Betta Fighter Concept

[MidKnight]

a question:
I have a model I'd like to post, but i need to know: should i post my models in different threads (a la Mr. D) 1 big thread (a la cremuss) or 1 bg thread + editing main post (a la my betta fighter)? The sooner you guys tell me, the sooner I'll be able to post my newest model . and I promise it'll be better than betta




This is my model for a light core gunship. Originally it was designed specifically to replace CA's blastwing, but halfway through modeling we realized that that wouldn't be a good idea, so it's design changed a bit.

Current state: Model revision 6 (streamlined) or 9 (broad shouldered) - Texture revision 5-5 or Argh texture - Works in game, Pending feedback, reconfiguration

Edit (read please): I think the current animation style is awkward, hard, wasteful, and boring. therefore, i think I'll replace it with a new style. The gunship would overshoot its target, so that it's back is facing the target, then it'd shoot a laser out of it's back. so, shall i change animes?

New edit: I have remodelled the unit based on Pxtl, Saktoth, licho, pressureline, and others' comments. now (I hope) it looks more like a core gunship and has less "evil" but more "lethal." Comments?



now then, enough text
Pics (captions are below images):
Pics are in chronological order, newer pics at bottom


the concept sketch

another sketch, originally made for the benefit of the people in #ca

first render

A smooth render

Betta Fighter rotation mechanism (highlighted in pink)
http://img83.imageshack.us/my.php?image ... grpdh7.png
the most horrible texture you will see in your LIFE!
http://img201.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... lorez6.png
the most horrible teamcoloring that you'll see in your life


Update:
model has been retextured and looks decent now! everyone admire my newfound texture skills!



By popular request, a viewport image


The new texture


UpSpring render with teamcolor and some shoddy reflectivity/self-illumination


Newer update:
redesign and retexture:

Viewport view (lol). What do you think of wing style?

In UpSpring.

NOW INGAME!!! YAY!

swarm!

with improved textures!
I still need some1 to whip up a BOS script for it... anyone?
Is this revision better?

I tried to make it less organic looking. Comments?


Also: I badly need a BOS scripter to script this and some upspring whizz to tell me how to get it ready for spring

What i need now are comments, a skilled BOS scripter, and some texturing tutorials for the GIMP. thanks!

Also: Argh's amazing revamp on page three

[[Krogoth86]]

I'd check the normals of your model - those black areas in the smooth shade mode probably derive from faces that are flipped the wrong way and point "inwards"...

[MidKnight]

@krogoth: licho (or was it pressureline?) told me that, too, but idk how to do that, and nobody will tell me how!

[Argh]

Ignore it for now, you can fix it in UpSpring later.

[Hoi]

If you ignore it, don't render and everything, just show it in viewport mode.

[clericvash]

Looks like an imperial ship out of Dark Reign cool.

[smoth]

People please, stop posting renders they are useless for critiques.

The flat shaded model with visible vertex and edges are more useful because we can clearly see the model. I know a render usually makes the model look nicer and that is nice but where you are going to need your real critique is on the model it's self. Looking at what I can tell from the wire frame there looks to be a lot of waste.

I looked at the other pics but glamor shots do little to help us critique the model.

[thesleepless]

looks like you're using blender, to fix the normals, in EDIT MODE select all your verts/edges/faces whatever and press CTRL+N to Recalculate the normals outside.
can also do it through the menu SPACE -> EDIT -> NORMALS -> RECALCULATE OUTSIDE

[CarRepairer]

Start by getting the gimp DDS plugin linked in the CA page:

http://trac.caspring.org/wiki/OpeningDDS

If you catch me on #CA I'll help you work with DDS and alpha channels in gimp (gimp is all you need).

[Hoi]

don't listen to *Carrepairer*, get your modeling correct first and then start thinking about uvmapping and texturing, after that try the dds thing, you have alot to learn, it's a good start but there's still a long way to go, just keep going and you'll improve alot.

[MDV]

Such contrast will look nice when it will be small.

[Otherside]

Hoi i havent posted yet but i am now...

Midknight fix your uvmap the majority of the model can be doubled up to save space and redoing the same thing twice overall improving the quality of texturing.

Your UV map is horribly ineffcient!! use as much space as possible and double up areas using the same texture and the same size/shape

[Hoi]

Hoi i havent posted yet but i am now...

Midknight fix your uvmap the majority of the model can be doubled up to save space and redoing the same thing twice overall improving the quality of texturing.

Your UV map is horribly ineffcient!! use as much space as possible and double up areas using the same texture and the same size/shape

Yeah sorry otherside, I meant carrepairer with his dds story.

[SwiftSpear]

You could make ALOT better use of that texture space.

The problem isn't poor texturing, it's poor UV mapping. Think of a UV map like a puzzle, the primary goal is to give yourself the maximum amount of UV space devoted to texture, and at the same time make it as easy as possible to actually work with the space you have in your editing environment. The secondary goal is to weight the amount of space you have, so object space that will be seen only very rarely gets the least amount of texture space, and object space that will almost always get seen gets the most.

In your case the top half of the wings, currently it takes up 10% or so of the UV map, it should probably take up about 60%. Not only that, but you can mirror the wing section on the UV so that both wings are using the same texture space. Basically where you currently have about 100 pixels of space to work with on the wings, and you have to draw both seperately, you would get about 10,000 pixles to work with on the wings, and you would only have to draw one. End result, the wings can get every minute detail you can imagine for them, and they will look amazing in game, all without really all that much more effort in texturing, or a larger texture map being used.

Use the same basic technique for the rest of the model, wherever it's appropriate. The bottom section can take up very little texture space (so it will look how the top currently looks, but that's ok, because it will so rarely be seen). All that black space on the UV map should be gone, It doesn't really matter how exactly you do it, but it needs to be getting used for texture space, not just sitting there doing nothing. Mirror where you can, and where it will look good, mirroring is great because it massively increases the ammount of pixels you can have painted onto a model, and it means you never have to paint the same basic part/shape twice, but be careful not to make the model look unnaturally symmetrical.

If you can't get reasonable UV maps to work with, texturing tutorials are worthless, because you don't have enough pixels to achieve any of the effects they describe anyways.

[rattle]

WARNING TO 56K MODEM USERS:
THE IMAGES IN THIS THREAD ARE A WASTE OF BANDWIDTH AND WILL HURT YOUR EYES

[MidKnight]

WARNING TO 56K MODEM USERS:
THE IMAGES IN THIS THREAD ARE A WASTE OF BANDWIDTH AND WILL HURT YOUR EYES

My images won't hurt your eyes! In fact, they're treated with 100% pure not hurting your eyes lotion!

@other comments: I don't know how to get blender to uvmap multiple objects ont o one canvas, so i can't save space with the cylinders... ATM what I'm doing is exporting each mesh, texturing it, then using the "consolidate into 1 picture" script...
any help?

Also: I really need to see how this looks like ingame and am desperately asking for a bos scripter. Once I see what it looks like in spring, i can retexture it again.

[Pressure Line]

for a script use:

Code: Select all

#include "sfxtype.h"
#include "exptype.h"

piece  base;

Create()
{
	sleep 30;
}

Killed(severity, corpsetype)
{
	sleep 30;
}

that should work fine for you to get a look @ the unit ingame (assuming you get the .fbi/.lua file right)

*edit* just combine the unit pieces into one piece for uvmapping purposes, then de-combine them afterwards (thats how it works in Wings anyway)

[MidKnight]

Thanks, pressureline!
now all i need to know is how to get it through upspring (like, with named pieces, etc!
*starts reading argh's upspring workflow guide*

[Pressure Line]

Use this. Thats why I wrote it. (its illustrated too)

[MidKnight]

I think the current animation style is awkward, hard to code, wasteful, and boring. therefore, i think I'll replace it. With the new style, The gunship would overshoot its target, so that it's back is facing the target, then it'd shoot a laser out of it's back. so, change anims?