Tutorial: Building a 3D Spaceship Model with Wings3D

[Valkyrie666]

I need some advice on what position to render the Lambda shuttle as it top wing will only be a simple line when doing a 100%top shot so please any suggestions ??  Will post what I tried so far with best look/detaills in mind





ingame Screenshot:

[Valkyrie666]

last one for tonight the SSD

and ingame:




2bad image scaling is off :p don't think there will fit 1000's of lambda's in that SSD :p

[Shark7]

I did render mine with a default non-directional light, maybe sticking a directional light on it will change it up.

Still think I need to generate a UV map and actually take the time to texture it right, rather than just using material zones and shaders. Shaders are great, but they can't always give you the little details you need...the nuances like mis-matched hull plating colors, etc.

[eyechartbrew]

So, here's a classic newbie question:

How do you go from the Wings3D file format (*.wings) to a file format that can opened up in a renderer?

Kerkythea, for example supports 3DS, OBJ, XML, and KZK formats.

Am I missing something painfully obvious?

Cheers,
//TB

[GaryChildress]

In Wings3D select your entire model, then go to "File" > "Export Selected" > 3D Studio (3DS).

3DS format is a pretty universal 3D format. Then import the 3DS file into Kerkythea.

[eyechartbrew]

Much thanks Gary! I knew I was missing something stupid. Thanks for the reply, and this entire thread!

Cheers,
//TB

[Barthheart]

Bump this back to the top.

Great tutorial Gary, thanks for the hard work. [&o]
Any chance you're going to continue with the render tut.?[8D]

[GaryChildress]

I've been looking for a good Freeware rendering program to use for a tutorial but haven't had much luck. I haven't had a chance to figure out Kerkythea yet but it doesn't look too promising compared to what I've been using on my own ships. I like Poser 7 much better as a redering program. The lighting is easy to adjust and work with so you can get different effects and it's easy to apply mapped textures to objects. I think I'll do a tutorial on using Poser for the ships first and then if I can find something else to work with that is Freeware I'll do a second tutorial on that. Of course if someone has their own freeware program that they like to use for rendering I encourage them to step up and create a tutorial on it.

[Barthheart]

Even a tutorial in Poser is better than nothing for noobs like me. [8D] At least it will give an idea of how a render program works and wht it's for...

[Barthheart]

Bump.

Hey Eric, how about tacking this fine tutorial to the top?