Strakha 3D model

Kilrah

Spaceman
Greetings!

After doing some tutorials in 3DSMax 6 I have decided to try modelling a Wing Commander ship (my first non tutorial ship model). The chosen one was the Strakha and here it is what I have done so far.
Tomorrow I’ll put more pictures from other perspectives.

I’m currently trying to put a console and a chair in the interior of the cockpit but there are a few issues that I must fix in order to work.
I would also like to texture it, if anyone has textures or good reference shots from the Strakha or any other Kilrathi ships (or Confederation) it would be nice.

Well, I would like to “hear” what you think about the model.
 

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  • Strakha.jpg
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Here are a few updates of my model. I have finished the cockpit’s interior.

@ Ptarmigan
Well, I used reference images of the top, front and left side, then started with boxes and splines. My 3dsmax knowledge is not much so I used very basic techniques.

@ChrisReid
Thanks for the reference shot, but I already have that one and few others (not so good). What I really would like to see is an underneath shot.
 
Thanks for the comment and thanks for the shot.
Next I’ll try to texture it but that is something I’m not yet sure how to do it.

Maybe one day my models achieve the quality of yours. :)
 
Ptarmigan said:
How did you build that model in3D Studio?

What do you mean. Unless i have missed something, 3D studio is supposed to be used for building 3D models. :confused:
 
Dyret said:
What do you mean. Unless i have missed something, 3D studio is supposed to be used for building 3D models. :confused:

Sorry for the confusion. Like NURBS, Patches, Splines, or Primitives.
 
Seems like a nice polyogn (boxmodelling) to me. Am I right?
Great job! My second ever modell was a very bad hellcat in Max :D Then I made a new one, still looking much worse then your Strakha. Keep it up! I suggest you try to do stuff with procedurals. Noise mapping solves everything :D
But a good texture is allways better. Do you have Greeble modifier? try to get it , its free. It makes panels out of a single face. You should apply that to the small holes in the wings, to get teh detailed look. (look at Chris's ref pic).
If you got techniqual question's about Max, just ask, I'll try to help!
 
lorddarthvik said:
Seems like a nice polyogn (boxmodelling) to me. Am I right?
You are very right. :D
You mentioned “procedurals”. Well, I really don’t know what that is and as for “noise mapping” I haven’t got there yet in the tutorials, BTW you said it solves everything, but what exactly does it do? Is it some kind of texture substitute?

I have just finished my second model, an Arrow; I’ll upload it as soon as I can. It’s not as good as the Strakha but it’s also a much difficult ship to model. Now I am trying to make textures but I’m not getting good results. :(

Anyway, thanks for your comment and suggestions, I’ll try to get the “Greeble modifier”. And thank you very much for the help offer; I’m sure I will need it. :)
 
Ptarmigan said:
Sorry for the confusion. Like NURBS, Patches, Splines, or Primitives.

Don't worry about it, I'm a bit slow sometimes... Mostly due to lack of sleep. :)
 
"Procedurals" means useing "procedural maps" wich means that the map is mad up of tiles (like tileing a bitmap), but it's generated by the program on the fly, not made up of an existing bitmap/texture. Nosie map is one of them. Noise map is the map where you got those small black and white dots by deffault. The size and color can be modified of these dots, and most important, is never repeats! I won't really go into details, I rather think you should check the tutorial and try it for yourself to understand how it works.
Modelling a lowpoly arrow is hard! I made mine by downloading an existing modell from wc3d, and then shaping it, adding cuts, faces, and it turned out quiet good I think.
Learn to use MeshSmooth modifier on polygon modells! It helps to create a higher poly more-rounded look, tahts good for an arrow (but Not for any Kilrathy ship!). One more thing: if you wish to use your modell as low-poly modell for a game or such, then your doing a great job!

If you want to use it for still-renders or animation, you should increase the polycount/detail of the modell! First of all: chamfer the outer-edges! ALL of them. No, i'm not jokeing, it helps! Just be sure you set chamfer to a veryvery small size, so it's almost invisible. It'll help get the edges shine, as metals should. Belive me, later you'll need it.
Now, just keep on doing it :D Your on the right way :D
 
Ok, here is my Strakha model this time with textures. I know the colour doesn’t look like the original but for now it will be as is.

lorddarthvik, I would like to thank you very much for your explanations and suggestions :), as you can see I have completed my Strakha model with textures but I haven’t tried your suggestions yet. When I have the time I’ll try it and then I’ll post here the results.

I have also started a new thread where you can see my WIP Arrow. It has a lot inaccuracies but I have already tried to use the MeshSmooth modifier, so far the results are partially good.
 

Attachments

  • Strakha_01.jpg
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hmm, looks fine, just the textures color is waay too bright. make it darker, and less saturated. add some scrathes dark spots like on seen airplanes (modells mostly).
 
lorddarthvik said:
hmm, looks fine, just the textures color is waay too bright. make it darker, and less saturated. add some scrathes dark spots like on seen airplanes (modells mostly).
I’ll take that into account when I improve it. My idea is to make a wallpaper with this model and the Arrow (a battle scene), but unfortunately vacations are over and free time is a luxury that sometimes I don’t have. Even so I’m working on it.
Have you see my “test” wallpaper with the Strakha? It was on the news. :D
 
yup, and it was'nt bad :D Just next time try to make it more "alive", with some post work (ad motion blur and such effects, either in Max or PhotoShop) The asteroids were quiet good too! Just take some time textureing them better next time. (noise map is your friend :D )
 
Ok. I have an idea for a new wallpaper; it involves both the Strakha and the Arrow. When I finish the Arrow model I’ll try to make it and also try to make it more “alive”. :D
Thanks for the tips again.
 
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