(Ok, lets try this again with the proper screenshots)

Hmmm, imo it should definitely be a solar sail, akin to the... name escapes me.. ship from Starwars Ep2, something along those lines. I remember a documentary from a while back, where Nasa illustrated a plan to use a 'sail' on a probe, where small lasers on the main craft would focus on the sail, charging it somehow, and this would - in theory - control the affect of the sun's radiation as it pushed the craft out into the solarsystem. Obviously didn't work, but hey. Just a thought

Have some screens here, probably the last installment for my freighter, added a few markings here and there, and messed around a lot. The blue extrusions on the front and engines are for lights, the plan was to have a 'strobe-like' light there, but I don't think the game supports that kind of rapid switching of the lights. I'm such a newb

I've dubbed it temporarily:
BOWEX - Trius Class - Collossus Heavy Container Transport
Which might be better than the 'Bloodied Bird' but the letters in that rearrange to.. well nm.. and it's far better than 'The Roid Runner' which would probably have been taken out of context...



Front Right
Right
Rear Right
Rear
Top
Front

Now comes the hardest part, adding the triangles for all the bits on it, the plan was to incorporate the thruster(s) into the engine nacelles themselves (appearing in the middle portions of the engine housing, main drive would appear to the outside and two thrusters would be simply the thrust trail itself) etc. 12 weapon hardpoints total, 3 for accessories, likely one countermeasure, two mines. I think. The bar lights along the container dividers were also supposed to 'glow' as I've seen in other models, but I haven't worked out yet how that works. Man I stink at Photoshop...

Cheers Visc

Edited by - Visceral on 12/4/2006 12:14:05 PM

ah looking great visc- i can probably help you with those glow maps -
basic glow using a colored DDS:
type = DcDtEt
et_flags/dt_flags both 64 over 0, int
et_name = your glow texture filename - can be the same as dt, or a different one. supports alpha channels, which if present will be applied to the dt texture also
that and the dt name are all you need to make an emissive texture

or use DcDtEcEt and add an 'Ec' node with four float values for R,G,B, and brightness to color a black and white glowmap. in fact, you may not want to use an emitter texture at all, simply clone your basic material in ms3d and name it blank_glow or whatever and export it like normal, then change type to DcDtEcEt and use the Ec node to add emissive color. assign that material to just the faces you want to glow, and voila you've got a simple and highly efficient special effect

Edited by - Cold_Void on 12/4/2006 4:34:55 PM

Thanks for the reply, I was thinking the whole 'glow' bit was something of a secret. And to be frank, I don't have a clue yet what you've said, but I'm working on it I've posted a new topic with some questions, but again to be honest, I'm lost here. Thinking I might need a bit of handholding, or this model won't see the light of day.. grrr... any help would be much appreciated..

Cheers, Visc

Well whaddya know.. it worked.. did a fair bit of digging around the forums and found a few tidbits I'd missed. Need to rework the cockpit/bridge because of the scale (It's a little bigger than a large transport, turns out) and I haven't applied the 'glow' bit yet, but here's a couple of screens:

Over Manhattan
Cat in the Badlands

Thanks for everyone's help (and patience) so far, I appreciate it more than you realize

Cheers, Visc

Visceral,

Glowing and transparent textures are no secret.. In fact a lot of work has been done on them.. including the nomad textures.. although there are still a few things to learn about creating 'new' styles of 'nomad' type textures..

A simple search for "illuminated textures" would have shown you several threads that deal with it.. but to start you in the right direction ....Take a look Here


Harrier

Ooo! Woot! Thanks a bunch guys..

Cat with Glow

Cheers!

Visc

(edit: The glows I was after were supposed to be subtle, jic you were wondering)

Edited by - Visceral on 12/7/2006 4:20:26 PM

Hello all I was wondering what you all think of this new model. Finally have some time to gt back into FL modding.

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/44059268/

Hi All,

Been A while since I posted any models....

The first is the Ri'isa 'Tang'

Front view
Overhead view
From behind
From below
Side view

As you can see I have used quite a lot of artwork.. this is not the easiest to get right, but I am happy with the results.. Btw... the larger file sizes 1024 x 1024 give much better resolutions in game and provided the texture map can include any artwork/logo's as large as possible the pattern is well defined and 'crisp'.. This model was UV-Mapped in lithium and the textures painstakingly applied (using the texture map output in lithium) in photoshop to get it looking okay

The second is the Fireblade.. it has only the base texture appilied but again will have some 'tarting up' as I add the details.. the wing knockouts will probably have a nice blue 'glow'

basic texture

The last is the Artemis (greek goddess of the hunt..for one).. It is an experiment into the type of ship that may exist (but cannot) in freelancer.. a sort of utility high altitude interceptor.. that could be launched to space or self powered/self sufficient.. besides it looks something like a modern day jet fighter.. Two versions are in the offing.. a milspec version (pictured)

Above
Front

And a... a ...sports version.. summing about atmospheric racing.... oh and then there is Hovis.. well there WAS Hovis.. he is way back behind.. lol *orders a sidewinder fang while he waits for Hovis to appear and offer him a job*

Harrier

Edit - The Fireblade and the Artemis still need quite a lot of texturing work they are WIP

Edited by - harrier on 12/7/2006 10:06:45 PM

Outstanding !
Now all I need to do is learn this "glow" thing. It's always puzzled me.

aye, i would also like to kno how to do glowing textures, cus i got ships and planets that need them

Cheese On Toast:
Like the name
Beware the player

You talking about my ones cheese?eh?
If i could figure it out i'd do it

Heres the final rendition of my latest ship. Finally textured. What do you think?

http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/44560447/

**You talking about my ones cheese?eh?
If i could figure it out i'd do it **

no worries mate, will get it all in the end

Cheese On Toast:
Like the name
Beware the player

very nice Mandinga, very anime