Ah, okay. THAT makes more sense... 
Cheers,
-CM-
Cheers,
-CM-
"Crossbow-class" - a ship, for a change!
- Thread starter Ptrope
- Start date
At last, she's complete and launched!
Download from ShareCG.com
The latest beauty shot - I tweaked some of the textures:
I was having problems moving the mesh from Lightwave 9.5 to Poser - I kept getting smoothing artifacts in specific locations that I had split vertices specifically to prevent that. Turns out that the OBJ export in LW 9.5 doesn't seem to care - it rewelds identical vertices! I found that if I exported the mesh as a v.5 file, I could import it into Poser and then export it from there as an OBJ, but when I couldn't export the entire model from LW - too many points! - I went ahead and 'flattened' it and saved it as a v.9.5 file, and whadyaknow! Poser Pro 2010 imported it! Of course, it lost the UV-mapping, but since all I had done was split vertices and not changed any of the polys, I found that I could re-import the UVs from the previous version (it even re-grouped it correctly
) and it worked! It's a slightly cumbersome workflow, but it does the trick!
After I TRONified the ship, I decided I kind of liked the glowing lines on the deflector, so I added them permanently as an ambient map - I rationalize it as being that the deflector is actually a high-energy projector, so it makes sense that it could exhibit some ambient discharge on the surface
; incidentally, the package also includes the maps and materials for the TRONic version. They don't make the package much larger, but at 55 Mb, it's already pretty large anyway :O.
Download from ShareCG.com
The latest beauty shot - I tweaked some of the textures:
I was having problems moving the mesh from Lightwave 9.5 to Poser - I kept getting smoothing artifacts in specific locations that I had split vertices specifically to prevent that. Turns out that the OBJ export in LW 9.5 doesn't seem to care - it rewelds identical vertices! I found that if I exported the mesh as a v.5 file, I could import it into Poser and then export it from there as an OBJ, but when I couldn't export the entire model from LW - too many points! - I went ahead and 'flattened' it and saved it as a v.9.5 file, and whadyaknow! Poser Pro 2010 imported it! Of course, it lost the UV-mapping, but since all I had done was split vertices and not changed any of the polys, I found that I could re-import the UVs from the previous version (it even re-grouped it correctly
) and it worked! It's a slightly cumbersome workflow, but it does the trick!After I TRONified the ship, I decided I kind of liked the glowing lines on the deflector, so I added them permanently as an ambient map - I rationalize it as being that the deflector is actually a high-energy projector, so it makes sense that it could exhibit some ambient discharge on the surface
; incidentally, the package also includes the maps and materials for the TRONic version. They don't make the package much larger, but at 55 Mb, it's already pretty large anyway :O.
Great looking mesh, but I have a few points about the rendering.
The texturing on the hull looks blurry, and upon closer inspection looks like there's even a bump map on there that's hardly showing up. Try turning down the texture filtering (or however it's achieved in your program. I've only used Max).
And the lighting looks a bit plain and doesn't quite do justice to that fantastic model. I can't see any shadows, and maybe some final gather or AO to bring out the details.
Aside from that, the model itself is great. I love the bussard collectors.
The texturing on the hull looks blurry, and upon closer inspection looks like there's even a bump map on there that's hardly showing up. Try turning down the texture filtering (or however it's achieved in your program. I've only used Max).
And the lighting looks a bit plain and doesn't quite do justice to that fantastic model. I can't see any shadows, and maybe some final gather or AO to bring out the details.
Aside from that, the model itself is great. I love the bussard collectors.
Thanks; glad you like the ship .
The 'blurry' texture on the primary hull is intentional - there's a darker shade around the gridlines, which are embossed with a bump map - I didn't want to make them too obvious, because of the scale of the ship (as it is, they're probably a good 6" wide and deep
, and that's just so they can be seen). As for the lighting, this is actually a composite of different lighting sets to bring out the shape a little better and add a little more contrast, but it's intentionally not a 'dramatic' image, since the idea was to show off the ship a bit more. A lot of my ship renders tend to be darker and higher contrast, without so much fill light, but I wanted a more even lighting here.
.The 'blurry' texture on the primary hull is intentional - there's a darker shade around the gridlines, which are embossed with a bump map - I didn't want to make them too obvious, because of the scale of the ship (as it is, they're probably a good 6" wide and deep
, and that's just so they can be seen). As for the lighting, this is actually a composite of different lighting sets to bring out the shape a little better and add a little more contrast, but it's intentionally not a 'dramatic' image, since the idea was to show off the ship a bit more. A lot of my ship renders tend to be darker and higher contrast, without so much fill light, but I wanted a more even lighting here.
Very nice design. Good to see it in its finished state. I was amazed how good it looked in black on the 'Tron' image. Its a pity space is black otherwise I wouldn't mind seeing a few more ships of a similar colour scheme in Trek.
It's like a cheaper and less illegal cloaking device
It's like a cheaper and less illegal cloaking device
At last, she's complete and launched!
Download from ShareCG.com
The latest beauty shot - I tweaked some of the textures:
I was having problems moving the mesh from Lightwave 9.5 to Poser - I kept getting smoothing artifacts in specific locations that I had split vertices specifically to prevent that. Turns out that the OBJ export in LW 9.5 doesn't seem to care - it rewelds identical vertices! I found that if I exported the mesh as a v.5 file, I could import it into Poser and then export it from there as an OBJ, but when I couldn't export the entire model from LW - too many points! - I went ahead and 'flattened' it and saved it as a v.9.5 file, and whadyaknow! Poser Pro 2010 imported it! Of course, it lost the UV-mapping, but since all I had done was split vertices and not changed any of the polys, I found that I could re-import the UVs from the previous version (it even re-grouped it correctly
After I TRONified the ship, I decided I kind of liked the glowing lines on the deflector, so I added them permanently as an ambient map - I rationalize it as being that the deflector is actually a high-energy projector, so it makes sense that it could exhibit some ambient discharge on the surface
Good to see it finally done
and tis a ship of Buety IMHO
Looks fantastic my model kitbash is on hold at the moment but when I get some time I'll post it great pics !!!
Now that the ship is 'in the wild,' so to speak, I decided to work with it in a setting other than a WIP or promotional shot - I've been working on several poster ideas from TOS episodes lately, and in that spirit, decided to try a book cover based on a "Crossbow" series (in this case, "Crossbow" is to "U.S.S. Genoese" as "Firefly" is to "Serenity" 
).
(Clicking image downloads hugedacious 1545x2400, 1.8 Mb image - beware!)
).
(Clicking image downloads hugedacious 1545x2400, 1.8 Mb image - beware!
)
Decided last night to make the 'next book in the series.' The overall color came first, then I had to come up with a title that reflected it, without making something that involved vampires 
(No large image this time - it was nearly 3 Mb! Red just doesn't compress very well in JPEG).
(No large image this time - it was nearly 3 Mb! Red just doesn't compress very well in JPEG).
^ the 1st one makes more visual sense somehow, not that the second one is bad, the 1st one is just proper nice.
It's ba-a-a-ack!
Yep, I've started playing around with a modeled hangar deck for the Crossbow-class! Obviously, it's based on the architecture seen in NCC-1701, but with some of its own unique details and designs. And it's being modeled within the actual mesh of the ship itself, so there will be no elements that 'look good but just wouldn't fit in that ship.'
You might notice that the turntable/elevator is much farther forward than in NCC-1701 - it's also much larger; I scaled it to fit my upgraded 'skybus' shuttle, and the position here both clears that inset cut of the ship's 'fantail,' and creates a working arrangement where there's still plenty of space to land even when a ship is on the lift, going down to the 'garage.'
Yep, I've started playing around with a modeled hangar deck for the Crossbow-class! Obviously, it's based on the architecture seen in NCC-1701, but with some of its own unique details and designs. And it's being modeled within the actual mesh of the ship itself, so there will be no elements that 'look good but just wouldn't fit in that ship.'
You might notice that the turntable/elevator is much farther forward than in NCC-1701 - it's also much larger; I scaled it to fit my upgraded 'skybus' shuttle, and the position here both clears that inset cut of the ship's 'fantail,' and creates a working arrangement where there's still plenty of space to land even when a ship is on the lift, going down to the 'garage.'
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