[WIP] Viper Mk II

Amatobahn

I have been wanting to start a new portfolio piece that will push some high poly to low poly detail skills. I have not really focused on a form of vehicle before and I felt that it would be an important addition to my portfolio.

The Viper Mk 2, known from Battlestar Galactica is a very compact, lightweight ship.


I started late last night with a quick block-in study and decided I wanted to restart and work panel-by-panel on the ship. I really want to capture subtle details.



I will try and post regularly, but as it will be a nighttime only project, some days may go with little to no update and I will probably be asking for a lot of helpful tips with some of the surface details. I want to make this an ambitious project.

Shanthosa

Cool project. I dig the design of these ships. One of the big things that pops out to me right away is that the windshield is laid out differently in the reference. The side panel is all one pane, and the top of the canopy narrows toward the center. Try narrowing the top toward the front and see if it lines up any better with the reference.

Looking cool dude! Can't wait to see more.

Amatobahn

I plan on restarting the mesh. I wasn't sure how I wanted to approach the model at the start. =]

Amatobahn

Restarted the fuselage tonight. I am liking the shape of this more than the previous.



I plan on getting the hole for the side-mechanics in tomorrow night, and possibly start on the side engine.

SirCalalot

Great idea!
I love the design of the Battlestar ships.

Are you planning on putting this in-engine?

Amatobahn

The end goal is to get the Viper in-engine. I'm hoping to really throw in a lot of detail to the high poly mesh and get a good normal bake out of it.

artstream

I'd recommend blocking this out first, not worrying about any of the details yet. I'm learning this the hard way from my mech I'm working on. Block it out first, and nail those proportions. Then go in, and start adding in mid size details. Then, add in the tiny details at the end.

haiddasalami

Definitely block this out. You dont want to be fiddling with the proportions down the road once the topology of the mesh is a bit more hectic. Saved you time and your sanity Looking forward to this as Im a huge Battlestar fan. Any ideas on whether you'll be attempting to do the cockpit? Ill try and dig up some of the references I have. I think I had like a 3k image blueprint of it :P

Amatobahn

Thanks for your input guys. Sadly I haven't been able to touch it for a day because of some school assignments taking priority. I will take your [the both of you] advice and continue blocking out the mesh. I plan on completing the cockpit as well so if you could locate those blueprints that would be sa-weet.

Amatobahn

Been a while since i've been able to work on this. I'm lucky to get a free hour lately. Here's a few new block-in items. Going to try and get the wings blocked in tonight too.

Amatobahn

Update for tonight. Plan to work on it more this week!

mospheric

Looking good! Starting to take shape

sipher3325

This is coming along nicely. Can't wait to see it finished.

Amatobahn

After a long break and some cookies [ginger cookies = the bomb + Christmas smell]:

Amatobahn

Finished the initial blockout of the model [minus cockpit]:

haiddasalami

Hey forgot to post this but heres a link of a guy who photographed the Viper when they were auctioning it off.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aharvey2k/3518572240/in/set-72157617943480788/

mospheric

Wow, Haiddasalami, those are some awesome references! Good find :P

Amatobahn

Dude. Amazing stuff! I have changes to make now :P

Digital Cantina

Looks great, cant wait to see the HP

Amatobahn

Started my high poly tonight. Locked in most of the forms. Gotta work on the wings and then I'm going to go in and work on the tedious engines.

mospheric

Next time give us one view without the wireframe. Don't hide that nice looking high poly behind it :P

Amatobahn

mospheric wrote: »

Next time give us one view without the wireframe. Don't hide that nice looking high poly behind it :P

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Shanthosa

Looking great! Can't wait to see some more progress shots on this!

Amatobahn

Adding some details to the back end. Not sure what to do about baking since I am trying to stay true to the references. I may model in the geo for the low poly, may not. I think I'll come around to that when it is time.

BobtheGreatII

Oh man. Don't render like that. Anymore. Lol. It washes out way too much of your high poly. I would rather look at viewport shots. Ha ha. Never watched BSG, but I always loved that ship.

Amatobahn

Very Small update.

Kosai106

It's slowly coming together. Lovely mate!
Edit:// Watch out for your edge widths tho, otherwise it'll bake badly and the details will be gone.

Amatobahn

Throwing in an update. Added in the wings and little guns.

Amatobahn

Another update:

Amatobahn

Started to work on the engines today:

BobtheGreatII

You seem to have a pretty bad pinch in the middle of the top thruster cover. Might want to look in to that. Also edge tightness. I'm not sure what your plan is for this, but be careful. Some of your stuff is pretty tight.

Amatobahn

BobtheGreatII wrote: »

You seem to have a pretty bad pinch in the middle of the top thruster cover. Might want to look in to that. Also edge tightness. I'm not sure what your plan is for this, but be careful. Some of your stuff is pretty tight.

Yeah I saw that after I posted it. I'm going to go and fix it up so its nice and smooth. Some of those edges are going to be fixed too. I just havn't found the time since to get back to it

Amatobahn

Updated engines some more and fixed that crease :P

SirCalalot

Looking slick!
Are you planning on adding any subtle greebles in the mesh or in the texture?

Amatobahn

Sorry its been a while. I've unwrapped baked maps and started to work on the texturing. This is VERY early WIP.

Amatobahn

Finshed model:

SirCalalot

Nice!
Are you going to do a composition shot of this thing in space?