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Here you can discuss building custom ships, texturing and 3D modeling in Freelancer
Wed Mar 30, 2005 9:51 am
What do you think of these? These models were produced by me for Xtreme Team Studios. They are going to be included in Xtreme Team Studios Total Conversion Mod that we are currently working on.
Ancaran Merchant Cruiser MkI (AMC)
Ancaran Heavy Merchant Cruiser (AHM)
Ancaran War Cruiser (DXL)
Ancaran Corvette (ACX)
Imperium Explorer (IRO)
Edited by - parabolix on 7/28/2005 7:25:01 AM
Ancaran Merchant Cruiser MkI (AMC)
Ancaran Heavy Merchant Cruiser (AHM)
Ancaran War Cruiser (DXL)
Ancaran Corvette (ACX)
Imperium Explorer (IRO)
Edited by - parabolix on 7/28/2005 7:25:01 AM
Wed Mar 30, 2005 2:17 pm
While I like the designs... the textures are ... let me try to be gentle about this... they're a little over-obviously tiled. And the color choices aren't going to look super-hot in the FL engine, methinks- whatever lighting model you're using in your renders doesn't look at all like FL's lighting, which is very simple Phong shading with a faked highlight (they actually use a texture that's projected at an angle from lightsources and rendered on a ship's polygons, believe it or not). I do all of my texturing and testing in MS3D, because its OpenGL lighting is a lot closer to FL's than most raytracers, and I want a very accurate picture of how my ships are going to look.
I guess my main feeling here is that while the tiles have their uses in covering large surface areas of the hull... detail areas need to be properly mapped, and have appropriate areas of interest.
Lastly... if these are vessels being flown by a human race... I'd strongly suggest giving them some less-abstract symbols or common patterns. These texturing designs don't look like anything people would use- they don't have much visual harmony to them, and the high contrast is a bit jarring in places.
I guess my main feeling here is that while the tiles have their uses in covering large surface areas of the hull... detail areas need to be properly mapped, and have appropriate areas of interest.
Lastly... if these are vessels being flown by a human race... I'd strongly suggest giving them some less-abstract symbols or common patterns. These texturing designs don't look like anything people would use- they don't have much visual harmony to them, and the high contrast is a bit jarring in places.
Wed Mar 30, 2005 3:47 pm
I have to agree with Argh. The textures actually serve to detract from the overall appearance, like they came from the Tron universe (or someplace similar).
The paneling should also be scaled smaller to better represent the scale of the ships.
The meshes themselves are very cool they just need textures to highlight their details.
Oh BTW you probably want to read the first post in this thread regarding posting of pics
.
The paneling should also be scaled smaller to better represent the scale of the ships.
The meshes themselves are very cool they just need textures to highlight their details.
Oh BTW you probably want to read the first post in this thread regarding posting of pics
. Thu Mar 31, 2005 6:34 am
I was trying to do the thumbnail links when i first posted the images and they were on my computer, but they are not now, so how do you post thumbnail links?
The Texture panels are meant to disharmonious as the race that built these ships are in reality an off shoot of Archaic Homo Sapiens that were genetically modified by a race known as the Tihuuxan, who are octa-pedal. The patterns reflect the Tihuuxan influence on the altered and evolved humans known as Ancarans. Also one would be surprised by the impact culture has on our aesthetic preferences. But I agree the panels on some of the ships would look better if reduced, I have been working on it. Any Suggestions?
The Texture panels are meant to disharmonious as the race that built these ships are in reality an off shoot of Archaic Homo Sapiens that were genetically modified by a race known as the Tihuuxan, who are octa-pedal. The patterns reflect the Tihuuxan influence on the altered and evolved humans known as Ancarans. Also one would be surprised by the impact culture has on our aesthetic preferences. But I agree the panels on some of the ships would look better if reduced, I have been working on it. Any Suggestions?
Thu Mar 31, 2005 9:29 am
Well... here's my two cents, for what it's worth.
If they're aliens, or, uh, alien-modified people... then they should still be using some sort've symbology, methinks. While I can imagine races that use non-visual symbols, or symbols that aren't percievable by human eyes (say, aliens that see only in the ultraviolet wavelengths, like honey bees), I would expect most aliens to still have symbolic references on their technological constructs, especially in a game, where... to be perfectly frank... our objective as artists is to communicate the sense of alienness to players, without ending up with an inchoherent mess- make things too weird and what you end up with is just ugly... not intriguing. But we should still try to keep the ships looking geometrically coherent, and symbols should be used in a logical fashion.
For example... using the extreme-contrast blue-white textures on all outer surfaces, while using something more muted, detailed and clashing... say, like a faint gray-orange... would definately communicate to a viewer that the ships weren't built by a "normal" human culture... would provide visual cues that were consistant throughout the faction's art assets... and wouldn't be so visually disruptive. It'd also look ugly- but ugly is in the eye of the beholder, and if these genetically-modified people have inherited their values about visual representation from a race with very different perceptions, then you might want to think about what those perceptions are like a little more.
For example, you're talking about some "octopoids" being these people's... benefactors. Well, I don't know anything about your backstory, but let's make some quick assumptions:
1. The octopoids are semi-aquatic.
2. Their visual organs see the same wavelengths humans do (this is a little unrealistic, but it keeps things simple).
Most aquatic and semi-aquatic animals here on Earth use a lot've senses that we're not used to relying on, and which would be difficult to apply to spacecraft, such as mechanical pressure (a lot've fish sense their world through their skins) and smell (smell works underwater, just ask the sharks). Such senses don't work in outer space, so a race that didn't have any visual senses at all would probably have ships that were all the same color- the color of whatever ablative coating the ships used.
But let's assume that these octopoids are visually-oriented, like people are. Most fish aren't, and Earth's octopuses aren't well-known for their visual skills, although near-relatives like squid have pretty good eyesight. At any rate... much like here on Earth, I would suspect that such a race would end up with color choices that reflected their environment, or sharply-contrasted with it. So, for example, a race like that would probably like the neon colors favored here on Earth for lifejackets and skiing gear (the colors were originally used to make it easier to spot skiiers, and became fashionable later). Or they would favor ocean-themed colors- blues and greens- because they were "comfortable" colors... much as human beings in most cultures tend to favor houses that blend in with the land, instead of standing out.
Humans tend towards the colors that we do because of culture, true- and cultures, as they change, sometimes make really ridiculous color schemes fashionable at various points- look at furniture from the 1970's. So none of these assumptions must be true- maybe these alien-modified people are just going through a phase Still though... as an artist who works with lots of color and contrast (Warriors of the Sky looks like a bag of Skittles) ... I think there is a middle ground between "clash" and "good" here.
If they're aliens, or, uh, alien-modified people... then they should still be using some sort've symbology, methinks. While I can imagine races that use non-visual symbols, or symbols that aren't percievable by human eyes (say, aliens that see only in the ultraviolet wavelengths, like honey bees), I would expect most aliens to still have symbolic references on their technological constructs, especially in a game, where... to be perfectly frank... our objective as artists is to communicate the sense of alienness to players, without ending up with an inchoherent mess- make things too weird and what you end up with is just ugly... not intriguing. But we should still try to keep the ships looking geometrically coherent, and symbols should be used in a logical fashion.
For example... using the extreme-contrast blue-white textures on all outer surfaces, while using something more muted, detailed and clashing... say, like a faint gray-orange... would definately communicate to a viewer that the ships weren't built by a "normal" human culture... would provide visual cues that were consistant throughout the faction's art assets... and wouldn't be so visually disruptive. It'd also look ugly- but ugly is in the eye of the beholder, and if these genetically-modified people have inherited their values about visual representation from a race with very different perceptions, then you might want to think about what those perceptions are like a little more.
For example, you're talking about some "octopoids" being these people's... benefactors. Well, I don't know anything about your backstory, but let's make some quick assumptions:
1. The octopoids are semi-aquatic.
2. Their visual organs see the same wavelengths humans do (this is a little unrealistic, but it keeps things simple).
Most aquatic and semi-aquatic animals here on Earth use a lot've senses that we're not used to relying on, and which would be difficult to apply to spacecraft, such as mechanical pressure (a lot've fish sense their world through their skins) and smell (smell works underwater, just ask the sharks). Such senses don't work in outer space, so a race that didn't have any visual senses at all would probably have ships that were all the same color- the color of whatever ablative coating the ships used.
But let's assume that these octopoids are visually-oriented, like people are. Most fish aren't, and Earth's octopuses aren't well-known for their visual skills, although near-relatives like squid have pretty good eyesight. At any rate... much like here on Earth, I would suspect that such a race would end up with color choices that reflected their environment, or sharply-contrasted with it. So, for example, a race like that would probably like the neon colors favored here on Earth for lifejackets and skiing gear (the colors were originally used to make it easier to spot skiiers, and became fashionable later). Or they would favor ocean-themed colors- blues and greens- because they were "comfortable" colors... much as human beings in most cultures tend to favor houses that blend in with the land, instead of standing out.
Humans tend towards the colors that we do because of culture, true- and cultures, as they change, sometimes make really ridiculous color schemes fashionable at various points- look at furniture from the 1970's. So none of these assumptions must be true- maybe these alien-modified people are just going through a phase
Still though... as an artist who works with lots of color and contrast (Warriors of the Sky looks like a bag of Skittles) ... I think there is a middle ground between "clash" and "good" here. Fri Apr 01, 2005 1:31 pm
Cephalopods are actually known for both their intelligence and visual acuity, in fact most knowledge have about the eye and repairing it has been derived from dissection and experimentation of the eyes of both squid and octopi. But the Tihuuxan are not aquatic, in fact your assumption about evolutionary morphology are incorrect, records indicate in history many organisms have arisen with many limbs in assortments that do not exist today. But to the point
The Teotihuuxican (Tihuuxan)
The Tihuuxan are an ancient and powerful race that are extremely protective, ambitious and curious about all that is around them including other races. The Tihuuxan are an oddity of biology the males have four arms and four legs standing at about 9 feet tall, while the females have two legs four arms and stand at 8 feet tall.Originally evolving from a social octi-pedal land omnivore the Tihuuxan resemble nothing found on earth. The reality is that Tarnsevah, the Tihuuxan home world, is a high gravity world where thick bones and strength is an evolutionary requirement. Phenotypically speaking the Tihuuxan are gray with modest plates of bone on their forearms running parallel to their internal arm bones, linking only at the elbow, with the males having a large crescent shaped bone plate on the top of the cranium. The smaller females also share the arm bone plates, but lack the cranial plate, instead have long feather-like hair structures that grow up to 5 feet in length. Though stylistically it is often kept short. The Tihuuxan have four eyes that are mounted in a forward facing manor, allowing for binocular vision. Though having four eyes the Tihuuxan have divided them into two groups, the visual spectrum sight base and the infrared sight base. This adaptation has allowed the Tihuuxan to both dwell in densely forested areas where little visual radiation seeps in and in more barren grasslands. The Tihuuxan developed quickly in terms of technology and in terms of culture and social behaviors. The Ancient Tihuuxan were space explorers that wished to see the wonders that the universe held and were willing to meet other peoples and were also willing to learn and even reevaluate their own ideas when confronted with strong evidence to the contrary. The enlighten and curious Tihuuxan advanced from primitive space travel, like that found on earth in the 21 century to the use of slipstream in about 1000 years to the advent of the tesseract 2000 years later. The great enlightenment of the Tihuuxan ended with the war against the Dahm Van Cuush. The Cuush wished to enslave less advanced peoples and made war against the Tihuuxan to gain all of their territory, which was littered with young civilizations. The Tihuuxan were guarding these younger races, so that they may flourish in their own ways. The War lasted many decades and when it ended the Cuush were extinct. This conflict showed to the Tihuuxan that the universe was filled with wolves that would gladly slaughter those less able and those less advanced. In that year IEC 198 the Conclave passed with overwhelming support the Walls of Paradise act that granted the High Guard and Systems Guard the power to conquer all territory and peoples for their own protection. Simply put the peaceful enlightened Tihuuxan became semi-evil conquerors to save the other worlds from the violence their world had suffered. That was 503,398 Tihuuxan years ago. (535,784 earth years)
We evolved on earth to see things one way, but 500,000 years of independent evolution coupled with massive genetic modification for multiple environment may have unforeseen effects on esthetics. Though i thank you for your insight. Also i would like to see some of your work.
Edited by - ImperaTodd on 4/1/2005 2:34:09 PM
The Teotihuuxican (Tihuuxan)
The Tihuuxan are an ancient and powerful race that are extremely protective, ambitious and curious about all that is around them including other races. The Tihuuxan are an oddity of biology the males have four arms and four legs standing at about 9 feet tall, while the females have two legs four arms and stand at 8 feet tall.Originally evolving from a social octi-pedal land omnivore the Tihuuxan resemble nothing found on earth. The reality is that Tarnsevah, the Tihuuxan home world, is a high gravity world where thick bones and strength is an evolutionary requirement. Phenotypically speaking the Tihuuxan are gray with modest plates of bone on their forearms running parallel to their internal arm bones, linking only at the elbow, with the males having a large crescent shaped bone plate on the top of the cranium. The smaller females also share the arm bone plates, but lack the cranial plate, instead have long feather-like hair structures that grow up to 5 feet in length. Though stylistically it is often kept short. The Tihuuxan have four eyes that are mounted in a forward facing manor, allowing for binocular vision. Though having four eyes the Tihuuxan have divided them into two groups, the visual spectrum sight base and the infrared sight base. This adaptation has allowed the Tihuuxan to both dwell in densely forested areas where little visual radiation seeps in and in more barren grasslands. The Tihuuxan developed quickly in terms of technology and in terms of culture and social behaviors. The Ancient Tihuuxan were space explorers that wished to see the wonders that the universe held and were willing to meet other peoples and were also willing to learn and even reevaluate their own ideas when confronted with strong evidence to the contrary. The enlighten and curious Tihuuxan advanced from primitive space travel, like that found on earth in the 21 century to the use of slipstream in about 1000 years to the advent of the tesseract 2000 years later. The great enlightenment of the Tihuuxan ended with the war against the Dahm Van Cuush. The Cuush wished to enslave less advanced peoples and made war against the Tihuuxan to gain all of their territory, which was littered with young civilizations. The Tihuuxan were guarding these younger races, so that they may flourish in their own ways. The War lasted many decades and when it ended the Cuush were extinct. This conflict showed to the Tihuuxan that the universe was filled with wolves that would gladly slaughter those less able and those less advanced. In that year IEC 198 the Conclave passed with overwhelming support the Walls of Paradise act that granted the High Guard and Systems Guard the power to conquer all territory and peoples for their own protection. Simply put the peaceful enlightened Tihuuxan became semi-evil conquerors to save the other worlds from the violence their world had suffered. That was 503,398 Tihuuxan years ago. (535,784 earth years)
We evolved on earth to see things one way, but 500,000 years of independent evolution coupled with massive genetic modification for multiple environment may have unforeseen effects on esthetics. Though i thank you for your insight. Also i would like to see some of your work.
Edited by - ImperaTodd on 4/1/2005 2:34:09 PM
Mon Apr 04, 2005 7:36 pm
Just for kicks...here's one of my more recent models. Anyone recognize it?
Guess What?
Also...here's an animation I was trying recently (note: it weighs in about 30mb and may potentially require the divx codec...I can't remember what I encoded it in).
Simple animation
mirror courtesy of www.wcnews.com...check them out!
Merc for hire...but only if you can afford it.
Edited by - Major Striker on 4/4/2005 8:36:48 PM
Guess What?
Also...here's an animation I was trying recently (note: it weighs in about 30mb and may potentially require the divx codec...I can't remember what I encoded it in).
Simple animation
mirror courtesy of www.wcnews.com...check them out!
Merc for hire...but only if you can afford it.
Edited by - Major Striker on 4/4/2005 8:36:48 PM
Wed Apr 27, 2005 9:44 pm
Hi all,
I have recently finished texturing the Kestrel, a light fast fighter destined to go to Gaians, Mollys, and Civilian factions in Epsilon mod. Intended as a 'development' of the Hawk and that line of FL ships, the ship will have performance enhancements as an 'improved' or new design would be expected to have.
The ship is a simple design, basically extruded from a sphere and comes in at about 2500 polys. The challenge was in the texture and is probably my most ambitious job to date and involved taking digital photos of feathers I collected and then copying and editing the result to 'massage' the shapes, then laying individual layers one over the other to get the result you see. The wing alone has well over 200 layers, which were overlaid on screen shots of the texture co-ordinator view and manipulated into position, I also used Lithium Unwrap for some sections and tile mapping for others..
Hope you like it...
View - 1 Here
View - 2 Here
View - 3 Here
View - 4 Here
Harrier
Retreat[
Wed May 04, 2005 3:40 pm
How do you think i should texture this model. I am having a bit of trouble as nothing seems right. Any ideas? THank you all in advance.
[IMGhttp://img121.echo.cx/img121/8949/fcxbe01edited9tu.th.jpg[/IMG
[IMGhttp://img121.echo.cx/img121/5815/fcxbe03edited3os.th.jpg[/IMG
[IMGhttp://img121.echo.cx/img121/388/fcxbe04edited4fw.th.jpg[/IMG
[IMGhttp://img121.echo.cx/img121/9282/fcxbe05edited8te.th.jpg[/IMG
[IMGhttp://img121.echo.cx/img121/8949/fcxbe01edited9tu.th.jpg[/IMG
[IMGhttp://img121.echo.cx/img121/5815/fcxbe03edited3os.th.jpg[/IMG
[IMGhttp://img121.echo.cx/img121/388/fcxbe04edited4fw.th.jpg[/IMG
[IMGhttp://img121.echo.cx/img121/9282/fcxbe05edited8te.th.jpg[/IMG
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