[WIP] Nobilis Terra Strike Cruiser

mazerius1st

3D modeling is just a hobby for me since it is unrelated with my job. Till now I was just modeling nature environments in Mudbox + World Machine to Vue.

After watching the masters here , I decided to try to create a game ready asset and learn more things while trying to reach the finish line.

The things I hope to learn are:

-Improve my High poly modeling
-Have a clean topology
-Create low polys that keep the forms from the HP but are light enough to be used in a game engine
-Create proper UVs
-Learn to bake HP details to LP
-Learn to create hand painted textures
-Take a first dip into UDK

For my training I decided to create a spaceship. Here is my inspiration board:

mazerius1st

At the moment I am in the blocking stage, I just started from a box and went along



and the wires



What do you thing?

At the moment I am stuck as to how to proceed?

1. Clean the blockout, create a LP and then the HP or create the HP and then the LP?
2. Is it better to create most of the details as a floating geometry or on the HP?
3. What is a good number of polys to have as a target for the LP?

Any Comments and critiques are really appreciated.

NomadSoul2501

Honestly both methods are ok in such a case though I think HP first is a tad more common. Do whatever is more fun to you first.
I would recommend floating geometry, that way you can tackle everything in pieces and not get overwhelmed by useless geometry that is bound to creep up in a single piece.
Working in smaller pieces will also enable you to block everything out, identify areas where assets can be reused and build everything up at the same pace.

Another thing I would recommend for a first model is pick a reference ship and model that. It will make it way easier to identify detail areas and it will be the better learning experience figuring out how to model the shapes in the concept.
I would recommend the Helionis because it comes with ortho views and has tons of reusable parts:)
Once you've built up your arsenal of techniques you can start on your own designs.

Identifying your reusable meshes will have a big effect on the final in engine model as well. Having the whole thing be a single model or instancing a bunch of different models are two totally different things

Hope this helps, can't wait to see the final ship.

Cheers

Cibo

The wings looking to bulky for a spaceship and have no real function.
The shield at the side is a good choice for a combat ship but to small for visual impact and dont support the bridge.
The ship is to flat and to long in my eyes. Has the ship lazors like the Enterprise or weapon turrets? Its important for the design so that many turrets can shoot at the same target. Look at a normal warship and the turrets 50%-100% firepower in every direction.

mazerius1st

@Cibo: Thx for your C&C. To explain a little better what images I had in my mind while I was blocking the ship.
If you focus at the forward 2/3, up to that point I was Thinking about the Starblazers and Captain Harlock designs. As for the wings it is true that they need to be a lot smaller and thinner.
Now for the last 1/3 I started thinking about the warhammer 40K ships and that started to show in that part.
The shields are not there for the Bridge section but to protect the engine block.
It is true that at the moment looks flat because this is only the main body blockout. If you look at the top view from the second section onwards, except the one that has the wings, every angled surface will contain hatches for missile pods.
The top and bottom flat surfaces will contain big 250mm cannons, look for the ww2 yamato main guns only bigger. The horizontal struts in the shield section will have secondary weaponry. From the nose section will be extruding the tip of a superheated plasma railgun.

@NomadSoul2501: Thx for your suggestions & comments. I decided to follow your suggestion to start with a reference ship to learn and then move into my own designs. So for the moment I am putting my design aside. I chose another concept from the same artist that did Helionis because it looks more simple.

Here is the concept and the design breakdown that will allow me to be more modular instead of building one big block.


When I return home from work this afternoon I will start the modeling section.

mazerius1st

Here is an update...

Started modeling the Low poly. Still need to finish the last lower cargo section, the bridge superstructure and the engine block.



and wires



As always your C&C are welcome

mazerius1st

Found some time to work some more on the low poly.

The front section is done and started working on the bridge.





As always your C&C are welcome

mazerius1st

My PC died completely so I was stuck till the new one arrived. Since I lost most of the work I started the ship again from the beginning, So here it is the completed low poly model. Tomorrow will start work on the high poly.





the images are renders from Marmoset Toolbag 2 with the default material.