Seraphim Class

[Hellkite]

Who's the Boss ? LOL You must be talking to Maj , Syf or Katala

I like the way is turning out good job

 

[Jetfreak]

I'd say your good to go, very nice work so far. You've really helped this design come to life.

Hellkite certainly has taste in ship design.

 

[kjc733]

Thanks guys, means a lot to me coming from you.
I did think hard about volunteering to try this, as I knew it'd take a fair bit of time and effort. But I'm glad I did, its been a good learning experience.

Just as a reminder so people don't get their hopes up:
1. I haven't a clue about texturing. None, nada, zip. This is because a) I don't have the time to learn UVs and photoshop, b) I don't have the inclination to learn UVs and photoshop, and c) my pc doesn't have the grunt to rendor images anyway. I hope to remedy c) in the boxing day sales , and this may make me rethink b) at some point in the future. But for now, if you want this textured properly then you'll need someone who can read a maya file.

2. This is not built for A2, BC or Legacy (or any other game). When finished the smooth mesh will probably stand at around 50k polys, and the base at around 3k. But again, this is a .mb file. If someone has a means of converting this to an A2 usable format, then they are more than welcome to the mesh.

That said, once I get me a new pc, I'm tempted to use it to model for A2. What programmes are good for this, how easy to use are they, and most importantly, how much do they cost?

 

[Majestic]

Thanks guys, means a lot to me coming from you.
I did think hard about volunteering to try this, as I knew it'd take a fair bit of time and effort. But I'm glad I did, its been a good learning experience.

Just as a reminder so people don't get their hopes up:
1. I haven't a clue about texturing. None, nada, zip. This is because a) I don't have the time to learn UVs and photoshop, b) I don't have the inclination to learn UVs and photoshop, and c) my pc doesn't have the grunt to rendor images anyway. I hope to remedy c) in the boxing day sales , and this may make me rethink b) at some point in the future. But for now, if you want this textured properly then you'll need someone who can read a maya file.

2. This is not built for A2, BC or Legacy (or any other game). When finished the smooth mesh will probably stand at around 50k polys, and the base at around 3k. But again, this is a .mb file. If someone has a means of converting this to an A2 usable format, then they are more than welcome to the mesh.

That said, once I get me a new pc, I'm tempted to use it to model for A2. What programmes are good for this, how easy to use are they, and most importantly, how much do they cost?

I would say price wise Milkshape3D is your best option, you can use it to model and convert to A2 and it's rather cheap, it was around $25 when I got a registered version about 3-4 years ago. It's also rather easy to learn with a simple interface and while it has it's failings it's a lot less complicated to learn than other programs. However you can always try blender which is free, however you still will need Milkshape to convert to A2.

If you could get it to a more usable format, like 3ds, lwo, ma, obj etc I should be able to import it and see about doing some textures for her. My texturing skills are very amateurish but I would be willing to give it a go.

 

[Hellkite]

Thank you master Majestic any help is greatly appreciated

 

[Majestic]

You're welcome HK, however it will only work if I can get the model into a Milkshape usable format, otherwise I won't be able to make the textures fit the model correctly.

 

[kjc733]

If you could get it to a more usable format, like 3ds, lwo, ma, obj etc I should be able to import it and see about doing some textures for her. My texturing skills are very amateurish but I would be willing to give it a go.

Another project I work on has liased with a guy using different software, I'll find out what format we used for the read across.
.ma is easily doable (assuming you're reffering to maya ascii).

If we can and you're interested for an A2 perspective, then I'll tidy up the low poly mesh. Some of it is purely to force the proper detailing when smoothed.

(And as for blender - - hated it)

 

[Majestic]

Maya Ascii is importable by MS3D. I have never done it personally however MS3D does have an importer for it, so in theory it should work.

Yes a A2 low poly version would also be good, I could texture that one too after I do the high poly version for Hellkite.

Yeah I didn't like Blender either it was far too complicated for little me.

 

[Hellkite]

Sounds like a good plain of action to me

Thanks to both of you once more

 

[Starfox1701]

Actuall your best bet for compatability is probable a Wavefront OBJ file.

 

[kjc733]

WIth nacelles raised / twisted. Not a big fan myself, but that may just because I've built them square on and it's different. Any thoughts?



As for the file format, maya is (oddly enough) capable of outputting ma files as one of its two settings, I just tend to save mb as its a smaller file. If ms3d will import this non-native format then all's well and good. If not, then I'll try converting first, and then Maj can convert back. To my simple brain one conversion seems more sensible than two. But then you are the second person to suggest .obj to me today... I just don't know how to do it.

 

[Hellkite]

with at that type of nacelle its be better to leave them flat like you had them I lest I think I may be wrong

 

[Atlantis]

Hmm, I like them either way, but I do prefer the slightly angled look. Wouldn't look good if they were tilted much more, as on the Akira, but that little bit of tilt it does have looks good.

 

[Majestic]

I think that angle of tilt makes them look better as well as the overall ship as a whole.

 

[Starfox1701]

looks good man

 

[kjc733]

So I can't texture... but I can add colour.

 

[Majestic]

Ah pretty colours I like.

 

[Hellkite]

yep looking good

 

[K_merse]

Sweet!
What are those glowie things on the narcelles?

 

[kjc733]

Sweet!
What are those glowie things on the narcelles?

Auxilary slipstream projectors. I figured that the main deflector looked a little on the small side, and if you wanted to do things like drafting then you may want more precise control over the slipstream.

Colouring is incomplete, so more updates wil occur.

 

[kjc733]

And some more colouring. Getting there I think
Phasor strips also in place.



And just to keep people in the loop, first attempts at transferring to MS3D were less than successful. But not giving up just yet.

 

[Majestic]

Looking great, I think if we can get this into MS3D I could probably make a reasonable texture for her to do your model and HK's design justice.

 

[Jetfreak]

Nice additions kjc, I really like the work you've done on HK's design. Can't wait to see more.

The basic color setup with certain hull details also helps much, its practically a "preview" of the overall design.

 

[Hellkite]

Looking great, I think if we can get this into MS3D I could probably make a reasonable texture for her to do your model and HK's design justice.

if it come out any were close to your reason textures I will be more than pleased my friend

 

[Majestic]

if it come out any were close to your reason textures I will be more than pleased my friend

They'll be pretty close, as I have been using the Incursion class as a base for all my textures now. I am currently doing another of my older modelled ships, it's coming along okay.

 

[kjc733]

I think I've gone as far as I can with this, unless you have anything specific you want to see.





If you have any specific angles or backgrounds you want to see then let me know.

 

[Starfox1701]

She looks nice

 

[kjc733]

Thank you. To be honest, I didn't think she'd come out that well. I'm glad I did this, learnt a lot doing it. But after my brief foray into starships I should probably get back to designing submarines and fighters, I have a few wips to finish .


Edit:
Just went back to the original spec and noticed that the weapons compliment seems to have changed. The spec on page 1 said:

TACTICAL
Weapons 8Type XIV Phaser Cannons, 10 Type XV Phaser Arrays, 8 Torpedo Launchers
Quantum torpedo (Stock4030)
Transphasic torpedo (Stock1234)

Yet the way I read the diagram I added the following:
4x Phaser Cannons (in saucer cutouts)
15x Phaser Arrays (6x dorsal saucer, 5x ventral saucer, 4x weapons pod)
12x Torpedo launchers (4x saucer cutouts, 2x dorsal saucer, 6x weapons pod)

Hope this isn't a problem.

 

[Majestic]

You have done very well on the model Kjc, it looks great with that backdrop.

 

[Hellkite]

Thank you. To be honest, I didn't think she'd come out that well. I'm glad I did this, learnt a lot doing it. But after my brief foray into starships I should probably get back to designing submarines and fighters, I have a few wips to finish .


Edit:
Just went back to the original spec and noticed that the weapons compliment seems to have changed. The spec on page 1 said:



Yet the way I read the diagram I added the following:
4x Phaser Cannons (in saucer cutouts)
15x Phaser Arrays (6x dorsal saucer, 5x ventral saucer, 4x weapons pod)
12x Torpedo launchers (4x saucer cutouts, 2x dorsal saucer, 6x weapons pod)

Hope this isn't a problem.

works for me