[TowerFan]

Hey all. Got an email for the new SimplyLightWave. Looks really great. Thought I'd contribute by posting my progress on Serenity. It's a Firefly class freighter from the much loved, but short lived, TV series Firefly. Been working on it about a month. Still need to complete the cargo bay, landing gear, and the shuttles. And texturing, of course. Admitedly, it's a tutorial from another site.

[arma]

Sweet

Hehe i have that tute too

Great series ... love the ship

[David]

Looking good mate Still can't believe they canceled that series

[Mark]

Looking really sweet that. I tried it in Modo but got into all sorts of trouble modeling the midsection ... might have to go and revisit it sometime now...

[TowerFan]

Thanks all for the comments. It's gettin there...

Originally Posted by Mark Looking really sweet that. I tried it in Modo but got into all sorts of trouble modeling the midsection ... might have to go and revisit it sometime now...

The author of the tute started the dome area as a sphere, then built down and out from there. He extended and tweaked points all the way up the neck. That approach looked tough to me, so I decided to spline patch the mid section, neck, and head, then build in the details. I don't know what tools Modo has but this approach worked out pretty well in LW. Here's some grabs from that stage.

[bullet1968]

Mate that looks good! Never got into the series...and by the time I did it was gone...it had promise..oh money hey!...nice model mate. Only a month!!! jeez I wish I had more time LOL that would be 3 months for me...if my missus didnt kill me first for being a nerd...

cheers bullet

[Mark]

Originally Posted by TowerFan I decided to spline patch the mid section, neck, and head, then build in the details.

Yeah, I think that's a much better idea than trying to extend points all over the place. I followed as far as stenciling the vents in the band at the front of the midsection ... that's where it all fell down since Modo (certiainly in 301) wasn't particularly good at performing the boolean operations on curved surfaces ... plus by that time I wasn't really happy with the result anyway so kinda dropped it.

There's patching/skinning tools in modo, but I've never really used them ... might need to break out the docs and have another look to see what I can do...

[bullet1968]

Im a noob in Maya Mark but I have found that seperate geo helps me...dont shoot me LOL just curious on how other formats work...

cheers bullet

[TowerFan]

Originally Posted by bullet1968 Mate that looks good! Never got into the series...and by the time I did it was gone...

Thanks, bullet. I hadn't seen the show until after I started the tute. I knew about the show, and have always liked the ship, just hadn't gotten around to watching it. When I finally did, whoa. What a show! I wish SciFi or someone would pick it up and run with it. Would probably be popular.

Originally Posted by Mark ... that's where it all fell down since Modo (certiainly in 301) wasn't particularly good at performing the boolean operations on curved surfaces...

I hadn't really used stencil or boolean until this tute. LW isn't so great at stencils and booleans on curved surfaces either. Often takes lots of trial and error until they get close enough to tweak and make work. I try to avoid those functions as much as possible. I've found out though that if the stencil matches the curve of the target the odds of getting good results are a bit better.

[TowerFan]

Finished the Cargo Bay and Landing Leg Housings.

[TowerFan]

Finished the asymetrical details.

[bullet1968]

Seriously nice detail mate....very nicely done.

cheers bullet