Okay, I rebuilt the fubar'd interior surface of the sails, only this time I managed to do it with about 15,000 fewer polygons! Current total poly count for the entire model stands at 479,200, so it looks like I'm coming in under the half-million mark after all. I also finished off the slots and panel lines in the trailing edges of the aft ring fins, added back the hinged panels over the forward Nielsen generators, and cleaned up and renamed about 300 objects. Tomorrow I'm going to finish off a few remaining details and see if I can't get the rest of the objects properly organized. Without further ado, here's another batch of near-complete WIP images:
I'm betting this is the most detailed model created for a fan film (can this still be called a fan film?).
Well, it's a very low budget independent film. Depends on how you define "fan film," but labeling isn't something I worry about too much.
I'll be delivering the model to Dennis by tomorrow, for sure this time. I've already tested the OBJ conversion and it appears to be working properly again. It's possible I may send some updates to a couple of parts and pieces later, but I'm not going to delay any further on sending the model as a whole.
I'm hoping we can finish converting it and start rendering before December. The more I look at Vektor's shots the less interested I am in clotting it up with a lot of mapped detail - some plating and weathering, but not much. So much specificity of detail is built into the mesh that if we can develop good procedural textures comparable to his for purposes of specular highlighting, etc. that'll be good.
Some details can be done with textures and others can't, at least not very well. I modeled the panel lines, for example, because they usually don't look very good textured unless you use some VERY large maps. On the other hand, I did the hex pattern on the sails as a texture map because it would have added a ridiculous amount of polys to model it and it wouldn't have looked much different. What I would mainly like to see for the texturing pass is some weathering and general wear and tear. This ship doesn't need heavy aztec patterns or hull rivets and whatnot, it just needs to look like it's not so fresh off the lot. I was even going to add some battle damage, some patched hull plating, torn or warped surfaces in a few places, but I've simply run out of time for that. If I get the chance, I'm still going to do some paintovers of a few areas just to show what I had in mind, but that's all pretty much in Dennis' hands at this point.
Good to hear that things are moving along. Please sell Polaris to SyFy. They desperately need more Sy in their Fy. A recent sampling of movies on the former SciFi Channel: Lake Placid: The Final Chapter (as if the first chapter was needed) Two Headed Shark Attack Ghost Storm Sharkoctopus Piranhaconda Arachnoquake Jersey Shore Shark Attack (One can only hope Snookie and The Situation are first in line) Snakehead Terror (set in Maryland but filmed in BC!) Dinocroc vs. Supergator (how do you make fun of this one? It writes itself.) Disaster Zone: Volcano in New York (maybe Sandy will put it out) As Johnny Carson once said, "I'm not makin' this up." Or as Jack Paar once said, "I kid you not." What has happened to this once fine cable operation? Starship Polaris to the rescue!
I, for one, would love to see Polaris on tv. However, I should point out that maybe there's a niche for craptacular b-movies which is only being filed by Syfy? It's possible they're doing what they're doing on purpose. --Alex
To truly fit in, Bruce Boxleitner would have to have been cast as Captain Fredericks. (Bruce starred in Snakehead Terror.) Thankfully, Paul Sieber got the job.
Fireshark! Starring: Michael Ironside and Denise Richards. "It's not about the Fireshark, damn it. It was never about the Fireshark!" You'll Believe A Shark Can Fly. Give me all your money. Thank you.
Again an amazing job. I'm sure I speak for other hear as well when I say thanks for posting up the WIP images and allowing us to see this puppy being created. Been both educational and a privilege... Only thing left to do: /emote pack up the popcorn machine /emote move to the Grandeur thread