Model Showroom III - Show Hard With a Vengeance

[Carl]

Do we have the top and rear views on the heavy DD then? looks good from here but curious as to the other angles.

also give me a few mins and i think i'll throw a couple of screenshots up myself.

Front



Top/Bottom front



Rear



Top/Bottom



Got another prject but i need to take some creenshots of that.


As for the one above:

Obviously missing a detail mesh and it's turrets, (the front hole is a missile bay). Which concists of 8 heavy type basic class turrets and 2 medium capital class turrets.

About the size of a HW2 Frigate, (very approximate as it's not for a HW2 race).

A bit high polly at 6770 triangulated though. That smoothing consumed a lot of polys.

[droideka95]

The Mighty Draid battleship. So far it's armed with 6 heavy repeated Mass Drivers. I really like how this is coming along. It retains the style of the Draid while still being different enough so it doesn't look like I'm just duplicating models. I do have a few things I need some guidance with. First, I'd like to add a docking bay for fighters, where could I put it? Second, I want to add more weapons, alot like the Beam cannons on the Destroyer and Heavy destroyer. I have a few ideas as to where I could put them, but I figured I'd ask.



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"EDIT" Carl I like that frigate alot. I'll try and get some more angles of the Heavy destroyer at some point.

[Carl]

Here's a gimp'd, (see the pun), image based off your last screenshot of your BB.

Yellow is where i think you could put flight bays, (if i understand the scale correctly), Red is the big beamers, (i'd suggest a combined double turret of some kind myself), Purple is where I’d put some kind of single or double light pulse gun for use against frigates, (with limited anti-Sc abilities, a bit like a slightly weaker faster firing heavy kenetic turret from the higgy BC).

Black is where I’d put a raised section on which to place another light turret.

The top dark grey I’d place a fin structure coming out horizontally to give you more space to place stuff and some break from the standard fin design, (think like the conning tower of some submarines). The bottom dark grey is an area I’d place some kind of detailing, but not necessarily fins.



p.s. that design isn’t classed as a frigate, (corvette actually), but that’s because it’s not strictly designed according to standard HW2 classifications, (SC classifications run from scout -> Fighter -> Bomber -> Heavy Bomber -> Gunship -> Heavy Gunship in order of size). Corvettes are thus the lightest form of capital ship and fill a role analogues to a HW2 light frigate design when pt into context), (for clarities sake the order of progression in scale, (though not necessarily tech path), for capitals is: Corvette -> Frigate -> Destroyer -> Escort Carrier -> Light Carrier -> Hunter Killer -> Light Cruiser -> Carrier -> Cruiser -> Heavy Cruiser -> Pocket Battleship -> Battle cruiser -> Heavy Carrier -> Battleship -> Battle Carrier -> Dreadnaught -> Super Carrier -> Heavy Battle Carrier).

[TON_Viper]

You're all so productive, I'll have to get in gear if I don't want to seem lazy.

After all, I've only done most of one ship so far.

Here's a few WIP's of the mesh of my next fighter:



If you're not familiar with the Wing Commander universe, this is going to be the Arrow, the fastest light fighter in Confed's arsenal.

I still need to do the wings and the engines before the mesh is done. I may crank out a few more fighter meshes before returning to texturing, we'll see what I feel like when I'm done with this.

[droideka95]

@ Carl Thanks for the little Illustration. This should help me alot, especially the bit about the wings on the main fin. Whatever that ship you made is, I like it alot. All I'd suggest is adding a few greebles to the top, unless your going from a smooth look.

@ TONV Heh Heh Yeah I've been crazy posting lately. I think I'll get a model or 2 started, then post them, so I can give others a chance to post.

[Carl]

@ Carl Thanks for the little Illustration. This should help me alot, especially the bit about the wings on the main fin. Whatever that ship you made is, I like it alot. All I'd suggest is adding a few greebles to the top, unless your going from a smooth look.

, thanks. Like i said it still needs a detail mesh as i agree the top needs some work s it's a bit too bare,. i'm jus not sure what to do, thats kinda why i put it up, i want some idea's. Give me a min and i'll throw an illustration out showing the turret positions i would expect it to have.

Glad the illustration helped btw, seemed easier than trying to describe it.

[droideka95]

Yeah I can't think of anything to put on top that wouldn't look out of place with the heavily smoothed sides...I'll think on it.

My next project.

When I was younger I was obsessed with legos....I mean really obsessed. Toward the end when I was getting bored with them I made this as a sort of going away creation. I named it the Ultimator and since then I've created an entire story around this ship, it's faction, and a ton of other cool stuff.

That universe I created is where the Draid exist in. They are enemies of the faction that made the Ultimator. I won't reveal anything till the story is finished but I thought I'd at least tell you who the heck the Draid are.

I actually still have that lego ship...it sits right on my desk. Now I have the task of modeling it and it's actually stressful. I love this ship dearly and I wanna get it just right . After the majority of the Draid are finished I'll start on that ship and the rest of its faction.

[MelvinVM]

I like this new vertical styled race, keep it up, it reminds me of the EVE online mimnitar dreadnought.

[KeyBored]

Hmmm just a little something i cooked up. Not finshed yet, no engines or turrets yet not sure what it is though.

[Pouk]

KeyBored: Very nice.
Beveling polygons like this is still pretty cheap trick, but the general shape is very good. Good ship.

[droideka95]

I agree I really like this ship, very much. Any ideas yet on what race?

@Melvin Thanks alot glad you like the new style.

[ajlsunrise]

KeyBored: Very nice indeed! Very cool.

[droideka95]

I know I said I was gunna wait to post until some other people posted this stuff....but I think you'll understand when you see this. The Draid battleship....has been armed...heavily armed



The side beam cannons are my favorite

"EDIT" @ Pouk Hey this is based on your design, I'd like to hear what you think.

[Pouk]

OK.

It's cool, really a lot of weapons there, but it's pretty scary that way, so why not show the firepower. But because of all these weapons I would make some large heat vents somewhere on those weapon pods.
I would add some thin antennas (they may be long as you want, but if you make them thiner it will appear as the large antennas are small compared to the huge ship. Tiny detail make the ship optically bigger, do you know what mean?)
Those plates on the upper and bottom end are completelly unecessary. Firstly the beveling makes them look massive (so in regard to what I said it makes the ship smaller) and secondly they are just copying the ship shape just to cover an empty space, it's too obvious. If you want to make metal plates there, make them smaller, thinner and don't simply copy the ship shape. And make them as an individual geometry (goblin mesh as we say here in HW2 modding). Not to save some processing power (but it will obviously help), but primarly simply to set your mind free from the concept of copying the shape just because you've shrinked the polygon underneath.
On the other hand bevel the weapon pods, the sharp edge doesn't look good there.
The horizontal "wings" are again maybe too fat or maybe too obviously simple. You could for example try to double them -make a pair of thinner wings instead of one massive, similar thing to the ship body.
You could add some tiny bridge, but only if it's OK with your race characteristics. You see, the bridge size (how tiny is compared to the ship) also defines the ship's size.
Take it as a possitive feedback, my oppinion how I think I would personally improve it, nothing more.

[MelvinVM]

the sideway beam cannons don't look menacing enough, they rather look silly.

[TON_Viper]

Update to my arrow:


I'm not happy with the shape of the mesh where the wings meet the body. It's a very hard shape to get right. As it is, I think I've made it too wide compared to its height off the surface of the ship.

The wings are also a tad too small compared to the reference image, so I may have to redo them completely to get it right.

[Zephyr]

@Carl: i think you could get the same smoothing effect with half the polygons, or at least something that looks just as good in hw2

@droideka: I like the barrels on the side cannons, but the turret/block they're attached to doesn't seem to fit

@ton: can't you just scale the fins?

@keyboard: That's a cool ship. I'm not to sure about the top view, but the other views look great


I am still working on my two ships, but i've been distracted by trying to prove i can make things other than spaceships and university preperations

[TON_Viper]

@Ender: Sure, I could just scale the wings a bit, but they're easy to do anyway. I'm just not happy with the shape they're placed on, and it is way easier to redo those if I remove the wings first.

[Zephyr]

Couldn't you extrude the face they're on?

[TON_Viper]

No, because that gives it an entirely wrong shape.

It isn't easy working with these organic shapes when you want precise dimensions.

[Carl]

@Carl: i think you could get the same smoothing effect with half the polygons, or at least something that looks just as good in hw2

How, i'm usign wings 3D and if i take the smoothing efect down a notch i get a very jagged set of edges. I agree a few area's have more pollys than tottally necessery, but i can't seem to cut them down without getting an undesired effect.

@droidika: I like, thouigh i would make the side fins thinner myself.

[sirkillalot]

This is the right place to show this... right?









Yes, I was inspired by the taiidan destroyer

[TON_Viper]

Update on my Arrow mesh:


I redid the area where the wings will go, but I haven't re-added the wings yet.

My problem was that I was trying to model a symmetric shape that was rotated a bit off axis, which you can probably imagine led to all sorts of problems.

I ended up creating a separate object, so I could model the shape while it was lined up with the axes.

I think the result is much nicer now, and I probably won't get it better than that with the reference images I have access to.

I used the Wings 3D smoothing function a few times since you last saw the model, so the poly count is quite a bit higher overall, but I will be optimizing it before I call it done. There are a lot of faces I can merge without losing the shape.

[KeyBored]

Thanks Ppls!

"I agree I really like this ship, very much. Any ideas yet on what race?"

Race? Hmmm, well, I dont know, this was just sort of a one off, i started it AGES ago and found the file a few days ago !

[chris80502]

Droideka, very nice indeed, I really like the middle section and all the weapons. I would suggest giving some of the sharp edges of the main body parts a bit of a bevel to match the smoother look of the weapons. I agree with Pouk also about the top/bottom plates - maybe some light hull plates that go around the edges into the sides a bit to give the center section a bit of a recessed look. I also agree about the "wings", maybe a bit smaller and thinner - and parhaps with an addition of another triangle shape to point backwards off them. Just some thoughts.

[Zephyr]

I would create an 8 sided polygon semicircle with ~8 edges on the curved side and then extrude them around the edge of the ship. should be possible in wings

[jkberna]

The standard weapon for the bigger class ships un the lizaanj fleet.


BTW, the GC mod is in need of some help with hodding and texturing, mainly putting these turrets to work. anyone??

[saladin1973]

sirkillalot, looks good, although a destroyer on steroids. One thing I would say (in my opinion), the fins are a little too sharp. Round them off a bit. Also the back end seems disproportionately large compared to the rest of the ship.

[Psiyon]

Here are some ships I modeled a while back, meant to be used to base sprites on for a 2D game. Since apparently shields are a viable concept in Homeworld 2, you might see these in a mod some day.

ships

Iildarian ships are armed with brutal massdriver based weaponry, and Lemurian ships are armed with pulse lasers, varying in degree of destructive power. Both factions employ the use of missile weapons as well.

[ajlsunrise]

nice designs!!!!

i especially like that lemurian destroyer.

[Dark Sentinel]

Lemurian BS is awesome.

[KeyBored]

Woah :O Nice!

[droideka95]

I liked the armor plates so I tried a new tactic. I extruded the hull in and put the plates on the inside so they don't stuck out so much. I haven't saved it so if noone likes it I can get rid of them



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[Carl]

Nah it works ok IMHO

[Zephyr]

Those are some very nice designs psyion!

I think the panels look good, but won't the ship be very vulnerable to flanking manoeuvres?

[[TDN]Mechanis]

I made more stuff while the fourm was down yesterday!

first is the 'finished' Magi Ion frigate, one of the TDN long-range fire support ships in the frigate class.

Magi Ion frigate

then the true might, the vast command carrier, capable of producing almost every ship in the TDN arsenal, and fairly well-armed as well.

Command carrier (Mothership class)

shown whit a Magi for scale.

Finally, the Tytan class carrier, shown here without any of it's add-on subsystems.

Tytan

[MelvinVM]

that mothership is one fragile waste of design space.

Its big and very thin..

[KeyBored]

I like it, but yes i agree, one good ion cannon, and lots of little bits will be floating about....

[NunoDRKS]

This one is just a simple kitbashing... the multilaser corvette...

It's just a normal laser corvette with 2 additional (generaly weaker) lasers....



Just want your opinion on it.

[Pouk]

It would require more pictures if you want some comment.

[saladin1973]

Perhaps you could indicate where the new lasers are? I can't tell the difference in that picture, I'm sorry.

[Pouk]

Down behind the bridge. But it needs a better view to judge.

[NunoDRKS]

sorry bout that... here ya go

the 2 lasers are beneath and behind the bridge...

Spoiler

[Pouk]

I think it's fine, but what if they would be slightly angled down, making an upside down V. Maybe, maybe not.
I'm more thinking about the fins when I look at them. Did you try a different placement? Or just one of them, I think one is better than two in this case, upper or lower, depends on your taste. Or don't place the lower one behind the opper one, but under or even more to the front.

[NunoDRKS]

POUK, I've tried one fin upper and one fin lower, but the design itself didn't inspire that mean and evil look. although leaving the upper fin gave it a bumper car look xD

And with the lower fin in front of the upper, it loses the backward objective seen from the side. It would look strange me thinks.... But that is why I wanted your opinion. Although like this seeing it in a long term itched my head. but a good try nonetheless

[[TDN]Mechanis]

Melvin:
Fist and foremost: this thing gets free hyperspace. if it ever get in a stand-up fight, whoever controls it is ether extraordinarily stupid or extremely desperate. secondly, it packs more firepower than a Battlecruiser. yeah you heard me.

Point

add to that the capacity to build any ship in the fleet, (excepting supercapital and MS class, naturally[but unlike higgy and vaygr, it can call up battecruisers]) and a hanger capable of holding forty squadrons of strike-craft, and the fact that only a fool leaves a ship as irreplaceable as a TDN command carrier (only ship with free hyperspace) undefended, and it is clear why its fragile-looking: because its fragile! it's got less heath than a shipyard, fighting isn't what it's made for.

[Shraa Elohim]

Perhaps an interesting option with that ship would be giving it the ability to construct armour subsystems. These could link up the separate rings of armour and make it sturdier, as well as offer some protection to the actual structure itself. The downside, of course, is that they would be particularly expensive and only really worth it if you feel that you need the ship in battle. And given its strategic value, such a thing would probably not be the best idea.

I'm aware armour subsystems are possible; I've seen a picture of a Vaygr carrier sporting huge armour plates; I've simply no idea how to do it.

[MelvinVM]

Fist and foremost: this thing gets free hyperspace. if it ever get in a stand-up fight, whoever controls it is ether extraordinarily stupid or extremely desperate. secondly, it packs more firepower than a Battlecruiser. yeah you heard me.

The ship doesn't even look like it could mount ion cannons, torpedo batteries of whatever.

You can tell all you want, but ship designs are supposed to tell what they are without any text, just like art. A thin ship with long extensions without anything in them looks more like a ship skeleton than a ship itself.

A mothership that can destroy entire fleets? i've heard this story before, but this mothership looks fragile, and easy to destroy looking at it's design


Why design a ship thats fragile and heavily armed? instead of a bunch of weapons, armor would be a far better choice.

[NunoDRKS]

that ship is really taken from gratuitious space battles... Empire for the wiiiin...lol

I like it, and ingame with shields is really awsome...

Try and play Gratutious space battles, it's great

[Zephyr]

It's an interesting ship, make no mistake, but melvin has a very good point. Also i don't think it makes sense for such a flimsy ship to pack so much fire power. It just wouldn't have the time to put it to use.