Challenge #9 – Ozylot – Hyperspace Jumpgate

[Ozylot]

Thought I'd have a go at this...seems that spheres are a popular theme.


A small indicator flashed on the instrument panel. The frieghter captain looked up at the display. The gate was within sight now. From this distance it just looked like a common moon. As the ship approached the gate, it became clear that there was nothing natural about this object. The massive rings of the field coils and various transit ways made the gate seem more like a massive ball of metal yarn.

Outside, the freighter began it's turn on a long arcing trajectory which would lead it into the 2km maw of the gate.

The captain smiled to himself, right on schedule, almost home.


Sketches pending.

Basically, the idea is that ships enter the structure from the top and fly into the portal. The gate is the key element in a vast galactic trade route system. It functions by switching destinations around the various outlying systems, linking them to the core worlds.

The gate was originally developed for military use with many of its vital components being extensively reverse engineered from ancient alien technology. A fact that few people are aware of though, is that the device is capable of extending its portal to a nearly 50km diameter around itself allowing it and a sizable accompanying fleet to jump simultaneously.

Over the past few centuries the device's role in galactic trade has lead to the creation of six cities on its exterior surface. These serve as hubs for various merchants and governments to conduct trade negotiations.

And the pictures...

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething01.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething01.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething02.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething02.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething03.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething03.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething04.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething04.jpg)

[CrimsonLine]

Wow! Much coolness! I love the color contrast!

[BEMEUP]

Hey, that's no moon that's....

Very cool design! Lots of room for those design elements you do so well. :cool:

[Ronin]

nice work, reminds me of homeworld and the Balcorra Gate (exept that was a ring).

Like the City-on-the-surface idea, but i can't yet tell what part is from the device and what part is city ... i asume that comes with the details.

will it be two ways ? ingoing ships go in upper side and outgoing come out at lower side or how does it work ?

what size are you targeting ?

[Ozylot]

nice work, reminds me of homeworld and the Balcorra Gate (exept that was a ring).

Like the City-on-the-surface idea, but i can't yet tell what part is from the device and what part is city ... i asume that comes with the details.

will it be two ways ? ingoing ships go in upper side and outgoing come out at lower side or how does it work ?

what size are you targeting ?

I don't want to get too carried away, but I'm guessing in the 6km diameter range. I like your idea about the ships entering and exiting top to bottom...tbh I hadn't figured out what the lower hole was for yet.

The cities will be built on those star shaped thingies (technical term :D)


Hey, that's no moon that's....

Very cool design! Lots of room for those design elements you do so well. :cool:

in order to save time, I think I'll have to be a bit repetitive with the details.


Thanx everyone...more soon.

[cavebear]

This is great! Any Scifi writer would love to base a story from this place :)

[Brickhead]

Very cool start Ozylot, looking forward to seeing how this turns out.

[Dallidas]

very nice! I could imagine different styled cities on the surface(asian european etc), unless nationalities have been long forgotten. Will there be docks around the edge of the sphere?

[Ozylot]

Thanx guys! I'll have more soon!


very nice! I could imagine different styled cities on the surface(asian european etc), unless nationalities have been long forgotten. Will there be docks around the edge of the sphere?

To save time, the cities are going to be identical and mainly technological. And yes, there will be a large docking ring with hangars and such.

[Dallidas]

nifty! cant wait to see it!

[Ozylot]

Cool!

So here is my sketch...I ended up using my camera, and then I had to take the image and clean it up a little.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Refrence%20Pics/th_Dsc01184.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Refrence%20Pics/Dsc01184.jpg)

The sketch reflects the general thought process before I started modeling. Most of the ideas ended up being combined as I tested each of them in Wings.
The 'hole' at the top right is an engine design that I thought about and scraped.

I have learned some new skills in my paint program for how to clean up images. Also, by chance I found a neat little effect that I can add to my renders.

These are the unaltered renders:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething13.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething13.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething14.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething14.jpg)
and here they are after applying the effect:
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething13a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething13a.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething14a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething14a.jpg)

It seems to be more rich in detail.

Anyway, here are a few extra renders...
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething09.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething09.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething10.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething10.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething11.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething11.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething12.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething12.jpg)

[fluxfire]

Holy#&$%# thats coo..... :P

[Dallidas]

dang bro! It almost looks like a physical model!

[BEMEUP]

Looking real nice! I'd like to see you fire up those engines later...

[Dan]

Amazing, but wouldn't those engines fry the cities when fired up?

[Ozylot]

Thanx guys!


Looking real nice! I'd like to see you fire up those engines later...

I just might try that. ;)


Amazing, but wouldn't those engines fry the cities when fired up?

There is a bit of distance there, and they are angle away. Also due to the shear mass of this station, I doubt they would fire them full blast right away. Then again, some heat shields might look interesting. Hmmm...

[Ozylot]

Few more refinements...fixed some segmenting, separated the model into manageable sections, added some procedural city lights.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething15a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething15a.jpg)

[BEMEUP]

Wow that's looking fantastic! Looks almost Star Warzy...

[Road Warrior]

Man Ozy- that last render with the city lights and all is awesome!

[Ozylot]

Thanx guys!

Here is a bit more stuff around the equator. Some hangars and stuff.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething16a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething16a.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething17a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething17a.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething18a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething18a.jpg)

[Tinukedaya]

Wowow nice one

[Ozylot]

Thanx bro!

[BEMEUP]

Whoa that's big and nice!
The window lights really give it an epic look.

[Ozylot]

Thanx Bemeup!

Update!

Cut a whole bunch of panel lines into the inner shell. As an experiment I've added some more city lights in cracks. I'm not sure about it though. Thoughts?
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething25a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething25a.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething26a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething26a.jpg)

[Dallidas]

holy crap this is awe inspiring!

[Lee80]

Looks pretty good Ozy. But if the blue part inside is supposed to be glowing... you may want to do something about it catching shadows...

[CrimsonLine]

I think it looks magnifinormous!

[dredd2000]

Looks like it has come from "Homeworld" universe. I like your design very much!

[BEMEUP]

Just about ready for a few ships to fly by. Continues to inspire....

[Nodyme]

looks terribly big

[Brickhead]

Gotta say I like the city lights, very good Ozylot.

[Ozylot]

Thanx Everyone!


Looks pretty good Ozy. But if the blue part inside is supposed to be glowing... you may want to do something about it catching shadows...

It's not supposed to be 'glowing'. The light is coming from the vortex inside and shining against the inner shell. I had specifically planned for light to leak out in spots though. I am hesitant to put much detail in there as the main focus is the exterior.


Looks like it has come from "Homeworld" universe. I like your design very much!

Yes, Homeworld has always been a big source of inspiration to me. And thanx!


Just about ready for a few ships to fly by. Continues to inspire....

I probably should make some low poly ships to buzz around this thing. Although I'm not sure if that would fall under the 'environment' category.

[Road Warrior]

Looking bada$$ there Ozy. Would be bad if there was a catostrophic failure and the thing crashed in on itself!:D

[CrimsonLine]

Ozylot sez:

http://roflrazzi.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/william-shatner-why-yes.jpg?w=288&h=432

[Ozylot]

Looking bada$$ there Ozy. Would be bad if there was a catostrophic failure and the thing crashed in on itself!:D

While that would be unfortunate, it might be cool to see! :D

Which brings up an interesting thought, I might just have to build some escape pods.


Ozylot sez:

http://roflrazzi.files.wordpress.com/2008/09/william-shatner-why-yes.jpg?w=288&h=432

I humbly submit that I am not in fact, that awesome. :flippy:

[Ozylot]

This is, in fact, not an actual update. Had this been a real update, you would have seen changes to the model. :D

Just messing with lighting, materials and render settings.

Couple untextured model shots.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething28.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething28.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething29.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething29.jpg)

Different lighting...
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething30.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething30.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething31.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething31.jpg)

New HDR and some adjusted render settings...roughly 36 minutes for this render.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething32.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething32.jpg)

That part where the braces cross is next on my to do list of things to fix.

[Road Warrior]

ALL those images look great man!

looks like someone was told to build a deathstar........without any plans! hehe just kidding man. Realy like the renders with the blue background the second one in particular.

[fluxfire]

New HDR and some adjusted render settings...roughly 36 minutes for this render.


How many pollys and what kind of video card are you running? I am always interested to know just how much detail goes into ones work......

Still thought that gate would be sweet in a mini movie :D

[Dallidas]

love the clay renders! The textures seem a bit wonky, but im sure they arent final.

[Tinukedaya]

Well. No words good enough for this, so I won't say anything.

[chrono]

My largest problem, Ozylot, is that the construction elements look visually separate thus giving a slightly noobish "I boolean'ed a sphere and made ArT! HURRAHURRA!" or "Testing 1,2. Testing 1,2,3.." look. So IMO you need to add some polish, extra strategically placed greebles, and surface alterations to remove that feel.

[BEMEUP]

So where do I land again?

Awesome work Ozy!

[Ozylot]

Thanx everone!


How many pollys and what kind of video card are you running? I am always interested to know just how much detail goes into ones work......

Still thought that gate would be sweet in a mini movie :D

[Octree Analysis (192788 triangles, 202816 nodes, 145174 leaves, 0 unmeshed objects, 0 instances, 25Mb memory)]

Line taken from the console log of my renderer. I am running a P4 1.72 Ghz with 1.5gig ram. ATI radeon 7600 video. Old...but stable.


love the clay renders! The textures seem a bit wonky, but im sure they arent final.

wonky eh? I'll look into it.


My largest problem, Ozylot, is that the construction elements look visually separate thus giving a slightly noobish "I boolean'ed a sphere and made ArT! HURRAHURRA!" or "Testing 1,2. Testing 1,2,3.." look. So IMO you need to add some polish, extra strategically placed greebles, and surface alterations to remove that feel.

Excellent point. I now have some more ideas for greeblings. Going to build some structural elements which will anchor the cities and rings onto the surface. Thanx!

[Dallidas]

I'm referring to the first environmental render. The really bright part looks like its been cut up

[fluxfire]

Heh wow interesting setup. and i thought it was way more polys then that...... would you recommend a workstation card over a gaming card???

[RewiredMonkey]

Toooo coool....looks like a mean gyroscope thing. Seeing that thing with each layer rotating in opposite directions would be sweeeet.

[Ozylot]

I'm referring to the first environmental render. The really bright part looks like its been cut up

Yeah, that's a result of the mapping I have set up. I will see if I can tweak it to be a little better.


Heh wow interesting setup. and i thought it was way more polys then that...... would you recommend a workstation card over a gaming card???

Not sure, I think there are many variables to consider.


Toooo coool....looks like a mean gyroscope thing. Seeing that thing with each layer rotating in opposite directions would be sweeeet.

It would be cool to see some moving parts. Although I would want to figure out how all the parts could move without bumping into each other. ;)

Thanx!

[Dallidas]

how big is this compared to your space station?

[fluxfire]

Not sure, I think there are many variables to consider.


Such as???? i know the main one is are you using your comp more for gaming as apposed to modeling..... In my case its more modeling then gaming and the few games i do play i could do them on a workstation card....


and I too wonder the size comparison against your station :p Still though it does seem like it needs some thing added to it not sure what though...

[Ozylot]

how big is this compared to your space station?

I would say that they are both very comparable. Around the 6km diameter range.


Such as???? i know the main one is are you using your comp more for gaming as apposed to modeling..... In my case its more modeling then gaming and the few games i do play i could do them on a workstation card....


and I too wonder the size comparison against your station :p Still though it does seem like it needs some thing added to it not sure what though...

It's missing details ;)

I think even a gaming system would have advantages too though as it would no doubt be able to handle 3d graphics better. I could be wrong though.

[fluxfire]

Well here is the setup i am am running and i still get problems with high poly count......

Amd 9550
Msi K9A2 Platinum
Vision Tek Radeon 3870 512mb GDDR4 (factory overclocked )
8gb Patriot PC6400 DDR2 - 800Mhz
1.6TB HDD (total)

Even with that i still think i should maybe switch over to a workstation card instead....
But i could be wrong.....


Details yes that's it does look kinda empty in places......

[rojren]

So far, there's been Star Wars comparisons, and Homeworld comparisons, but the first thing I though of was Moonbase Alpha, or maybe Clavius Base.

Whatever the comparison, it looks great.

[Ozylot]

So far, there's been Star Wars comparisons, and Homeworld comparisons, but the first thing I though of was Moonbase Alpha, or maybe Clavius Base.

Whatever the comparison, it looks great.

Ah yes, of course. The cities are similar to that. Wasn't intentional though. Good eye.

Thanx! More soon.

[liam887]

wow the models amazing, It reminds me of the game colony wars on the PS1, it had these giant sphere battle stations. I like the last render the extra lights give a sense of scale, make it look huge and imposing, the colors in the background image of the tender make it stand out as well, did you make it yourself as I was thinking of having such a vivid image as a background for my entry?

[Ozylot]

wow the models amazing, It reminds me of the game colony wars on the PS1, it had these giant sphere battle stations. I like the last render the extra lights give a sense of scale, make it look huge and imposing, the colors in the background image of the tender make it stand out as well, did you make it yourself as I was thinking of having such a vivid image as a background for my entry?

Thanx!

The backgrounds are made myself. The red one I have been using is a sunrise that I took a picture of and modified into a space nebula. The image wraps around the scene without any seam.

The blue one was done using procedurals in Kerkythea.

[Ozylot]

Update!

More details...been trying to develop the various rings some more.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething35a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething35a.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething36a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething36a.jpg)

[Dimitriy]

reminds me of Homeworld stuff somehow....great work Ozy

[Dallidas]

looking better and better mate!

[star_creations]

This is Amazing work, I wish i was this good....it is just Incredible....you have done a amazing job...Wow.

[Sphynx]

Information regarding Challenge #10 (http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/challenge-wips/54880-sensei-challenge-10-primitives-motion.html) has now been released.

[Ozylot]

Thanx everyone!

Bit more, doubled the amount of buildings in the cities. Also added a whole bunch of braces to further anchor the ring sections.

http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething39a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething39a.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething40a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething40a.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething41a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething41a.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething42a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething42a.jpg)

[Tinukedaya]

This stuff is amazing!!!

[cavebear]

This is truely award worthy! Someone, grab a writer out of the science fiction writers forum and get them to work! There's gotta be a story with this Jumpgate "city station" written! :thumb::thumb:

[dredd2000]

Impressive. Most impressive!

[Ozylot]

Thanx everyone!


Impressive. Most impressive!

No doubt the emperor will be pleased. :D

[Dallidas]

So what ships are you gonna use with this?

[Ozylot]

So what ships are you gonna use with this?

Well, I'm not sure if I can use any of my existing ships. I had planned on making some new low poly ones.

[Dallidas]

anything i can contribute? Maybe for the group challenge?

[dredd2000]

No doubt the emperor will be pleased.
Yes, I'm sure. Great work.

[Ozylot]

Thanx Dredd2000!


anything i can contribute? Maybe for the group challenge?

That could be an option. Sure!

[CrimsonLine]

Might be cool to have my brick-ship going through the jump gate... :)

But that would mean finishing it. :) And texturing it.

[BEMEUP]

Really lovin' this concept Ozy, continues to look great!

[fluxfire]

Ah the detail work....... its either fun or drives you mad

[Ozylot]

Thanx guys!


Might be cool to have my brick-ship going through the jump gate... :)

But that would mean finishing it. :) And texturing it.

Am I seeing a group forming for challenge 10?

:D

[Ozylot]

Sorry for the WIP spam, been messing alot with render settings.

In lighting up the engines, it seems I have stumbled upon a bit of a breakthrough. Not quite sure how I did it actually. In the past whenever I used mesh emitters it would drastically increase the render time. The console indicates there are 80 mesh lights active in the scene and it only increased my render time by about 3 minutes. (from 5 to 8) Going to review my settings to see if I can duplicate them.

Also in this update, I fixed a bunch of the really noticeable segmenting problems.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething43a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething43a.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething44a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething44a.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething45a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething45a.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething46a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething46a.jpg)

[chrono]

Looks like everyone whats to play with your ball!

As for the new lights, better. :) And if you figure out what you've done all the better! But from what I've seen they are barely emitting so don't involved much geometry in their calculations.

[CrimsonLine]

I'll be honest, I'd love to partner with you. But scale-wise, I don't know how dramatic a scene it would be. My brick ship is fairly small, compared to your jump-gate. It's maybe the size of a small warehouse. And it's in Blender. We'd have to render our components separately, working out a coordinated lighting scheme, and composite the elements together. Yikes!

[Ozylot]

Looks like everyone whats to play with your ball!

As for the new lights, better. :) And if you figure out what you've done all the better! But from what I've seen they are barely emitting so don't involved much geometry in their calculations.

From a mesh standpoint, the circular n-gon inside the engine cylinders is a material with a radiance color, but with the emitter checkbox un-checked. I then modeled a square single sided polygon floating in the engine well, facing the circular n-gon. The floating square is the emitter. To be sure, I also unchecked the 'visible' box on its material. Still need to double check some of the other settings though.

I'm going to try to duplicate this in another project then tweak some render settings to try to get it down pat.


I'll be honest, I'd love to partner with you. But scale-wise, I don't know how dramatic a scene it would be. My brick ship is fairly small, compared to your jump-gate. It's maybe the size of a small warehouse. And it's in Blender. We'd have to render our components separately, working out a coordinated lighting scheme, and composite the elements together. Yikes!

I'm fairly confident that it can work. When I export my mesh from Wings3D, I use OBJ format. That can be easily imported into kerkythea for rendering. Plus, your ship and maybe dallidas' ship could be in the foreground on approach or something. Just the first idea that comes to mind.

Anyway, if you want to give it a go, that's fine, if not...that's fine too. :)

[Dallidas]

Perhaps they updated it in the newest version? Either way it looks good!

[CrimsonLine]

I'll work double hard in the next few days to finish up the Brick.

Plus, my in-laws are coming over Christmas, which often mysteriously inspires me to hang out in front of my computer for lon stretches at a time... :)

[chrono]

From a mesh standpoint, the circular n-gon inside the engine cylinders is a material with a radiance color, but with the emitter checkbox un-checked. I then modeled a square single sided polygon floating in the engine well, facing the circular n-gon. The floating square is the emitter. To be sure, I also unchecked the 'visible' box on its material. Still need to double check some of the other settings though.

I'm going to try to duplicate this in another project then tweak some render settings to try to get it down pat.

Yep that would keep the render time down because each emitter square would only be 2 lights AND limiting your light bounce as well. :cool:

[Ozylot]

Well, I have reduced the number of lights to 50 by collapsing the squares into single triangles. (also added a single poly light for each hangar) From what I can see, it seems that a major factor in render speed is just how much light is being produced by the mesh lights. Because although I reduced the number of mesh lights, I made the existing ones slightly bigger and a little brighter. This has put me around 20 minutes for renders. At some point I should run an experiment where each mesh light is replaced with an omin, or spot and compare render times.

Anyway, on with the update...built a transit network of sorts on the surface, fixed some problem areas and added some more detail parts to some of the rings. Also rearranged some of the mesh sections between files. I also fixed those awful stars in the background by replacing them with procedural ones.
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething48a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething48a.jpg)http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething49a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething49a.jpg)
So it's pretty much done now unless there are any other suggestions etc...
(I reserve the right to add more details without notice)

[chrono]

Image 49a

Where the light strikes the surface and causes bloom you can see facets & triangulation. Maybe you should tweak the shader setting?

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Gonna have to try that lighting out myself! It gives a fairly decent glow. But I gotta wonder how much the post-op'ing is effecting it....

[Ozylot]

Image 49a

Where the light strikes the surface and causes bloom you can see facets & triangulation. Maybe you should tweak the shader setting?

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Gonna have to try that lighting out myself! It gives a fairly decent glow. But I gotta wonder how much the post-op'ing is effecting it....

Wow, how close to the screen was your face when you saw that? I had to get real close...:D

It's not triangulation, that would be way more polys then I was using for that section. I think its just the tiling of the texture. But I'll look into it anyway.

I didn't do any specific post on the glows in those last two pics. All I added was a touch of bloom to the whole image. Otherwise it's 100% KT. The glow is mainly a result of the geometry shape and positioning of the lights.

[Ozylot]

Well, I think this is going to be my final...

Learned several new things with this one:
A new technique for lighting up engines and adding glowy parts.
And a general increased knowledge of some of the finer features of paint shop.
One technique I will and already started using for artwork since this, has been a procedure for sharpening the images in a way that makes detail show up better.

EDIT:

Here is a larger version for those who would like to see...
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/th_Spherething50a.jpg (http://s93.photobucket.com/albums/l44/ozylot/Side%20projects/Spherething50a.jpg)

[Tinukedaya]

This thing is just WOW!

[Dann-O]

Ozylot you do some great work. i would like to see somethign like this in action.