Stargate - Stargate Ships - Davide_sd's attempt

[Davide_sd]

Hi all, it's been a long time since my last works with 3d.
I was thinking to complete my old reaver galleon ship, but i realized that i have no experience to create decent textures, so i decided to create something simpler to start learning. =)
I'm a huge fan of Stargate, and a couple of weeks ago i was re-watching the episode "Summit" from season 5. Love it, so i decided to create the Goa'uld space station. Unfortunately there aren't many reference pictures out there, but i was lucky enough to find a very nice picture of this station from "stargate - the dvd collection"...
Here is the first pic. I already have a couple of geometry issues to solve!!! =)

Obviously, all my future stargate ships will be in this thread!

[Meurig]

That station was cool, I'm glad someone's giving it a go

[Davide_sd]

thanks Meurig!
i've done some small fixes, now i'm going to do the bottom of the station.
i'm still not sure about the level of details i want to achive with it; so far i've added almost all the details of my reference pics, but probably i'm gonna add some other details.

[Lynx121]

that looks like a great start so far, cant wait to see where this goes!

[Andrew March]

Excellent work so far, is it me or does anyone else think it looks like an intergalactic merry go round

[Omnipotent]

pulling up a chair.

[solarie]

Hey Davide_sd knowing you i know this will be awesome to see progress onward

Nice to see you doing some 3d again

[Davide_sd]

thanks mates! =)

i have almost completed the general modelling, now i'm going to think where i can place the defence guns and some other details.
at the moment i'm not entirely happy with the bottom of piers and the bottom of the decagon, probably i'll add some panels to fill the void.

[bmckain]

That is really different, refreshing, imo.

[Meurig]

This is a model where you'll need to add loads of additional detail The original really was lacking.

[Mikala]

Davide it is great to see you building again!
Great subject matter.

[scott2753]

Being a die-hard SG fan - I'm subbed! Interested to see where this will head.

[Davide_sd]

Finally i had a bit of free time to work on this project again.
Back in october i was creating some hieroglyphs for this station. In the last couple of days i wrote a small scritp that arrange "randomly" the hieroglyphs. I'm not entirely happy of the script, anyway it has done the dirty job. Here is the result.

[tangster]

Originally Posted by Davide_sd

Finally i had a bit of free time to work on this project again.
Back in october i was creating some hieroglyphs for this station. In the last couple of days i wrote a small scritp that arrange "randomly" the hieroglyphs. I'm not entirely happy of the script, anyway it has done the dirty job. Here is the result.

I dunno, it seems like a very impressive result to me.

[SG_Stargazers]

Really impressive work. Stargate was such a great show, seeing your excellent rendition of this station brings back memories of the first time I watched through SG-1, I definitely will be watching this thread. Keep up the prodigious work.

[Amras]

Nice so far!
But why can't you add the hieroglyphs via texture? I'm not sure that it makes a big visual difference later, but it might make a big difference in the the polycount.
I would invest the polys in more edge bevelling at those huge parts.

[Davide_sd]

Thank mates!!!

Originally Posted by Amras

Nice so far!
But why can't you add the hieroglyphs via texture? I'm not sure that it makes a big visual difference later, but it might make a big difference in the the polycount.
I would invest the polys in more edge bevelling at those huge parts.

Because i'm afraid it'll not work for close-up! Sure textures are lighter, but a simple plane with a texture might be boring, especially the bump effect. Morover, polycount is not a problem to me =)
Thank you for the tips, i'll do it when i'll finish the top pyramid!

[Amras]

Hehe, yes I thought that you would argument with close-ups.^^

Ok, but think about it.
How often will you look so closely that you can see a difference between a texture an polygon object?
Polycount may be not a problem for you but it is always good to safe polygons.
It can save rendertime and if you ever want to release the model, others can use it too even if they don't have a high-end PC.
Maybe you can do both. For a close up and for a distance shot.

Isn't it great if others use your models for a picture?

[Davide_sd]

All you said is really good. I'll try to do both.
But... previusly i didn't mention the most important point: i'm really bad at texturing!!! well, maybe it's the time to buy a little graphics tablet and explore this strange new world =D

[Omnipotent]

i say let him build it as he ses fit and dont complain so much.

i know that davide will do it justice

[Treybor]

yes... Looks good. If you want to build for closeups feel free.

[Davide_sd]

new update.
i'm gonna take a test with bigger hieroglyphs.

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Davide_sd

new update.
i'm gonna take a test with bigger hieroglyphs.

Those imprints MUST have been a pain in the ass. Looks good!

[Davide_sd]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

Those imprints MUST have been a pain in the ass. Looks good!

yes and no.
yes [it was a pain in the ass] because i was trying to write a script to create easily those splines, but i failed. so i create a small pattern and i repeated it.
no: after create the pattern, i give it an outline (to create tickness), then i extruded and finally used the proboolean. i'm really impressed about the improvment of the proboolean. it gave a really nice results.

[Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Davide_sd

yes and no.
yes [it was a pain in the ass] because i was trying to write a script to create easily those splines, but i failed. so i create a small pattern and i repeated it.
no: after create the pattern, i give it an outline (to create tickness), then i extruded and finally used the proboolean. i'm really impressed about the improvment of the proboolean. it gave a really nice results.

Yep. I use proboolean any time I need to boolean. I avoid the process at all costs though where I can... but that's more out of habit than anything else. They've really made it a LOT cleaner than what I remember from max 6-9 when I was learning heavily.

I actually ended up using boolean just a couple nights ago on a project, the first time in years and I was amazed at the improvements, very little cleanup required and once it was cleaned up where needed (Mainly just making sure points where converging with points on the model I was booleaning) it even allowed me to meshsmooth without the terrible problems boolean used to create passively

[Davide_sd]

Originally Posted by Phoenix

Yep. I use proboolean any time I need to boolean. I avoid the process at all costs though where I can... but that's more out of habit than anything else. They've really made it a LOT cleaner than what I remember from max 6-9 when I was learning heavily.

I actually ended up using boolean just a couple nights ago on a project, the first time in years and I was amazed at the improvements, very little cleanup required and once it was cleaned up where needed (Mainly just making sure points where converging with points on the model I was booleaning) it even allowed me to meshsmooth without the terrible problems boolean used to create passively

i haven't tried yet to use meshsmooth on the proobolean result! =)
for sure i'm pleasantly surprised of the improvement.

here is the version with bigger hieroglyphs, i think it's better than before; also i reduced a bit the polycount.
now it's time to create some guns; the station is a neutral place for summit, but we know very well that the only way to assure peace is to have some powerful guns =)

[David cgc]

I like the symbols of each System Lord at the peak. One wonders if they have Jaffa billboard hangers go outside and change them depending on who's in and who's out at any given time.

[Davide_sd]

Originally Posted by David cgc

I like the symbols of each System Lord at the peak. One wonders if they have Jaffa billboard hangers go outside and change them depending on who's in and who's out at any given time.

i have the same doubt. we know the goa'uld can access the station with only one human. maybe there are some jaffas on board to do the ordinary maintenance, but it's unlikely because they are an army. Maybe there are some humans, even this is unlikely: in fact humans are slaves and nothing more. Maybe there are some minor goa'ulds, but even this in unlikely. I think it'll remain a mistery! =)

[Davide_sd]

new updates.
i've added several cannons with their domes and some docking facilities; i've also modeled the windows, but i think they are unnecessary, so i'll do them with simple textures.

[Mikala]

That is really becoming wonderfully detailed piece!
Great update Davide!