OK, so here are the last two shots I made of my Viper...
I say last two... Meaning that I've made a leap to a new 3d modeling and rendering program called Lightwave.
This was a very hard decision... I actually lost sleep over it. But it really came down to cost value. The program I was using, 3ds Max is a very good program, but is missing many elements that you can get out of the box with lightwave... Many things I need in max (plugins) are just very expensive and I'm not a big production house and can't afford it.
Lightwave offers them, built in, and for a better price. Problem is I have to learn a whole new way of modeling and animating. It's like spending 5 years learning to speak German and then switching to speak Portuguese. But with a tight budget, I had to make the switch.
One good thing is that I was able to import my Viper model into lightwave, but have to re-texture it.
Here are some samples of lightwave:
Lightwave is also the program used in the new Galatica series and firefly.
I will probably finish up my space battle scene with Max, but will eventually switch over to lightwave.