make it really take off aesthetically, not that its already not amazing, by adding a small offset superstructure on the left or right topside that has a cockpit similar to Colonial one! That would really set the scale and give it that " gunboat feel" to it.

DaBrain

21st Apr 2007, 17:25

I'm sorry, that it takes so long... I wasn't able to work on it in the last time... again.

However, I got a reason to complete it in one month, so I'm a bit more motivated now.

I've started texturing parts. The turret is from Scothy's Pegasus model for the game.

http://i17.tinypic.com/2lbfhol.jpg

I know, that's not much progress...

Elowan

22nd Apr 2007, 14:59

Considering the turrets are the same as the galactica, I scaled the ship to the same size as what most people at the Wolf's Shipyard forums are scaling the ships at.

The point I made has nothing to do with scaling. It has to go with seeing.

Barricade

22nd Apr 2007, 15:06

Elowan - Well I can do a size doubling if you wanted. Its just that like I said, I was going by the scale used on a different site (Wolf's Shipyard) so I had to match it all up. If I was going completely freehand, I would have probably drew it 3x-4x larger with far more detailing (and got that rear turret correct).

DaBrain - If you update the design, would it be okay if I kept up with you with my 2D art or should I leave it as is since the new details would be too small to notice?

macross2b5

18th May 2007, 04:42

I love this design..very nice..

DaBrain

21st May 2007, 00:09

I'm pretty much done with the mapping. Only the engine part is missing.

Thanks to some tipps from Orik, the mapping is pretty clean.

I'll never start working on a complex low-poly game model when I'm working on a lot of other stuff at the same time again... ever.

No progess pics, unless you want to see checker maps. ;)

DaBrain

5th Oct 2008, 17:01

*Bump*

I've completed the ship quite a while ago, although not for BtRL anymore, but for the new BSG game "Diaspora". I still want to re-texture one turret, but that's a minor matter and not as urgent as some other stuff. ;)

There is a short video clip of the ship on the Diaspora website.

Test rendering:
http://i36.tinypic.com/f53a1j.jpg

In-game:
http://i31.tinypic.com/fyk851.jpg

Lt. Cannonfodder

5th Oct 2008, 17:07

Link to the high quality video mentioned by DB: http://www.diaspora-game.com/videos/2008_07_07_bolitho_flyby.mov

Youtube version: YouTube - Bolitho Flyby (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz4IMR1u5zo)

blendercross

5th Oct 2008, 17:39

Looks really cool!!!

Dallidas

5th Oct 2008, 18:44

fantastic texture work mate! My only crit is that your engine flare inst bright enough inside the engine

aylaa12

5th Oct 2008, 20:39

great work i would definitely like to see more

DaBrain

6th Oct 2008, 00:16

fantastic texture work mate! My only crit is that your engine flare inst bright enough inside the engine

I'm not sure what you mean. In the two last pictures, you can't see the inside of the engine. Are you refering to a screenshot on the website, or the flyby animation?

great work i would definitely like to see more

Sure, I'll render another pic soon.

Ace

6th Oct 2008, 03:27

If you're wanting to see more screens, this one hasn't been released yet but it's pretty safe as it doesn't show anything that isn't already seen in other screenshots.

Anyway, needless to say the CIWS of the Bolitho gets pretty easily overwhelmed by a Basestar's full barrage. (let alone three!)

Dallidas

6th Oct 2008, 04:39

I was referring to the animation

Scotchy

6th Oct 2008, 06:56

:D

This is looking nice man!

Lt. Cannonfodder

6th Oct 2008, 07:15

I was referring to the animation

The animation is my work and it's really just a test. More may come though :)

stonky

6th Oct 2008, 14:40

Very cool!

Aaron S

7th Oct 2008, 01:21

Good work man!!..

Hundred

7th Oct 2008, 01:25

Very nice DaBrqain, :thumb:. Excellent work, :thumb:.

Sugartooth

7th Oct 2008, 01:38

What game is that in/for? Id love to grab that to play, looks awesome!!!!

Karajorma

8th Oct 2008, 22:35

It's from Diaspora (http://diaspora-game.com/) which isn't out yet.

davidnevue

9th Oct 2008, 22:40

I can't believe they were stupid enough to split up the BtRL team. They'll never get that kind of fan support again. Gah. But either way, lovely model.

Scotchy

10th Oct 2008, 00:18

Karajorma

10th Oct 2008, 08:09

Yep. We had our reasons for the split and they weren't stupid or trivial. We're not going to publicly reveal what they were but you can't judge the validity of them unless you know what they were.

It's worth pointing out that it's a very uneven split. About 90% of the old team are now on Diaspora and due to some aggressive recruitment the team is actually larger than the BtRL one was.

The team tend to feel that the split will be better for the fans than remaining on the BtRL team would have been. I'm absolutely convinced it means you'll be playing a better game, more quickly than if the team had remained in once piece.

They'll never get that kind of fan support again.

Fan support has been almost overwhelmingly positive so far.

Sugartooth

10th Oct 2008, 15:26

What is the upper poly limit on ingame models for Disapora? What engine are you using? Load meshes etc... is this a pay for game, or being released as a fan based project for free?

I browsed the website, couldnt find this information. I find it interesting after having worked on a few game mods for O2{Armed Assault}, Unreal Engine, and BF2 games.

Karajorma

10th Oct 2008, 18:39

davidnevue

11th Oct 2008, 03:16

Pardon, Dave, but were you a member of the BTRL dev team? No? Are you a member of the Diaspora team? Eh? Right, not so much.

Then do us a favor; lament the fracture, but keep the name calling to yourself.

Actually about a year and a half ago I -was- part of the BtRL team. I left for no other reason that RL took over. Unfortunently my contact list on aim/yahoo/icq/msn is overwhelmingly large otherwise I'd remember who the hell I used to contact on that team to send models into to ask what happened. I just find it strange that you guys perfer to keep the events leading up to the change of ownership a secret, that itself is rather suspicious.

As long as your total conversion is better than BtRL though, I couldn't care less. But I am looking at this from a professional standpoint - while the change might have been better for the company (The mod in this case) the need for secrecy waives the trust of alot people towards the mod and it's team. Make sense? Nearly every merger or take over I've seen in my professional career has been public with reasons not being withheld for the soul purpose of future trust and well... stocks. lol

Sugartooth

11th Oct 2008, 04:35

We're using the FS2_Open engine which is basically the engine that was used for the game Freespace2 after 6 years of code modifications. :) The game will be free. In fact the provisions of the source code release specifically forbid us making money from it.

The poly limits we're working to are around 5,000 for a fighter and quite a bit more for capships. The engine has previously had problems once you start going over 30,000 polys unless care is taken with the models but this is being addressed at the moment and quite a few of our ships are already well above that.

How far over the 30K poly limit? :P I think it will be great to see when finished, the screenshots on the site were drool-worthy IMHO.
Any idea on a release date? {i know, i know, WHEN ITS DONE} :thumb:

On a side note, having had some experience with mod teams etc, the assumption on the part of people that they are OWED a response or an explanation for anything regarding a project that people do out of fun, hobby and free will seems ludicrous to me, simply if they changed ownership{sic} or there was a disbanding, its only the busniess of those directly involved. Considering the nature of the whole project being for FREE, and noone has vested stock interests or anything, the rules do not apply in the same way to these groups as oppsed to a corporate environment or business venture.

Just the way i see it, and im by no means a legal expert...

In any case, thanks for answering my questions, and i look forward to seeing this released, ill be keep my eye out for it.

davidnevue

11th Oct 2008, 05:35

I actually agree for the most part, I just think it would have been cool if they actually put out a reason, not because people are owed but just it would show to me that the team was actually really in it for the people and the show like they claimed to be. Personally I want to know because I have history with the team involved. And did you say the model itself is gonna be release or the mod? heh

moebius

11th Oct 2008, 07:00

Not familiar with this project at all... but that is one heck of a cool ship design. Given the polygon limit, I have to say that the detailing is really good. :)

Cheers! — Möe

Karajorma

11th Oct 2008, 08:25

Actually about a year and a half ago I -was- part of the BtRL team. I left for no other reason that RL took over. Unfortunently my contact list on aim/yahoo/icq/msn is overwhelmingly large otherwise I'd remember who the hell I used to contact on that team to send models into to ask what happened.

It would either have been Lt Cannonfodder or Omniscaper as they were the two who dealt with the art department.

I doubt you were a member of the team as I'd remember you. What is much more likely is that you were one of the prospectives. After the demo released we gave a lot of people access to the prospective members forum so that they could work on models with the team without actually joining. Quite a few people did join and then found that RL got in the way of actually becoming a full member of the team.

If you tell me which ship you were working on that will help me place you.

] I just find it strange that you guys perfer to keep the events leading up to the change of ownership a secret, that itself is rather suspicious.

Not really. Creative differences are frequently cited in big productions like Hollywood movies, etc as the reason people left a project.

davidnevue

11th Oct 2008, 09:16

Come to think of it, I do believe I was prospective because CannonFodder did mention I needed to do a few models before I went in. Ya'll ended up using a different model than the one I created though I think because I remember seeing different credits on it.

YIIMM

11th Oct 2008, 13:30

I wasn't aware of this project until a few days ago, but now I'm really looking forward to it, especially given the quality of this ship. I've just got a couple of questions;

Is it just an accident that Diaspora could apply to your team just as much as the BSG survivors?

And to what extent, if at all, will Diaspora share models with BTRL?

chrono

11th Oct 2008, 14:58

Frankly I'm still surprised that all of the BSG projects haven't been long ago shut-down via C&D orders.

But whatever! Nice model & texturing. :)

Elffin

11th Oct 2008, 15:17

Frankly I'm still surprised that all of the BSG projects haven't been long ago shut-down via C&D orders.

In my opinion I think the BSG mods have been a great free advertisement for the show - by attracting and maintaining interest in the series.

nice work too btw! :cool:

Karajorma

13th Oct 2008, 08:17

Is it just an accident that Diaspora could apply to your team just as much as the BSG survivors?

We kinda grew into the name rather than actually picking it. It was the name for our IRC channel when we first quit and after 4 months of (gentle) squabbling over the name of the project it was the only one we liked. :)

And to what extent, if at all, will Diaspora share models with BTRL?

Up to the individual modeller mostly. Once we release something it can be used by anyone as long as the original modeller gives permission anyway.