i'd like to help

[dissident]

hi there

came to know about this project by accident, but i like what i've seen so far. been playing MoO2 for a while and i'd love to see a sequel that deserves the name. so i thought i'd offer my help. been messing around with 3dsmax for a while, so i think i can contribute a couple of models if you need some. i've posted some pictures of some models i made. most of them are unfinished of the simple reason that i had no reason to further work on them.









so if you need something to be done just tell me, maybe give me some concept sketches, and i'll see to it. i can do textureworks too, but i'd be glad if somebody else would do that because this kind of work is driving me nuts.

feel free to tell me what you think.

[pd]

Welcome!

The second ship is your strongest piece, nice work! If you are in interested in helping this way, You could try to develop a line of ships similar in style. You'd have to remove the cannons or replace them by some universal techy looking parts. Also you could create a low poly mesh around it to prepare it for the baking process(in case you don't want to do it yourself). If your texturing skills are not as strong, please consider working on this.

Here is a tip, a good presentation goes a long way. Try adding a key and maybe a fill light in addition to the AO/skylight and choose something else than black as a backdrop(a slight gradient for example). With a key light present, you could add some specularity as well. All of this helps to describe form, adds depth and therefore improves communication.

[dissident]

you're definitely right, but the single skylight setup is just a quick and easy way when all you want is showing some models. since that's all i wanted i think it's ok to not have an ambitous lighting setup which sometimes consumes a lot of time to get it just right.

so you say i can just go and model some ships and that's fine? (i've been looking for some guidelines about number of faces, type of textures used, max. number of smoothing groups, what kind of ships are needed for what races and so on, maybe some graphics roadmap, but the only guide i found were not really precise. i mean it's no prob for me to come up with some models, but the project leaders should really think about giving some directions to avoid making the same stuff twice or thrice because something doesn't fit into the engine/world/game design.)

[pd]

This kind of work has just recently become a focus and I'll create a guide once I finish the first one or two ships and everything works with the engine as it should. This will probably still need a couple of weeks. If you can't wait that long, you could produce some high poly models, as mentioned. You don't need to know much about the engine for this kind of work.

You can take a look at the story forum for sample races, or even come up with your own, if you like.

...the single skylight setup is just a quick and easy way when all you want is showing some models. since that's all i wanted i think it's ok to not have an ambitous lighting setup which sometimes consumes a lot of time to get it just right.

That's exactly my point. You can improve the perception of you models a lot by just having a simple(not ambitous) lighting setup.

I'm sorry for not being more of a help at this stage, but I'm quite busy myself and it's hard for me putting new 3d modelers to work, without having gone through the process myself. I'd recommend getting familiar with the project for a while. If you want to limit your contributions to 3D, there is not much you can do besides the things I've told you. I strongly advice you to develop texturing skills, though. If you are open to other tasks, the Graphics Work page has a few.

[Geoff the Medio]

You can take a look at the story forum for sample races, or even come up with your own, if you like.

Along those lines, I would suggest that, even if you don't have a particular race in mind for a ship or line of ships, making a series of ship models of a similar theme will be useful. We can find, assign, or let players pick a race for the models later.

I really like the #2 ship model as well... even without textures, although they could certainly improve it. I imagine that not much would need to change to make the current turrets look like like generic parts... perhaps just remove the barrels?

[dissident]

I'm sorry for not being more of a help at this stage, but I'm quite busy myself and it's hard for me putting new 3d modelers to work, without having gone through the process myself.

no problem, i'll see what i can come up with, just been wondering.

I strongly advice you to develop texturing skills, though.

maybe i've not stated that point right. it's not that i can't do it, it's just that i don't in particular enjoy doing it. so i was hoping there maybe some other guy more focused on 2d and with a better workflow than me who'd take that part. as far as i know everybody has a piece of the workflow he/she dislikes. painting textures is mine. but that should be not of your concern i think.

[Josh]

HA. That's me. I'm your 2D guy.

[dissident]

yeah, someone heard the call. now that's a word.

so i'm gonna go to work now. as soon as there are some results i'll let you know.

[fabsh]

The ships look amazing. Great work!