Blender 3d Ship Design

Hello all,

I just found this Crossfire mod 1.9 just the other day, and was amazed at what you guys have done with it!
I was playing Freelancer for years, and just recently came back to play around with it again, and found this site by accident.

I was wondering if there is a repository for ship models somewhere, and what are the specs needed for new designs?

I have a lot of experience with Blender 2.63, and 3d models are easy to make.

I just need to know all the rules that must be followed. ( ie. max number of verts, quads only, bump maps, texture maps, how to handle gun ports/engines/torpedo )

I figure if I look at a few example models, I could figure out how to build my own.

It is also easy to build a cinematic in Blender, and a more realistic looking Trent wouldn't be too difficult either

Any help in this area would be apreciated, I'd love to help you guys out any way possible.

Jim

Thank you very much, I'll try to find it...and yes, this place is amazing! It really brought the game I love so much back to life!

Quote from SWAT_OP-R8R

that sounds good
ingame ships shouldnt be too detailed ... in fights you practically dont see that many details of ships
maybe 20k polygons for a fighter
60k for a cap ship

That is definitely helpful... I was messing around with some drawings, and started making the Millenium Falcon, so far 5326 vertices, 5500 faces ( or polygons).

I haven't added the landing gear or any real detail to the mesh yet, a lot of detail can be faked using bump maps ( to keep the poly count down ).

The mesh is not completed yet... because I'm not sure what all the restrictions are ( ie. do I keep the cannons separate from the mesh, as well as the radar dish? )

I have tons of 3d experience, but it is all self taught, so I have no clue what you guys need...

As you can see in the cutaway, I kept the guns, radar dish, and the cockpit separate from the hull mesh. The weapons will obviously change according to whatever is purchased,
and I'd like to animate the dish so it is always aiming at the cross-hairs, or have it continuously rotating.

I didn't waste any faces on the inside of the hull, as you can never see in there.

I still need more guidance and assistance figuring out how to handle engine mounts, weapon points, etc... are there any tutorials here explaining how to import/export the meshes (ships) ?

Thanks again to all for the warm welcome.... I hope I can help you guys out.

Jim

Ok, after doing a little digging, I found out lots of helpful information.

First off, the latest version of Blender has Import/Export capabilities for MilkShape ( .ms3d ) ... so it will be extremely easy to create and export from Blender.

I imported a ship ( Black Halk ) into Blender to take a look at the mesh....

The mesh looks extremely basic, and uses triangles instead of quads.

I'm still trying to figure everything out, but it looks like it would be very easy to create new items ( ships/stations/etc ) using Blender.

If you already use Blender, then go to the download section of these forums ( Downloads ) and download a ship... and play around with it. Just make sure you turned the
MilkShape extension on in your User Prefs ....

Quote from SWAT_OP-R8R

no starwars ships plz
this is freelancer

Hahaha sorry about that... no disrespect intended... just giving an example of what can be done using Blender... good to know engine mounts are added later.

I took a look at the Black Halk mesh... and noticed it uses Triangles instead of Quads... is that normal for MilkShape ?

Any sugestions for ships/stations ? I could throw a bunch of samples out if you like... or how about gun mounts...they look like they could use a makeover.

I'd like to make a few examples and see if they work for you.

I seem to be having trouble exporting back to MilkShape... but still learning how things work. Here is the quick ship I threw together for the example...

I hope to have this figured out by today or tomorrow.

Getting closer to an answer....

Able to import the Dromedary into the same scene as my demo ship, and also able to export the Dromedary back out to ms3d file, so I must be breaking some rule when I created my ship.

My ship was built using Quads. I tried to export, and failed. So I converted the entire mesh to triangles. Still failed attempt to export. My guess right now is that I have to many triangles.

Going to bed now... I'll check it out again tomorrow.

Ok, so I was able to export as OBJ, then re imported it, then export as ms3d... not sure what was wrong, but it works.

Now I have to figure out how to attach the ms3d file to this post LOL

Quote from SWAT_OP-R8R

what about your texturing skill?

My texturing skills are fine, still trying to learn how ms3d works, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

So how do I attach the ms3d file to my post?

Here is an animated gif of what the mesh looks like.

Here is the mesh... please let me know if you can work with it or not.

Here is the mesh with a little color painted on it. Its very dirty job... only unwrapped half the mesh and copied to other side, that is why CROSSFIRE text is backwards on starboard side.

The Blue Goose Mesh is attached LOL