Doing KURV Studios Viper tutorial.

G_Starkiller · October 5th, 2008, 05:04 PM

Been working on KURV Studios two part video tutorial on building a BSG
Mk1 Viper in Lightwave. I have Modo, which is near enough to follow
along.

Part 2 deals with texturing the model. Since texturing is
something I'm not good at, this will help I hope.

Just finished the wing assembly. Though he mentioned in the tutorial that the
paneling will be done on the texture in the second part of the tutorial, I
wanted to see if I could model them instead. SIGH. Now I have to panel the
rest of it too, or it won't match. Such is life.

Eric

Titon · October 6th, 2008, 04:10 AM

Looking very nice!

Kev does a nice job with that tutorial.

gmd3d · October 6th, 2008, 06:34 AM

Nice job .. I like to see the Panelling been done. but that a personal approach

G_Starkiller · October 6th, 2008, 09:42 AM

Yes, I prefer the modeled detail approach too. The problem with
textured detail, is that the closer the camera gets, the more fake
it looks.

The eye opener for me in this tutorial, was the way the most basic
geometric shapes could be altered with a few modeling tools. This was
why I had trouble getting started. I didn't understand how the tools
could get the shapes they did. This tutorial shows how, with an
interest subject to model. BTW, got the tailfin modeled, detailed, and
added.

Eric

Darrell Lawrence · October 6th, 2008, 09:49 AM

I modeled my details.

ulimann644 · October 6th, 2008, 10:39 AM

The viper is looking very good - I´m interested to see one day the final version.

G_Starkiller · October 7th, 2008, 07:14 PM

Finished the rear nurnies. I watched do his in the tut, then did my own,
based on the 5 view reference I'm using.

Starkiller

Darrell Lawrence · October 7th, 2008, 08:13 PM

What 5 views are you using?

G_Starkiller · October 7th, 2008, 08:49 PM

http://www.sextondesign.net/BG/html/gallery.html

This chap has some REALLY nice graphic sheets on the ships of
Classic Galactica, Modern Galactica, Star Trek, and Star Wars.
I don't know if they were done with his models, or if he made
them in Photoshop, but they are very good work, and excellent
for reference images.

Greywolf

EDIT: I mean Babylon 5, not Star Wars.

CBSG4ever · October 7th, 2008, 09:09 PM

Yes, that site belongs to our very own "Gideon" here at Fleets. Haven't seen him around lately. I agree, he does excellent work.

Keep up the excellent work you are doing G_Starkiller.

gmd3d · October 8th, 2008, 03:48 AM

excellent work on this

Darrell Lawrence · October 8th, 2008, 09:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by G_Starkiller

http://www.sextondesign.net/BG/html/gallery.html

This chap has some REALLY nice graphic sheets on the ships of
Classic Galactica, Modern Galactica, Star Trek, and Star Wars.
I don't know if they were done with his models, or if he made
them in Photoshop, but they are very good work, and excellent
for reference images.

Greywolf

EDIT: I mean Babylon 5, not Star Wars.

Ah. Well, you can use the originals of what he used. They're in the Gallery here. It's my model he used in his graphics

G_Starkiller · October 8th, 2008, 09:27 AM

Got the engine paneling done. Just a bit of detailing to do and then
it's on to the fuselage.

Warrior, that is a superb model of the viper! I'll check the gallery when
I get home from work. Did you do the Mk2 also? After I finish the Mk1,
I want to try the Mk2. With it's stylish lines, it'll be harder than the Mk1,
and a good exercise when I finish this tut.

Greywolf

Darrell Lawrence · October 8th, 2008, 09:46 AM

Thanks.

No, I didn't make a MkII version. Just the Classic.

ulimann644 · October 8th, 2008, 12:56 PM

Very impressive work - I love this baby...

BTW a little question: How is the work with modo ?? - I´ve got a version of it since a few weeks but never showed in so far...

G_Starkiller · October 8th, 2008, 07:02 PM

Well, one Lightwave command I couldn't find the Modo version for, was
Rail Extrude. The Bend tool on a cylinder produced a similiar result.
In many other cases, Modo made certain thing easier, in others, a bit
harder. All in all, I would say the modelers are very similiar. If you can
do Lightwave, you should be able to do Modo with little difficulty.

Greywolf

G_Starkiller · October 11th, 2008, 03:11 PM

Got the paneling on the fuselage done. Just a few details left to add.
Then it's off to find some references on the landing gear and the
cockpit.

Greywolf

ernie90125 · October 11th, 2008, 04:18 PM

I'm impressed with your modeling skills.....hoping to see her turboing around the galaxy shoting bad guys in a few animations too :-)

gmd3d · October 11th, 2008, 04:20 PM

I built the landing gear for the Viper and it in the Downloads area .. it based on the blueprints from the show .. I don't have them on my HD but on disc ,.. I check tomorrow
too post them.

gmd3d · October 11th, 2008, 04:31 PM

you can see the rear landing gear here in this thread

http://www.colonialfleets.com/forums...r+landing+gear

G_Starkiller · October 11th, 2008, 05:30 PM

Thanks Taranis.

I grabbed your gear to use as a reference. I also
found a few shots of how they attach. Not very detailed shots, but good
enough to get started from. A few close B&W shots of the actual gear
and the blueprints you mentioned. Also located some nice cockpit
shots, again, not very detailed, but enough to get started.

Thanks to everyone for the nice comments. The tutorial was fun and
informative, and I added a lot. Hopefully, I won't regret it when UVmapping.

Starkiller

KJ · October 12th, 2008, 08:16 AM

Neat stuf there G_Starkiller!

Recently got myself the new 30 anniversary revell Viper kit, so i guess we're all doing something viper related. Although i've got to get the necessary paints and whatnot, working space etc, other materials etc.

Like what i'm looking at far as your CG model goes though.

KJ

gmd3d · October 12th, 2008, 11:32 AM

here you go.. these are the ones

G_Starkiller · October 13th, 2008, 06:59 AM

Taranis, thanks for the references. I was wondering if I should even
bother with landing gear, when I scaled your gear to fit my Viper, rendered,
took one look amd that was all it took.

It looks so cool with the gear,
that I'm modeling them using your excellent gear as a reference. I'm
hoping to be able to do it in half the number of polys, but it looks like
3/4 may be more likely.

Here is a shot of my Viper with your gear attached.

Eric

EDIT: Added a shot of where I am with my own front gear. So far,
I'm managing to hold the number of polys at the 3/4 mark.

gmd3d · October 13th, 2008, 07:34 AM

Looks great .. I never attempted to reduce the polys more than I did .. look forward to see
what you will do

G_Starkiller · October 13th, 2008, 05:19 PM

Here are some WIP screen caps of my own landing gear. Almost done
them, then it's the cockpit.

Taranis, your help was definitely above
and beyond the call of duty. It's thanks to you that I got this far.

Eric

PS: So far, the 3/4 quote seems to be holding. I might have managed
half, but I just kept adding more detail for some reason.

gmd3d · October 13th, 2008, 11:55 PM

your gear looks right on .. and no problem about the refs

glad to help out a fellow Artist

G_Starkiller · October 14th, 2008, 09:01 AM

I didn't really save all that much. The final poly count on the Landing
Gear came in at 41350. That's only about 7000 polys less than your Gear.

Here's a beauty shot and a few orthos. Now it's time to try the
cockpit.

Eric

Athene · October 14th, 2008, 10:14 AM

Those look really good.

I'd like to make a viper too at some point.

G_Starkiller · October 14th, 2008, 10:38 AM

It's a good ship to start out with. I deviated a lot from the tutorial, but
I'm just about ready to start the UVmapping part, then the texturing part.
Gotta do the cockpit though. After putting so much detail into it, I just
can't skip that.

Eric