Nephilim Remodels

[Dark Sentinel]

G'morning (evening) everyone.
I've searched this forum and didn't really find any Neohilim stuff. And I didn't find the "show models here" thread. I'm sorry, if I'm wrong and made smth wrong, but let it be for now.
So. Here is a dummy model of Orca. 6370 triangles. Right now I'm trying to follow the game model.
No bridge, no missile launchers, etc - I'm working just on the stuff that can be done with symmetry for now.
I have no skill for organic modelling, so once I may ask for help.
Until that - here it is.

Teeth in front of the model is melee-fighting equipment, approach and chew, y'know hangar goors. Fighter near it - yes, that's Moray.

C&C welcome.

- Dark.

 

[FekLeyrTarg]

That looks like a good beginning.

May I ask which program you use?

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Sure. Primarily I use 3DS Max for all of my modelling.

 

[FekLeyrTarg]

Ah, I see. I usually use Blender. And for textures I use GIMP

It's great that you decided to build Nephilim ships. Most WC-modelers I know usually build Confed or Kilrathi ships. If you're interested, then maybe your models can be converted and rigged for use in WC Saga. I think that game could use some Nephilim ships for some Prophecy-era missions and campaigns.

 

[Dark Sentinel]

I'm always interested in my models being used for something besides their existence, but that hits the question of quality. And a problem is I'm usually slow at my work.
Also a question of style I should follow - game style - nearly polished metallic or art style - with a lot of spikes, horns, uneven geometry.

 

[Dyret]

You know, I'm surprised how ignored Nephilim ships are considering the absolutely beautiful renders/cinematic models they had. It's good to see that being rectified.

As for style, maybe a mix of the two? I think the original design were going for a massive shelled sea creature look, so there is definitely room for elements of both.

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Well, honestly, I hope this stuff is interesting for somebody.
Meanwhile: updaet.
9746 polygons + old conic spikes. Remodelled engine and nose, some cleanups. I suppose that 20k is a safe polycount limit for nearly any purpose.
And I ask - any references for Orca besides that only scetch and in-game model?

C&C welcome.

- Dark.

 

[Major A Payne]

Looks great. When I started my game mod I went hunting for good quality images but the reference material for nephilim ships was pretty limited. That's why I ended up using the original stock models which was a bit disappointing for me.

 

[capi3101]

References...are you wanting material regarding Nephilim ships in general or are you specifically looking for models?

WCPedia (wcnews.com/wcpedia) has a good amount of material on the Nephilim in general; most of it's the same as can be found in the game's official strategy guide. They've got concept art up too.

There are a couple of model editors out there too; I used a few of them when I was looking for weapons emplacement positions for WCRPG. IIRC, I discovered that all of the Nephilim capship models are septagonal in nature (or nonoganal; I always get sevens and nines confused for some reason - I' about 95% confident it's seven). I don't remember off the top of my head which set of programs I wound up using but if that information would be helpful to you I can go look them up; I should still have them all installed on my laptop.

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Well, I was thinking about more art and/or fanart or maybe where could you see Orca in rendered cinematics. I have access to extracted models and textures, so at least that's not a problem. And yes, they're septagonal. Actually, that's the way I model it - I model one segment and then just replicate it prior to rendering. But thanks anyway.

 

[Dyret]

I think the UE guys used the Orca in one of their pre-rendered cinematics. Either that or the Hydra. Also, wasn't there quite a few fleet shots of the Nephilim in Prophecy? There might be a good shot of it in one of the high-res films: https://www.wcnews.com/holovids/cinematics_prophecy.shtml

 

[Astro commander]

Is your goal to have just models for the computer or physically.
I encountered the same problem when I was modeling my 3d printed models that there wasnt a lot of good reference material. WCNEWS had the best references so I had to make up the details as I went(https://www.wcnews.com/ships/). I love the neph and thats why I modeled most of their fleet before many of the other fleets. Im a big fan of organic ships. Keep modeling its looking good!

If it helps I took some decent res pictures of my ships after I painted them. Some are here.
http://www.deviantart.com/?q=nephilim+wing+commander+wc5

 

[Quarto]

I think the UE guys used the Orca in one of their pre-rendered cinematics. Either that or the Hydra.

We did, but I do not believe we ever had access to any models other than the ones you see in the game, so our cinematics are no higher quality than the in-game models. The WCP cinematics are a different story, though - there's definitely a few (only a few) good shots of the high-quality models that Origin used to create the in-game models.

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Yeah, Orka was in one of the losing paths cinematics. Still not enough, but better than nothing.
I model this stuff to be used later in game or a mod of any kind.

Next. I've got kinda bored modelling Orka and decided to step aside and model something else. Yes, that's Capship Missile - now 175 times more high-poly and 64 times more high-res. And while model is more or less good - at least I like it - texturing went somewhere wrong.

So - top to bottom - original Capmiss, 12 polies; my model of Capmiss, 2104 polies; failed attept of organic high-poly for AO and normal map baking, 27340 polies; final result with NM and self-illumonation applied.

So in general that needs modelling software more friendly to organics and more skill from me.

 

[Whistler]

That missile looks decidedly evil. Good redux if you ask me.

 

[Dark Sentinel]

EMERGENCY RESURFACE!
Now back to business:

I know you hate it.
You hate it gray, 'cause it can be lethal even you're Panther.
You hate it red, 'cause it loves you capships oh so much.
You hate it's yellow sister 'cause it's completely overpowered.
Now even more awesome for you to hate.

Manta. Obviously.
Awesome for me. At least, I'm satisfied with the model ATM.
A free, weird and heretical intermix of arts, ingame model and own ideas.
9.1 times more high-poly, 2608 polies vs. 286.

Textures? ASAP, these are just dymmy materials to show the model.
Devil Ray? Will require some more work, but not impossible as well.
Moray? No. Tried to model. Didn't back up the model when should have to. Don't ask anything else.

C&C welcome as always.

- Dark.

 

[Wojo]

This is very cool. I am a huge Syd Mead fan and always thought it was sad that the ship designs he did had to be somewhat watered down to work in the game engine. They did a great job with the tech at the time (the sheer scale of the capships was one of the best features of WCP) but now it's great to see them buffed up the wazoo.

What approach are you going for texture-wise? I always thought the concept art showed a much more colourful & 'wet' feel - are you going to try and reproduce this?

 

[Dark Sentinel]

colourful & 'wet'

Exactly. Well, I never did that type of material before, but that's what I plan to do.
As I said, this gray is a procedural material 'cause I didn't really want to show the model being flat gray.

 

[Six-Gun Slim]

Was I the only one who was disappointed when they realized the Nephilim ships have cockpit canopies? Playing Prophecy back in the day, I always imagined their ships as entire organisms, and the talking heads in the VDUs weren't really pilots, but more like the ship's sensory/communication organs or something. Of course the ending shows them as a discrete creature, but up until then I thought otherwise.

 

[Dark Sentinel]

Updaet.
Now the yellow sis' as well. No textures.
2648 and 3796 polies vs. 286 and 354. Yeah, I had to apply some fixes to Manta in order to ease my life when I'll be UVing and texturing that.
Also: I had to make Devil Ray 0.5 meter longer 'cause... well, heresy. I needed longer hull-to-engine transition section to ease UVing and make this ship modular without need to remap too much. Not that obvious in renders, though.
C&C extremely welcome, please.

-Dark