USS Hephaestus (WIP)

Post by **Khaldore** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 9:24 am

New 'glamour shots'... I'll update this again soon, as I need to re-work my low-poly model to match.

3125 Polys:

I had to redo the secondary deflector on the saucer, as it didn't look right anymore. *shrugs* Like I said, I'll add a few low-poly model shots once I finish it up.

- Mike

Post by **jolt** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 11:46 am

The design is nice, I look forward to seeing future detail.

Post by **blindeye01** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 2:03 pm

Great for a new modeller, but the textures could use some work.

Website · Post by **CmdrJack** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 8:40 pm

Great for a new modeller, I look forward to seeing future detail.

Post by **Elrond** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 9:36 pm

Coming along pretty good for a beginning!

Post by **CaptSyf** » Sat Jun 25, 2005 9:41 pm

Pretty good start there. As to answer your question, Faces are polygons. So that means that it has 4092 polies (Faces: 4092).

Post by **JPKTrekker** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 2:11 am

Khaldore, for a first model, this is great. You have some potential. I applaud your talent.

Post by **Khaldore** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 12:12 pm

Thank you all for the compliments and critiques... this particular model has taken a great deal of time, especially since I had to replace my graphics card twice before I could get decent perfomance out of the program.

I do agree the texturing needs work, in addition to adding windows and other small details. I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to manage it yet, but now that I have some positive feedback, I'll be working that much harder on it in my free time. Thanks again, and happy modelling to all those out there that do!

- Mike

Post by **CaptSyf** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 2:07 pm

Your welcome. Now for the bad news. I don't know 100%, but if you want to see her ingame, it'll have to be crafted in a different program. However, if you can convert it to lightwave or 3ds formate, then I can help you convert it to SOD format. A couple things though, 1.) Don't add too much more to the ship as far as polies, 2.) Be sure to setup the textures in 2x mulipliers (e.g 256x256 or 512x512). For Armada, they have to be TGA format. But, if you don't have that option to us when making the ship in blender, then it can also be converted.

I would love to see her ingame. So, if there is anything we can help with, just ask.

Post by **Khaldore** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 4:31 pm

Lucky for me, Blender can export to .lwo (Lightwave), so that shouldn't be a problem. As for poly count, I'm going over the model trying to reduce it some... namely converting to quads rather than tris where I can without messing up the overall look. As for textures... I don't know much about making them, I'm afraid. I've looked at several .tga files in various folders, and the layout of them confuses me somewhat. Anyhow, I appreciate the offer for help, I'm sure I'll need it.

Oh, before I forget... what's a good poly count for import into Armada?

- Mike

EDIT: Just read Nova's post below... oh my, I've got a ways to go. I've gotten her down to just over 3800 polys, but if I 'omitted' some details, I could reduce it further.

Post by **USS_Nova** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 5:17 pm

1000/2000 I believe.

Post by **CaptSyf** » Sun Jun 26, 2005 6:15 pm

Well, for a basic model, 1,000 or less. However, There are several models that exceed that. If you make it a hero unit, then keeping it no more than what you have will work fine. Stations are limited in number, so making them heavy on the polies is also not too much of a problem. I will note that 8,000 is the top max you would want to make any model for armada, but try to not go over 2,000 for an average. That's the trouble with Armada, is it has limitations on the max number of polies onscreen. Most games nowdays can handle millions more that Armada. But since Armada in right at 5 yrs old now, and Armada 2 is almost 4 yrs old, their engines can only handle a few hundred thousand polies. So, the main challenge is to keep it low poly, but make it look as good as possible. With that in mind, Textures is the main factor. I good texture will make a ship look sweet, and everyone will want it, and a bad texture will send your ship to the "lost and no one wants to find" dept. You'll need access to PSP or PS for a good texture app.

Post by **Khaldore** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 7:32 am

Ignore this... the first post will include any updated images.

Post by **jolt** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 1:30 pm

I like, much better

Post by **CaptSyf** » Tue Jun 28, 2005 2:38 pm

998 polies, great job!

Ok, now that you have both PSP and MS3D, You'll need to go through Major Paynes MS3D tutorial, and Achilles (Wraith of Achilles) psp textureing tutorial. Those will help you on getting the ship textured and putting the hiearchy in place.