Gorn WIP: More scaley things (10/23)

[Relayer]

Way back in Oct. '03, Atolm was kind enough to make me some Gorn meshes. The idea was for something that was TOS/SFB in design, but bulked up a bit. Since then they've been sitting on my PC waiting to be textured. Well, I finally decided to learn how to map my own textures. Anyway, here's a couple of early on WIP shots of one of Atolm's designs. Much of the mesh isn't textured yet, but it should give you an idea. I'm trying to do them in a similar design to the Gorn that Atolm released recently, to show the family lineage.
The hangar doors are very early on. They'll get a lot better.

Thanks again for the meshes, Atolm. I hope that I can do them justice.

Edit: See below

[smiley]

Very impressive, especially if you're only beginning to get into texturing!

[Relayer]

Thanks, Smiley. Here's a newb question. How far around the vertical edge of a saucer can you map a texture before it'll stretch noticably? 25%, 33%? I'm going to have a pretty defined aztec on it, like on the windowed area of the main hull, and I'd like to keep it matched with the aztec on the top of the hull. Plus I don't want the windows to be stretched.

Thanks,
Relayer

[Wicked Zombie]

That's a tough call. Obviously a directly flat vertical edge would give you a bunch of 'lines' where the texture spills over. Depending on the slant and the height of the saucer it could stretch a lot (ie giving the bottom of a triangle a wavy, distorted look compared to the rest), or it could stretch very little. Your best bet is to just tamper around with it and see what happens and then go from there.

[Relayer]

Well, I said it was a newb question. After I asked, I thought about it and I'm pretty sure I figured it out. I was talking about mapping it from the "side" view not the top down. Since the choices are front, back, left, right for the view, I assume that mapping 90 deg. at a time is the smallest section, and therefore, the least amount of stretching

[FleetCaptainFrost]

Very nice work!!

[Atolm]

Damn Fine skins you got there Mr O'Neal...Damn fine

[smiley]

Have you tried using a cylindrical mapping technique? Have the edge mapped as a long line of polygons....if that makes sense?
If you map it from the sides you'd have to cut it in two (left/right) and (front/back) - and as you say, at the points where the groups meet the texture will look very distorted because of the angles...

[Relayer]

Cylindrical mapping technic? Nope. Which button is that? ;D

Actually, I've started mapping the sides. I have a question about .bmp sizes. I know that the bmps have to be even sizes, but do they have to merely be an even number or do they have to be a factor of 2? Like 128, 256, 512, etc... Or could I have a bmp that was 770 pix wide, for instance?

Here's where I'm at on her.

Edit: See Below

As you can see the pattern on the sides is too wide compared to the upper part of the hull. Right now the bmp is 512 wide. If I go up to 1024 then the pattern will be too small. That's why I'm asking.

[Atolm]

The Bitmaps can be:
256x256
512X512
1024X1024
or:
256X512
128X512
256X128
or any combination there of using the size variables of 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024 etc..

[Atolm]

OR....rescale the "face(s)" that is/are being textured to your liking or see fit

[Relayer]

That's what I thought. the easiest thing to do, for me, would be to add to the texture to get the pattern right and then just resize it back down to 512X64.
The middle "bubble" (They're not called saucers on a Gorn. ) is smaller than the fore and aft, but I don't think I'll worry about that unless it's really noticable.

Thanks, bud.

[Atolm]

relayer said:

That's what I thought. the easiest thing to do, for me, would be to add to the texture to get the pattern right and then just resize it back down to 512X64.
The middle "bubble" (They're not called saucers on a Gorn. ) is smaller than the fore and aft, but I don't think I'll worry about that unless it's really noticable.

Thanks, bud.

Dunno if you want to use 64...I dunno if SFC can handle any less than 256...but I could be wrong...lol

[Tus]

all the way down 2x2, any number that is a base 2 (2^1, 2^2, 2^3,etc) it can handle

[Relayer]

Here's where she's at. I'm working on the nacelles, ATM.

Edit: See Below

The "chevron emblem" on the nacelle is fleet markings. Should they stay? Or, does anyone think that it'd look better either plain or with glows? Also, I like windows (Ask Atolm, he'll tell you ;D). Are there too many, maybe?

Suggestions are welcome, please.

[Centurus]

I like how she's coming out. Maybe some more windows, but she's coming out beautifully.

[Atolm]

Windows are perfect...you might want to blacken some out as it is TOS
but she looks stunning...
If you can, you might want to make the Bussard glow green (that way it works with my TMP Gorn ship too )

[Relayer]

Green! Now you tell me. Well, I went by SFB with the grey hull and blue glows. Too late now. ;D

Can you delete/remove the "groupings" in Milkshape without deleting the polygons in the group? There's a couple of texturing errors. I know that I can "regroup" them, but the old group will still be there applying the old texture underneath the new one.

Never mind, I figured it out.

Thanks

[Relayer]

I deleted the previous pics from the post so as not to slow the page down too much for us "dialeruppers".

Here's where she's at.

She's done except that I'd like to add some Federation style spotlighting to her for the registry, emblems, etc... the problem is that I don't know how to put lighting effects on the lightmaps. How do you use the lighting effects on a black background? Any help would be appreciated here.
The registry is much clearer than it appears in the renders. My vid card isn't that great at rendering in direct-X, unfortunately. It looks great in GL, but I haven't mastered rendering with the viewer for it yet. You have to set the luminosity, ambience, etc. and it'll be a bit for all of that. Hopefully I'll get that all sorted out for the final renders.

I'm working on a version with green glows too. I just need to find a shade of green that works with the blue-grey hull color. I can't not do it for Azel. ;D He was good enough to make the meshes for me.

[Atolm]

Looking Great

[Relayer]

Hi, all. I've been working s-l-o-w-l-y on these. After much consideration and debate I've decided to stick to SFB original "paint scheme" which is gray hull, red warps (I also made the "deflector grid" red) and blue impulse. I hope that Atolm approves.

First up an Atolm original GCL

I bashed an "anatomically correct" SFB CL from Atolm's CA that I showed previously.

Also, an SFB CA bashed from the same model.

Finally, (stop cheering ) a Gorn PF. I shaved the CL from 2210 polies down to 676. Kept it looking pretty smooth too, if I do say so myself. that keeps a squadron of them under the self imposed 2750 poly limit that I set for the ships (2500 +/- 10%).

The little pics are linked to full sized 1024x768 photoshop renders. Again, I hope ya like'em

[Atolm]

those are sweet mate!!!
btw can you do anymore bashes ?
and where/when can I DL them

[Relayer]

I'm glad you like them, man.

Can I do anymore bashes? Yeap.

They aren't up anywhere yet. I keep finding unfinished stuff on them. The SFB CL, for example, doesn't have a Reg #, just the name. I forgot to do the lightmap on the SFB CA for the side hull textures. I have to work on the welding, smoothing groups, and light textures somemore on your orig design CL, too. It looks kinda drab (not shiney and shimmery) compared to the others.
Then there's the problem with brk.mods. I don't have a pgm that'll export them to .mod, since MS3d doesn't do them and I don't have an older version of Max available. I'm working on that though. I hope to find a workaround. If all else fails I'll release them w/o brk.mods, I guess. Soon though. I promise.

P.S. I just started working on my first "from scratch" model. Kzinti based on SFB, but TMP era (Should look good with your Gorns, I hope.). I'll post when I have something a bit more completed to show.

[Atolm]

OK cool...I want more gorn...please

[Relayer]

All of these, except for the fighter, are bashed from Atolm's Gorn meshes. Thanks again for making them, bro.

Gorn CVA-Heavy Carrier (Hanger doors open.)

A carrier's got to have fighters.

Dreadnought (Hanger doors closed) The open/closed door meshes are interchangable w/the cva/dn textures. The only dif between the textures is the upper hull/wing texture which adds the forward shuttle bay/balcony.

Gorns use a lot of, and therefore, need shuttles.