Starfighter!

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Contemplating changing out the landing gear for feet or skids...

They seem less necessary now with the plasma jets, and the wheels don't really seem to mesh with the rest of the design. I wonder if I can do some sort of elegant fold out prongs without making them look like crow's feet.

[edit]
Lol! Trying to come up with feminine looking landing gear, all I can think of is high heels!

[Fuzzy_Modem]

So... I know it looks really weird right now, but this is my concept for the new landing gear:


So that's a ball shaped wheel, and the skid behind it will flip forward and under, with a place for the wheel to rest on top of it, so it like, converts between wheels and skids, and then there is a kind-of velociraptor claw shape that forms the wheel well.

[edit]
I'm also going to smooth and reduce the size of the landing gear doors.

[edit]
It occurs to me that this ship will be operating in an arctic environment (the dark side of a tidally locked planet) so instead of skids with grip, the wheels should convert to smooth "skis."

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Just a low poly "sketch" to work out the mechanics:

Retracted


Extending


Skids for snow-


-or wheels for hard surfaces

[Fuzzy_Modem]

I need to remake the missiles more futuristicy. I have no thoughts on how to achieve this, do you?

[Fuzzy_Modem]

I'm blue-ing and de-glowing the magenta strips and adding another magenta strip to the lower wing.

The fuselage still needs a texture, and I'm not sure about the rear thruster nozzles...

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Y'know... I think I'm just going to remove the front missiles and the fins they're mounted on. That should make the silhouette much cleaner.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

So I think the last version, the sky blue one (sans tattoos) will be the production model, whereas the purple one will be the prototype.

I was happy with that design, it just didn't feel feminine or personalized, so now I have a reason to use both.

Prototype:


Production model:


[edit] I'll also create a few variations of the production model eventually, with different battle scars and insignia and various amounts of dirtiness and wear.

The low poly quality will also end up helping, as I'll be able to render huge swarms of these suckers much more quickly than the high poly prototype.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

New to do list:

Move landing gear up
Move Missile pods back, shrink?
Remove front missiles, fins.
Texture fuselage. Shield emitters on humps.
Blue and de-glow the magenta strips. Add another magenta strip to the lower wing + fix vents texture.
Retexture rear thruster nozzles with radial gradient ambiance

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Still to do:
Blue and de-glow the magenta strips. Add another magenta strip to the lower wing + fix vents texture.
Retexture rear thruster nozzles with radial gradient ambiance.
New look for reactor access panel/interface.
Texture inside of wing.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Once this is completed, I will need to make my pilot's old, battle scarred, broken down fighter, the one that will be replaced with this one. That will be a very different model, with oil, grime, carbon scoring, and open access panels exposing charred machinery and dangling severed cables.

I also need to make a workshop and a hangar (or landing platform) to complete this scene, and I was thinking of making a robotic helper. Something not at all R2-D2 like, but performing the same function. Perhaps a small tool dispenser that hovers? Like, a cross between cambot and a leatherman?

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Analyzing this from a production schedule stand point, I've come to the following conclusions:

The broken ship should go much faster. I'll be using this method of breaking it apart:


And I think I'll actually use this (otherwise abandoned) model^ for background junk around the workshop.

I also have old models like this:

-that I could save time by ripping apart and re-texturing.

Dangling cables and carbon scoring can be achieved surprisingly easily with paint effects.

I can save time on the workshop it's self by filling it with junk and clutter from other models, and for the landing platform I could get by with little more than a heli-pad on top of a roof in this already completed city:

Full size: http://crossovercomic.com/media/extras/ ... s_fall.jpg

So really, I'm maybe 70-80% done modeling for this scene if I want to be, though compositing my photographed characters and over painting will take quite some time, as it always does.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

I've re-envisioned the reactor to be more of a Tesla style receiver with a cavity for inserting fresh power reserve cells and removing depleted ones.

It's built on images of the LHC.


You can see in the lower right of this image how jpeg compression, even at maximum quality, is visible in my bump map at this distance. I guess I really ought to be saving to an uncompressed format, but it kills my Open GL fps.




Still need to re-work those thruster nozzles...

I also need to add more distinct, separate hull plates to the fuselage like I have on the wings. Any suggestions for the inside of the wing?

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Other scenes I have to complete for this project:

Army of elves gathers underground inside fossilized giant insect skeleton
Photography: 100%
CG Environment: 90%
CG Characters/Vehicles/Digital Doubles: 100%
Scene creation: 80%
Script: 50%

King parlays with Bio-mechanical "Shapers"
Photography: 100%
CG Environment: 50%
CG Characters/Vehicles/Digital Doubles: 100%
Scene creation: 30%
Script: 0%

Glacier Battle
Photography: 100%
CG Environment: 90%
CG Characters/Vehicles/Digital Doubles: 100%
Scene creation: 10%
Script: 50%
This^ will be the biggest task I have ever undertaken, and the last thing I will finish for this project, in the hopes that the quality of my artwork will have evolved over time.

Retreat to Solar Station staging area
Photography: 100%
CG Environment: 50%
CG Characters/Vehicles/Digital Doubles: 50%
Scene creation: 0%
Script: 20%

Sailing ship departs/ Dayside capitol city intro
Photography: 50%
CG Environment: 40%
CG Characters/Vehicles/Digital Doubles: 80%
Scene creation: 25%
Script: 80%

I'll also need to go back and rework the dialogue for the first 4 scenes, which are otherwise finished, though when the whole project is complete, I want to go back and re-over-paint everything for consistency's sake.

See you at ComicCon ≈2015?

[edit] It's also worth noting that this entire project is only a prologue for an additional 180 page (feature film length) script that's 90% done. I need to finish that script by this time next year, and convert it to a radio drama format, as I've had an offer from a producer friend to broadcast it locally on college radio!

[Fuzzy_Modem]

All done!



Available in a wide variety of desktop sizes: http://crossovercomic.com/index.php?pag ... inal_Draft
-Middle click to open in a new tab and right click to save.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Made minor composition tweaks and re-uploaded.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Brain storming now for my next project: A broken fighter in a workshop.

Right now I'm thinking it's a big round room with a pit at the center. Cluttered, dusty, greasy, with the broken fighter suspended from chains at the center below a large overhead hood/fan.

I'm also pondering weather to make the broken fighter from scratch, or tear apart an old model.

Thirdly I want to make a hovering robot the size and shape of a hamburger, with a variety of retractable tools and a diagnostic interface. It needs to NOT look like R2-D2.

I think I'll keep all my work for this scene in this thread, so WiPs to follow.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Now I'm considering a cylindrical anti-gravity chamber at the center of the work shop. The fighter would hang, weightless, while she jets around it somehow patching it up and running diagnostics.

I'm letting my 10 year old daughter design a a little robot that transforms into a bracelet.

Any thoughts on a means of moving around nimbly in Zero-G?

[salm]

Yeah, that turned out pretty cool. Good work.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Finally finished a concept draft of the work shop:

Bigger: http://crossovercomic.com/media/extras/ ... 01_big.jpg

I know it's a bit rough. My tablet work needs a lot of... work.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Increased contrast and re-uploaded.

Another, smaller blue beam, controlled by the bracelet robot, will pick up parts and swap them in and out of the primary field.

I'm a PC tech, and my work area is essentially a circular wall of kvm switches, broken computers in the process of being repaired, and broken computers from which to scavenge parts. I'm trying to envision the same setup only with fighter craft instead of computers.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Added a holographic interface, a walkway, and a few more highlights in the parts piles.



Bigger: http://crossovercomic.com/media/extras/ ... oom_02.jpg

[edit] I ought to make the fighter she's working on look more beat up. Cracks, carbon scoring and more dangling severed cables.

[edit] Added more wear and damage. Re-uploading...

[Fuzzy_Modem]

The more I think about this project, the more I envision a parts catalog:




If I do this right, when I'm done I'll not only have a complete scene for the comic book, but a huge collection of interchangeable parts for use in future projects.

Engines, weapons, wings, fuselages, everything I might need to slap together a spaceship fast. I'll need to do a series of more and less damaged texture variations for this scene, and while I'm at it I can create alternate texture sets for different factions too.

It will be more work initially, as I'll want to make them higher quality than if they were just background junk for this one, dimly lit scene, but I think the extra work now will pay off later.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

I'm working on a parts list. You guys wanna help me think of things to include?

Energy/Kinetic Weapons
Special Weapons
Turrets
Countermeasures
Missiles/Rockets/Pods
Wings
Reactors
Wiring
Thrusters/Engines
Cockpits
Windows
Sensors/Dishes/Antennas
Cloaking Device
Shield Emitters
Armor
Access Panels
Blisters
Landing Gear
Fuselages
Cargo
Grappling Arm
Tractor Beam
...what else?...

[Einhander Sn0m4n]

Auxiliary power unit. It's basically the 'starter engine' for the reactor, maybe with its own power feed from your wheelie start cart or hangar bay or whatever you're using to get the ship bootstrapped. It can be a fuel cell, turbine engine, or even a tiny reactor of the same principle as your mains.

Batteries. For starting the APU or running the instruments and computer when the reactor's off, of course. You can also use ultracapacitors as well for this, or even something really esoteric like nuclear isomers or RTGs.

Solar collectors. Can be anything from photovoltaics and concentrated solar power to biomimetic photosynthesis or whatnot depending on tech level of the ship and what it's made of or compatible with.

Hyperdrive engine. I have no idea how yours works, so it could be literally anything from 'evrythig biggar thn dust haz one taht croses teh glaxy lass than millasacit!!1' to 'in this house we obey the real laws of physics; short answer, no; long answer, no(6.02x10e23)!!!' That's completely up to you.

[Fuzzy_Modem]

Made some progress. At first I was thinking everything would connect with sockets:



-but thinking afterword, that seemed like it would limit my ability to scale parts relative to one another, so while I was in the waiting room of my daughter's orthodontist I doodled these:


Based on those, I started modeling, and have produced these:


That's 39 parts I think. I'll probably make 100-200 before I start texturing.