Modelling the Protostar
- Thread starter Serin117
- Start date
Realised that in modelling the base hull shape to the orthographic I have, I'd sort of screwed myself on the 'hull armour plate' level... In that all the X and Y oriented faces along the hull needed to go about 0.5m back from their previous positions equally around each section.
So I spent a couple of hours doing that this morning.
On the bright side, I can then take the original wrong base mesh and just copy off the Z oriented faces for the hull plates - then give them some solidity. Then its just a matter of bool'ing and decaling.
Having seen even more reference, I realised that they were in fact doing some of the hull lines with geo, and some with textures/decals.
So basically I can mix between the two and get pretty damn close to spot on accuracy.
So I spent a couple of hours doing that this morning.
On the bright side, I can then take the original wrong base mesh and just copy off the Z oriented faces for the hull plates - then give them some solidity. Then its just a matter of bool'ing and decaling.
Having seen even more reference, I realised that they were in fact doing some of the hull lines with geo, and some with textures/decals.
So basically I can mix between the two and get pretty damn close to spot on accuracy.
Pretty much. I say armour, but only because that's how Rademaker used to describe the plating on his Vesta class.
Might not be the best description, but I figure it fits.
Take a look here along the top edge, and how it kinda shoots off the edge a bit?
It follows the entire saucer section, and each section thereof upwards toward the bridge.
I think its what defines a lot of the ship's unique look.
Looks great!
I usually almost always model in my details, maybe not the decals like Don't step or on that picture, the small rectangles. Been 3d printing for 6-7 years now, i'd rather have the detail in the model so I can see it on the print.
Request, could you perhapse share your references? or where you got them, unless where ever told you not to share, which is understandable, if you could!
I usually almost always model in my details, maybe not the decals like Don't step or on that picture, the small rectangles. Been 3d printing for 6-7 years now, i'd rather have the detail in the model so I can see it on the print.
Request, could you perhapse share your references? or where you got them, unless where ever told you not to share, which is understandable, if you could!
Thanks! And yeah same. I think there'll be 3d printing in the future for this as well. Though it'll be like a thousand USD 30cm long....
Looks great!
I usually almost always model in my details, maybe not the decals like Don't step or on that picture, the small rectangles. Been 3d printing for 6-7 years now, i'd rather have the detail in the model so I can see it on the print.
Request, could you perhapse share your references? or where you got them, unless where ever told you not to share, which is understandable, if you could!
So I can still bake out these decals and do a displacement map for printing detail. Bit of a pain, but its possible.
Complete pain in the ass though, obviously.
As to the references, yeah - you're spot on. I can't share them, unfortunately.
I quite understand if that changes we'd love to see them.
I have worked out baking!
Turns out DecalMachine's inbuilt baker works just fine, though I do miss out on the parallax effect that the decal-based strips have.
The other potential issue is the stupid number of individual materials/UV maps I'm gonna end up with. All likely in 4K so I can zoom in without it getting pixel'd.
Other than that though, I'm happy as Larry about this!
(The baked hull plates are the middle front, the big middle one in front of the bridge, and that one on the side with the two little yellow triangles.)
Turns out DecalMachine's inbuilt baker works just fine, though I do miss out on the parallax effect that the decal-based strips have.
The other potential issue is the stupid number of individual materials/UV maps I'm gonna end up with. All likely in 4K so I can zoom in without it getting pixel'd.
Other than that though, I'm happy as Larry about this!
(The baked hull plates are the middle front, the big middle one in front of the bridge, and that one on the side with the two little yellow triangles.)
Now that the STO version is floating around, I can finally get to finishing this off.
Looks like I was pretty close. Couple of obvious differences - bridge position and surrounding elements. And the panels in front of it extending a little further out.
I can fix the bridge no problem. I think I'll leave the panels though.
Now its just a thing of waiting for the high res textures from the game, and modelling all that detail into my version.
Looks like I was pretty close. Couple of obvious differences - bridge position and surrounding elements. And the panels in front of it extending a little further out.
I can fix the bridge no problem. I think I'll leave the panels though.
Now its just a thing of waiting for the high res textures from the game, and modelling all that detail into my version.
I reckon I could get the STO mesh printable. I plan on cleaning it up for subdiv anyway, so its only one step added on.
Sto version? Care to say where?
Yours is looking great!
Yours is looking great!
Ripping groups, basically. Evidently a pre-launch version is already in the game files somewhere. Though with shockingly small textures right now, it would seem.
In other news, this is a bit of a shame. No overlapping hull plates.
I guess that was done to save on geo, or maybe because their baking workflow would have a heart attack at all of it.
But still, that overlap is, IMO, pretty important to the overall unique feel of the ship.
