My first Lightwave model attempt! (WIP)

Crown · Post by **Crown** » 2004-03-24 07:52am

~`****************^`~WARNING!~`^***************`~

******************The Following is not pretty by any stretch of the Imagination*****************
***I take no responsibility for any damage that may be caused to your visual or higher mental functions***

Well you have been warned! This is what I was aiming for;

Using this guy's tutorial; here.

So far I have done this much;

Sorry about the blue background, but if it was black you wouldn't be able to make out the cushion thingys!

So I don't know if I will keep up with this, but yeah, thought I would post it!

BoredShirtless · Post by **BoredShirtless** » 2004-03-24 08:10am

Are you a strong man Crown?

Crown · Post by **Crown** » 2004-03-24 08:18am

BoredShirtless wrote:Are you a strong man Crown?

Errr, okay I'll bite. Yes why?

BoredShirtless · Post by **BoredShirtless** » 2004-03-24 08:32am

Crown wrote:
BoredShirtless wrote:Are you a strong man Crown?
Errr, okay I'll bite. Yes why?

Now don't take this the wrong way, but that model is... a good start! Now excuse me while I go to the shithouse!

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2004-03-24 09:20am

Don't worry, basically everyone starts out like that in 3d modelling.

But it's a nice start though. Way better than my "hovertank".

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-03-24 09:40am

Hey Crown. If I ever do a sci-fi TV show where the sfx come from Lightwave I'll know who to turn to.

Seriously that's a good start. Do some more, dammit!

Or, to be more precise, finish what you've started.

Shinova · Post by **Shinova** » 2004-03-24 09:45am

Stofsk wrote:Hey Crown. If I ever do a sci-fi TV show where the sfx come from Lightwave I'll know who to turn to.

Small information: Babylon 5 was done with Lightwave.

McC · Post by **McC** » 2004-03-24 12:00pm

As were parts of DS9 and virtually all of Voyager. Foundation Imaging's principal software choice is LightWave.

Just to LW wank for a moment, I've found LW to be the best designed piece of 3D software available. Sure, Maya has a more robust physics engine, but it's a bear to learn. LightWave can be picked up in a matter of hours, where Maya takes quite a while to get used to (speaking from personal experience on both counts). And with LW8 on the horizon, it seems as though LW will finally catch up to Maya's physics engine so...

Yay for LW!

Now, OT: Crown, it looks decent so far. Kier's AP3D tutorials are excellent for beginners. Also, you might benefit from doing a google search for "lightwave tutorials" and clicking on the first link that comes up -- exceptional tutorial repository. Do every tutorial in there and you'll be in top-shape in no time

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-03-24 12:38pm

Shinova wrote:
Stofsk wrote:Hey Crown. If I ever do a sci-fi TV show where the sfx come from Lightwave I'll know who to turn to.
Small information: Babylon 5 was done with Lightwave.

I know this, that's why I said it.

Comosicus · Post by **Comosicus** » 2004-03-24 01:52pm

Looking better than anything I ever did in 3D. If you like it, keep going.

salm · Post by **salm** » 2004-03-24 06:08pm

turn on anti aliasing and it´ll be twice as good.

Exonerate · Post by **Exonerate** » 2004-03-25 01:19am

Add some shiny material and it'll look twice as good

Crown · Post by **Crown** » 2004-03-25 02:21am

Well I stopped following his tutorial, and thought I should try to come up with a design that I wanted to do. Which isn't to say that his tutes aren't good, they are excellent, but I am having slightly more fun with a more original design, it keeps my interest up.

Now in the spirit of remembering the warning above;

I really need to work on colour selection!

Well anyway the real annoying thing is that the best part of the model (the most detailed to date) is the pitch black ones, so unitl I get up to rendering some lights on the sucker you won't be able to make out much! (sorry)

Oh and it is obviously missing a lot of things, like a bridge for example, and engines, and CIWS, and more landing pads, etc, etc ...

Oh and BoredShirtless;

Good one!

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2004-03-25 02:33am

It is a good start.

Crown · Post by **Crown** » 2004-03-25 02:39am

evilcat4000 wrote:It is a good start.

Well, uhhh, I just realised this, but without the 'telescopic' gun turrets, I think the recoil would rip the guns off the top deck!

So I'll have to fix those up.

But thanks man, I am having fun with this.

P.S. Einy, I was thinking of you when I was designing the guns ...

Comosicus · Post by **Comosicus** » 2004-03-25 05:15am

It's getting better and better.

But that turret seems too small for the size of the guns .... unless you want to do an anime ship/tank/whatever

salm · Post by **salm** » 2004-03-25 02:18pm

pull the left and the right tubes of the guns out of the thingy they´re attached to. the ends of the tubes stick out of the thingy on the top.

and turn on anti aliasing when rendering.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2004-03-25 04:45pm

Far better than my first ever and only attempt.

Crown · Post by **Crown** » 2004-03-25 11:18pm

salm wrote:pull the left and the right tubes of the guns out of the thingy they´re attached to. the ends of the tubes stick out of the thingy on the top.

Yeah I saw that, at this point I am thinking about re-doing all the guns.

and turn on anti aliasing when rendering.

You know that is the second time you said that, I should really start paying attention!

salm · Post by **salm** » 2004-03-26 10:19am

Crown wrote:
salm wrote:pull the left and the right tubes of the guns out of the thingy they´re attached to. the ends of the tubes stick out of the thingy on the top.
Yeah I saw that, at this point I am thinking about re-doing all the guns.

the tubes of the guns shouldn´t be in "inside" the other part anyway. in fact no polygons should cross other polygons at all since that can lead to rendering errors (at least that´s my experience with MAX, i´m not sure about lightwave).
i´d make the entire ship out of one mesh.
create the basic hull. create new polygons on the hull. extrude the gun turret, engines, bridge... and other stuff like that from these polys. create new polys on the turret. extrude the gun tubes from these newly created polys. use that technique to go further and further into detail.
make new polys - extrude.
when you´re satisfied with the degree of detail, chamfer edges and corners and stuff like that.
in case you´re worried about texturing one mesh with different textures: that´s no problem. i´m sure lightwave offers something like multi-sub-object-material which lets you cover particular polygons of your mesh with a particular texture and other areas of the mesh with other textures.