Any good artists out there that want to give me a hand?

[Shaggy]

I need help from people who can make some really nice looking images for the Marine Force Recon T.C. I am putting together for Duke Nukem. You don't need to have Duke to help me out, just a good hand at creating good looking image files. And I can use all the help I can get.
I'm currently trying to get a hangar deck put together for MFR. I'm building for Duke 3D. The problem is that I may not be able to put any fighters on the deck. Since Duke Nukem is not a true 3D game any Fighter's I do will either have to be straight sprites or floor constructs, raisning and angling sections of the floor so that it looks somewhat like a fighter .
If I go with sprites I'll end up having to close off the area where the fighters are with blocked walls, so when you play you won't be able to go near the fighters. This would sacrifice some of the realism and confine the play area.
If I use floor constructs I have to use textures on the construct areas that give the illusion of empty space, like creating a Hellcat construct with a texture that makes it look like there is empty space "below" the fighter's wings even though the texture is actually applied to a wall.
I've also thought about using sprite constructs, using specific sprites stuck togther at different angles to create the look of a fighter. This would be very boxy however, and if you get to close it might look like crap.
Anyway if anybody is willing to give me a hand, let me know. Right now I'm experimenting with different tricks to try and get the look right, if I can. And if anybody has any other ideas on how I might pull this off I'm open to suggestions.

 

[Eder]

I'm not sure this idea will help you at all, but if I were you, I'd use floor constructs and stick to designs that won't give you much trouble as a Hellcat, like the Thunderbolt, Avenger, Excalibur, or maybe a Vindicator, if you use a sprite in its rear fin.

--Eder

 

[Shaggy]

Well I just tried a rough floor construct of a Hellcat annd it looked pretty good, it had very few sides and no fightur textures. The only big problem I'm having is with the canopy. The front ends up being taller than the back, so it looks like JU88 canopy.
I think I'm going to go with a sort of hybrid of floor and sprite constructs but I haven't decided the final fighters yet. I want to use older fighters if I can, like the Rapiers , rather than WC3 era fighters. If I decide to go all out on this, creating a full squadron on the hangar deck, I'll probably be putting a few thousand hours into it.
So somebody please help me with the art!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Basilisk]

Quake?

Why dont you try and do it in QUake? worldcraft and QOOLE are easy to use (qooles easier) and you can knock up a ship out of brushes that can look as realistic as you like. go to http://qoole.gamedesign.net for the free download of qoole (i recommend it)it also has tutorials on how to doors and effects and stuff. you can import textures into it with ease, if your using a texture compiler (not very big or complicated). i have quite a lot of experience in this editing in quake, and doom, so feel free to ask me anything. you need a registered version of quake or quake2 to use the program, since qoole makes a texture wad from the quake game. check it out.... see what you think........ and no sloppy brushwork!!!!!! (youll get it if you know the quake format)

 

[Basilisk]

quake continued

ps...... quake is full time 3d, so you dont need to mess around with sprites and waste loads of time trying to make 2d objects 3d (i tried this with doom...... i went to ZdoomGl straight away) whats more....... its quite straightforward when you want to edit the skins of the characters.

 

[Shaggy]

Well don't have Quake, and I don't much like it either, so I wouldn't be able to test out any levels. I do have Half-Life, and an early copy of Worldcraft, but currently it's out of my sphere of knowledge.
I am pretty well versed in BUILD though, which is why I decided to go with Duke 3D, so I figured I'd do a conversion for that.
Once I get a better computer I'm going to move up to creating true 3D T.C.s. Right now I don't even have a 3D card in my machine, and my regular video card is kind of weak.
Even after I get a faster computer I'll probably still make Duke T.C.s, they're just so much damn fun to make!

 

[Basilisk]

fair enough........ you can use qool for HL too..... ive never used the duke 3d editor before (im not a real fan of duke 3d i think its quake or duke) so i dont know much about it. i have experience in doom level editing, which seems more to the tuning of duek editing...... you should really give quake editing a go tho..... it takes about 2hours to learn the basics, but its one of those things you can never master.