Just having some free time, so here's my new baby :)
Still a wip of course, I'll try to push the details a little bit on this one.

Very Nice design Paq!

Looking great and heavily detailed already!

I like the sort of unusual geometric shaping for the "wings".

- Michael

Very sleek vehicle!!

Marc

Very cool as usual PaQ!
I especially like the fluro tubes on the wings ;)

Cheers

Yeah, those tubes are cool

You know I love this stuf, PaQ, you're my hero!


-Will

PS - So PaQ, I see you don't bother to make joined parts in all cases? You just let your structures interpenetrate, not worrying about the hidden polygons?

I have a bad habit of trying to make my objects a single shell; bool'ing stuff together where possible, no wasted polys.

I guess as long as you don't have any leaking light, shading / shadow issues or in my case, if it looks okay in the game engine, it doesn't really matter - it's all ultimately smoke & mirrors anyway since it doesn't really exist! :-P

-Will

Holly cow, I have some fans :)

Here's a little update, some cleaning + front gun volume/design work







At Will :

Sure I do care about geomtry intersection etc, but I first work the 'volumes' and 'weights' of the model, so I don't want to start boolean work in the design phase ... cleaning and filleting is done at the end. (I did a lot of mistakes in preview models by fighting with fillets from the beginning for example, but it's definitivelly a waste of time)

Excellent advice, PaQ, thanks!

In my case I'm used to watching my polys since I mostly target export for my game so I usually build lean from the start.

But I agree, getting forms first and then working the cleanup and details is a better way for sure.

-Will

PaQ,

You get very elegant results with what looks like a relatively simple setup of curves. I have been studying your guide curves and I am really fascinated with your technique. You use very strong profiles, but I'm not exactly sure how you go about extrapolating the side view into the elegant surfaces I see in 3D. I'm sure you don't want to give all your secrets away, but I'd pay for a video tutorial of how you went from profile curve to surface. Any chance we could get some kind of time lapse vimeo or step-by-step at some point in the future?

Hi PaQ

Model looks great, are we going to see a pilot?

Jamie

I'm always willing to PayPal for tutorials ;-)

-Will

Hi SurlyBird,

Well the first image is just a draw concept, I'm not really using this curves to build the shape (maybe only few of them are really used for the final model)

Once the profile is done, I create simple primitives (tubes, stetched spheres, extruding some curves) to buid the volume.

Based on this draft model I'm starting to really build the final surfaces, and fighting with the tools until I've got a clean result.
It's a lot of try and error process.

In this model the cockpit was the most difficult part to build.
After, it's just a lot of simples booelans, slicing, curve projection etc ... it's not like there are 100 tools in MoI (and it's better like that)

Doing a tutorial for this kind of model will not be really interessting, I don't think I'll show any special infos/tricks that you can't find in the manual.
Without saying my oral english is wroste than my writing :P ... It's not that I don't want to help/share stuffs, I'm not technically good enough to teach
the best approach for every surface, something that Michael or other Nubs guru from this forum can do much better.

Anyway, thanks a lot for your interrest :)

@Jamie,

I'm not sure about the pilot, but I'll probably build some interrior stuffs so I can use a reall glass material for the cockpit window.

PaQ,

Thanks for clearing that up. I was going crazy trying to revolve or rail revolve similar profiles into predictable shapes. I got some interesting results, needless to say, but nothing close to what I wanted. My assumption about your technique was making me frustrated, so that's why I asked (you know what they say when you assume). It's also kind of encouraging to know you still have to use a lot of trial and error as you build. I do too, and I would imagine most folks hit some roadblocks as they try to visualize something. Luckily, MoI rewards such experimentation because it's so stable and fast - even though I still get frustrated at times. Like anything worthwhile, though, hard work is usually rewarded and you generally get what you put into it. I find making models in MoI to be similar to solving a puzzle. Once you figure out the solution to a problem - boom- you can slap the result out in a few seconds.

Anyway, here's one more plug for your super cool ship. Are you renders done in Modo? And I love that concept car on your website. So cool!

Hi SurlyBird,

Thanks for the kind words,

Yes I'm most of the time render my stuffs in modo.

Here's some updates:







Lot's of fun, I'm mostly done.

Wow. That is a masterpiece!

Yummy!

-Will

nice work mate

Dentist's tools :)

Hello,

Here's some final images,











Thanks MoI :)