In-house 3D X Bomber...

[AndyThomas]

Just grabbing now - I think the mainbody will be useful, but that Legtracks will be too long... Braincom isn't an issue because for the time being this'll be X Bomber with Dai X out for a stroll somewhere!LOL - just loaded your object in, and it didn't seem to work - but then I looked at the size compared to XB and realised I needed to zoom in quite a lot! It was only about 30cm wide compared to X Bomber's real life scale! Anyway, here's the big 'un as she stands at the moment. Still need to do some work on textures and the neck needs more smaller details added, but you can see how I'm fleshing it out. Bump map for that darker section on the top of the neck seems to work OK...

[Bradster]

Hey Andy,If you like, I can detail how I map use the real textures onto the X-Bomber. It's actually fairly simple... well, I suppose the level of difficulty depends on how the model is made. I'll take a look at the .c4d file you sent me, make a quick write-up, and return in a bit.

[AndyThomas]

That'd be great - I've read a little on textures and understand the theory on how mapping works a little better e.g. spherical vs cubic, but it may well be that the axis of my objects etc aren't right. Basically files just seemed distorted when I try to put any sort of detail on. I think I'll have altered the file from the one I sent you, but it'll be generally similar...

[Bradster]

Okay, it's rather lengthy, so I'm making a new topic for it. We can make that thread a "general texturing discussion" one as well for tossing questions around.

[AndyThomas]

Right, current version - still a lot of detailing to be done, but the mesh is almost there. As you can tell the wings aren't right yet, and the under belly hangar pod needs to be reworked, but those are probably the last major things that need looking at structurally, aside from the Dai X pods...

[AndyThomas]

OK, textures will be a whole other ball game, but I'm quite pleased with the "core" mesh now - more or less beaten it into shape.  Still a few more small elements I might do with polygons, or a few I'll revise, but anyway, have a look.  I need to get lighting etc sorted out a little better, too...  (Oh, and yes, it's still a little one sided!)  

[Bradster]

Well, color me impressed. That's a mighty fine ship you've got there! What method did you settle on for rounding the little "pods" on the tips of the wings? They almost look like they've been carved out with boolean operations, but I'm not quite sure.

[Shane]

Gosh Sakes! Just picking up my jaw from the floor. Shane.

[AndyThomas]

Thank you kindly, gentlemen!  The rounded pods on the wings are derived from the big hangar pod.  That was done using a capsule primitive which I cut in half length wise, then stitched back together to form a solid shape.  Much tweaking of the end "beak" shapes then ensued to heighten the front one and elongate the back one.The bottom wing pod is almost exactly the same as the hangar pod, just a little smaller and a slightly different shape.  The upper pods are different, so I had to mess around with the rear section again with those.Ah, now I just tried something which I hadn't got round to - comparing the side elevation I'm working from with my actual model.  Notice the slight difference in the height of the hull sections - I'll have to look at those again.  I probably shortened them when I was angling the sides.  Otherwise, though, it's not a bad fit.  The tricky thing is that although I've got this great side view, it does mean that I'm guesstimating the width of everything - based on screenshots/photos, yes, but it's just a shame that blueprint didn't have all the angles...

[AndyThomas]

Well, I got into the "zone" again tonight and ended up adding in the symmetry. As it happens the screen grab angle was quite similar to the angle of the XB in the annual, so I thought I'd compare the two. From the looks of it I need to revisit the upper neck again, I think mine comes down too sharply. Also, and this was probably inevitable given that I'm mainly working from a side elevation, the front hull section is more angled outwards than I have it, with the result that my XB looks a little skinny! It also looks as if the main engine angle is off a bit... At the end of the day though I've got to draw a line under the bulk of the mesh so I can add the smaller details and the textures. Anyone have any comments on what needs doing to the main body?