Message edited on: 09/24/2005 23:27

Are you modeling these in Poser? How are you getting that great looking nebulosity in the background?

The nebula is a stock picture from my files loaded as a background image. The station- and the crusier- are both built from primatives that I've stock piled over the past year. all done in Poser 6.

Will do.

It's 12:38 in the am here in Charleston. I will see you guys in the morning.

Have you looked at any of the free modeling apps like Amapi and Wings3D?

Just took a look at Amapi's website. The only thing free there is their demo- the program's almost two hundred dollars. I downloaded Wings when I was looking for a UV Mapping program. Haven't had a chance to really dig into it yet otherwise.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/messages.ez?ForumID=12356&Form.ShowMessage=1843595

Geep- is there a file on this, or do I have to save it pic by pic?

Hi md,

You can d/l a .pdf version that is hosted (1.6MB) HERE @ Ebonshire. courtesty of Crescent.

Thanks Crescent. ;=]
It's the last one in the "Advanced Poser Primers" section.
cheers,
dr geep
;=] Edited to remove all: None, Nudity, Violence, Both, TOS violations, cuss words, dirty jokes (by NaySayGuy), and TOP SECRET information.

Message edited on: 09/25/2005 14:19

Geep- got it. thanks.

md- Your're welcome. View it in good health. ;=]

Looks nice, but will be improved with a bump map, or a displacement map for greebles. I am still working on the spaceship.

Hey md,

Lookin' good !

Need more shine? ... Just try a little bit of NaySayGuy's Metal Polish.
(that's what he uses on his shoes - that's why they don't last very long)

;=]

what's greebles?

Greebles are gray marbl... no, wait a minute that's grarbles. Sorry 'bout that. ............... ;=[

Greebles are the little bits that stick out from the main surface on space ships. They represent the cabling, sensors, hatches and and misc. equipment. Google greebles and you should get lots of info. Some folks also call them nurnies.

OO-kay. Where do they get these names???

Um, I think they just put different letters together ... or ... wait a minute ... maybe they get 'em from NaySayGuy.

What d'ya think?

;=]

Okay, I had a long reply typed in here and would you beleive I hit the wrong button??!! I'll try this again. We're talking detailing. That, I understand. But I designed the ships and stations so as to avoid the pipe and conduit look- that's been done to almost every sci-fi ship from Star Trek to Star Wars and beyond. The idea- technology wise- for the society these stories are about, is that the technical stuff is hidden- in the walls, the bulkheads, floor and so on, until needed. Then service pannels or deck plates are removed for access. IN terms of the ship and station, I'm looking more toward simple hull plating- with an occational airlock hatch in the case of the station. This also means I need to decide how much detail to do. How much would be seen at a distance that allows the entire station to be seen? Are we talking an occational plate here and there or every plate on the station? It needs a more metalic look- does that mean chrome? I don't think so, but definate something with a little more shine to it. The novel was published some years ago. I'm hoping to have the comic book adaption done sometime in the early part of next year. The first two chapters and all the line art is already done. These models will be used for the exterior space scenes along with real textures for carpets and walls and such whenever I can scan them in. The comic is changing and evolving visually almost daily- it's going to be intresting to see how it ends up. I know, I'm going on and on. Time to cut it off for the night. See ya tomarrow.

That makes sense.

Looks good, but maybe some windows would be in order?

The white areas ARE windows. I know, they need to be made clearer-not sure how though. In a close-up view of the station- say looking in , it would be a different matter. But at this kind of distance, I'm not sure how to give them the look of lit windows. It's a problem I'll have with the crusier too.

When you paint your maps you can make a transparency map so that the rectangular portions are transparent like a window, then you can put a light inside. Poser 6 may have other options that I am not aware of. I have encountered a problem with UV Mapper Pro and am awaiting technical support, so the mapping of the Cruiser will be delayed slightly.

sometimes I can be a real idiot- no commons from the peanut gallery please! It never dawned on me that a primative was like an empty box- even though the UV maps always made it look that way. For some reason, I always thought they considered solid. I may not get to it tonight, but I am definately going to look into that. THANK YOU!

You,re welcome mdbruffy. geep that is an interesting demo. I love the notebook look.

Thanks Dan. ;=]

Thanks geep. That makes things alot clearer- no pun intended!

;=]

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Sorry md, but I keep thinking of something else after I have posted and my religion prevents me from editing my posts after 23 picoseconds, so ... For distant renders only: Consider setting the "Ambient" color for the windows to white (or other color) and they will appear to be lit even without using any other lights. Just a thought. ;=]

Actually, the ambient bit might work better since the station would rarely be seen close enough for inside lights. I'm going to try that, cause putting lights inside has been driving me crazy- don't say it.

geep, do I need to pull the plug on the transmaps and make new ones for just the windows- adjust the ambient level on those? or is there a way to isolate just the windows on the existing texture maps?

Hi md,

Try using the Grouping Tool (in Poser) to:

Make a separate group for the window(s). (whether it be a polygon or polygons)

Then "Assign Material" to that group.

Now you can control that group's (that is, the window's) color, ambient color, transparency, etc. separately without the need for any transparency maps..

cheers,
dr geep
;=]

Doc- the windows only exist on the texture maps.Maybe I'm misunderstanding. They're not a physical presence like the station itself- there's no material to group. Unless you're saying you can group a texture- but you have to have the texture visable to do that and the grouping tool turns everything black.

md- Are you saying that the windows are just holes in the space station object? If so, you can add a window and put it inside the hole. Then you'll have a "physical presence" to which you can apply materials, transparency, etc., like the "glass" in Post #90. ;=?

Doc- think I've got it figured. I'll post a pic later. got a job interview to go to.

could you try to use a probe light to 'light' up those suckers. I don't have poser here to try it but I think if you plug a probe light into the alt diffuse and then make another map that would be all black except for the windows and plug that into the problight node (somewhere) that should give you some enlightment? I don't know like I said I can't try it here, perhaps when I get home if you dont have it figured out by then. ohh BTW using the default probelight settings will give it a weird red-blue-purplish look I think so you'd have to mess around with the settings to get the color right. I ususally turn them up to white and then color them though the other settings.