Arc-170

[indianna500]

Hi

Just joined and I thought I would get the ball rolling by putting up what i am working on at the moment.

It was one of the most interesting vehicle designs from the prequels . I understand it was mainly the work of Ryan Churhc.

I have been using it as a test bed to push my modelling from PS2 generation poly counts up to the Next gen ` everything as well as the kitchen sink` approach to help generate better normal maps. I am at the texturing stage now, but as a lead in here is the start of the mesh.

Any Hi-Poly Maya Boys ( or Girls!) out there?, feedback would appreciated and any advice on unwrapping when the mesh gets so dense would be great. :-)

Cheers
Indianna500

[Bar]

Well done. We're not seeing enough SW stuff right now!
Keep the updates coming.
bar.

[indianna500]

Thanks

Seems silly not to put up the shots from my website as some people may miss them, so heres the link to the progress so far:

GALLERY (http://www.lee-ray.com/html/gallery_09.html)

[Bar]

Sweet work.
I can't believe you worked on Perfect Dark...(That was my favorite game on the N64!).
bar.

[indianna500]

Yeah, I was there at the start after joining the Goldeneye team. Half of us then went off in 1999 to set up our own venture and made Timesplitters for the PS2, stuck it out as long as I could, then had to take a break from games, funnily enough I am now applying to get back in!...:-)

will the madness never end.....indeed.

[Mex]

Oh, I love the Arc 170. The original and yours ;)

You wprked on TS2? I don't know how many hours I played it with my friend in coop...

[Choo1701]

You wprked on TS2? I don't know how many hours I played it with my friend in coop...

same here.

too brilliant hours were wasted playing that game :D thank you :thumb: :p


gotta ask: how many polys is she? Looks quite low in the attachments. :confused:

[indianna500]

She`s coming in at around 12,000 at the moment.

It is bizarre, and I am showing my age here!m but its had to shake my conditioning from N64 and PS2 days of being crucified for using too many Polys in my models I learnt very quickly that in order to preserve frame rate everything had to be done on a strict budget, which i would adhere to, sometimes to the cost of the graphics, so i am trying to uncondition myself at present :-)

I am taking it slow as far as the smoothing side goes but expect to add a shed-load more polys to her once all the texturing is done, there are obvious places where she needs it the Engine Nacelles for one and probably the nose and canopy areas.

Glad to hear you liked TS and TS2 , did any of you guys play TS3 or second sight?

[Mex]

Yes, I played TS3. Very cool, too. Especially Teamdeathmatch with my friend against 8 Mr. Sockys, 1000 kills and kill with ine hit enabled, very funny :D

[Dallidas]

looking good! like you mentioned it could use some more polys. i see a need for them on the wing tips.


i played TS2 i believe for the gamecube. loved the stargate rip off...lol

[indianna500]

Thanks for the comments. \here are the WIP images of the website to save people time.


Yeah the stargate rip-off was very `subtle`, That was my level, the spacestation, however it wasn`t my idea to have the `Space bees` from return to planet x turn up but thats game designers for you :-)

[jay-mo]

Sweet. So what are the next gen game polycounts at right now? Looks right on, where did you get the references?

[Choo1701]

are you going to model a cockpit for the Arc as well? Seems too empty with the glass canopy's only....

TS3 - very m'eh. Still rank TS2 more highly. The multiplayer factor wasn't there either :(

also: nice touch with the Next Generation display in Cortex's spaceship :D

[indianna500]

Sweet. So what are the next gen game polycounts at right now? Looks right on, where did you get the references?


If anything I seem to be way under budget :-), i still know guys where i worked and have talked to a few other friends int he industry, as usual we are in a dangerous situation: one half of the team will gung-ho on the poly count the other over cautious, One reliable source is a top fella from Oz who was the car modeller for Project Gotham racing on the XBOX 360, I am not making this up when I tell you he had a budget of 40,000 Polys ( Tris) for the cars, thats the exterior, AND another 40,000 for the interior, seems us older artists prayers have finally been answered; there is a built in LOD ( level of Detail) generator so you just need to build the most expensive model and the hardware takes care of the rest.

Other options are just make the thing as smooth as you can and surface sample it to make Normal maps which you then re-apply to a `cheaper` version of the same model, i know a lot of companies are really putting a lot of stock in Normal mapping, i hope it works better than the bump mapping and mip-mapping did on the PS2 :-(


so i think i can safely double the poly count which should allow me to build the cockpit interiors and posiibly some pilot figures as well, did want to have it finished before the weekend but i doubt it now.


Anyone have any reference for the cockpit interior?, I have the model kit which is sparse at best, perhaps the toy? otherwise it shall be a work of fiction

P.S. I agree with you about TS3 but by then i had left so i would say that :-)

[DarthMaya]

wow that is a great ship! I loved the arc-170. I wish I could make video games.:D

(cool site btw)

[indianna500]

Howdy all

Not had as much time today to do as much as I would have liked but is`nt that always the excuse ;-)

Just a few grabs to get you up to date, haven`t had chance to start the interior today still trying to find ref, but its pretty sparse out the so be prepared for a bit of a comedy dashboard :-(

As with popular demand i have thrown of my low-poly shackles and its now coming in at just under 28,000 ( for that, where I have worked before i would have been shown the door!)

More polys in wingtips, fixed UV problem with original wing, smoothed of the engine cowlings and finally found out that what I thought was a black panel ( on the snap-together kit) was actually a whacky window to get light on the co-pilots side instrument panels....cool and bizarre at the same time.


anyhow going to have my dinner and then start on the interior......k`chow!! indeed.

as always comments and questions welcome.

P.S> I feel very flattered by the response so far and would like to let everyone know ; pending any serious F*ck-ups , this file will be hosted by Sci-Fi 3D: The Ultimate 3D Sci-Fi Resource (http://www.scifi3d.com) when it is completed.


HOME (http://www.lee-ray.com)

[Mex]

I can only repeat what I said. I love the Arc 170. the original and yours (if you continue that way, you'll get an "espacially" in front of the yours^^)

[indianna500]

why you silver tongued devil you!!

Thanx for feedback

[indianna500]

Slow week for work, fixed a few UV probs, started the interior, its not textured yet as well as an ultra-low pilot figure whcih I will play around with the smooth tools to improve on, they will only be slightly vivisble though so I am not too worried as lo the poly count here.

Aim to have this put to bed by the next weekend so I can start on some of my own designs.

feedback always welcome.

Cheers


HOME (http://www.lee-ray.com)

[indianna500]

More progress, the clone crew are in, not much is visible of the interior so I haven`t put that much effort into it, just enough to give the impression of controls, will add some lights to the interior on the Textures.

The mesh is done save a few niggly Normal problems, you can see em in the renders :-(, soon to be fixed and then I shall concentrate on working up the textures, more damage, more wear and tear, grime, etc, etc, danger is of over-cooking it, but hopefully I shall have it finished by Friday.

All comments always welcome.


HOME (http://www.lee-ray.com)

[Mex]

I think the guys of George couldn't do it better than you.
you've made it: I love the Arc 170. the original and ESPECIALLY yours :D

[Lee80]

very nice work indeed. :)

[indianna500]

Thank you, I like the look of your stuff as well, must get round to posting some more origonal stuff once shes put to bed :-)

[jay-mo]

She looks great. Love the pilot. WHat's the final poly count? I wonder if there any games that this could be modded into now.

[2HD4U]

Cool, it keeps looking better and better!!:)
I can't wait till it's finished!~!:thumb: :thumb:

[indianna500]

Cheers, its still around the 24,000 mark, at least it was when i alst checked :-), you could stick it into the next gen stuff right now, but I doubt much else would be going on, but then thats the beauty of space combat games.

Digging your ETA2 starfighter by the way, very nice, how many polys in that?

[indianna500]

Got into the texturing today and its going pretty good, bit of speccy map and tomorrow some Bump for dents and dings here and there

Looking forward to putting this into the gallery sometime next week....just got to think of a decnet image .....


Feedback always welcome.


cheers

HOME (http://www.lee-ray.com)

[Bar]

I like it a lot. You can never have too much weathering!
bar.

[indianna500]

Cheers

Yeah, I know what you mean :-), but thtas the problem: before you know it all of your nice subtle details get covered in c**p and you have to start all over again :-)

Paint chipping, thats where I need more patience to blend the sharper edges into the base metal and primes layers.

Anyone out there know any good tutorials on weathering spaceships?

[Bar]

Cheers

Yeah, I know what you mean :-), but that's the problem: before you know it all of your nice subtle details get covered in c**p and you have to start all over again :-)

I am totally serious...
You can NEVER have too much weathering!
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g19/All_the_good_usernames_are_taken/arcweathered1b.jpg
:D

[Mex]

Indianna, you and your arc gave me my first smile for today :)

[indianna500]

I am totally serious...
You can NEVER have too much weathering!
http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g19/All_the_good_usernames_are_taken/arcweathered1b.jpg
:D

Bloody hell she`s seen some action!! :-)

Dont want to push her to that extreme, and the other thing I forgot to mention was I am doing this as a game art piece for my folio the problwm is basically texture space at present shes got ONE 1024x1024, in order to speed up the process i ahve used a lot of shared surfaces: the wings have a top and a bottom but they are mirrored, so the problem I would have is if I have any REALLY drastic damage as in your model it will mirror onto the other wing, creating a weird Raushact test ( spelling?), or a butterfly effect. Before I would have `layered` another poly over the top with damage painted onto an alpha map, for this I think I will just add another texture for the opposite side of the ship this will allow me to add more asyemtrical deatil and dirt but probably would not feature in a game.

Cheers for you comments.

[indianna500]

Morning all,

Okay she`s as done as I want to do within the two and a bit weeks I set myself to do this

Final score ( Including interior and three clone pilots)

52,427 Tri-Polys

one 1024x1024 texture

Heres some wireframe/textured comparisons. Final image to be posted in the Gallery soon.

[Bar]

Bloody hell she`s seen some action!! :-)

Dont want to push her to that extreme
I didn't mean you had to go my route!
My Arc-170 is meant to be one which flew the Battle Of Coruscant, and survived...
No mean feat, i'm sure...
Yours is looking great.
Keep up the good work.
bar.

[Lee80]

thats one sweet lookin fighter, great job :thumb:

[Alnair]

Excellent work!

[indianna500]

cheers guys appreciate it.

having fun with the final image:

`Arcs of the Grand Republic`,

very pretentious title :-)

question is daylight or sunset?, I like both can I post both?.

[Lee80]

cheers guys appreciate it.

having fun with the final image:

`Arcs of the Grand Republic`,

very pretentious title :-)

question is daylight or sunset?, I like both can I post both?.

sound good to me :D

[Dallidas]

that last render looks a bit blurry for some reason, but still awesome!

[indianna500]

HI All

Welll here`s the start of the Gallery image `Arcs of the grand Republic`


will continue this thread now over at 2D WIP, so until I come back with something else 3D, Thanks to everyone for their views and encouragement.


:-)

[Lee80]

nice pic..:)

[indianna500]

that last render looks a bit blurry for some reason, but still awesome!



are you talking about the motion blur on the clouds?, i wanted to make it feel like it was a film still, the camera tracking the Arcs as they fly past , keeping them focused and therefore showing motion blur on the clouds. If you didn`t read that then thats something I will have to tweak :-)
thanks for your post..

[Mex]

Oh yes, nice picture. But couldn't you add a third arc in the background? the right upper edge of the picture feels so empty^^

[indianna500]

Yeah, I did think about that myself, I actually had six in there to start with but I felt like you really didn`t kno whwere to look first :-), maybe have a paly around again with it see if I can get it to work, origonally I was going to have a moon up there but as its blurred now it would probably look bad.

[indianna500]

Final credited image

[Mex]

Yeah! :thumb:

but did you forget to smooth a part of the engines?

[indianna500]

Well spotted, I chose to emphasiss the square sections, just a bit of self indulgence on my part :-)
I am sure the die-hards out there will be annoyed but hey its my version, :-)

P.S.

Heres the last images I have done for my website of the ARC-1790Thanks to all who have viewed, and posted comments....I shall return!! :-)

[stonky]

Very nice!

[Bar]

Indeed.
Good work, dude.
bar.

[al3d]

Looks cool...but it as realy a gamish look to it for some reason!...

[OhWillow]

Looks cool...but it as realy a gamish look to it for some reason!...

al3d has a point.. the mesh is great, though some curved surfaces need smoothening, but the reason it looks gamish is cause of the texture. u need to use a higher resolution texture map. what i usually do is increase the dimensions while creating the map but retain the proportion. for instance instead of a 500x500 map, go with 2500x 2500 for example, or less if u feel it made enough of a difference. means more work, but u get a crisper and more detailed map on ur model and it'll look more realistic and u wont see pixellation on close up shots. its a lovely model, so u might as well go all out, right?:D

[indianna500]

al3d has a point.. the mesh is great, though some curved surfaces need smoothening, but the reason it looks gamish is cause of the texture. u need to use a higher resolution texture map. what i usually do is increase the dimensions while creating the map but retain the proportion. for instance instead of a 500x500 map, go with 2500x 2500 for example, or less if u feel it made enough of a difference. means more work, but u get a crisper and more detailed map on ur model and it'll look more realistic and u wont see pixellation on close up shots. its a lovely model, so u might as well go all out, right?:D


I think what happened was the renders were done at 1900 by 600 and then converted from tiff to jpeg, artifacts were generated there, plus the lighting probably was bang on, too much intensity on the directional and the dark background seems to emphasis it.

the testure was painted at 2048 by2048 and then cropped down to 1024.

It has been built with next gen game specs in mind for normal mapping so i wanted to try and keep a lid on the poly count going out of control.

I may do some more renders of it but as the final image

http://www.scifi-meshes.com/gallery/showphoto.php/photo/1432/limit/recent

scored 10/10 I dont feel It would improve by much. thanks for you comments .

[OhWillow]

scored 10/10 I dont feel It would improve by much. thanks for you comments .
in that case ignore everything i said
:)

[indianna500]

in that case ignore everything i said
:)


Never!!, If someone has gone to the time of showing interest in your work it would be rude and very stupid not to hear what they have to say :-)

I got that 10/10 because someone gave me a kick up the butt about the lack of spec on my render, always good to have constructive crit

Thanks again.

P.S. I hate JPEG :-(

[al3d]

ok...1024 maps..but how many maps are used?

[indianna500]

One 1024x1024, as I said Game specs, you have to unwrap the UV and squeeze them all onto one texture for faster loading times, you can probably see that its mirrored as well, the more surfaces you share the higher res you can make them, the downside is you cant have any really distinct damage as it would `butterfly` onto the other side, which would look crap. Subfacing was used on the PS2 where a damge texture or decal would be applied to create a more random damage pattern this would involve copying the polygon benath and making it a child of the origonal in the hierachy.

I admit I didn`t do that.....:-(

[indianna500]

heres the texture thats on my website.

Left is the UV Unwrao snapshot, Right the texture.

[al3d]

heres the texture thats on my website.

Left is the UV Unwrao snapshot, Right the texture.

DUDE..no wonder it looks like that...you can't acheave good photoreal CG like that...for a game maybe, but not for photoreal..my falcon is using something like 40 UV maps..each between 2000x2000 and 5000x5000...

[TheGreatRaja]

yeah, unless your putting this into a game, map the hell out of it :D

[Bar]

But remember, guys, the entire idea of this project was to make a ship which would be at the upper limit of modern games machines. It's not to make the best CG ship in the world, just to make one that would work in a game.
At least, that's what i understood...
bar.

[Howard Day]

An upper limit texture map would be on the order of 4096x4096 or 2048x2048. If you want to go upper limit, I suggest hitting multiple 2048x2048s - One for diffuse ,spec, glows, normals, and ambient occlusion. That would be far more realistic when dealing with upper limit game machines. PCs, of course - not consoles. Consoles... you're probably looking at no more than 3-4 1024x1024s.

[indianna500]

An upper limit texture map would be on the order of 4096x4096 or 2048x2048. If you want to go upper limit, I suggest hitting multiple 2048x2048s - One for diffuse ,spec, glows, normals, and ambient occlusion. That would be far more realistic when dealing with upper limit game machines. PCs, of course - not consoles. Consoles... you're probably looking at no more than 3-4 1024x1024s.

check out the work on my website: HOME (http://www.lee-ray.com)


i am working within the range of doable xbox 360 ranges, as in console. I will always love to go higher, but as I am looking for full time employment again I need to bear these restrictions in mind.


ahyone out there out there with true next gen experience please feel free to weigh in and settle some arguments :-)


I am flattered that people are so fueled up to comment, thank you SCIFI_MESHES

[indianna500]

But remember, guys, the entire idea of this project was to make a ship which would be at the upper limit of modern games machines. It's not to make the best CG ship in the world, just to make one that would work in a game.
At least, that's what i understood...
bar.

Thanks Bar you cant keep track of something unless its from the start.

[Lee80]

i think it looks pretty good...

[indianna500]

I am happy with it as a game asset :-)

[al3d]

ah,..for a game..then it looks greath..;)....tough you were looking for photoreal man..hehe..me bad...in 3D, game models and like the little brother everybody hates...ahahaha

[indianna500]

No worries, its going in the folio as i am re-applying for work in the games industry. its ironic that a lot of people send in extremely Hi-Poly models to game comapnies and cant understand when they dont get hired. It pays to build at varying poly counts after all its harder to make it look good at low counts. :-)

[Andrew March]

As mentioned for a game asset, it's cool but why limit your potential employers to game publishers, you've obviously got talent and I think you could easily take this to the next level.

Go for it, humour us, produce a really high end model with textures to match.

[jay-mo]

Pic looks great man. I have to agree that image doesn't look photoreal, it looks very illustrative to me like a painting or box art. I don't think that it would take much to make it photo real, barring the segmentation. Maybe a little work on the lighting set up, and maybe sharpen up some of the textures. Where I live, it seems that the game industry are the only providers for any type of CG jobs. I'm an hour away from Raven, and an hour away from everyone that's in Chicago. IT seems that this might be my only path, if I want to do anything CG. Your work is kinda inspiring, showing what you can do with low poly. I've have to admit that I've always tried to keep my models as low poly as possible.

[indianna500]

Thanks ,its a tricky one, I am so used to doing game art, over 11years now, that I kind of feel its probably the easiest route for me to take, back into a salary job, so I am concious of being sensible when I build up my folio
As for limiting me employers: I am no spring chciken, 37, happily married and with two kids, and like yourself the only employment around here is in games, I know people who are in Film and its a rewarding career but you have to like be mobile :six months here six there, you really cant consider it with a family not if you want them to grow up normally. Some people will disagree I am sure but thats my take on it.We are well and truly settled here, but the problem i have is waiting for companies to get their projects funded so I can get a job:-(, the longer this takes though the more I will have to consider working away from home again, which can be rough.


I have posted up some of my own concept work from my script here

http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/3d-wips/4714-gleaners-aka-trash-trawlers.html

As a compromise I will be building up one of my own designs and will try to make it as photorealistic as possible, much advice will be sort :-)

[indianna500]

lol, I love the fact this has dropped from a 4 star to a 2, jeez you fellas really hate your game art, :-)

Anyhow having had a lot of requests for plans of the ARC as they are pretty hard to find ( trust me I found out the hard way) here are some orthos of the LOW poly mesh I made for this thread and the `Arcs of the Grand Republic` ( a 10 in the image Gallery, Yeah Go figure!). Hope they are useful to anyone else out there.

Ciao Daddios and happy modelling

[spudmonkey]

Looks too high poly to me, but then again, the last console I worked with was the DS and that has a max of 2000 visible triangles...! Nice work on the model; the poly distribution is pretty good, the texture sheet could be a little bit better laid out, but it's not far off.

I wouldn't take the star ratings too seriously... You have only had 3 voters here, and most people thought you were building something higher poly, so clearly it looks more than good enough for a game!

[indianna500]

Cheers,

I felt that the texture layout was as economical as possible I mirrored it to save space, if you could suggest any way of laying it out better I would like to hear.

currently I am working for a games company that only gives the artist one 1024x1024 per vehicle so I think i was pretty close with my initial guess. the Poly count ironically was way over.........ah the irony :-)

[Larsen]

Looks really cool... very well modeled:thumb:

[Pyrocitor]

Looks really good man :thumb:

What is the poly count, from what I've heard on the new consoles some of the hi-rez meshes are hitting the 20,000 mark.

[al3d]

i just love that ship...just a shame it's such low rez.

[indianna500]

The final version came in around 60,000 and the plan was to surface sample it onto a 10,000 version but i never got round to it. ( sad excuse i know)

Maybe there should be a Game/Low-Poly 3D work thread, I would think quite a few members and visitors work or want to work in games and it would be interesting to see what results can be achieved with strict limits.

[al3d]

The final version came in around 60,000 and the plan was to surface sample it onto a 10,000 version but i never got round to it. ( sad excuse i know)

Maybe there should be a Game/Low-Poly 3D work thread, I would think quite a few members and visitors work or want to work in games and it would be interesting to see what results can be achieved with strict limits.

Where did you find reference forit?..i alwayes wanted to do a model of it..but never found good refs of it...

[indianna500]

it was a tough one, in fact I never found any. I got a copy of the prequel chronicles book, ( yep the pricey one) the was a half page on it which included a really blurry and small plan drawing this was what i used as a start for the general proportions and arrangement, i also used the cross sections book to help with some idea of the interior, eventually i ended up buying the snap together kit which was really useful dealing with how the canopy blended with the main hull.

I posted this after a few people over the last six months had emailed me asking for the plans I used to make actual physical models, one guy wants to make a real flying version so I obviously did what I could, whetherit works I dont know.

[al3d]

it was a tough one, in fact I never found any. I got a copy of the prequel chronicles book, ( yep the pricey one) the was a half page on it which included a really blurry and small plan drawing this was what i used as a start for the general proportions and arrangement, i also used the cross sections book to help with some idea of the interior, eventually i ended up buying the snap together kit which was really useful dealing with how the canopy blended with the main hull.

I posted this after a few people over the last six months had emailed me asking for the plans I used to make actual physical models, one guy wants to make a real flying version so I obviously did what I could, whetherit works I dont know.

i just sent a mail to a friend at ILM..maybe i'll be lucky

[indianna500]

yeah, do share if you manage to get any decent ref, oh and while your at it any chance for ref on the V-wing?

[indianna500]

Hi

along time ago I built this ARC 170 for my game art portfolio I was asked by a few people if I would release it for fan-film use only. At the time I couldn`t release it now i can.

I hope it will still be of use to you.

I did submit it to Sci Fi Meshes but they seem to be having a delay in uploading it .

You can however download it from Turbosquid for free, here:


3D Other Star ARC-170 Wars (http://www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/ID/441947)


All I ask in return is a credit and footage if possible of the scenes its been used in.


Have Fun

Lee

P.S. MODS,Ii dont want tot read on anyones toes using Turbosquid just want to get the mesh out to those that want it. Please feel free to edit as required.