[WIP] Look What I Made!

[dvatreknerd314]

So, if you don't recognize this, this is my attempt at creating the Valkyrie Mk III ship from Star Trek Invasion. One of my personal favorite designs, I haven't seen it modeled anywhere so I decided to take a stab at it! Still gotta work on weapons (which seems to be the ultimate speed bump for all of my projects), but should get done soon!

Spoiler: Image 1

Spoiler: Image 2

Spoiler: Image 3

Spoiler: Image 4

 

[Majestic]

Interesting design, solid model from the looks of it and a great texture. Well done.

 

[CABAL]

Yes, very well done!

 

[dvatreknerd314]

Got a new one, the Valor (aka Valkyrie Mk II). Suffice it to say, I still need to work on the size of the model.

Spoiler: Valor

Spoiler: Valor

Spoiler: Valor

Spoiler: Valor

 

[Chiletrek]

Hello:
I like both desiogns very much. My fav here right now would be the Valkyrie Mark III, because it looks like a nice design, useful and it does give a sense of a strong ship that can take on any opponent .

Keep it up!

 

[dvatreknerd314]

I made another pretty!

Spoiler: Zandura

Spoiler: Zandura

Spoiler: Zandura

Spoiler: Zandura

This is the Zandura Class, one of the concepts for Star Trek First Contact that never made it on screen

 

[dvatreknerd314]

So I decided to make the Typhon from Star Trek Invasion as I'm not satisfied with the current Armada-available models out there. I've attached what the model looks like for right now. I'm hoping to eventually release it, along with my Valor and Vigilant pack and a few other fighters, to bundle the Typhon and its six fighters from Invasion.

I'm also at the point on this model where I don't wanna mess with texture stuff right now. Might start that tomorrow or something.

 

[Majestic]

Nice start mate, can't wait to see her textured, textures either make or break a model.

 

[dvatreknerd314]

Also textures are easier to change

 

[dvatreknerd314]

Got some preliminary textures added. Will be adding things like torpedoes, more phasers, windows, etc etc later

 

[Majestic]

Great start on the texturing. She is starting to come together

 

[MajorPayne]

Okay so an adequate start but I strongly suggest using ALL the available resource images available including the official ones from the FMV footage to get the ship as accurate as possible. Also, just for the record, with unique ships quality over quantity. If the poly count is quite low I would give some serious attention to adding mesh detail and set yourself a target poly count around 5k. I did mine around 10 years ago so its seriously outdated.

 

[dvatreknerd314]

Is the FMV footage the cutscenes from the game?

 

[MajorPayne]

Hopefully, these images should show. They are of the version used in the original game FMV shots (model is around the 300,000 poly mark):

http://s4.photobucket.com/user/RogueWolf/media/Sci Fi/Star Trek/USS Typhon/typhonb.jpg.html
http://s4.photobucket.com/user/RogueWolf/media/Sci Fi/Star Trek/USS Typhon/typhona.jpg.html
http://s4.photobucket.com/user/RogueWolf/media/Sci Fi/Star Trek/USS Typhon/typhonc.jpg.html

The very low poly version is based on this one (although the texture for it is far more "cartoony" in terms of how it looks).

Video might not be brilliant but you can see the various ships from the game in this as well.

 

[dvatreknerd314]

Well, decided to take a closer look at the video and images posted and changed my model a bit. Definitely not satisfied with the back of the craft, and I can't figure out why. If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

 

[CABAL]

If you pause the video MAP posted at 1:20, it looks like the rear section has some sort of groove. It's also very briefly visible at 3:42. That could help to make it less bland. At 5:44 you can also see something blue glowing back there, but I have no idea what it is.

On a related note, the game seems to have given the Ent-E another refit; look at the nacelles around the two minute mark. The 3:10 mark is also a good view of them.

 

[dvatreknerd314]

The blue glowing parts in the rear are two rear shuttle bays. I tried to duplicate those on my model but they are much further forward than the ones in the video. And I think that's the Sentinel, not the Ent-E

 

[Adm_Z]

The progress looks amazing so far. I assume you have seen this?

 

[dvatreknerd314]

The progress looks amazing so far. I assume you have seen this?

I have, as well as the in-game model. That's why I had the fighter bays on the sides of the ship as it appeared in the game model and I liked the idea.

I've attached the new backside of the ship. Still not sure what to think about it, but the rear shuttlebays aren't driving me crazy anymore.

Also, does anyone know if it's more efficient for a model to use multiple 256X256 textures or a few 512X512 textures?

 

[Majestic]

I have, as well as the in-game model. That's why I had the fighter bays on the sides of the ship as it appeared in the game model and I liked the idea.

I've attached the new backside of the ship. Still not sure what to think about it, but the rear shuttlebays aren't driving me crazy anymore.

Also, does anyone know if it's more efficient for a model to use multiple 256X256 textures or a few 512X512 textures?

It's best to use a single texture file, as the game only needs to process one file. I would also look at using a single 1024 file, I have been known with FO to use 2048 files in recent times, though I also use 1024 which I think is best as it can be used in stock A2 as well.

 

[CABAL]

I've attached the new backside of the ship. Still not sure what to think about it, but the rear shuttlebays aren't driving me crazy anymore.

That looks much more interesting, but I agree that there is something off. Looking at the concept art that Z posted, maybe make the groove in the back a little narrower and have it wrap around the dorsal and ventral sides? Also, both the dorsal and ventral structures on the aft of the ship seem to have a slanted end in the concept art where yours are straight vertical. I hope that last sentence wasn't too vague.

And I think that's the Sentinel, not the Ent-E

The beginning of the video MAP posted showed a close up of the Ent-E's hull so I didn't realize there was a different Sovvie in the game. Still a distinct and interesting nacelle design. I wonder why it's never been used again?

 

[dvatreknerd314]

Tweaked the rear just a bit, looks a little better but still not sure, especially not sure about the rear shuttlebays

 

[dvatreknerd314]

So, odd question. It seems that each time I try to texture something for Armada, the model ends up looking a bit flat in the way of textures. It doesn't seem to have as much in the way of shadows as it should and a lot of the edges don't show up very well once I put it in-game. I'm not sure if it's something with my material settings in A2 or if it's the map I'm using or something else, but if anyone's had this problem before, can you let me know what I'm doing wrong? Thanks!

 

[Majestic]

It could be the material name settings. Check out the tutorial section there is a thread created by me about material settings. I also posted a link to it in the shout thread answering your post in there.

 

[dvatreknerd314]

So I finally got the new texture applied. Thanks for your suggestion Maj!

What do you all think? Please ignore the fact that this has every window ever and that the nacelles are lightly colored as I plan on fixing those after I go to bed. Also please note that my goal for this is not to create a hyper-accurate depiction of the Typhon as the box cover and in-game movie model did not have a lot of detail that looked like it would show up well in Armada. Also, I'm planning on this ship being somewhere around the Avalon's equivalent, in that a user will probably build multiple Typhons.

 

[Adm_Z]

Looks fantastic! The only critique I would have is that the windows look a bit big, but you said they are unfinished, so I am not sure if that is just temporary.

 

[Majestic]

Looks fantastic! The only critique I would have is that the windows look a bit big, but you said they are unfinished, so I am not sure if that is just temporary.

Not to mention way too many. Still looking forward to seeing this evolve.

 

[dvatreknerd314]

Does this look better as far as window size (not number)? This is part of texturing I'm not very skilled at...

 

[Majestic]

I would half their size, the way I look at it is I imagine the size of the bridge and how big the people are and them estimate the window sizes off that. I would also reduce the number of window by around 60%

 

[dvatreknerd314]

the way I look at it is I imagine the size of the bridge and how big the people are and them estimate the window sizes off that. I would also reduce the number of window by around 60%

Decided to make the bridge taller instead as the actual size of the Typhon should be less than the Sovereign. Also, the number of windows will be reduced soon, I just need to look closely at how other artists are distributing their windows so I get a good idea of what to do with mine