180286

Status
Not open for further replies.

Gearz

Member
Hot4Darmat ~ Yep I was a little concerned as well, although the print test proved promising. I printed the parts on standard letter paper @ minimum print quality and they came out reasonably well ~ Win ! The Engine, printed from the pdo on A4, will build to approx 6 cm ( 2 1/2 " ?) ~ the Nostromo complete will be 9.5 cm ( 3 3/4 " ) transferred to bitmaps that will reduce a few percent at most. At this stage it looks like plain paper ( coated?) maybe the go.

OlyPslyk ~ Yep I'm good2go with the screen capturing, CJTK came to the rescue, so I'm going cap'ing crazy at the moment. The alien derelict would be a tricky Dev, although WAY kewl ~ It'd freak a few poor old Gran-ma's out if it was on display with those 3 'entrance's . Most would have to admit that Giger's art is freaky field meltdown sort of stuff, either you love it, or it gives you nightmares ~ One of the reasons Alien was so unique. I'd love to build a derelict model.

*Ding* ~ How kewl would a 'Space Jockey' card model be...!


progress ~ did a bit of tweaking and additional texturing + scaled the Nostromo mesh to the refinery + prepped the engine parts for test building.
 

Attachments

  • 0312size.jpg
    0312size.jpg
    56.7 KB · Views: 27
  • 0312size2.jpg
    0312size2.jpg
    43.2 KB · Views: 21

CJTK1701

Banned
Nice work GEARZ. :thumb: Why not share a couple of close up caps with us? My system came with the PowerDVD bundled, so I don't have the screen cap utility any more. I've got a notebook I'm trying to redo and set up the trial version on and it's slow going. Why would they eliminate one of the best features of a program?
 

Gearz

Member
Yep, can do. I haven't grabbed many of the Nostromo, because there's so much reference material on it floating about on the net. I'll get to clicking and grab + post some that may be of interest.

Progress ~ Uggghh.. the parts for the Nostromo's engines are TINY! I didn't even get past the first few parts before a need to re-design was obvious. I would have like to retain the recesses in the forward intake of the engine ( the orange bitz in the 3D pic posted earlier) , but the parts are just way to delicate for the average modeler ( meaning me) I've simplifying the engine even further, which has reduced the part count down to 8 (-) the fins. 'Take two' on the test build, in progress.
 

CJTK1701

Banned
Would it be easier to make the Nostromo slightly larger, then reduce it in the .pdf, or would that make it still to difficult to work. Sorry, have had my coffee quota yet and I"m not firing on all cylinders.
 

stackw

Highly Dangerous Mind...
Oh man!!!!
I Stay away from the forum for a month and you come with THIS?!?!?!?!?!?!
:D :D :D
Great project Gearz! I Can't wait to see it finished!
 

Gearz

Member
CJTK ~ good idea mate ~ but more coffee needed lol.. Problem ~ Problem ~ Problem

Thanks stackw ! :mrgreen:

Doc ~ I hope it won't disappoint you, the Nostromo by herself is going to be pretty small..

Ok, the Nostromo's engine is build-able at this scale ( if I can do it, anyone can) I used standard printing paper coated with several heavy coats of spray acrylic. *The standard paper proved very weak for the main sections. Ideally a combination of standard paper and card would be best when building a Nostromo at this scale, but I'm not going to try to second guess builders, so maybe just a note/recommendation in the AG.

Next on the board the Nostromo's main hull.. + some sort of solution to the refinery's texture dilemma so a test build can commence..

*pics* ~ A4 cutting board ~ centimetre scale
 

Attachments

  • 080318engine.jpg
    080318engine.jpg
    118.4 KB · Views: 39

shiftdel

Member
Wow, great engine naceles so far, oh well, my to do list grows too fast...

I really need a CraftRobo to cut all those nice models faster :D
 

Gearz

Member
Thanks guys, yep Its going to be a cute little sucker.


Progress ~ nearly finished texturing the main hull. I figure a few ppl would prefer to just build the Nostromo without the mega refinery, so I've spent time making an insanely small under carriage ( just 2d shapes) the main nose antenna and a few small detail etc the cockpit window is there, though I doubt its build-able ( about 4~ 5 pixels wide as a pattern.) :eek:
 

Attachments

  • nd1.jpg
    nd1.jpg
    69.8 KB · Views: 27
  • nd2.jpg
    nd2.jpg
    29.6 KB · Views: 23

Gearz

Member
nothing ~ I use META itself, and a bitmap editor ( PaintShopPro V4) * give me 10 minutes and I'll whip up a 'did it this way' gfx.

CJTK ~ Hehe.. 5 grams of fat or less.. I guess that makes the Nostromo an h'orderve for the refinery.

9 ~ Thanks mate, I wish my teachers had said that to me instead of 'Your SUSPENDED' * Inline with my policy of giving advice when its not asked for !.. I have to suggest you have a good look around the design parts/posts here, with your background you'd probably pick up model designing like a duck to water.~ (Caution its very addictive! )
 

Gearz

Member
nothing ~ There are a number of ways to make textures like these, I've noted the basics for the method i use, for Knight when he was working on his detail set for Skips Sulaco < on this page > with the exception that this is for texturing the 3D model, and I leave the panelling ON the base texture, Plus a few extra steps for shading.

Probably the trickiest part is building a texture that 'fits' the 3D model without distorting / pixelisation..IMHO anyway. For that I make 'texture templates' directly from the 3D model in META. This method generates a LOT of extra working files, however it gives you greater control and flexibility over the process. ~ If it all turns to worms and you don't like the look of the finished texture on the 3D model, you can easily go back a step and correct it.

MAKING TEXTURE TEMPLATES

TextureTemplates1.jpg * Again there are a number of ways of doing this, in META ~

* I either, Select [View] [MQR] OR delete all the textures to get a vanilla view of the 3d model.

* Select the view you want for the required textures [F1] side [F2] top ( I rotate the model 90 degrees clockwise, because I have a phobia about working vertically) [F3] Front

* Zoom in so the model/template fills the working area.

* Screen capture and transfer / Paste the image to your bitmap editor.

IN THE BITMAP EDITOR

* Clean up the image (all you want is the template and a uniform background)

* The most important bit ~ Select the template area with what ever selection tool your editor has ( magic wand ?)

* [Crop] the image and save it as a base working file. Its now a perfect fit for the 3D model, what ever textures you overlay onto the this template will be a WYSIWUG when applied to the 3d model.


ADDING PANELLING TO A BASE TEXTURE TEMPLATE..+ shading

Referring to the method on the gfx attachment + post # 189 in the Sulaco thread linked above.

TextureTemplate2.jpg

* When you paste (as a transparency) the panelling into the base texture, [Select] [Invert Selection] so that you can now edit the main image without touching the panelling.

* using what ever tool you wish ( airbrush) ( retouch ~ Lighten or darken) add some shading to the image wherever appropriate.

* Save it as a Texture file (re-named) for you 3D model.. ** I usually prefix texture files with the abbreviation 'TEX' to avoid over writing a working file and /or getting confused ( happens lots to me)

Pheeeww.. Clear as mud..? . This method has Flea's and it could easily be done using layers in many bitmap editors, its just how I build most of my textures ~ sorry the explanation was so convoluted with broken gfx ~ I hope it made sense.

*I'd encourage Dev's to experiment with their textures. A bit of shading makes a refreshing difference and gives a model a bit of depth ~ compared to the uniform textures we usually have to work with, or that usually accompany a 3D model.
:mrgreen:
 

Attachments

  • TextureTemplate1.jpg
    TextureTemplate1.jpg
    50 KB · Views: 35
  • TextureTemplate2.jpg
    TextureTemplate2.jpg
    106.3 KB · Views: 32

Gomidefilho

Member
Gearz

I have been accompanying that thread with great interest. His work is amazing. If this model when ready it is available for download I say with certainty that will be the model of paper of the year in the area of SF... sign1
 

Gearz

Member
Thanks Péricles ~ I wish ~ Fame, Fortune and Dancing Girls!. sign1


progress ~ Mmmmm.. The perils of P*** Poor Planning. Had to go back a step and properly mate the mini-stromo to refinery's platform. * I should have developed them as a single unit in the first place.

The Nostromo will be to small for an edge (card) grip to the gantry arm, so a small magnet seems likely as an alternative. The sliding arm will also have to align the Nostromo, so the engine bells engage their housings in the platform ( approx) A moot point at this scale, but I'd like it to be work-able at least.

Abandoned the fancy texturing on the refinery in favour of a general gunge ( avoids any detail placement problems ~ builders can stick panels anywhere)
 

Attachments

  • N-R1.jpg
    N-R1.jpg
    87.7 KB · Views: 28
  • N-R2.jpg
    N-R2.jpg
    73 KB · Views: 30

Gearz

Member
??!...Its a shame the pulling bit is so small, the gantry arm would make a nice mounting bracket for a larger model.
 

Attachments

  • N-R3.jpg
    N-R3.jpg
    149.1 KB · Views: 29

CJTK1701

Banned
Wow! I'm gone for a couple of days due to Easter and the flood and I come back and see all of this marvelous work.

Great job on the textures and everything else GEARZ!

The Nostromo would really make a great large scale kit. :hint: :hint: sign1
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top