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Yet Another Low-Polygon Spaceship
About Truespace Archives
These pages are a copy of the official truespace forums prior to their removal somewhere around 2011.
They are retained here for archive purposes only.
Yet Another Low-Polygon Spaceship // Work in Progress
Post by skipper // Jul 29, 2006, 11:33pm
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skipper
Total Posts: 113
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Ok, so this is what I'm working on right now. It's a fairly simple low-poly model, nothing fancy, really. I colored all 6 major sides of the object a different color so that I can identify the sides better in the uv-map editor.
The mesh could probably be cleaned up a bit, especially the rear section with the engines, but I don't want to mess with the mesh at this point for obvious reasons. ;)
Now I need to texture the beast. Not sure if I should triangulate the mesh before attempting to create the texture map since all surfaces are made of four-sided polygons. I guess that's another matter of preference and/or portability.
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m248/skipper_b5/wip01/sfms4_2i_uv_2b_tn80pc.jpg
( 4-view layout shot ) (http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m248/skipper_b5/wip01/sfms4_2i_uv_2b_80pc.jpg)
As usual critiques & comments are welcome, I'm still learning and eager to improve. |
Post by Matski007 // Jul 30, 2006, 12:12pm
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Matski007
Total Posts: 539
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nice shaping, not sure about the front end though, would be cool to see more detail in that, also if you were trying to conserve polygons i would reduce the amount at the front, it seems that there are too many polygons which serve no purpose, look forward to seeing it textured and keep up the good work :-) |
Post by skipper // Jul 30, 2006, 7:47pm
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skipper
Total Posts: 113
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...also if you were trying to conserve polygons i would reduce the amount at the front, it seems that there are too many polygons which serve no purpose...
I agree with your assessment, there are quite a few edges that I could remove, but I'm a bit unsure if I should, because tS can be so flaky sometimes when it comes to modifying meshes, so I don't know if I should do it and run the risk of regretting it later on.
As for the front, it's a bit boring indeed... I'll look into that, before I optimize the mesh. |
Post by Matski007 // Jul 30, 2006, 11:32pm
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Matski007
Total Posts: 539
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it is very easy to add polygons to your mesh you know, if your unsure just let me know and ill show u how but u can easily click and add polygons to any area, but yeah your right in that you would optimize after the model is completed |
Post by 3D_Guru // Jul 31, 2006, 12:36am
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3D_Guru
Total Posts: 13
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Yes, I agree with that. I can make some templates for the front if you like. I've got enough fantasy to supply the whole truespace community :) .
So if you like, I can give you some ideas.
The concept of the ship looks good! |
Post by 3D_Guru // Jul 31, 2006, 12:55am
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3D_Guru
Total Posts: 13
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Maybe this is an idea? with some sidefins or something? |
Post by Matski007 // Jul 31, 2006, 1:43am
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Matski007
Total Posts: 539
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hmm, dont wanna sound negative, but remember whoes WIP this is heh, was gonna suggest looking at some ship in Lylat Wars for the N64 though |
Post by 3D_Guru // Jul 31, 2006, 2:34am
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3D_Guru
Total Posts: 13
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Ha, lol. ok
I was just suggesting :) |
Post by skipper // Jul 31, 2006, 7:15am
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skipper
Total Posts: 113
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Ha, lol. ok
I was just suggesting :)
No problem, thank you for your suggestion, but I'm trying to go for a certain look so I can't add too many extrusions. ;) While a hammer head would certainly look cool, it's not the shape I'm aiming for.
Once I have the basic shape down, I will go on an edge hunt and remove all nonessential edges.
Images coming up shortly.... |
Post by skipper // Jul 31, 2006, 7:33am
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skipper
Total Posts: 113
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As promised, another image update:
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m248/skipper_b5/wip01/wip_sfms4_2p_tn80pc.jpg
( 4-view layout shot ) (http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m248/skipper_b5/wip01/wip_sfms4_2p_80pc.jpg) (includes close-up view of the rear section which is also in dire need of optimisation)
I will play around with the point editing tools to see what I can do to the mesh without damaging it. |
Post by Matski007 // Jul 31, 2006, 9:39am
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Matski007
Total Posts: 539
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liking it, maybe put some long communication spikes coming out, but im just biased towards my style lol (http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/showthread.php?t=61) |
Post by Shike // Jul 31, 2006, 8:06pm
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Shike
Total Posts: 511
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I like the shape :) ...is it a freighter or battleship ?
@Matski007:
Hm, how did I miss that thread? That shipfront look similar to the military ship in Alien 4 I think...looks great :) |
Post by skipper // Aug 1, 2006, 2:58am
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skipper
Total Posts: 113
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liking it, maybe put some long communication spikes coming out, but im just biased towards my style lol (http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/showthread.php?t=61)
Very nice ship design. :) I like it.
As for communications gear, it's incorporated into various parts of the ship. All I can say, the texture will be much more detailled than the mesh. At least that's the plan.
I like the shape :) ...is it a freighter or battleship ?
It's supposed to be a military vessel, yes. |
Post by Matski007 // Aug 1, 2006, 3:26am
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Matski007
Total Posts: 539
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hurry with textures then me wanna see!!! lol keep up the good work! heh
@Matski007:
Hm, how did I miss that thread? That shipfront look similar to the military ship in Alien 4 I think...looks great
my inspiration was from the ship in Aliens(2) the military vessel, but i supose most of my inspiration is from all 4 movies cos they are great lol |
Post by skipper // Aug 4, 2006, 9:00pm
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skipper
Total Posts: 113
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Another update!
Any selfrespecting spaceship needs two things: BFG's and BFE's... here are the upgraded engines. :D
http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m248/skipper_b5/wip_sfms4_3a_tn80pc.jpg
( 4-view layout shot ) (http://i106.photobucket.com/albums/m248/skipper_b5/wip_sfms4_3a_80pc.jpg)
I played around with the mesh, removed/added/modified vertices, it's not that hard once you know what you are doing. I also noticed that concept of clockwise and counterclockwise polygons does play a role in truespace...
Moving on to uv-mapping then... |
Post by Shike // Aug 4, 2006, 9:49pm
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Shike
Total Posts: 511
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Moving on to uv-mapping then...
Ah, the "fun" part...if I where rich I would employ people to do that for me ;)
Are you using native UVmapper, UVcow or something else? |
Post by skipper // Aug 4, 2006, 10:10pm
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skipper
Total Posts: 113
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Ah, the "fun" part...if I where rich I would employ people to do that for me ;)
Are you using native UVmapper, UVcow or something else?
I was going to use the native, onboard UVmapper, but to put it diplomatically, I'm certainly open to alternatives. ;)
UVcow you say... any idea where to get it? I'd love to check it out. :)
I did find Lithunwrap 1.3, which is free (and the predecessor of Unwrap3d, which is not free, and as it seems also unavailable either way).
Lithunwrap is nice, but it does the same mess as the onboard tS unwrapper does when you try to unwrap the entire mesh, which I know is a bad idea. I guess I need to define groups, now how do I do that? I know I can do named selections in tS, not sure if that's any good when I want to use an external unwrapper though.
Technical sidenote, the model is currently made of 1,676 triangles... and I need to texture every single one of those!! So this is an important step and I want to do it right the first time. :D |
Post by b_scotty // Aug 5, 2006, 1:53am
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b_scotty
Total Posts: 176
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To use the native UV mapper check out this thread (http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/showthread.php?t=1020&highlight=editor), where Tiles has a link to his excellent tS UV editor tutorial. Hope this helps! :) |
Post by skipper // Aug 5, 2006, 2:08am
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skipper
Total Posts: 113
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To use the native UV mapper check out this thread (http://forums1.caligari.com/truespace/showthread.php?t=1020&highlight=editor), where Tiles has a link to his excellent tS UV editor tutorial. Hope this helps! :)
That's if I wanted to texture a cube... j/k
Thanks, I'm already halfway through that (IMHO most excellent) tutorial and it helped me a lot already. :)
I was about to go with the native mapper, but I was wondering if there were alternatives.
It's a bit like jumping off a cliff, the question is: should I start flapping with my arms, or start screaming? :D |
Post by GraySho // Aug 5, 2006, 2:43am
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GraySho
Total Posts: 695
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You already grouped your ship. You can use CTRL+"Select using freehand" to select faces of the same color, choose planar mapping and open the uv-mapper. Drag the polys in a corner to leave space for the other polys, and go on. Quite simple. A question of minutes to uv-map this ship. |
Post by skipper // Aug 5, 2006, 3:06am
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skipper
Total Posts: 113
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You already grouped your ship. You can use CTRL+"Select using freehand" to select faces of the same color, choose planar mapping and open the uv-mapper. Drag the polys in a corner to leave space for the other polys, and go on. Quite simple. A question of minutes to uv-map this ship.
I did? I guess I did group my ship (I suppose painting the polygons the same color does this automatically), the CTRL+"Select using Freehand" tip works great. Thank you very much. :)
The only thing is, I only get to place one single group into the uv mapping editor, as soon as I want to pick another group, the window is closed and when I select the editor again, the window only shows the latest selection.
I'm almost there.... I can feel it. :D |
Post by skipper // Aug 5, 2006, 3:12am
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skipper
Total Posts: 113
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I think I need to change my grouping, some surfaces get bent inside the editor, even though I selected planar mapping. I also noticed that some groups get rotated at 90 degree angles for no apparent reason.... |
Post by GraySho // Aug 5, 2006, 5:34am
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GraySho
Total Posts: 695
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I think I need to change my grouping, some surfaces get bent inside the editor, even though I selected planar mapping. I also noticed that some groups get rotated at 90 degree angles for no apparent reason....
You can rotate the projection like any other objects. Make sure the brownish margins are in the lower-left corner and it should be right. For precise alignment, use the object info box (Right click on the object tool). The uv-editor only shows the selected polys. If you want all faces to show up, hit space bar to exit point edit mode, and open the editor again. |
Post by Shike // Aug 5, 2006, 11:24pm
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Shike
Total Posts: 511
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I was going to use the native, onboard UVmapper, but to put it diplomatically, I'm certainly open to alternatives. ;)
UVcow you say... any idea where to get it? I'd love to check it out. :)
UVcow was included in one of the PAK's and I like it, but lately I've been experimenting abit with the native one, and it seems to be able to do the same things.....but I probably also need to follow the link b_scotty gave you ;) |
Post by skipper // Aug 5, 2006, 11:35pm
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skipper
Total Posts: 113
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You can rotate the projection like any other objects. Make sure the brownish margins are in the lower-left corner and it should be right. For precise alignment, use the object info box (Right click on the object tool). The uv-editor only shows the selected polys.
The way I understand uv-projections in tS, is that you should only select polygons that exist on the same plane, if you want them to be displayed properly in the uv-mapping editor. When I select one of the pyramidal towers, the uv-projection gets tilted and that distortion shows up also inside the uv-mapping editor. Oddly enough I don't seem to have (or rather notice) that problem when I select the engine poly-group (rear side of the ship) . Not sure there is a solution to this problem, but I guess the work-around would be to select the problem-causing polygons and map them individually. That also means I'll have to group my mesh differently.
I wonder, do I have to apply the planar projection each time I select a polygon before entering the uv-mapping editor? (I'm counting mouse clicks here. ;) ) What I mean is, it doesn't help if I select the entire mesh and apply a planer projection? I usually end up with a mesh salad in the uv-mapping editor.
If you want all faces to show up, hit space bar to exit point edit mode, and open the editor again.
Thanks for the tip, I'll have to check this out. I plan on using a single texture file and this would save me a lot of time. :D |
Post by Shike // Aug 5, 2006, 11:43pm
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Shike
Total Posts: 511
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I wonder, do I have to apply the planar projection each time I select a polygon before entering the uv-mapping editor? (I'm counting mouse clicks here. ;) )
The way you have colour grouped you should fix the UVprojection before entering UVmapper.
Freehand+ctrl+select a colour group, apply planar mapping, rotating and scaling the planar map correctly, finetune by moving UV-vertexes to get everything harmonic. Repeat for each group.
Then enter the UVmapper and fix the positions of the groups.
Eh, hope the tutorial link is better at explaining than me ;) |
Post by GraySho // Aug 5, 2006, 11:48pm
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GraySho
Total Posts: 695
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I wonder, do I have to apply the planar projection each time I select a polygon before entering the uv-mapping editor? (I'm counting mouse clicks here. ;) )
You don't have to, but the default projection might not be what you desire. I don't know your understanding of uv-mapping, but it's purpose is to assign polygons in 3D space to a map in 2D space. Quite simple. Like you would cut out poly's with a scissor and place and arrange them upon your texture. Imagine the planar mapping is like a square photo you take of the mesh topology. You then have to select the poly's in the uv-editor and scale and arrange them so you have enough room for the rest of the poly's. |
Post by hemulin // Aug 6, 2006, 12:04am
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hemulin
Total Posts: 1058
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From what you guys have said you can only select a flat surface for UV mapping, or is that only if you use planar mapping? |
Post by Shike // Aug 6, 2006, 1:09am
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Shike
Total Posts: 511
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From what you guys have said you can only select a flat surface for UV mapping, or is that only if you use planar mapping?
Hm, I might misunderstand here, but in skippers ship, all the yellow surfaces could be assigned one Planar UVprojection, then the green ones and so on...if he wanted to, the engines for example could have been several groups, some which might use cylindrical mapping.
After that these groups can be separated and tidied up in the UVMapper.
-Edit (to include the first step in the workflow):
2067
-End Edit
--Edit again (hrm, forgot to explain this one)
To open the fintuning "Object Info Dialog", right click on the select ikon ( big white arrow, see post #35 by trueBlue) )
--End Edit
2054
2055
A Human character would require a lot of mapping types and groups, and a lot of manual moving of UV-vertices inside the UVmapper, but on this ship, it should be enough to just have one planar UVprojection/side. |
Post by Shike // Aug 6, 2006, 1:43am
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Shike
Total Posts: 511
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Sorry, just felt I needed to test that what I said actually worked...
since I've actually never used the Native mapper before ;)
When everything is laid out nicely, export it.
It will be a square image, but that is easily resized to the correct proportions in whatever paint software you use.
2056
I made a test texture (fancy, ey ? ;))
2058
Then applied it on my ship (which wouldn't survive a battle with skipper's :D)
2057
And now I noticed that I didn't check the projection of the top surface... should have rotated that group in UVmapper...:o
Hm, this actually proved to me that Native UVmapper can do exactly the same as UVCow...but UVcow still has the coolest icon ;)
(sometimes changes from cow to a lamb with a pun for helpline :D ) |
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