construction on new Galactica begins

[gpdesigner]

I got a lot done today, I just hunkered down and modeled like mad . . .
now that the sublight engines are done I am going to start on the hyperlight engines . . . yeah buddy . . !
I also found a few seconds in there to do the landing bays . . . wonder how that happened. Anyway I figure I am about 1/5 of the way through, still tons more modeling to come, then there is the tweaking, then test renders, then comes the details, tons and tons of details, then after that, I get to surface and experiment with textures and color. I am going to try a steel blue color for the ship instead of the grey they are using now. Steel Blue is more stealthy, more cold and deadly.

I haven't decided on a name for her yet, I don't want to call her Galactica, thats aleady taken . I was leaning twards the name Achilles ?
it has a ring to it, what do you think . .
I want to thank you all for stopping by and checking out the progress, more to come for sure.
T

[Gemini1999]

Santee -

I have to say that this is quite a treat for those of us that aren't savvy with the CGI thing. I love seeing all the stages of the work in progress and talking about how you managed to do this bit or that bit...

This is most definitely not like drawing on paper - it's more like building the damn thing as you're creating something that's treated like a 3D object.

Most impressive (and impressed)... I'm truely in awe!

Keep up the fantastic work!

Regards,
Bryan

[gpdesigner]

gemini1999,
Thanks my friend it is good to hear you say that, you know it just dawned on me reciently that not everyone here on this board is a cgi geek or 3d modeler, And reading what you just said rang that bell for me. I came here via 3d Gladitors so I assumed this board was thick with 3d'ers. There are a few and some really awesome modelers at that, but I also see there are other sorts of Artists here as well so I know I am not alone.

I belong to a few Lightwave 3d forums and posting work in progress like this is common place. People usually jump in and C&C progress by giving some tips or advice about some design issue or poly they saw out of place. And even though there haven't been a lot of people posting in this thread, I do see that the thread views are going up so I feel good that people though they may not have any C&C, are stopping by to view the progress.

I figured I would just post the building of this ship here and not on any other forum because I feel the work belongs here. So as long as people come by to check out the progress I will keep posting it.
Thanks again Bryan

T

[gmd3d]

I am stunned at at the progress on the model .. WOW

[julix]

Looks great Santee!

[gpdesigner]

Originally Posted by julix

Looks great Santee!

thanx julix, I appreciate that I am pretty impressed at this model myself . . .
what do you think about the name " BattleStar Achilles" ?

Originally Posted by Taranis

I am stunned at at the progress on the model .. WOW

glad you like it Taranis, yeah it is comming along ok, right now it is very round, very organic. Once I get the body finished I will fit it together and shape it better.

Hey I remember seeing a render of the new battlestar you did, where is it?

T

[julix]

I really like that Name Ralph!!!

[repcisg]

I am amazed at the speed with which you are progressing and the detail already worked out.

I had a thought, as a variation on the theme, suppose you stretched the head back a bit. Leave the lower corners where they are but pull back from the center, like a cobra’s hood, covering the front part of the landing bays.

I have noticed Battlestars present their armored backs to the enemy. The cobra’s hood would add protection to at least the forward part of the landing bays, especially when retracted.

[Titon]

Great work Santee!



Looks like you got very close to the original.

[gpdesigner]

Originally Posted by repcisg

I had a thought, as a variation on the theme, suppose you stretched the head back a bit. Leave the lower corners where they are but pull back from the center, like a cobra’s hood, covering the front part of the landing bays.

This sounds interesting . . . I am going to give this a shot today repcisg, but unless I flare out the hood in some fashion or another just pulling back from the center won't cover the landing bays . . but I am going to try this in a few moments . . as I am just getting ready to settle into my morning coffee . . .

Originally Posted by Titon

Looks like you got very close to the original.

I am making a serious go of it. But you would be surprised at how much of the ship I can't see. I have about 22 images of the Galactica but the majority of them are at the same angles, so there are plenty of blind spot I have to fit together as I think it should go. Like the aft section of the mid ship, where the landing bays retract into. that section of the hull just before the engine section starts . . .
I have no idea how that is organized there are no sharp images of this part of the ship so I have to let the pieces flow to that point and fit them together organically as to match the theme and layout of the rest of the ship.
Also there is no square dead on shots of the rear end of the ship like there is of the front end, so all of the angles and measurements of the tail section are theoretical.
I would have to say this is an interesting project, and I am haveing a blast.
Glad you like the mesh

T

[gmd3d]

I did this one .. The other I need to find again

[gpdesigner]

Originally Posted by Taranis

I did this one .. The other I need to find again

nice image, I thought I saw this a few days ago but my swiss cheese memory got it all turned around . . . nice image, cool render. Is that a full detailed battlestar ?

T

[gmd3d]

It done by Wil Jaspers and converted by Warrior .. and can be found in the downloads if you want to take a look,

[Titon]

Santee i probably can help you out with some renders to show your missing areas.

[gpdesigner]

Originally Posted by Titon

Santee i probably can help you out with some renders to show your missing areas.

It must be Christmas . . .
yeah sure Titon that would be awesome, basically it is just the aft section of the mid ship right were the mid section meets the engines and a square shot of the rear. but I really don't need it anymore I am going to go with what I did for the rear so probably just an idea of what the tail section looks like would be awesome.

Originally Posted by Taranis

It done by Wil Jaspers and converted by Warrior .. and can be found in the downloads if you want to take a look,

Thanx Taranis I will peek at it later, I am just curious of how he did that ship . .

@ repcisg : I tried a mock up of that hood you were talking about this morning. I took the theme you suggested and went with it, what I came up with wasn't what you had in mind, in fact what I came up with is completely horrible, however I can see possibility of something cool, I will have to work on the concept in order to bring something nice looking out of it. unfortunately I am going to have to experiment on it after I get to a point were I am comfortable with the progress of the current ship . . . .
here is the work just so you will have something to laugh at . . . BTW i don't have to tell you what it looks like from the top . . .

T

[repcisg]

Ya

[gpdesigner]

I started to do spot test renders of parts of the ship tonight. I was looking for polygon irregularities and surface errors. I found so many on the lower hull of the ship that I decided to trash it and build another. The original lower hull section was done by extruding a single polygon along a pre-determined path I had made by drawing a line in cyber space from point a to point b (rail extruding). This method is fine but it isn't quite working for me in this particular situation as certain areas of the mesh were mis-shapen and irregular.

So the next best method of modeling this section is in fact the way I modeled the rest of the ship . . . poly by poly . . .



Sometimes you just have to build it brick by brick . . . .
T

[wjaspers]

Originally Posted by Santee

Also there is no square dead on shots of the rear end of the ship like there is of the front end, so all of the angles and measurements of the tail section are theoretical.
T

Try this one, from a scifi-meshes thread, this guy made a model in cgi and than made a real model from that using a laser cutter:

http://home.comcast.net/~cobywan/Ima...actica2003.pdf


The thread, if interested:
http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/s...t=21661&page=1

[Fragmentary]

Originally Posted by wjaspers

The thread, if interested:
http://www.scifi-meshes.com/forums/s...t=21661&page=1

Whoa!
The pics of finished real world model are awesome. If he could find a way to sell these on the down low, I'd love to pick one up.

[TwoBrainedCylon]

That is some nice work.

Compliments to the guy.



Sandy

[Westy]

.

[Westy]

Originally Posted by Sept17th

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.

You're right Sept. The TNS BSG has tons of tons of TOS Galactica's parts all over it under the ribbing. When I did my own model of the TNS ship, I took a gazzilion screen shots of the ship...those parts are more of a texture though...not much depth to them, but they are there. I've noticed at least 60 TOS parts on the landing bays, the aft section, the head, the body....they're everywhere.

[gpdesigner]

Originally Posted by wjaspers

Try this one, from a scifi-meshes thread, this guy made a model in cgi and than made a real model from that using a laser cutter:

Thanks wjaspers nice post . . . . ., I got the pdf and saw the images this gentelman made . . very informative to say the least. Tho the area I am most interested in is still a bit uncertain, from the material I am gleaning from here and there I think I can wip it together nicely. thanks again . .

I haven't been modeling much the last week, I have been busy as heck with a new start up company I have been planning. This past weekend was my first gig so things were very hecktick. Well . . . the first job went off flawlessly and I passed out a few cards for potential new clients, so I think I am actually get a break . . . .

Anyway right now I am in the midst of finishing off the new website for this start up company once that is done I will jump back onto the Galactica again . . .
--- I just love being busy --- (sarcasm)

T

[gmd3d]

Good to hear Santee.. best of luck with the company

[gpdesigner]

** update **
I started back on the project yesturday by doing a slew of test renders. I found all sorts of surface errors and mistake all along the hull of the ship. I spent most of the day trying to repair and smoothen out the hull so that it can stand up under really close renders.
I fixed mostly all of the errors, but left a few as I don't think they will show up once all the detail and image maps are applied.
In remodeling most of the ship, I found that I may have to rebuild all of the Ribs that I have made previously . . . Oh Well . . such is life. However once I start to rebuild the ribs, I think i will use the technique that RJ showed me, as this seems to be a faster and more reliable method.

For the rear section update, I looked at the images and links that wjaspers supplied. The gentalman who did the rhino project had some interesting ideas about the rear section, but if you examine the details closely on the rhino mock up, you'll see that the tail section doesn't come close to the design of the LW model by Zoic.
Even tho' when building a model some changes are good to make and a modeler's interpretation is always a factor, still I want to get a little bit closer to the Zoic mesh.

Here is my idea of what the engine tail section looks like, . . or as close as I can get it . . . . peace

T

[wjaspers]

Looking good,

do not know if you have ever seen these pics, but I think you should take a look at them, maybe they can be helpfull because they are black and white, whitout shadows:

http://www.meshweaver.com/frames/Por.../htms/zoic.htm

[gmd3d]

I the TOS shuttle pics .. cool

[gpdesigner]

thanks wj. that was a good score . . . I had smaller versions of the black and whites, but these are priceless becuase they are much bigger . . .
i can see a lot more details . . .
this is a huge ship I have to say, tons of off angles to work with. I don't know who came up with the original draft but they definately have an awesome 3d perspective. Some of the body details are really precise, no room for mistakes . .
I was just cutting the holes for the extending arms for the hanger decks, . . . wow, that was a job . . . there are absolutely no loose ends on those cuts, all headers and edges are rounded off. Thats like serious detail work.
Anyway . . back to it for me . . .
see ya'

T

[Indy]

Santee,

Very cool. I'm definately a fan of this model. Can't wait to see her finished.

[Indy]

Originally Posted by wjaspers

http://www.meshweaver.com/frames/Por.../htms/zoic.htm

Great link... is that the guy that did the new G orginally? Passaro?