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Federation Star Ships

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 6:24 pm
by Jagen Ordo
Always wanted to do that.
And here's the WIP for my first Starship, a Constitution refit:
Image

My only problem is, that it currently has 232 polygons. As far as I know it, that's too much.

And can anybody tell me how to convert .obj to .dat in Windows?

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 6:33 pm
by Selezen
That should be fine, afaik...

If it helps, define the saucer, engineering hull and nacelles as separate entities and join them together in the script!

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 6:59 pm
by Jagen Ordo
That'd work.
If I knew, how I do that.
I had two semesters Java, but my knowledge is only half a semester.
To mis-quote HK-47, "Opinion: You could fit my capacity for Java in a matchbox, without taking out the matches first."

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:09 pm
by Rustybolts
Looks good :D

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:12 pm
by Griff
That looks great!
Oolite's model limits are 500 vertices, 800 faces and 8 materials - note that all faces have to be tri's, if you've
got any quads or n-gons the script will triangulate them itself, you've just got to be sure that this doesn't push you over the poly limit.

There's some tips for converting obj's to the dat model format that Oolite likes here:
https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.ph ... c&start=15

you'll need to install the python language, a version that's not too recent (v2.6 is a good one to go for) and the scripts from here
https://bb.oolite.space/viewtopic.php?t=842


Off topic: Woo! my first 64-bits post! do i sound 32-bits more brainy to you all?

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:30 pm
by Jagen Ordo
Found the converter, all right.

Wait, 500 vertices and 800 faces?
Mine has 282 vertices and 232 faces.
And what are tri's, quads, and n-gons?

All that babble aside, I'll just try if this version works. If not, I'll have to learn this entity script stuff.

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 7:40 pm
by Griff
Sorry, that did sound confusing - i read a lot of GCTalkforums and it's all 'post wires pls! ur n-gons need retopologising m8' over there, i forget it sounds really weird :)

tri's are polygons that connect 3 verticies, quads connect 4 verticies and n-gons are any polygon that connects >4 verticies.
Image

if say your model is made up of 16 quad polygons, when you run the script, it will convert all the quad polygons into 2 triangles, so your final poly count will go up to 32, your model is going to be fine, at most it will convert to 464 triangles - well below the 800 limit, the number of verticies and materials will stay the same

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 8:28 pm
by Jagen Ordo
Just ran a test.
I have sixteen faces too much.
Now, I still have a bridge module I won't really need, so that's to go.
And then the model should work just fine.
I only have no idea how to make a decent texture. Have never been able to do so.
But I think I'll give it a blueish grey tone, with name and registry number, deflector and warp coils.

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 9:35 pm
by Tivva
Griff's yer man- the previous poster. Talk to him about textures & shaders
He's the king 8)

where's that "were not worthy smilie???"

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 9:50 pm
by Jagen Ordo
Well, it's not the techniques that I'm having trouble with.
It's just this creative use of paint that eludes me.
If someone wants to volunteer, I can always use a helping hand with that.
Asuming I get the model working.
But beware, this one is huge.
350 meters, as I can't remember the original length. But it's somewhere on this scale.
And of course, following Federation Starships will use the same scale.
Oh, and I'm taking orders.
What ships do you wish to see in Oolite?

...

Posted: Wed Aug 05, 2009 10:04 pm
by Lestradae
Jagen Ordo wrote:
Oh, and I'm taking orders.
What ships do you wish to see in Oolite?
:shock:

:D

Klingon Bird of Prey, Romulan Warbird, Star Destroyer, Death Star :P

Oh yes, and a few new Thargoid carriers with turrets & multiple laser batteries that can really beat the sh*t out of the Navy's new shiny toys.

Re: ...

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 7:46 am
by Selezen
Lestradae wrote:
Klingon Bird of Prey, Romulan Warbird, Star Destroyer, Death Star :P

Oh yes, and a few new Thargoid carriers with turrets & multiple laser batteries that can really beat the sh*t out of the Navy's new shiny toys.
Don't want much, do you? Why not ask for the moon on a stick too!!! ;-)

Miranda class, please! Maybe an Oberth class too... I have models for both, but they're a bit complicated.

That reminds me - I have a simple model of the USS Kelvin from the new film - that might make a nice Oolite model!

Regarding subentities, that's nothing to do with java. It's when you join one model onto another (parent) model and make a bigger model out of all these parts. It lets you split a complex model into lots of smaller ones and join them up. If you download my Imperial Courier OXP the nacelles are subentities and should show you how to do it.

Re: ...

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 7:46 am
by Selezen
Lestradae wrote:
Klingon Bird of Prey, Romulan Warbird, Star Destroyer, Death Star :P

Oh yes, and a few new Thargoid carriers with turrets & multiple laser batteries that can really beat the sh*t out of the Navy's new shiny toys.
Don't want much, do you? Why not ask for the moon on a stick too!!! ;-)

Miranda class, please! Maybe an Oberth class too... I have models for both, but they're a bit complicated.

That reminds me - I have a simple model of the USS Kelvin from the new film - that might make a nice Oolite model!

Regarding subentities, that's nothing to do with java. It's when you join one model onto another (parent) model and make a bigger model out of all these parts. It lets you split a complex model into lots of smaller ones and join them up. If you download my Imperial Courier OXP the nacelles are subentities and should show you how to do it.

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 7:54 am
by Cmdr James
Not only that, but the Java isnt java at all its javascript, which is completely different.

Posted: Thu Aug 06, 2009 8:39 am
by DaddyHoggy
Jagen Ordo wrote:
Well, it's not the techniques that I'm having trouble with.
It's just this creative use of paint that eludes me.
If someone wants to volunteer, I can always use a helping hand with that.
Asuming I get the model working.
But beware, this one is huge.
350 meters, as I can't remember the original length. But it's somewhere on this scale.
And of course, following Federation Starships will use the same scale.
Oh, and I'm taking orders.
What ships do you wish to see in Oolite?
If you're taking orders - a "Runabout" or the Defiant - both which I think wouldn't look too out of place in the Ooniverse (especially given the work done of the classic shapes by Simon B - in fact he'd be your man for texturing if Griff has his hand's full)

Then you could keep going until you create a whole new station that bares are remarkable resemblance to DS9... :wink: :lol:

Welcome back, btw (I did PM - thinking you were "new")