construction on new Galactica begins
 

Ok well I got all of the materials I need for the constuction of the new BattleStar.
assembly began yesturday and will continue until completed. I will post updates to the project here from time to time, any ideas you all have hoist them up.
I predict 1 million poly's on this project, tho most of them will come from the ships support objects . . ie: conduits, guns and the sort. anyway wish me luck . .
3d
http://images.graphicproduction.org/...alactica_1.jpg

I am looking forward to your updates 3d .. I am about to get into the modeling side of thing myself .. good luck with the model .. any future plans of doing the first out of intrest ??

3d -

A nice start on the newer version of the Galactica! I had a thought..... what if someone (and this is just an idea) took the design of the original series Galactica and re-make it with the new series look (ribbed structure, darker appearance)? I always wondered how the "old girl" would look with a new set of clothes....

Keep up the good work!

Bryan

Good luck sir!

I worked on the original design adding detail to her head section. The original innitially came in over 4 million so you have your work cut out for you.

Thanks for posting and keep us updated!

;)

I may do something with an update to the first battlestar, That ship is very boxy so tweaking may turn out to be a good modeling excersize. realistically I may not get to building it at all, but never say never . . . .

You are the man . . . My hats off to you and your fellow modelers, This is an amazing piece of work here. I have been looking at this ship for days trying to figure out " how they did this, and that" . . . most of all I was thinking How long it took to build the thing . . .
oh I am quite sure the mesh I build will not come close to the same level of detail or perfection as in the production model they are useing . . . don't know if I have that kind of patience or skill level.
I will cut corners as much as possible and will try not to drop anything out. the quality of images I have will force me to be unable to model things as some items are just too small to make out. My only uncertanty now after looking at the ship for some time is the ribbed frame. If all of those were modeled individually then I will have to come up with a plan to get around that . . .However I am definatly going to give it the old college try . . . . :D
if you say they count went up to 4 million then I may have to adjust my plans and build the ship in sections . .
Well thanks for the support . . Will try to do a good job . . .
3d

I not sure of my info here but I read that to animate the G they do it in sections because its so big.. of some thing along those lines .. I will try and find the that link again....

From what I see and have read there is an original series looking battlestar beneath the ribbing and attached nacelles. I’d like to see the model before the all the extra add ons.

Taranis I am not sure about that, but that sounds like an idea, however if you think about it, If they are animating separate sections in the same time line, it all comes out to the same thing. you are still moving the same amount of poly's in the scene. But if the make separate animations and composite them together that may work tho it seems like a lot to do.
Then again on my little Mac G4 it would be a lot, but in a studio setting they might have better machines to work with . . .

This could be as well but I think it may seem that way because the shapes are similar I have been looking at the ship for the last few days with this idea also but truthfully, I don't see it. The original ship was very obtuse (sp) it was very square . . . the new one is more organic, and larger, plus there is this entire section that is cut out in the center of the ship set to house the hanger decks as they retracked for a hyper jump. I could see what you are saying but I think they just kept the flow of the original concept and more organic . . Titon would be the one to ask for sure
3d

Follow this link .. Intresting stuff

http://www.newtek-europe.com/uk/comm...e/smith/1.html

there is a intresting picture of the Galactica that goes in a wireframe mode when passing your mouse over it.

Cool! Another Mac User!

:salute:

Seriously though, I'll look forward to seeing the development of this model. Keep us posted!

You'll give me a big head if you keep talkin that way!

Seriously though the ship was definately rendered in sections. When i worked on the head detailing i used some of the older G's model details to add a flare to it. First and foremost it's always fun to add your own flare to a model no matter how accurately you try to match the original.

Good luck and i look forward to seeing your progress! Especially since your a lightwave user.

;)

I am totally glad to hear you say that, I think that is part of my problem when i do a model of an existing object, I try to duplicate it. However I will add a few touches to this ship to make it "mine" so to speak . . thanks for the advice Titon.

Also I discovered something that I feared would add to the time for completion of the Galactica . . . All 84 of those ribbed frames are going to have to be inserted individually . . . . :wtf: I tried to take some of LW's short-cuts like cloneing and the arrays but nothing will set the ribs in like I need them to be . . . .
sooooo . . it looks like it is going to have to be One by One
I think for each section of the ship I will build a template rib and the duplicate it and manipulate it to fit, but still . . . 1 by 1
the funny thing is, this was my only nightmare about building this model, and now that my worst fears have been realized and I am set for dealing with it, The pressure is somehow releived.
3d

For the ribs, do not know if this modifier exist in LW, but in MAX it is called boolean.

I am not really sure if the meanings are the same but LW has a boolean action which is used to "bore" poly objects with another, either subtraction or add, intersect. cool feature . . .
3d

Yes that is what I mean. Make a copy of the basic shape you made (first pic you posted) and scale it to the proportions the ribs should be. Create some boxes and slice(boolean) these with the shape, either intersect if the boxes are as the ribs, or subtraction if they are as big as the space between the ribs.

already tried that . . . it tanked :(
actually that was my first approach . . the second idea was to clone, path clone, point clone . . . . all failed. I am sure there must be an easier way, however I have already started to build the template of the first rib . . it looks more like I need it to be. Time consuming yes, but this is where the fun and the practice come in . .

Ohhh !!!! and just so I make sure I have no spare time, I started construction on a Mark II Viper . . . :Nsalute:
figured I would do both at the same time . . .
I think I will start a Viper thread later when I have a lot more of it done . .
thanks for the help wjaspers
peace

One technique that you may want to try is as follows.

On a separate layer, draw out a series of rectangles corresponding to where you want the ribs to be. These will "cut" your hull mesh. Put this layer into the background, and bring your nose mesh into the foreground.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-7/1044740/Setup.jpg

Use the Solid Drill -> Slice command.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-...liddrilled.jpg

On the foreground layer, select the newly cut polygons, and use the Smooth Shift command to move these selected polygons inwards or outwards along the polygon normals.

http://img.villagephotos.com/p/2005-...moothshift.jpg

I have found that the Boolean command really likes to work with solid objects/fully enclosed meshes, rather than simple surfaces. The Solid Drill command reallw works well with surfaces, and this technique is especially useful in creating raised hull panels and other nurnies.

I'm not sure how well it will work with Sub-D objects--as with all Sub-D objects, you really have to watch how your mesh is laid out.

That is awesome . . just when you think you tried it all . . . bammm . . . :erk:
I will give that a go on the rest of the ship as I think it is more uniform in its curved surfaces. The bow (head) is already done now. I duplicated all the ribs for the upper portion and am going to shape them the hard way I could use the practice.
But rest asured for the rest of the model I will try this technique for sure.
Thanks rj . . .
yes and by the by the ship is going to be sub_d all the way, I find that it is now or can be very very organic looking if pushed a bit more. It seems like it wants to be more rounded, so I am going to give it help.
3d

Ok . . there is progress it is slow but it is coming, I have all of the ribs for the upper section laid in now I am just going through and shaping each one to fit the Hull. . . . .
http://images.graphicproduction.org/...alactica_2.jpg

for the rest of the ship I will try to use the technique rj illustrated above, hopefully this will be faster. Anyway at least this way I know I am putting the ribs in exactly where I want them and I can keep the look of the ship from being too symetrical.... randomness gives a model life.
3d

AAAAAArrrrrrrrrrr !!! :Nsalute:
I feel like the "KING" . . not bad if I do say so myself . . .
I am going to go in now and add all of the details on these upper ribs while I have them done . . that is before I start on anything else . .

http://images.graphicproduction.org/...alactica_3.jpg


But first the wife is here and I am going introduce her to Battlestar Galactica The New Series on DVD the 4 hr starter . . this will be a good begining for her . . . When the first season DVD come out, she can catch up with that. . . . Right now the second season hasn't started yet here in Canada so by the time it does maybe she will be caught up . . .
see ya'
peace
3d

Looks like your progressing nicely 3d.

As well as the solid tool you can also use the stencil tool as well. Which ever works the best for ya.

;)

great progress 3d . look fantastic

Thanks Taranis just doin' my thing . . . tryign to get the best possible mesh I can produce.

I think I am going to give them both a shot, now that I am finished blocking the lower bow structure, the keel of the bow is going to be the test section for the solid or the stencil tool . . .
So far I am only at 4500 poly's . . . I think that should be about right. We'll see what happens as I start to add detail later on.
3d
http://images.graphicproduction.org/...alactica_4.jpg

Excellent advice RJ that was awesome . . . Titon I used the slice feature to get the bottom section, wow did it go fast !!! 2 days as oppose to 4 days . . .
I think this ship will be done faster than I had thought.
Thanks a lot for the help
T

http://images.graphicproduction.org/...alactica_5.jpg

wow I cant wait for it :thumbsup:

wow really taking shape 3d.

Thanks Taranis, Spending a lot of time on this project and letting other fall by the way side . . I have two websites to build, my new company has it's first gig in a week or so and I haven't been getting ready for that. Plus I haven't touched that viper in 3 days . . . I am bound to the computer tho . . .
But I had time to play doctor with my wife this afternoon . . . :beaver:
so I guess things aren't that bad . . . .

I started on the mid section this morning . . . just blocking out a basic shape then I will try to mold it. The images I have don't cover every angle of the ship so a lot of the shape I am guessing as I go so far it is close and I am pleased with the progress . . . Peace

Thttp://images.graphicproduction.org/...galactica5.jpg

I hope you guys don't mind if keep posting these images . . . I said I would post the build of the model and I am going to keep at it. I know the way I model and if I take a long time off of it it will not get finished . .
So with that being said I am just going to keep at it until it is done . . .

Todays battle was with the lower portion of the mid section. I am in the process of merging the hull and mid sections together. The model itself is in 3 pieces. the ribs, the forward hull and the mid section. the total count of poly's so far is 5,500 or so.
I am trying my best to keep the larger sections low poly and save the builk for the detail . . . that is were the mesh will show it's quality I think . .
anyway here is a shot up to date minus the ribs.

T

http://images.graphicproduction.org/...galactica6.jpg

ok model update:
I did a lot of remodeling on all of the sections. Seems trying to make all of the separate eliments fit is harder than I thought. Because I don't have images of certain angles I am extrapolating (sp) a lot of design flow from what pictures I have. I wanted to work on the tail end of the middle section and finish it off but I found that withought having the sub-light engines modeled and in place. Exact measurememnts of the rear section would be hard to get and impossible to finish so . . . here comes the sub-light engines . . . .

I am starting to think about how to lay in all of the details to the ship, If I give it some thought now it will be easier to do when the time comes. I got some help from the LW heavywieghts over on the newtek forum, and with their help, I have come up with a plan of attack for the sure to be in the millions of poly's it will take to make up the details . . . :bg04:

Thttp://images.graphicproduction.org/...galactica7.jpg