TIE Fighter WIP

[stonky]

Hi all,

Long time lurker, first time poster. I'm a big fan of this site and have admired the work of so many talented people here.

Thiis is a TIE fighter I started a while ago. There is still lots of work to be done on the wing details, etc. Let me know what you think so far.

http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=6147&stc=1&d=1150290083

http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=6148&stc=1&d=1150290083

[demented]

Hi there, welcome.

For a first post that is an great piece of work.

Hope to see many more :)

[Roliba]

Welcome. Nice work. Can you post a larger picture so we can better see the fine details you've put in?

[Lee80]

Hi there...welcome, Very nice work, keep it up..:)

[Eukaryot]

Well done!

[JeneralJarJar]

That really looks great.

[Dallidas]

looks great!:thumb:

[evil_genius_180]

Thanks for stopping lurking and coming in!! That's a beautiful TIE you have there. :D

[stonky]

Welcome. Nice work. Can you post a larger picture so we can better see the fine details you've put in?

I'll try to post a larger image tonight - you'll be able to see things like the panel lines, etc. more clearly. I can't decide whether or not the blue is too saturated, or whether I should just do the monochromatic version from ANH.

Thanks all for the comments!

[darth_daniel]

As said above, great model!!!:) Very good for a first post!;)

[Berticus]

Do you have any screenshots of it coming together?
-albert

[stonky]

Do you have any screenshots of it coming together?
-albert
Do you mean in different states of completion? I don't think I have any screenshots from when I was actually building it up untl this point but I can take some screenshots of where it is right now...

http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=6324&stc=1&d=1150374370

I'm now in the process of doing some bigger renders as well as adding more of the geometric detail the to wings etc...more to come.

[DarthMaya]

:thumb: nice tie.

[stonky]

This is just an ambient render, but a bit bigger so hopefully some of the details are a little easier to make out.

http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=6503&stc=1&d=1150461089

Still lots to do...

[al3d]

Lookking awsome man...only Coment would be to have a small bevel edge on the soloar panel...right now seems pretty sharp...but over all it's excellent man. SPecilialy if you made it in Houdini..ahahaha..

[IRML]

well done for doing that in houdini, I can just about model in that app but I couldn't figure out how to render what I'd made :p

[stonky]

...only Coment would be to have a small bevel edge on the soloar panel...right now seems pretty sharp...

I totally agree. I was going to wait until the end to do that but I might as well do it now - it bugs me too.

[Berticus]

Looking fabulous mate. I'd love to see a tie interseptor and an advance and a trifighter, and and... Are you taking requests?:p

-albert

[filip]

Nice model! I really like the shaders too, like the subtle soft reflections on the "solar panels".

I don't think i've seen much Houdini work around here. I guess that app has some nice tools for blowing that thing up once you've finished modelling :-)

[Frenzied-Ferret]

Looks great! Very realistic in my opinion

[stonky]

Continuing to add detail, started to bevel some of the edges, etc...

http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=7125&stc=1&d=1150812476

More to come.

[Chanur]

Superb modeling :thumb:
Please let's see some art soon :)

[DarthMaya]

Coolest tie ever!

[Hollis J Wood]

wow is all I can say.

[Jedilaw]

Coolest tie ever!

Careful, Pardner. Them's fightin' words 'round these parts. After all, there's Fractalsponge's Tie Fighter to consider.

That being said, this is quite a nice bit of modeling and texturing.

Now it just needs an ISD to go with it. :devil:

[stonky]

Yes, I was following the fractalsponge progress as he was building it - incredibly impressive. I can only hope that when mine is finished that it can be mentioned in the same sentence. :)

That being said, I'm going for a "looks good at arm's length" look and won't be modelling every bevel on every screw on every wing detail (Of course, that's what I say now. ;) ). I'm mostly concentrating on really nailing the overall proportions and the relationships between the forms. That isn't to say that I don't plan on representing every detail, although I've been having trouble finding good reference for the plug part that ILM fills the bottom hole with when the model isn't being mounted from the bottom...

Thanks all for the comments!

[Dr-Timelord]

Are we getting cockpit and pilot inside too :D

[ravenwing]

Coolest tie ever!

I will have to agree,, fine detail without going overboard and neat as :thumb:

To fully fit as the coolest tie ever I think it may need a pilot ;)

[Hitman]

Excellent work.

[stonky]

I'm embarassed to admit it, but I'm just starting the back now:

http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=7478&stc=1&d=1151081488

I still have to add lots of detail, fix the panel lines, etc., etc.

[stonky]

A little more work done to the back:

http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=9439&stc=1&d=1152390741

I still have to fix the panel lines, etc., etc.

[Blake7]

Wow... great work.
I am looking forward to more. :cool:

[Larsen]

Very nice modeling man:thumb:

[Darth Malice]

Sweet!..:flippy:

[stonky]

Thanks all for the comments!

I know that it's not done yet (by a long shot :) ), but I couldn't resist:

http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=9594&stc=1&d=1152506181

Hope you like it, more to come.

[Gothic_Goatboy]

loving it! keep it up. any chance of seeing an interceptor variant?

[stonky]

any chance of seeing an interceptor variant?

Definately next on my list.

[stonky]

Hey all,

I have a question and I was wondering what the general consensus was. The original studio TIE fighter model didn't have any "glass" in the cockpit windows in order to avoid things like refections, etc. (not including the digital SE version - that one doesn't count. :) ). When you're building something like this, are you inclined to add glass to the digital model, or stay true to the original?

[Larsen]

Personally I'd add glass... It's supposed to have glass:D and the technology is there today to add glass!

But there's no doubt, if you're going for a look of the org miniatures you should leave out the glass!

[scifieric]

I know that it's not done yet (by a long shot :) ), but I couldn't resist: "Great shot kid! Don't get cocky."

Man, that is a magnificent Tie Fighter. I have always loved the Tie design and you've done it justice. Your renders look very realistic and remind me of ILM's best work!

[stonky]

That's very kind of you, thank you! It's always been my favourite, and why it wasn't available as a plastic kit during the films' original releases has always been a mystery to me.

[AldrikG]

Very cool!
:thumb:

[scifieric]

That's very kind of you, thank you! It's always been my favourite, and why it wasn't available as a plastic kit during the films' original releases has always been a mystery to me.
Yep, that always bothered me too! LOL! I tried to make a descent model when they came out with the rocket but with plastic, I'm pretty much all thumbs.

[stonky]

I'm finally going to try to finish this thing:

[scifieric]

Nice and WOO HOO! An UPDATE! Terrific work. That looks complicated!

[Pyrocitor]

Wow :eek:
Damn that's nice detailing

[Ozylot]

That looks amazing!!

[tobiasrichter]

congrats - great looking model - and very accurate from what I see.

[ChrisGFX]

veeeery nice that is ... yes ... very nice :)

[Chanur]

At least it goes on and WHOA :o - that's great!!!

[hal]

Man, you must have the patients of a saint! great detail, it's looking great!

[stonky]

Thanks all. I might have TIE Fighter patience, but I certainly don't have Star Destroyer patience (salutes Jedilaw, fractalsponge, and anyone else who is brave enough to try it)!

Here's kind of an overall view of where it is now:

[Pyrocitor]

Yea I definitely don't have Star Destroyer patience either :D

It looks awesome man, what do you have left to finish on it?

[DarthMaya]

Thats fantastic stonky! You did a great job of making the tie fighter look really awesome. :D

[scifieric]

That looks like it is roaring right out of ILM!

[stonky]

Thanks, there's still a lot of detail left to do on the wings, etc.

Here's a wire:

[Jedilaw]

Star Destroyer patience? What is this Star Destroyer patience you speak of?

Stonky, this is great work. If you don't already own "Sculpting a Galaxy," you should pick it up, there are some great close-up ref shots of the TIE, including the greebly area at the center of the wing. From the looks of things, I'd say you have a really good set of references already.

[stonky]

Thank you, yeah, I have that book, as well as some other really good reference. ;) At some point this is going to turn into a TIE Interceptor as well, which means that I get to suffer through a whole new set of wing details.

I was thinking about the pilot recently - I wasn't going to do one, but maybe I will afterall - I know where I can get the front part of the TIE fighter pilot helmet. :lol:

[fractalsponge]

Looks good to me so far.

I did it the other way around - interceptor first, then fighter. It's about the same amount of detail I'd say, but the /In has better references going. This one is all you really need for the wing hubs:

http://www.steinschneider.com/props/star_wars/tie_fighter/tie_02.jpg

[stonky]

Good stuff, thank you!

I was following your progress on your TIE Fighter/Interceptor when you were building them - very impressive. You certainly have a talent for interpreting detail.

[Jedilaw]

Good stuff, thank you!

I was following your progress on your TIE Fighter/Interceptor when you were building them - very impressive. You certainly have a talent for interpreting detail.

That, my friend, is such an understatement. :cool: Ansel is the Edie Van Halen of greebles!

[Road Warrior]

Very nice job there Stonky!

[stonky]

Well, it's a start:

[Pyrocitor]

Not bad for a start I guess ;)

[Talos]

Yeah, that Interceptor is looking sweet. :thumb:

[al3d]

Thanks all. I might have TIE Fighter patience, but I certainly don't have Star Destroyer patience (salutes Jedilaw, fractalsponge, and anyone else who is brave enough to try it)!

Here's kind of an overall view of where it is now:

awsome Tie man. greath attention to details. as for Star Destroyer Detauls, don't see the big deal realy. When you look carefully, it's mostly repeatitive details realy. Patience is when you ONLY do a model and "finish" it in a reasonnable time..for a STD..ho, i'de say 4 to 6 weeks tops. when you work on it for almost a year, it's not patience anymore, mostly getting bored with it.

Again greath work on the Tie..and the interceptor should be as good..:)

[scifieric]

Well, it's a start:
"A start" he says! It almost looks like a finish! Very sweet.

[Binkerman]

Nice work on the TIE Stonky, looks Great ! ...

At Al3d:

They all start with a 'P' Al ......

Deadline Model = Panic :o:help:

Heavy Detail Model = Patience :eek:

No light at the end of the tunnel Model = Perseverance :devil:

Jas

[al3d]

Nice work on the TIE Stonky, looks Great ! ...

At Al3d:

They all start with a 'P' Al ......

Deadline Model = Panic :o:help:

Heavy Detail Model = Patience :eek:

No light at the end of the tunnel Model = Perseverance :devil:

Jas


Or this

Deadline Model = Pulling an all nighters :cool:

Heavy Detail Model = Praying on your knees :devil:

No light at the end of the tunnel Model = Pulling your hair out. :eek:

[homerpalooza67]

Or this

Deadline Model = Pulling an all nighters :cool:

Heavy Detail Model = Praying on your knees :devil:

No light at the end of the tunnel Model = Pulling your hair out. :eek:

Sounds like a term paper to me...:D

[Jedilaw]

Thanks all. I might have TIE Fighter patience, but I certainly don't have Star Destroyer patience (salutes Jedilaw, fractalsponge, and anyone else who is brave enough to try it)!


Hey, man, patience is a relative thing. Looking at your TIE fighter work, I'd say if you don't want a full cap-ship project you might take a stab at the Falcon. If you can do the greebles on the TIE (which you obviously can) you can do the greebles on the Falcon. There really aren't that many of them. After all, the engine section is mostly three sets of the same greebles, and you could knock those out in less than a day. The "trench" area where you can see all of the "guts" has a good bit of repetition of greebles, and 90% of the greebles are pretty straightforward shapes.

Plus, there are a hell of a lot better references for the Falcon (both versions) than there are for the Star Destroyer, both in terms of the number of images and in terms of the resolution and clarity of many of them.

So, you've served the Empire (an AT-ST plus some TIEs is a clear Imperial bias), why not serve the Rebellion instead?

[stonky]

Thanks all!

Yeah, maybe the Falcon would be a good next project, I don't know why I'm always drawn to the bad guys. I was thinking of doing a Lambda class shuttle next, but that can always change. Or maybe I'll skip to a new genre for something completely new - my fallback just always seems to be Star Wars because I'm the most familiar with it.

As for the Star Destroyer, I think that al3d has a good point - it probably takes a year because people tend to lose their steam and put it away periodically - I know I would.

A little more work:

[al3d]

Thanks all!

Yeah, maybe the Falcon would be a good next project, I don't know why I'm always drawn to the bad guys. I was thinking of doing a Lambda class shuttle next, but that can always change. Or maybe I'll skip to a new genre for something completely new - my fallback just always seems to be Star Wars because I'm the most familiar with it.

As for the Star Destroyer, I think that al3d has a good point - it probably takes a year because people tend to lose their steam and put it away periodically - I know I would.

A little more work:

Good Interceptor man..nice thing about having done the Tie, is just need new solar panels..:)

As to the falcon, yes it's a greath model to make, but i might sujest to my colleage jedilaw to actually do a complete model before judging the level of difficulty of a model. the falcon's front end does'nt have a single repetitive nurnies. the sheild section as 3 identical section...but everything arounds it is differrent pipes and nurnies.

[fractalsponge]

It might just be me or the camera angle, but the wings on the interceptor look a little...small. I assume the grille work is modelled (no excuse for texture right? :P)

The detail looks quite nice. Can we see it up close, like ground-crew worker distance?

[Cyba_storm]

'If you can do the greebles on the TIE (which you obviously can) you can do the greebles on the Falcon.' Quote from Jedilaw.

I saw the large Falcon model a few years ago in Sydney, and I dare anybody with less patience than a saint to model that thing. It is layer upon layer of bits and pieces. The detail is breath taking. Plenty of people have built a Falcon and they have done a damned good job of it, but I have yet to see one that comes close to the actual model for detail. As I said before, it is breath taking.

[al3d]

'If you can do the greebles on the TIE (which you obviously can) you can do the greebles on the Falcon.' Quote from Jedilaw.

I saw the large Falcon model a few years ago in Sydney, and I dare anybody with less patience than a saint to model that thing. It is layer upon layer of bits and pieces. The detail is breath taking. Plenty of people have built a Falcon and they have done a damned good job of it, but I have yet to see one that comes close to the actual model for detail. As I said before, it is breath taking.

I did..:)...i actually sent renders to ILM to confirm the details..:) and got a "wow, you're insane" reply..:)..so i was pleased

[al3d]

Forgot to ask Stonky...what's your polycount on the Tie and Interceptor?..

[Cyba_storm]

The people at ILM have it right. You are insane. And I mean that in the best possible way. I get a headache just thinking about it.

[stonky]

Yeah, your Falcon is a work of art.

My TIE is a meager 75,000 polys right now (probably about the size of al3d's Falcon's radar dish :) ), but it'll most likely finish at around double that, which is still pretty trim. The panel lines as well as the detail in the solar panels is (gasp!) displacement mapped.

Here are a couple of ortho views of the interceptor so you can get a better sense of the general proportions and wing size:

[al3d]

Yeah, your Falcon is a work of art.

My TIE is a meager 75,000 polys right now (probably about the size of al3d's Falcon's radar dish :) ), but it'll most likely finish at around double that, which is still pretty trim. The panel lines as well as the detail in the solar panels is (gasp!) displacement mapped.

Here are a couple of ortho views of the interceptor so you can get a better sense of the general proportions and wing size:

it looks extremely clean man. u using Max right?

[Jedilaw]

Yeah, your Falcon is a work of art.

My TIE is a meager 75,000 polys right now (probably about the size of al3d's Falcon's radar dish :) ), but it'll most likely finish at around double that, which is still pretty trim. The panel lines as well as the detail in the solar panels is (gasp!) displacement mapped.

Here are a couple of ortho views of the interceptor so you can get a better sense of the general proportions and wing size:

Displacement maps?!? Cheater.

Very nice, efficient modeling there, Stonky.

I'd definitely say you're ready to tackle something on the order of the Falcon, or maybe the Rebel Blockade Runner. Don't let pipes scare you off, that's all doable with renderable splines.

Or, if the Empire still beckons to you, you should be able to do a kick-ass version of the AT-AT.

Your friend in patience and greebles,

JL

[fractalsponge]

Displacement mapped?

Cheat. :P Good effect at mid range though - quite efficient. I modelled the panels on mine and it's not kind on GI render.

There's definitely something off about the wings...it feels wrong.

I'll try and find some refs to back that up though.

[stonky]

Only here at scifi-meshes would using displacement maps be considered cheating. :lol:

It's modeled and rendered in houdini. Eventually, it'll end up as a renderman render using the cached brickmap/pointcloud irradiance approach. The beauty of working with non-deforming, hard bodied surfaces. :)

fractalsponge, I'd love to see some reference describing what it is that you're seeing in the wings - now's the time to make those sort of proportion changes to the wings, before I start filling them in with junk. I do know that there is still some tweaking to do with the overall shapes, but if you can point out a larger flaw with some ref pics, I'm all ears and eager to fix it. Thank you!

[stonky]

hi fractalsponge,

I just did some measurements comparing the ratio between the height of the cockpit vs. the height of the wings in a bunch of head on reference pics and my wings are the right height - was it something else?

Keep in mind that I still haven't added the trim that extends along the outer most edge of the wing (which will add some size), and that could be part of it - maybe I'll do that next.

[fractalsponge]

I think this is it: the cockpit window looks too small relative to the rest of the cockpit ball - makes the whole ball seem too large relative to the wing structure. The rim to the outer edge of the wing will help I think, but the center block of the wing array (where the laser-like things are located) also seems too short on your model

[stonky]

I think that the perceived problem is that those are orthographic wireframes - we're not used to seeing TIEs in that way without perspective. Sorry, I shouldn't have posted the orthographic renders - they don't really tell the story. I'm fairly certain that the cockpit window is the right size in proportion to the rest of the cockpit ball. Have a look at the perspective renders that I posted earlier in the thread.

The center block on the wings may be too short though like you said, I'll check. It is still missing the triangular extensions on the top and bottom that will stretch it out as well.

Here's another wireframe, this time with perspective:

[stonky]

Update:

[scifieric]

That is pretty darned cool!

[homerpalooza67]

Is it real? It looks pretty real 2 me ! :D

[stonky]

I've been reworking a bunch of the geometry before going ahead and adding much more detail, and although it may not look much different, a lot has changed. Now i can move forward with a clear conscience. :)

[scifieric]

I think it looks beautiful!

[Northern_Mind]

I like it!:thumb:

[ChrisGFX]

looks great!

[stonky]

Thanks all!

Work continues (slowly :lol: ):

[Cinnamon]

Some really pretty work here. I love how _clean_ your wires are - they look almost as good as the full renders.

So what the heck is Houdini, anyway? That's not an app i've heard of before.

cheers!

-jaime

[Andrew March]

Excellent work.

Jaime, Houdini is REALLY high end software, if you think 3DS MAx is expensive ;)

https://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_purchase&Itemid=234

[al3d]

Excellent work.

Jaime, Houdini is REALLY high end software, if you think 3DS MAx is expensive ;)

https://www.sidefx.com/index.php?option=com_purchase&Itemid=234

and know you know why you wont hear the word "houdini" within a few years

[stonky]

Yeah, houdini isn't for the average casual hobbyist, and has a different way of working, but there are some things that you can get from it that you can't get anywhere else (which is true of most software, I suppose). I've used it on almost every project that I've worked on over the last 10+ years, and you'll find it in almost every major vfx studio. DD, for example, has a large houdini contingent.

So much to do...

[Ozylot]

Its looking fabulous!

[stonky]

Thank you!

A few more details:

[ChrisGFX]

very cool :thumb:

from where you have your rev material?

Greets

Chris :)

[stonky]

Thanks, I'm glad you like it!

As for reference material, it's whatever I can find on the net and in books, combined with the finemolds kit. The film (ROTJ) is useless because we see so little of the ship in any useable way. I'm using the finemolds interceptor kit to get a sense of how everything works together, and use as much studio scale reference that I can dig up to get the real measurements and proportions (I use the photoshop measure tool...a lot :)).

Of course, the finemolds kit isn't 100% accurate and there is a lot of detail missing, but it's nice to be able to hold onto something when I'm working things out.

More to come.

[scifieric]

Just saw your latest couple of renders. Wonderful!

[stonky]

Work forges on:

[Road Warrior]

Incredible man- simple incredible.

[scifieric]

That's beautiful Stonky!

[stonky]

Thank you!

[mikala]

Holy crap! Excellent work on this build and detailing!

[Shadowman99]

Looks spot on to me. I love the TIE, and the interceptor is coming along very nicely.

[scifieric]

Stop it! Stop it! Stop with the perfect images! Whoa!

[Chanur]

Outstanding work stonky :thumb:

[Free-Lance]

Nice.

[Nutsy]

Stonky great work on this it looks... great. :D
Displacments worked out really well...

For anyone thats wondering theres a good free vertual displacment plugin for max. Just google for doom3 paralax mapping. The guy made a mod for doom3 and quake4 to allow for paralax mapping in the game he also released a plugin for max to render paralax meterials. And it works well with scanline and vray. Even uses Gi in vray i think :D

[stonky]

Despite my slow progress, believe it or not, all of this is going somewhere. :)

Rough animatic for one of the shots:

[Mauiman]

I think you need to go here now. LucasArts.com | Positions (http://lucasarts.com/company/job/)

Start making some money from your works.

Money = wealth = finatual stability = ability to get around in this world.

[mayafreak]

nice animatic,
imo you should have the tie fighters fire twice each

[stonky]

Hey all, thanks for the comments.

I dunno about both firing twice, maybe just the first one. I'm going to slow them down a bit too. More to come.

[Northern_Mind]

don't need to slow them down you just need to make it longer. A lot longer... :D

[mayafreak]

Yea, make it longer zoom out a bit too. i hope this turns out nice

[stonky]

don't need to slow them down you just need to make it longer. A lot longer... :D

I'll see what I can do. ;)

[stonky]

Although this is still pretty rough, it'll give you a better idea as to what it'll eventually look like (try to look past the crappy qt compression :) ):

[al3d]

Stonky, it's good, just way to fast for Tie Interceptors. Also, have your camera moving a bit, pulling pack at the same time they are racing toward the camera, this way you get a sens of speed, and you see the ships longuer

[stonky]

Yeah, I agree, they're going way too fast - I'm going to slow them down, which will give the first TIE time to fire twice.

As for moving the camera, right now it pans up to follow the TIEs a bit. It might be weird to translate the camera back in a shot like this because there won't be any frame of reference (a large stationary ship, for example) in the background to suggest to the audience that the camera is moving in such a way - the position of the stars in the frame won't change because they're too far away. The stars' positions in the frame would only change if the camera rotates. Moving the camera back over time will just essentially slow down the Interceptors in a shot like this one with nothing but stars in the background, (which it needs), but I'll just do that with their animation. There are other shots in the sequence that will work with a translating camera because there will be a stationary frame of reference.

Or am I not understanding what it is that you're saying? Thanks for the coment!

[stonky]

Hehe...I went back to look at my original animation, which didn't look too fast, and I spent about 15 minutes trying to figure out why the quicktime looked different - I accidentally exported it at 30fps instead of 24fps. :stupid: :lol:

Here's a version with the correct frame rate:

[cavebear]

Wow, with the frame rate at 24fps it looks fantastic :thumb:

[stonky]

Thanks, glad you like it. I'm not happy with the lasers yet, but it's on it's way. More to come.

[ChrisGFX]

veeeeeery cool! :)

[stonky]

Thanks!

Here's an early test demonstrating the combat system that I'm working out when I need a whole lot of action:

[JeffrySG]

Thanks, glad you like it. I'm not happy with the lasers yet, but it's on it's way. More to come.

very very nice!!! love it!

[Road Warrior]

That looks great man.

[stonky]

Thank you! They're all really bad shots because no one is getting hit right now. :lol:

It was interesting to have to decide what the relative sizes for all of the ships was going to be because they were all going to live in legitimate 3D space together. I eventually used the numbers on the Star Wars Technical Commentaries site as a guide. The Star Destroyers are about a mile long, the closest one is about 2 miles away, and the furthest one is about 5 miles away. :o

[homerpalooza67]

They're both pretty good. you can use the "space battle wireframe" clip, with a sector grid overlay, as part of the combat display monitor, in a ships cockpit

[Wiz]

Whistle has been wettened.... cant wait for more!!

:)

Wiz.

[gonk droid]

another wow here. the wireframe mov of things to come is impressive.

[fractalsponge]

Very nice mockup of the space scene. Reminds me of one of my recent pics, only moving. Your models are a lot lighter too, which would make animation much less painful than rendering out my stuff. Looking forward to the final clip :)

[stonky]

Thanks all, it's a labor of love. :)

Yeah, I do all of the animation with the lighter models but they get switched out for the real thing when it's time to do the real renders - it just makes for working with animation so much faster and easier to manage, especially when there's a whole bunch of elements (I think there are about 100 ships in total in this example).

I have a version where some of the ships actually get hit and explode, with the addition of a bunch of smaller occasional incidental flak explosions (like in the ROTJ space battle) - I'll try to post it when I get a minute.

Thanks again everyone, I'm thrilled that you like it!

[stonky]

Hey all, here's an update. All of the ships and lasers etc. are still the low-poly stand-ins without any real lighting. I've been spending most of my time working out the behavior and other mechanics (they know enough to chase and to shoot at the guys on the other team, and to try to avoid collisions). This method will be used when I need a bunch of action to fill the frame but whenever I need a specific action from a specific ship, I'll animate it traditionally. Hope you like it, more to come.

[gonk droid]

there's a hell of a lot of tie fighters in there. just as it should be.

looks like thing are starting to take shape. definitely reminds me of ROTJ.

[ChrisGFX]

oh wow ... more please ... more! :)

Greets

Chris

[homerpalooza67]

HEADER! HEADER! HEADER!
and definitly reminds me of ROTJ!

[stonky]

Thank you, much appreciated!

Hopefully it'll look even better when it's actually rendered (like the shot with the two interceptors earlier in this thread) at a higher resolution and with sound added.

I'm still playing with it - I've sped the fighters up a touch and experimented with having the Star Destroyers taking pot shots at the good guys. The problem is that they are so far away that their lasers don't even come close to getting to the targets before the camera moves. :lol: There'll be other shots where that sort of thing will be more appropriate.

It does kind of remind me of ROTJ as well, but I keep thinking of the original X-Wing game by Lucasarts too (one of my all time favorites!). :)

More to come.

[fractalsponge]

Lovely preview. Especially like the explosions, and the massive number of fighters. Always wanted to do something like that, but with that many of my fighters it'll take forever to render :P.

:thumb:

[JeffrySG]

Hope you like it, more to come.
more, more, more! we want more!

:thumb::D:thumb:

[stonky]

Always wanted to do something like that, but with that many of my fighters it'll take forever to render :P.

That's half the fun! :) I set up a system that allows me to render lo res versions of the vehicles if they only get to a certain distance from the camera (less detail, no displacement, general color, etc.) and only render the high res versions if they pass closer to the camera. Otherwise, you're right - you'd pretty much have to render each one separately, at which point you'd find me sobbing in the corner. :lol:

Some things I still have to implement: lights on all of the lasers and explosions, explosion debris (still debating this one), diminishing and ultimately killing the lasers as they travel needlessly into the distance if they miss a target (maybe after a couple of seconds after they've been fired - I have to play with it to see what works best).

I can't tell you how much fun this is. :)

[gonk droid]

sounds like you're going in all the way. good to know.

can't wait for next update.

[Dr. Jones]

it's really great, but the camera is apparently rotating only on a single axis and it gives a boring/unnatural look. It would be a lot more dynamic if the camera movement was dynamic too

[Dallidas]

it's really great, but the camera is apparently rotating only on a single axis and it gives a boring/unnatural look. It would be a lot more dynamic if the camera movement was dynamic too

dont get too crazy with it like directors now a days seem to like to do. I cant say i like motion sickness. A shudder in the camera as one of the fighters flew by would be cool. It wouldnt happen but it would add a little something to it:thumb:

[Berticus]

That is tactical stupidity on the part of the Empire. Who in their right mind would cluster so many tin cans together and then have the guys in the back firing?

Personally I would separate them into wings (sets of 12) or pairs and spread them out. If all three SD's are spouting fighters (approximately 36 to 48 apiece) the should be converging from different vectors.

Nice! Seeing this finished will be enjoyable! Oh, where did you get the explosions? (They look a little flat as the camera rotates... You might consider a faster pan, adding wiggle (like the camera men at air-shows) or not even moving the camera.

^I hope you didn't mind all that blather. (mine...):shiner:
-albert

[homerpalooza67]

For fighters:

36 = 1 Wing
12 = 1 Squadron
04 = 1 Flight
02 = 1 Pair


:p

[fractalsponge]

72 to the wing actually.

[Berticus]

Oh, fine. :P :) I get shown up! It would figure! :shiner: Only on SFM.

[stonky]

You guys clearly know more about this stuff than I do, it didn't even occur to me to try to rationalize the number of fighters, etc. :)

[JDR]

And there I was thinking Houdini was only for particles and dynamics....

Great stuff this.

[homerpalooza67]

72 to the wing actually.

Maybe, but in Rogue Squadron, it is said that General Salm was in charge of DEFENDER WING, which was made up of 3 y-wing squadrons: Champion, Warden, and one more, i forgot. :D

[fractalsponge]

Maybe, but in Rogue Squadron, it is said that General Salm was in charge of DEFENDER WING, which was made up of 3 y-wing squadrons: Champion, Warden, and one more, i forgot. :D

To totally make an irrelevant geek comment, rebel wings (3 squadrons) under the New Republic establishment are different than Imperial wings, which are 72 for a naval wing and 40 for a wing attached to an army garrison.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

[Berticus]

:shiner: lawl!

[homerpalooza67]

To totally make an irrelevant geek comment, rebel wings (3 squadrons) under the New Republic establishment are different than Imperial wings, which are 72 for a naval wing and 40 for a wing attached to an army garrison.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.

Ok, i just looked it up. You're right! :p

And now, for something completely different...

[Dr. Jones]

To totally make an irrelevant geek comment, rebel wings (3 squadrons) under the New Republic establishment are different than Imperial wings, which are 72 for a naval wing and 40 for a wing attached to an army garrison.

Back to your regularly scheduled programming.Then go wonder why you're not invited to parties

[stonky]

Here's another small update. I'm still working a bunch of things out with the behavior etc., for example, the ships now travel at different speeds (The A-Wing is faster than the X-Wing, which is faster than the B-Wing, etc.) and have the appropriate mass based on their volumes which will define how quickly they can change direction and maneuver (the smaller A-Wing is a lot more nimble than the larger Y-Wing or B-Wing, for example). It's still all low res standin geometry until I'm happy with how everything is performing.

I'd like to give a shout out to gonk droid for generously dontating his B-Wing to the project - thank you!

Anyway, this is where it is now. The camera move and the layout are also temporary - I just keep using the same thing because it's convenient and I'm lazy. :)

[Road Warrior]

Good bye B-wing 1. This is great stuff Stonky. Man thats ALOT of paths to follow!

[Pic-A-Card]

Man, I applaud your Houdini modeling skills. It takes me forever to model using sop's. That is incredible.

[ChrisGFX]

wow ... thats great work!

I need to make animations like that for my Project too one day ... is this all animation or is it a layerd one (means first render the TIEs then SDs and so on and put them together in a Postprocessing App)?

I can't wait to see more :)

Chris

[Dr. Jones]

woo, lots going on in this animation. There is one thing that bugged me but it's probably because it's not finished, but some ships just suddenly disapear with no reason. Is it because they are supposed to explode and explosions are missing, or because they are particle generated and they expire, or because you set a camera distance, or just another reason. Anyway, this dispearing bwing realy caught my eye

[stonky]

Thanks all for the comments, much appreciated!

Yes, you're right - they disappear because there are explosions missing. I didn't add the explosions to those colliding ships because they happen to explode close to another exploding ship and I didn't want to have two explosions on top of each other. I just didn't get around to deleting the ships that disappear for no reason - good eye! :) I'll try to post another version later today with that fixed, a few more explosions, and with a higher quality setting on the quicktime (there is a lot of detail being lost in the conversion unfortunately).

[stonky]

is this all animation or is it a layerd one (means first render the TIEs then SDs and so on and put them together in a Postprocessing App)?

Hey Chris - sorry, I missed your question. :)
In this case it was all rendered in one pass, but I'm sure as I get closer to something I think deserves the effort, I'll start rendering in separate passes.

[gonk droid]

sweet! not sure how i missed the update on this.

nicely done stonky.

[stonky]

Thanks, I'm glad you like it. Here's a slightly better version. Because it's a simulation, (I just let them loose and they behave on their own based on a bunch of rules - who to try to avoid, who to try to kill, how fast each vehicle can go, how maneuverable they are, etc.) it's kinda fun to look around at all of the little stories that develop - for example, the first A-Wing that collides with the interceptor and explodes about 15 frames in tries to shoot it before they crash. :) I haven't done this yet, but I might make it so that the slower ships (Y-Wing, B-Wing) don't even bother trying to engage the faster TIE Interceptors, etc. Or if they are able to get close enough to one of the Star Destroyers, they fire torpedos at it. And knowing this, the Star Destroyers are more inclined to fire at the heavier ships. I could be getting carried away though. :lol:

[ChrisGFX]

man ... this is awesome ... I can't wait to see a full textured sceen with sound.

Chris

[Dr. Jones]

Nice, will we be able to play your new xwing simulator when you're done? will it be multiplayer?

More seriously this is coming along really nicely. One more thing you can do is giving the ships slightly different thrusters colors. It will make it a bit easier to differenciate them. Like the xwing is a litttle purplish, awing is bit yellow. And I think ywing and bwing are pretty close

[stonky]

More seriously this is coming along really nicely. One more thing you can do is giving the ships slightly different thrusters colors. It will make it a bit easier to differenciate them. Like the xwing is a litttle purplish, awing is bit yellow. And I think ywing and bwing are pretty close

Totally agree, next on my list. :)

It's funny that you mention an xwing simulator - the original '93 X-Wing game for the PC was part of the inspiration for this project.

[stonky]

Looks like the X-Wing and the Y-Wing have similar engine glows, and the B-Wing and the A-Wing are the standouts:

http://links.pictures.aol.com/pic?id=6da0AGJN4vJavUtFUHj2HcMhiKeWWYeTrSd7&size=l

[stonky]

I'm starting to rough in some of the other capital ships for scale - I think that this is about right (based on all of the sources that I could find for scale):

http://links.pictures.aol.com/pic?id=6da0AGJN4vJavUtFUHj2HcMhiNZWXsmNcS9o&size=l

[Road Warrior]

Looks about right. Keep it up man.

[ChrisGFX]

scale look ok for me ... may I ask you on what project your working? maybe I can help you out with my X-Wing or so :)

Chris

PS: if it is secret you can also PM me ;)

[stonky]

Hi Chris,

It's a personal project. Thanks for the offer on the X-Wing - if I didn't already have one, I'd take you up on it. :)

More rough animation:

[Binkerman]

Interesting to watch these animations take shape Stonky, .... The movement of your AT-ST was Bloody good btw :cool: ....

Jas

[ChrisGFX]

Hi Chris,

It's a personal project. Thanks for the offer on the X-Wing - if I didn't already have one, I'd take you up on it. :)

More rough animation:

heh heh ... I'm sure you have Mikes X-Wing , right , huh??? :D

I can't wait to see more from your project

Chris :)

[stonky]

@Binkerman: thanks, much appreciated! The AT-ST was definitely harder to rig than I thought it was going to be, but all of the cursing seems to have paid off. :lol:

@ChrisGFX: the X-Wing was the first ship that I completed for the project, before I started the TIEs, so it's been sitting in the garage for a while now. :)

[ChrisGFX]

@Binkerman: thanks, much appreciated! The AT-ST was definitely harder to rig than I thought it was going to be, but all of the cursing seems to have paid off. :lol:

@ChrisGFX: the X-Wing was the first ship that I completed for the project, before I started the TIEs, so it's been sitting in the garage for a while now. :)

aaawwww ... cool! any images? oh please ... post some, ok? :)

Greets

Chris :)

[gonk droid]

nice pass on the animation. is this part of the larger project or something separate?

looks good.

[stonky]

Thank you - same project.

[IRML]

this is done in houdini? wow

you have the power to control the universe in that app, once you get past the hugely steep learning curve :p

[al3d]

looks nice stonky. a few sujestions doh, don't have the coreillian ship bank to much since it's in a straight line. Have the escort move at different speed, it looks all to static right now, getting an X-Wing close to camera might look good also.

[stonky]

Hey al3d,

All good points, thank you. I banked the larger ship just to add some movement to the shot, but you're right - it's too much. I'll vary the speed of the escort as well. I'm also going to close the X-Wings' wings for this one.

[stonky]

It occurred to me that I haven't posted anything for this project for a while, so here's another rough shot animatic (the fighters are gray shaded and the capital ships are just rough stand-ins, etc., but you get the idea):

[somacruz145]

Wow that's really good :thumb: The camera work and dynamics (don't know if that's the right word) are spot on. Expolsion is done really well too :D
Are you going to do the whole Endor battle ? This one looked like a very tasty teaser :p

[S.W.Ninja]

That looks awesome I love how the turret at the top is auto tracking then when that tie gets destroyed you can see it re focus its lock. Very nice attention to detail. :thumb:

[ChrisGFX]

f**cking awesome!!!

[homerpalooza67]

WOW!
:eek!::eek!::eek!:

[scifieric]

Outstanding work!

[stonky]

Thanks all, much appreciated!

Fooling around with sound:

[DCB]

Wow, been a while since I've looked in on this thread. Loving the animatics so far. Great work stonky. Looking forward to seeing some longer sequences.

Question re: the Corvette's turrets. Should they be able to track that fast? They really seem to snap around very quickly.

[Andrew March]

They are designed for point defence, so yes, they can track that fast.

[stonky]

Question re: the Corvette's turrets. Should they be able to track that fast? They really seem to snap around very quickly.

Quite frankly I have no idea. :lol: They do seem a bit quick though, I agree. Some other turrets changes that I think would help:

-the top and the bottom one rotate in the Y axis exactly in unison. They shouldn't mirror each other so closely
-they fire with too much regularity - it should be more random
-the rough muzzle flashes need to be replaced
-the turrets should recoil (like Death Star turrets)
-the top turret still fires when it doesn't have line of sight to the targets, and it shouldn't

Thoughts?

ps. I'll fix the crappy sound mix when I get a chance. :)

[ChrisGFX]

Quite frankly I have no idea. :lol: They do seem a bit quick though, I agree. Some other turrets changes that I think would help:

-the top and the bottom one rotate in the Y axis exactly in unison. They shouldn't mirror each other so closely
-they fire with too much regularity - it should be more random
-the rough muzzle flashes need to be replaced
-the turrets should recoil (like Death Star turrets)
-the top turret still fires when it doesn't have line of sight to the targets, and it shouldn't

Thoughts?

ps. I'll fix the crappy sound mix when I get a chance. :)

1. yes, they should be more independent
2. agree ... more random give a better feeling
3. yep
4. absolutely ... I always liked that effect
5. I think they can not move that fast because their size and mass IMHO ... but it is always all possible in Star Wars Universe ;)

anyway ... I can't wait to see some more animations :)

greets

Chris

[DCB]

There's also the question of whether they are completely autonomous (i.e. computer controlled) or have human operators. I don't think I've ever seen completely autonomous fire control in the SW universe, in the EU or otherwise. Even the droid armies seem to have droids operating their equipment. If they are human controlled then that would introduce a lot more variation in the performance of separate turrets compared to one another. It would also slow their tracking down a fair bit I would think.

[stonky]

Good point, I think that you're exactly right.

[Road Warrior]

Looking great Stonky. Yeah like everyones been saying- I look forward to longer sequences.

[stonky]

I want to make a couple of small changes to the TIE - it's been a while, so I just checked to see if it still worked. :)

http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=60009&stc=1&d=1225948559

[Road Warrior]

Man! Everything about that image is spot on. The atmosphere is great Stonky!

[meugen06]

a very good model of tie fighter

[ChrisGFX]

what do you want to change? its perfect in my eyes ;)

Chris :)

[stonky]

Thanks, but you know, there's always room for improvement. :)

[ChrisGFX]

heh heh, yep :)

[stonky]

Did some work on the solar panels, some other detail tweaks, etc.:

http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=60139&stc=1&d=1226254649

[ChrisGFX]

cooooool! Are you trying to make it like KoolShade?

Chris :)

[Road Warrior]

Excellent buddy. Excellent. I wish I could model like that.

[stonky]

Thank you! Hopefully it'll look a little more like KoolShade when it's done. :)

[vfxart]

What are you going to use to create your shaders? External renderer or are you trying to build up an internal node/network?

[stonky]

I'm not sure I follow you...

[ChrisGFX]

I'm not sure I follow you...

I think he means if you are using an externel render engine like Maxwell or if you use the Houdini internal renderer.

but I may be wrong

greets

Chris :)

[stonky]

If that's the case, I'm using houdini's own native renderer.