The Traveller Art Thread - Art Only

[TheEngineer]

Hi !

Thanks for input so far

I "analyzed" a bunch of high-res photographies of aircraft and military vessels.
All in all, the basic hull texture seems to be very uniform and "panelization" is rarely visible. There are just slight variation in color and specularity. And overall colorisation is quite dark, too. Andrew suggested black as a color for military craft. Might be hard to spot, but still worth a try.
So I will try something completely different next.

The intense use of panels is quite noticable in e.g. B5 and a completely different style. Guess thats one reason, why the station looks a bit less realistic

Regards,

Mert

 

[Scarecrow]

B5, as much as I love it, is looking very, very dated now. The textures especially are very unconvincing.

A black ship might look quite groovy, but you're going to have to be clever with your lighting.

Crow

 

[Andrew Boulton]

On a high-tech ship it's unlikely you'd see any panel lines, windows, etc, or any rust or dirt. We expect to see them, though, so they make models *look* more realistic, even though they actually do the opposite.

 

[TheEngineer]

Crow, You know, there is a fabulous person out there to give some hints on the correct lightning

And Andrew, guess You're right.
Technically there might be hardly any reason to have panel lines on larger surfaces at high TL.
Usually there should be a direct functional reason for any disruption in an continuous surface, e.g. doors, hatches. Even windows might just be a tribute to the expectations of the audience ...

So the new look of the BB11 will be quite dark, with functional panilization of the surface...
Perhaps I will try to play with specularity and reflections to stress surface differences.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Crow and I come at this from opposite directions. His view (AIUI) is, most importantly it has to *look* right, and everything else is secondary. With me, there's always a little gearhead sitting on my shoulder muttering about form following function and wanting reasons for every little greeble.

 

[Andrew Boulton]

...and since we're creating images of things that don't exist, he's probably right!

 

[Scarecrow]

I think, as long as you're enjoying it, then it's right. The reason I don't accept this and keep my gob shut is because... well, I'm an interfering busy body. That and some people often ask, 'what can I do to make it look realistic?' er... that and I like people to think 'out of the box' - My own thinking rarely tends to stray over the edges but, well, the intention is there.

Crow

 

[Andrew Boulton]

Please, keep interfering! We need all the help we can get!

 

[daltoncalford]

Does anyone have any objections to my using your graphics in my gaming groups house rule writeups?

I would need a specific statement of permission as well as a proper name/reference so that I can credit the work.
This is for a free set of gaming rules that I am currently working on.

Best regards

Dalton

 

[Andrew Boulton]

If it's just for your group, sure. Let me know what you want.

http://www.cix.co.uk/~fubar/Traveller/trav3d/

 

[TheEngineer]

Hi !

Another try.
Perhaps the texture looks much more simple now, but in fact there are pieces color diversification, specularity and slight reflection effects inside.

Next step might be to add tiny model and texture details.
Should I decrease the panel intensity even more ?
With regards to lightning I will try a new GI shader...

Best regards,

Mert

 

[Andrew Boulton]

That's looking much better. It looks slightly reflective - I'd lose that; you don't really need it, and it'll speed up rendering.

 

[fredofmars]

Looking very menacing now!

 

[Scarecrow]

First of all, I really like this ship. The shape and grey stripes give it that predatory, TigerShark feel. Lovely.

It's looking a lot better since you got rid of the heavy bump mapping.

Leaving aside the lighting for now (GI lighting - good man!) The biggest problem with this now is the overall geometry is too simple. It really needs more edges and recesses modelled into the main hull. I've attached a copy of your picture to illustrate:

Crow

 

[Ran Targas]

Very nice capitol ship! Almost Starblazer-esque!

 

[kafka47]

I actually like the landing strip appearance of what I presume to be launch tubes in a null grav area. I immediately think gunboat when I saw the above image, something to show off to the low tech (pre-Interstellar) natives when flag waving is needed to be done.

Images like the USS Enterprise only work in a culture infected with flying saucers. The above image invokes starship in the fullest sense of the word and low tech natives who are carted into orbit would certainly understand that.

 

[Virus]

You people blow me away, honestly, you do.
Engineer: is that ship you posted an actual "existing" Traveller type? I seem to remember seeing something similar in one of the MT books (rebellion sourcebook?) as an illustration.

 

[parmasson]

Didn’t the BB-11 have lots of little triple turrets and bays? Not this I would suggest drawing them ALL but a few might be nice for scale or just detail. Still pretty slick.

BTW what is a greeble?
[edit] Virus it is from the Fighting Ships of the Shattered Imperium. I think it is the BB-11 battleship at about 300,000 tons.

 

[TheEngineer]

Hi !

Thanks for all the suggestions, folks.
Crow, this graphical advice is just perfect.
I will do my very best and add as many details and Turrets Kurega as possible.
I already tried this by using a turret object of another drawing, but it was too detailed, and after deploying 4 rows with 100 triple turrets each the pure object count tranquilized my computer

. Guess I have to fake a bit.

Regards,

Mert

 

[Scarecrow]

Greeble (adjective) miscellaneous detailing to give the illusion of functionality. Also known as 'barnacles'.

Make the turrets real simple - a box with two boxes sticking out. On this model they'll be tiny and barely visible. Just remember not to get in too close with the camera.

Crow